<p>Wow, dwhite, good luck to your son! RVM, I know how you feel! </p>
<p>Right now S3 is on a cross-country camping trip with some of his fraternity brothers and putting the big job hunt on the back burner for just a couple of weeks. However, remember that weird interviewing situation he’s been in? He is having an in-person interview while he and his crew are in California. He had me ship interview clothes to him at a family friend’s near the interview city.</p>
<p>It would be wonderful if this interview turned in to a job! But I don’t understand how is getting so far in the process when they are 1) looking for someone with at least 3 years of experience; and 2) looking for someone with experience negotiating contracts with vendors. Neither of which experience he has had.</p>
<p>Well, the 2 hour Skype interview(with the company across the country) was tough although S1 thought it went well, BUT he got a call yesterday that it is a no-go. He is out of town, so he called to tell us. He sounded disappointed. </p>
<p>He has a final interview later today with the one 5 minutes from home-REALLY hoping this one comes through. </p>
<p>He is getting interviews, and even 3rd and 4th interviews but so far hasn’t landed anything. I think he is getting discouraged because he feels like the interviews are going really well. He is our oldest so I don’t really have a sense as to how long this really takes? It seems some of his friends have jobs but many are also still looking. </p>
<p>He will continue to plow ahead-maybe today’s interview will bring good news…</p>
<p>I would encourage applicants to keep in touch with the hiring manager or HR if they got rejected. I turned down an applicant last year because there was something about her that didn’t hit me right. Earlier this year we had another opening and posted it on Linkedin. She reached out to me to ask me if I would consider her again. We were kind of desperate to replace someone, at the same time, she was being proactive which was something I had concern about her. She turned out to be one of my best hires - bright, articulate and very hard working.</p>
<p>dwhite - How disappointing after such a long interview! I do believe this phase is my hardest of all my parenting years as we can only sit on the sidelines, hope, and pray. </p>
<p>S1 is headed to the other side of the country for a 3 month paid internship. I am hoping it’s a 3 month job interview but he thinks not. I’m just hoping he can make some contacts…</p>
<p>Thank you for the positive vibes. He is very concerned he is not interviewing well because he gets fairly far along in the process but ends up with a no. I know I’m his mom but, he is a very bright, very articulate, outgoing kid so I don’t know how else to advise him. He is also quite confident but not in an obnoxious way. Maybe he needs to be more assertive? Maybe he is too confident? Who knows? </p>
<p>Oldfort-I will pass along the info to keep in touch, thank you. Wouldn’t it be nice if they gave you feedback as to why they didn’t pick you…</p>
<p>I know his ego is taking a hit, I hope he can re-group and do well for today’s interview. Now that he has graduated, he doesn’t even have access to the career center for additional interview tips. Guess he will have to start researching the Internet</p>
<p>Dwhite, try to tell your S not to get discouraged. My H hires people and he says that the market out there is really hard. He can get many great applicants but can only hire one. It’s not that he isn’t a good applicant, it’s that there was someone better for that job. He has a job opening and it’s going to be hard, there are many great people applying but only one job.</p>
<p>My oldest was flown to many job sites when he was looking but sometimes they had an intern they were looking at or they weren’t able to hire at that time. He’s an engineer so any women that would apply had preference. In the end it was between him and a women classmate. He impressed them in his interview and they offered both a job even though they only really had one opening. It was far from home and in a remote location. The girl was homesick and left after 6 months. S is now on a plum assignment, it’s worked out for him. The second job search should be easier.</p>
<p>If you know anyone in HR, you could contact them and ask them to critique his interviewing skills. If he is close to his university have him call in the career center and have them do a mock interview. I think he is probably doing fine but any pointers are helpful. </p>
<p>Even though they say the job market is improving, it’s still hard out there.</p>
<p>dwhite - hang in there - this process is tough! I second the idea of him asking for feedback from the job that did not come through. After all of those hours interviewing, perhaps they could spare 5 minutes to give him some idea of why he was not chosen. And his keeping in touch is also a great idea - you never know when something else will open up.</p>
<p>Chances are he did nothing “wrong” - just very competitive market. I don’t envy anyone looking for a job right now.</p>
<p>Thank you all. We are 11+ hours away from his university so perhaps he can contact them via phone. Not ideal, but better than nothing and I think some feedback or a mock interview may help his confidence.</p>
<p>I am confident he will be o.k. I know he needed to vent and of course, he is frustrated after so many hours interviewing.</p>
<p>Dwhite: I’m sorry that opportunity didn’t come through, but I agree with other posters that it’s probably not anything he’s doing wrong. It’s a very tough market and companies can afford to be picky. He’s actually doing very well by getting a lot of interviews, and eventually something will work out. One thing that helped my daughter was to reach out to anyone she could find (friends, friends of friends) who worked for the company to get a good feel for company culture and what they were looking for. I hope today’s interview goes well.</p>
<p>So sorry, dwhite. My guess is that your son has decent interview skills if he is getting to the final interview round…it is just tough out there, so many applicants for so few spots.</p>
<p>dwhite - what type of interviews is your son getting? are they the behavioral type?</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters - if he’s not picked, have him ask why. They will appreciate that he took the time to ask and may consider him again later.</p>
<p>I agree that it would be helpful to do a practice interview with his career office (even if by skype due to the distance) or a family friend who’s a recruiter. My DS went through a similarly grueling period during the spring semester so he sat down for a practice run with his career office and got several specific pointers on where his responses needed strengthening or where he was failing “to tell his story.” </p>
<p>Update: S1 got a job offer at the company close to home-yipeeeee!! He seems excited although he has one other offer still pending. They gave him one week to make a decision so unless he gets a better offer soon, it looks like he will be accepting this one. I don’t think this is his dream job or dream company, but we have made it VERY clear that he is lucky to get such a decent offer at a fun, young company. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the virtual support-it really does help!</p>
<p>I can only share this now, because things seem to be working out, or at least my oldest seems to have figured out a direction… But it was a long last year of college.</p>
<p>He loved both of his majors, but really wasn’t sure what to do with them. It seemed obvious to anyone who knew him, but he had to figure it out on his own.</p>
<p>It was honestly one class during his final semester that lit a fire under him, and showed him a direction he should take. It was the kind of class that you’d either love or hate, and he loved, loved, loved it. The professor referred him to a nonprofit area organization doing the same kind of work they did as a part of that class. She wrote him a great recommendation. He applied, and was offered a spot with the nonprofit. </p>
<p>He starts later this summer, and plans to apply for grad school for the following year. </p>