It seems some companies like hedge funds started using these tools long time ago. When I looked for a job in 2009 one company made me do personality test, cognitive ability test and answer 20 open-ended questions about technology before I was invited for an interview. They also did stress test during the interview like start arguing with you to see how you react. The more this nonsense continued the less I wanted to work for them. However what could fly in 2009 may not sit well with job applicants in 2015.
My son found his internship and his job leads during career fairs at his public flagship. He is lucky graduating into a good job market.
My D graduated in 2013 and didn’t have such an easy time, however she did eventually find a great job. She moved back home and did temp work for several months and saved her $. Was offered her temp job permanently but she didn’t want the job or to stay in our hometown. Moved to the city where her BF is in grad school and did temp work there for 2 months, then was offered a different permanent job where she’s been for over a year now. She kept a spreadsheet of the process (she does that for everything) and calculated how many resumes she sent out, how many she heard from, how many interviews, etc. I know she sent out over 100 resumes.
S1 went to college on a NROTC scholarship. He was commissioned into the Navy( officer) the day after graduation
S2 decided in his senior year of college that he was no longer interested in working in the field he majored in.
He came home after graduation and started looking around. He immediately got a retail job in a big box store to tide him over while he continued the job search.
DH heard that a contractor that he knew was working at his job site and was hiring. S2 applied and was hired.
It’s a very small specialized company so it was “on the job” training kind of thing. The job didn’t require a college degree but S2 making more money in this industry than he would have made with a job in his major.
D1 had a grant abroad. Toward the end of that, she used LinkedIn to search jobs, got a Skype interview, came home and interviewed again, got the job. It was tough work, great opp, good on the resume, but crazy demanding. I told her she’d never regret the early hard work and what it teaches, the next job would seem easy.
After 7 months, she was fed up, used LinkedIn again and got something she loves. Similar work to the first but a little better title/$ and much better company. Both jobs unrelated to her major but right for her skills.
D2: temped in a city for about 6 months, different admin positions, liked it. One was a happy but boring 2 month grunt job that was later key in another temp position keeping her on extra months, til they had a perm opening.
My sister received bachelor’s degree year ago…took her a full year to finally get a decent full-time job in her business field. She worked at part-time jobs past year. She did countless interviews…in person, phone, Skype, etc. It is amazing to me how few job interviewers even bother to get back to interviewee even after flying them in and investing much time with interview process. Gotta keep at it getting a job…don’t give up…it’ll happen!
Having worked in HR, I can say that hiring priorities shift in HR due to any number of interruptions, both minor and major. We have had “emergency” hiring needs interrupted in our main office by an employee suicide at a plant. So we’ve told applicants we are making decisions in 2-3 weeks, fly them in, and they go through all the interviewing process. Then, Boom. A company employee commits suicide and all your HR manpower shifts to helping that employee’s family, and helping the plant’s other employees through this difficult time. Another time we had an employee accident at a plant, and HR goes on high alert again. It doesn’t matter that we’ve told these prospects we are making a decision in a certain time frame.
Yes, it is not fair. Yes, it makes no sense that the company has told you they have an urgent need to fill the position and that you should hear from them in X amount of time. Even working in HR, I found it hard to stomach the crazy on/off Hiring Urgency atmosphere at my office.
So sometimes it is just you. You are either not qualified, or there was someone else more qualified. But sometimes it is the company. They are not able to get their act together in a timely manner. It sucks because applicants don’t know why they are being ignored.
@CCDD14 , I hope the job market continues until my second child graduates. It’s like sitting on pins and needles sometime. Although she has made great progress in her internship, lots of kudos from her bosses, I still feel a bit of anxiety.
S1, comp sci major, graduated a few years ago. He interned the summer before senior year at his dream company and they let him know they’d hire him on a permanent basis when he had his degree.
S2, Int. Rel. major has had a more difficult time. He graduated last year, spent the summer at Tufts promoted to the top level for students at the job - supervising other students. Had a reasonably prestigious but unpaid internship in his field in the fall. He applied for lots of jobs (mostly in DC or NY) not all IR, but all non-profits I think, did multiple interviews at several places, but in the end took a second internship (with a small stipend), as the place that was still up in the air, still was apparently going to take weeks to make a decision. This internship last through October and he is starting to look around again.
I am nonplussed at the numbers of young people whose degrees had nothing to do with computers or technology, ( other than they use a laptop to write papers) but it now is a very important piece of their work, and apparently just being in their 20’s, gives them magical powers, that those who are hiring them lack!
EK, until they got out of school, I had no idea how comprehensive their computer skills were. In hs, they were keyboard bangers. I’d laugh we old folks understood more about some glitch or how to CYA with important files. Both of their jobs require computer savvy, depth and breadth, and D1’s includes design programs and more. No idea how they ripened toward this, in college, since both were humanities.
We always think of my older son as the computer expert, but younger son is quite savvy. He’s really good with Excel - his current boss is amazed at what he does with it to keep them organized! It’s not a crunching numbers job, but it turns out you can do a lot of other things with Excel.
When my new college grad sister was applying for jobs past year she was always competing with others with much more job experience. One thing she had an advantage over many more experienced job applicants was her Excel skills…she knows how to use Excel from past part-time jobs she had while attending college. If one is in business today and you work with numbers…you need to know how to do Excel.