Thank you!!
Son is working toward an MS in Computer Science. He has the option to have his degree indicate a concentration in either artificial intelligence or cybersecurity, but not both. Would either option be more advantageous from a hiring perspective?
He’s nearly completed the curriculum requirements for both concentrations so the only difference literally will be in a single course out of three to be taken next semester.
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Cybersecurity. But list in ‘Relevant Coursework’ section of resume a couple of AI classes. If he hasn’t done so already, he should take the Security+ exam. If he has penetration testing skills, I know somebody who works for a company that needs cybersecurity folks. I’ll send you a PM/DM.
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The words on the degree are less important that being able to show relevant training and skills which the courses will speak to, whether or not he meets the requirements to have a formal concentration conferred.
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On a Southwest flight. We have a trainee flight attendant, with a badge. Looks 23-24. Guessing just out of college.
No idea of the job market but travel hospitality may be a place for those struggling to look - especially as many flight attendants get older. A family friend’s kid got hired by Southwest as an operations manager (at our local airport) out of college.
Just an update on ds21 who graduated from Electrical Engineering this past spring and who got hired in July at a small start up company. The past 3 months have been quite a whirlwind of learning for him.
He was hired for a mostly administrative support role, helping to run government funded training programs in additive manufacturing as well as providing IT support for their hardware. What he’s really been doing has been far more than that.
He was thrown right into the deep end within days of starting, needing to design from scratch and deliver Introduction to 3D Printing sessions for disadvantaged youth for which he had minimal development and preparation time. He ran several of those and had to be adaptable to modify them on the fly when the kids turned out to be much younger than anticipated and when he had to deal with technical issues at the venue.
He got his certification in the software program their training program teaches.
He then oversaw their first few groups of trainees as well as managing all the of administrative requirements of running the training sessions.
He’s set up new hardware which also required that he become familiar with workplace health and safety regulations, to design what basically amounts to a chemical fume enclosure and air exhaust system, and to create and implement protocols for waste storage and disposal.
He’s been managing their supply inventory.
He’s helped write up and submit a new government grant funding proposal which required him to do sectoral research as they are trying to expand the industries they’re targeting to be able to provide customized training for.
He’s learned some new electrical engineering skills and then employed them in helping with the design and production of some new prototypes the company is hoping to bring to market.
Most recently he helped create a business proposal and then pitch it to a potential new customer.
Most of the things he’s been doing he’s had 0 training in during his degree and has had to figure it out on the fly with minimal assistance. It’s required him to be proactive in taking the initiative to figure things out on his own, and to be flexible and adaptable. In just these past 3 months I’ve seen a significant improvement in his self-confidence and growth in independence, and it’s also been commented on to me by others who know him. Most importantly he’s happy, and it’s been such a relief to see him thriving and succeeding.
He’d still like to be doing more actual electrical engineering design and production work, but had he been working at a larger more mature Engineering firm he wouldn’t have had half of the experiences he’s had. I also don’t think he would have experienced as much personal and professional growth as he has in such a short period of time. His boss seems very pleased with his work, relying on him more and more on the business development side, and he’s already given him a raise. He’s also hired one of ds’s friends who also graduated from the same program based on ds’s recommendation.
The only real negative that ds has mentioned is that their premises leave much to be desired. They’re just a small office over a commercial space in a strip plaza. They’ve just acquired a second location, but ds will mostly remain working at the current one. There are none of the shiny bells and whistles that the major tech companies are known for providing. They don’t even have a kitchen or staff room, and the restroom is out of commission half the time. He also unfortunately had his car hit in the parking lot. Still it’s an easy location for him to get to, and if traffic is bad he has the option to take public transport.
All in all it’s going very well. He’s still happy to be living at home for now and is banking most of his paycheque and has started an investment account.
Also with regards to the son of dh’s colleague who graduated with a degree in Architectural Engineering, after 10 months of searching he’s finally managed to secure a position and started work this past week for an HVAC company. It’s not what he’d like to be doing, but it’s at least somewhat related to his degree.
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Wow, that’s a lot of learning, unlikely to happen in a more established role. That’s fantastic.
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Thank you - that is incredibly thoughtful and helpful!
Especially in the tech sector, employers care about what you know, what you can do, what your skill set is.
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From the article shared by @shawbridge, emphasis added:
Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, said employers are falling into three buckets. Some have paused hiring amid economic uncertainty, some have laid off staff in the name of efficiency and some are growing modestly. Fields seeing job growth include healthcare, education and manufacturing, she said.
Meanwhile, students are applying “to hundreds and hundreds of jobs. They just shoot off application after application,” she said. This strategy can backfire: Many employers are turned off by generic applications, she said.
