<p>^^If this is a worthwhile job, seems like he should hop on the train and go for it. Otherwise, it sounds like he’s not that interested. He’s lucky he can just get on a train to go interview, instead of getting on a flight. If it’s not a good job, then not worth it. Just one opinion. I’d consider an interview a big bite, not a little one.</p>
<p>Take the train and go to the interview. It’s not a bad ride and shows how interested he is in the job.</p>
<p>TonyK, that is so tough for your son. Does your son want to stay in upstate NY?</p>
<p>Mom2009, definitely have him go down to Boston. Even if he doesn’t get the job (and I sure hope he does, if it is a job he wants!), the interviewing experience is valuable.</p>
<p>S3 commented to me on how interviewing for a career job was just so different than all the interviews he had gone on for internships.</p>
<p>Can he stay with a friend in Boston for a few days once he is there? Maybe he could try to line up a few interviews as long as he is going to be there anyway. Could he search for possibilities to apply to via LinkedIn or even Craig’s list? One of son’s friends found her first position by going through a temp agency–the employer liked her so much that they hired her two weeks in, at a job in her field. It just took getting her foot in the door.</p>
<p>S is going to Boston for the interview. Hopefully it will be a good fit, but if not, I agree that the interview experience can only help him in the future.</p>
<p>He was tentative about making the trip due to a bad experience last week. He had an interview scheduled in another New England area. He had spoken with the company very briefly over the phone and they wanted to meet him in person. He confirmed the interview and hopped on the train. 6 hours into the train ride, they emailed him and said they had filled the position… Sorry! Very disappointing and rude!</p>
<p>Hoping for a better experience this time!</p>
<p>^^Wow was that rude!</p>
<p>Karma owes him one…</p>
<p>boysx3,</p>
<p>He is hoping to work in the Ithaca area and at some point he may have to take anything. A few of his classmates have started working in the Washington D.C. and NYC areas and they have talked about sharing apartments with him. I’m helping him now with his LinkedIn profile and with applying at two firms, but he seems to have lost some energy the past few weeks.</p>
<p>TonyK, if he is interested in DC, that is where two of my sons live and work so let me know if I can be of any help. What kind of work is he hoping to do?</p>
<p>Physics lab, IT, insurance, or investments. I’m not sure if he is ready to move just yet. </p>
<p>Thank you boys3x for offering to help and we’ll wait and see what happens. He just submitted another resume, and called them and found out they have a hiring freeze.</p>
<p>My neighbor is a headhunter. He said to work on researching five companies at a time. Then call and ask whether they are hiring before sending any applications. The phone calls are going to take less time than the application. </p>
<p>The whole process is so disheartening.</p>
<p>Mom2009, I am still getting over how insensitive and rude some of the people were who my son interviewed with. Never returning calls after he’d driven four hours for an interview. Saying they would call to set up an interview and not calling. With one company he drove six hours for an interview. They asked if he could return the next day to meet with the groups (knowing he was staying with friends); he had a great day and then they said they didn’t have enough work to support a full-time position. I felt that, since they had wasted so much of his time, they should have paid him for it.</p>
<p>The three companies that made offers all treated him well. They reimbursed for travel and hotel, met him at the train to go into the city for dinner, etc. It does make me wonder how the other companies actually would have been to work for.</p>
<p>My daughter received her offer letter today for an entry-level marketing position in a multi-national company, four months to the day that she graduated from college.</p>
<p>Her salary is sufficient to support herself. She is launched!</p>
<p>Congrats to all the new hires and promotions!</p>
<p>boysx3,</p>
<p>a few posts up thread you said that S3 remarked on the difference between interviewing for career jobs vs. internships. Can you elaborate a bit on that?</p>
<p>Also, DS is a college senior in DC hoping to stay in DC. May I PM you ?</p>
<p>musicmomz–certainly you can PM me!</p>
<p>As far as my son’s comments on interviewing differences–he felt that the interviews were much “sharper” and much more stressful.</p>
<p>Interviewing for internships? They looked at maybe a writing sample or a class project. The interview was with only one or two people at the organization. The organization assumed little or no knowledge, with the expectation that you were coming there to learn and that your ultimate bottom line impact would be minimal at best. They cared if you were intelligent, articulate, interested and enthusiastic, and if you could write well/do spreadsheets etc.</p>
<p>Interviewing for career jobs? While establishing a fit with the organization is obviously important, as are the aspects employers were looking for with an intern, am employer is looking for you to hit the ground running–they sort of expect you to have gotten all your training elsewhere and for you to bring value right away.</p>
<p>My son was very lucky to have had some very good heavy duty internships where he had stayed long enough to have been able to be given real responsibility and develop real skills and expertise in real world situations. His interviews focused on what he had actually done at his various previous experiences…how his role had changed over time, what he had succeeded at, what he had failed at and what/how he would have done differently, how he had related to other employees, his time management skills, prioritization and organizational skills…</p>
