<p>You sign on for a lot longer than a 3 year contract when you join the military, so there’s one job you sign your life away for (literally).</p>
<p>That is weird about asking him for a 3 year contract, have they explained that? And what happens if he breaks it? If he’s unhappy, how can they force him to stay?</p>
<p>3 year contract; wonder if that is a test of his commitment? I would want to read the fine print, as they surely include ways they could dismiss your son.</p>
<p>Boys, congrats on job, freedom from tuition, and the grandbaby!</p>
<p>I just found this thread… my son was recently hired and it took him over a year to land a job…It was a very tough year filled with anxiety, but I am glad to say that companies are hiring again. It takes time as I mentioned, but try to fill that time with meaningful purpose. During this year, my son continued wtih being a member of the volunteer fire dept which he had been a member of for 6 years. He was taking classes and ended up teaching classes. This actually helped him land the job. They were so impressed with his continued dedication and serious involvement. As a parent, it was a heartbreaking year to watch him go on countless interviews and he felt dismissed regularly as he heard the constant refrain of we are looking for more experience. It is disappointing to me that the business world is not taking on the new generation of college grads and training them…hope this changes. Best of luck to all who are out there looking and keep the faith it does work out…</p>
<p>talaria - congratulations on the good news! I am impressed with the activities he did while looking - very admirable. Glad it worked out.</p>
<p>Yay for Talaria’s son.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! The whole process was a tremendous emotional ride for all of us. I think his FD kept him focus and that is what I want to mention to others. I did tell my son during this entire year that it is a collective set of skills that you acquire with everything you do. Of course, now my mantra to him is to focus on that job and learn all you can. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I am on a three-year contract, but my first one was for a year.</p>
<p>Front page of the Baltimore Sun this morning said that Maryland was number three in the country for most jobs lost this year. Perhaps it is time to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>DD got a call for a new job yesterday. Today she had a follow-up call from another position. And she has a follow-up interview on a third lead next week. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Surely ONE of those will be offered!
Hope it’s the one she wants!</p>
<p>Right now, any one is the one she wants. Thanks, musicmom.</p>
<p>Is anyone else feeling as though employers are looking for perfectly qualified applicants rather than looking for trainable applicants?</p>
<p>Yes! I find that very true, and not just among new college grads. I see very little vision among employers as to how a skill set can be applied elsewhere with a little training and tweaking. I hope your DD has an offer in hand soon.</p>
<p>mdmom: I hope your D gets an offer soon.</p>
<p>Congrats to boysx3 and Talaria’s sons. </p>
<p>Dkitty: A 3 year contract seems unreasonable. Can he break the contract with notice? What did your son decide?</p>
<p>So, my son was premature in saying he would be offered this job; now that he hasn’t heard from them, he is devastated. This is so hard. He’s definitely talented and has a great resume. No one calls back. They barely acknowledge that he sent a resume. I don’t understand why no one wants to train new grads. How do they expect them to get work experience? And my son had great internships, doesn’t matter in the least. All the entry level programs are affirmative action programs. They totally discriminate against white middle class american boys. I told him to apply anyway. lol</p>
<p>Not sure if the 3 year contract thing was resolved or not. Is it actually a three year contract or is it a non-compete? the latter likely wouldn’t effect him if it’s a small market not where he is likely to work again…</p>
<p>Dkitty21, maybe your son and my daughter should get together and trade job hunt tips.</p>
<p>My son had heard in college that employers don’t like long resume so he kept his short. He couldn’t find a job for months. I kept trying to get him let me and his dad look over his resume but he stubbornly refused. Finally, he let his girlfriend go over it and they added lots of little information like what he actually did when working. He then found a job easy. He found out that just putting one line of what your job consists of doesn’t tell employers much. I was pretty ticked off that he didn’t do it sooner.</p>
<p>Dkitty, I bet your son is devastated…</p>
<p>MD, I think you are right that employers are looking for perfect matches with the skills needed for the job rather than hiring and training.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, my son was “found” by his new employer doing a search on LinkedIn.
My son really worked on his LinkedIn profile, just as on the umpteen zillion versions of his resume, because he had heard from others that a lot of employers do “screens” looking for buzz words and phrases. So make sure job seekers include words/phrases like “project management” or “data analysis” etc. Also make sure that the job seeker tweaks the resume for every single job opportunity because employers now are so super-specific–you want what they are seeking to be highly visible.</p>
<p>I second that tweaking resume for each job application.
Two years ago, DS was interviewing for teaching jobs. He edited his stuff for different grade levels, school district size, geography, etc emphasizing different skills/experiences.</p>
<p>Finally!! DS was offered the job! The pay sucks. but it’s a job!! Yay! The contract is, indeed, for 3 years, but there is an out clause so he wants to take it. Unfortunately, it’s not near home, so he will have to rent an apartment which will take all his money…lol I guess, I’ll be paying for his phone and car for a while longer.
Thank you everyone for your support. This has been a VERY long couple of months.</p>
<p>So happy for you. A job! Doesn’t it sound great!</p>