So, as some of us discussed upthread, it can definitely pay to customize one’s application materials and potentially apply to fewer positions than to spam your resume out for every position listed.
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I agree that blindly shotgunning your resume to 100 places isn’t terribly effective, but I am curious.
If a student is amazingly efficient with their time, then there’s really nothing wrong with sending out a few dozen resumes - as long as the content being presented is relevant to the position and includes a company-specific (and possibly HR rep/C-Suite-specific) cover letter?
My primary advice has always been to have your child speak to their school’s career center, be aware of which companies most frequently attend the spring/fall fairs and then supplement this with additional legwork tracking down career outcomes for recent alumni. Some will be happy to connect, other alumni already out in the workforce might be like, “Nice try, Fight On,” and not be so receptive to the outreach.
An interesting discussion topic might be, “Could shotgunning resumes from a T20-30 school be effective with certain industries outside of I-banking, consulting or NYC/LA media?”
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I’m a fan of shotgunning but with selection. Make sure the job is of interest. There were plenty they didn’t apply to. Worked for both my kids.
Their cover letters were semi personalized with the changing of a few things - company name, job title, location etc.
The trick, I think, is consistency. If you do a few a day it adds up quickly vs doing none for weeks and then 20 in a day. You have to be consistent. It’s boring to do so they did a little each day.
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I expect it depends on how you define effective. There are many Sankeyplots showing persons who apply to a large number of jobs and eventually get an offer. An example is below. After 8 months and 1293 applications, he got his desired job as a software developer, and claims that he could not be happier about the position.
He says that he did a mix of high effort applications and low effort applications, and found that the low effort applications (shotgunning) were more effective because of the larger volume of applications for a given time spent. He says the eventual job was from a low effort application on Indeed where he did not even submit a CV. The company said he was noticed because he applied to the job a couple hours after the job was posted and had an impressive portfolio. After getting a response, then he did a “deep dive” in the company with research about the company and role, refreshed related skills for the position, etc.
I’m more skeptical. I expect there are countless persons who got a job from “shotgunning”, and countless persons who got a job from a small number of high effort applications. Both of those groups will say that the method leading to their job was effective. You’d need a more controlled comparison to evaluate which is more effective, and that answer likely depends on industry, position, particular applicant’s background, etc. For example, I expect that among persons who have useful connections to relevant positions, it’s advantageous to take advantage of those connections with high effort applications. It also depends on how easily a particularly applicant can “shotgun” a large number of applications. With AI and other tools, I expect time and effort required will become increasingly smaller.
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IMO, as the job market gets tighter, it’ll be much more difficult to land a corporate job unless you get help from your network or you have the exact qualifications they’re looking for.
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Based on the plot, about 0.9% of this person’s job applications got to the first interview, and about 9% of first interviews led to offers (1293 → 11 → 1).
Compare that to college applications, even to “reach” colleges.
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Well my firm is giddy at .09% response to a mailer 
To me, having success is finding a well fitting job - $$ and duties.
The path this person took may not have been easy or efficient but would they have gotten the job or a job had they not gone through the process they did?
Alternatively, success is finding a job which sets a kid up for the NEXT job (or the one after that) which is the right fit for the long-term.
I see MANY young people holding out for the right role, the right organization, the right location, and a big salary which in the current environment is a BIG mistake. They are trying to thread an impossible needle.
Ask any successful adult and they will likely tell you about the terrible first job, or the awful second boss, or the miserable work or horrible culture. We’ve fetishized “the perfect job” to such a degree that new grads don’t even realize that in order to get to “the perfect job” they are going to have to put up with “the not perfect job”.
My first job after college was awful. But it was with a respected organization which was known for “best practices” in a lot of areas (including it’s rotational program). I survived it- trust me, the training was a joke but they spun it really well outside the organization. And then my first job after B-school which was with a great company but a terrible fit for me.
But what is ironic is that every job and every interview I’ve ever had since then has wanted to drill down on those two experiences. It was a LIFETIME ago. And yet working for two “most admired” companies was the springboard to every single job since then- including what I do now which is honestly and truly the perfect job for me. I don’t tell people how miserable I was there– they don’t want to hear that!
So kids- stop focusing on finding the right job, a great job, the perfect job. Just get a job. You may love it, you may hate it, but it’s not a life sentence.
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Most people do not have a choice about whether the job sets oneself up for the next job. It is usually one job offer (good or bad) after a long period of searching and applying or remaining unemployed for probably another long period before possibly finding another job.
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I read blossom’s post to mean not being picky coming right out of school:
The reality is that work experience on a resume, even if it’s not close to ideal, is better than no work experience.
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