<p>Often the interviews were 2 on 1 in a good cop/bad cop format, or in one interview, two bad cops to see if he would lose his cool. Often interviews with several people in a row; call back was with the team he might be working with, to see how he would fit. At these interviews, he was surprised when the interviewer challenged his conclusions on a project he had submitted, ( it later turned out he was playing devil’s advocate; the project had been similar to what the actual job entailed) and also commented on research skills. Items on his resume were examined with a fine toothed comb. Answers to questions on an online questionnaire he had filled out for the employer were dug into.</p>
<p>Basically, the employer was looking for an employee who was ready to perform from day one, with the expertise, knowledge and confidence right from the start, and would need a minimum of handholding or remedial education.</p>
<p>My son found it was a good thing to stress his project/event management skills, as well as his creativity in marketing and his ability to get others to buy in to his ideas and to work with him to bring a project to a successful conclusion. He found it essential to be able to talk numbers–what goal had he been given, what was his result, what techniques did he use, what would he do again/do differently, how had he managed his budget, etc.</p>
<p>He also found it essential to show that he was passionate about getting THIS job with THIS company; just saying he was passionate about getting a job in marketing didn’t cut it. Which meant researching the heck out of the company, the division, their products and to the extent their personnel.</p>
<p>His best interviews were when he was able to ask the interviewers about their company and their products and their marketing, sort of challenging (politely but showing his thorough preparation) the interviewers back.</p>
<p>It was a very strange spring/summer for him. He had gone toward graduation with an offer that he had wanted in his pocket, which disappeared two weeks before graduation due to a management shake up. He got some nibbles immediately after he started looking, and one possibility that was actually looking for someone with much more experience still liked him enough to have him spend the day in California at their office (he lives in DC). He didn’t get that job, but was told he was one of their final two, and that they were going to keep his resume in case another position opened up.</p>
<p>He accepted the offer for the company he is with in early July–and soon after got 2 other offers plus other requests to interview. So strange, when it rains it pours.</p>
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I’m not a senior, but I’ve been following this thread to collect advice for when it’s my turn to go through this. I have a question that I hope you all don’t mind me asking: are any of your children in allied health fields (licensed counselor, social worker, public health, etc)? I’m studying psychology and plan to work in mental health care. Not many people at my college go into this, so I’m out of luck (my school is also geared toward people getting PhDs/MDs/MBAs/etc or going into finance, so career services doesn’t have much). I’m also sort of looking into psychiatric nursing but that’s not a strong contender right now. I just want to be able to have direct patient contact/influence. I would appreciate PMs if you or your child doesn’t mind answering a few questions! Thanks in advance, and good luck to everyone through this process!</p>
<p>CPU,
Why are you ruling out nursing? Check out being PA, and you can specialize in psych. Rehab centers and lots of places are using PAs cuz they can prescribe meds. (Spoken as a phd).</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion bookworm. The end goal of being a psychiatric nurse/PA is appealing, but that would require many more science classes than I have room for or would enjoy taking. For accelerated nursing programs for those with bachelor’s degrees in other fields, I’d have to take a bunch of science pre-reqs like microbio, 2 semesters of anatomy and physiology, etc. I just looked at Northeastern’s PA program and they require 2 semesters of bio, 2 of chem, and ANP. they also require no less than a solid B (no B-) and I don’t have that in the bio/chem class I took. </p>
<p>I don’t have room in my curriculum plan to add that many science courses and keep my major (which I am much more interested in than the science courses).</p>
<p>Mom2009, My son is in a similar situation! He graduated in May and took a paid internship which turned into a job in Seattle as an advertising copywriter. He has been unhappy in Seattle. He wants to be in Boston/NY as he feels he needs to be there for his career and GF lives in Boston. So he is moving to Boston next week without a job! He found that phone interviews were helping him make contacts but not going to get him a job. So, he is just moving. He feels he can find something to make a living while looking for that career job. I am not sure what he is doing is the right thing, but it sounds to me like moving to the area you want to be may yield better results. DS is lucky in that he has no school loans and can live from paycheck to paycheck. </p>
<p>If anyone has advice about finding jobs in the Boston area, please let me know.</p>
<p>GT alum - It’s not easy! S is still looking. He has two potential jobs pending, but frankly I think they will go nowhere. It’s just taking too long. It’s only been 6 weeks of looking, but he’s getting frustrated and is just not happy living at home (that makes 2 of us!). Not sure how to advise regarding his job search strategy either. Most of the postings online seem to require experience, which obviously makes a new grad a less attractive candidate. These things take time, and patience is not usually a characteristic of a 22 year old! Good luck!</p>
<p>My son finally was offered a good full-time job pending one reference getting back to the company! He went to a job fair and got an interview at the firm. When the duties were explained to him, he told them he felt he was overqualified for the job. They asked him to come back for an interview for a different opening that pays much better. His supervisor works from home in Canada, and he liked everyone he met.</p>
<p>I was just on the phone with his student loan provider getting information on forbearance and deferrals as he was only working part-time. I am happy to have pushed him into going to the job fair, and we even had a bet on whether or not he would get a job offer. Naturally I won the bet.</p>