<p>Who graduated in 2012 and still doesn’t have a job?</p>
<p>What did you major in and what’s your situation?</p>
<p>I have a degree in Chemistry, have been applying to a few places and haven’t had much luck.</p>
<p>Graduated in 2011 - still no job. My degree was Business Administration with my major in Management Information Systems. Every once in a while, after it has become clear the last one is not working, I try a radically different strategy with job applications, using different advice/tips from many different sources. The results never change.</p>
<p>Dang that’s rough to hear.</p>
<p>I think you guys shouldn’t be so picky though. You can’t just apply to “just a few places.” You have to apply everywhere and anywhere, even in companies for job positions you didn’t necessarily study for in college. I’m not talking about applying for a Software Engineering job when you were an English major, but as a Chemistry major, for instance, you can totally apply to HR jobs or administrative positions. They’re not glamorous, but it’s an entry level position. And besides, you’ll gain experience and you can move on to your next step. It’s better to be working and doing something than having a 2+ year unemployment gap.</p>
<p>So don’t be picky, don’t be afraid to relocate, and apply everywhere and anywhere you can.</p>
<p>If either of you want to send your resumes and/or cover letters to me, I’d be happy to tear them apart for you. After someone did that for me, my results drastically improved. By the end, I had 7 interviews and 2 job offers out of 53 total applications in 5 industries (public and private sector) over the course of four months.</p>
<p>Also if you want to get some guidance, talk about where you want to work… there might be similar jobs in radically different industries. :)</p>
<p>I graduated in June 2012 and am currently looking for a job. I studied aerospace engineering and after going to my school’s career fair, I’m not the only one in the same situation. I saw a few familiar faces looking for jobs that I thought would have jobs by now. </p>
<p>I guess it seems tough right now for the aerospace industry depending on government budgets. At this point, I am not sure how long I should stay in the job hunt or if I should go back to school to get a master’s? I really don’t want to be doing nothing for a year.</p>
<p>^ Are you only applying for aerospace jobs? Apply to other engineering related jobs. I know plenty of people that studied aerospace, but are doing other engineering related jobs (i.e. software, electrical, etc.)</p>
<p>Could you also please list what your college was? I think that may help out prospective or current students.</p>
<p>This is an interesting thread. I haven’t graduated yet, but would like to read people’s attempts at finding jobs after graduation (It’ll happen to me in two years!) especially those with less lucrative degrees outside of STEM.</p>
<p>Politicians keep saying 50% of recent college graduates don’t have jobs. It sounds really scary.</p>
<p>Great thread. Any student loan concerns?</p>
<p>“Could you also please list what your college was? I think that may help out prospective or current students.”</p>
<p>I’m sure there are students from every college who could contribute to this thread. I like the advice notaznguy contributed.</p>
<p>Notaznguy’s advice is well-intentioned, but it is largely irrelevant for most unemployed college graduates. I am sure some are being picky, but not the majority. There are many that are applying even to Walmart and McDonalds for non-degree jobs where they cannot even make enough to pay their living expenses, much less their student loans, and still cannot even get those jobs. I have applied to many locations all over the US across many different fields - the quantity / variety has not helped.</p>
<p>Heh, you’d be surprised. I think you overestimate the pro-activeness and dedication of unemployed college graduates. I can’t speak for all, but many of my unemployed friends refuse to apply menial jobs because they think they’re worth more than that, won’t stoop down to “that level,” and are entitled to a high entry level starting salary. Others, on the other hand, believe that jobs are meant to be fun, exciting, glorious, and something they look forward to with great joy every single day. In other words, if it is not their dream job in which they are passionate about, they wont’ even waste their time looking at it.</p>
<p>The ones that are proactive, desperate, fearful, and hungry will always find something, one way or another. The ones that can afford to kick back, apply to a few jobs a day, see what happens in life, well, those are the ones who are complaining on internet forums.</p>
<p>Have you asked any of your friends if they ever considered going to a temp agency for work? I bet you they would respond, “Oh god, no. I graduated from _____. Who do you think I am?”</p>
<p>I graduated in 2011 and got my job in four months. I did interview at my company the first month after graduation, but there were six rounds of interviews and it just took that long to complete.</p>
<p>I am chiming in just to say that I sent out 200+ resumes, which were tailored complete with cover letters for each individual position. I went on maybe a dozen interviews and got one offer. You really have to make finding a job your full time job until you find one. It’s tough, but don’t get discouraged-- you only need one good offer. And even if the one you get isn’t what you want, it’s always easier to find a job when you have a job. I came across job listings that even said people who are currently unemployed need not apply.</p>
<p>Some good replies here.</p>
<p>As a recruiter that has hired some, placed some, and turned down many recent college grads, I’d say the difference between hired and not-hired candidates is that the former talks about what they can bring and where they want to go and the latter talks about what they need and what they want.</p>
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<p>That’s coming under some legal scrutiny.</p>
<p>Annoys me to no end that “LinkedIn” is not mentioned on this thread.</p>
<p>If you’re a job-searcher, get on LinkedIn right now and add hundreds of recruiters to your network (using the “add as a friend” feature). These can be recruiters at both staffing agencies and recruiters that work for companies. Connect primarily with recruiters in your geographic area, as you’ll be most likely to get jobs in your geographic area. </p>
<p>I’m not exaggerating about the ‘connections’ thing. You should be calling at least 10 different recruiters a day on the phone.</p>
<p>When someone adds you, go through their list of connections, and ‘add’ people from their list of connections that can help you in your job search.</p>
<p>I’m connected with hundreds of recruiters on LinkedIn, and I got at least 1-2 calls/emails a day asking me if I’d like to interview for a job. </p>
<p>Recruiters are desperate to fill jobs, that’s how they get paid. They want qualified candidates. Companies want qualified candidates. But most companies/recruiters don’t know that you exist. </p>
<p>Join groups on LinkedIn. Be active in them.</p>
<p>In my opinion, this + your personal network is the absolute best way to get a job. Extremely few people get jobs simply through filling out applications online. </p>
<p>(read my other longer thread on ‘thoughts on job searching’)</p>
<p>If you have any questions, ask away.</p>
<p>If you’re job-searching right now, you absolutely must be on LinkedIn, and you absolutely must be constantly adding new connections on there.</p>
<p>the best job markets would be in the austin or houston areas (TEXAS) IMO.</p>
<p>I do not know where you live , nor am I saying that austin or houston are the only places…but…you may need to move out of your comfort zone. (literally)</p>
<p>Many of my friends in non-STEM majors took jobs teaching English abroad. For those who want to be educators, this was their first step into their career, but for many it is a paying, gap-year adventure that allows time for filling out applications online, online networking among friends/families/classmates/linked-in connections, grad school preparation, etc. Some countries ask for teaching experience or TESOL/TEFL cert, but many programs require only your native English speaking abilities. </p>
<p>It’s not easy, but hey- it’s a job. [Dave’s</a> ESL Cafe International Job Board - International Job Board](<a href=“International Job Board - ESL”>International Job Board - ESL)</p>
<p>Networking, in ways large and small, is good advice; linkedin, monster, careerbuilder, recruiters, friends in industry, alumni groups, etc. Realize that many companies won’t even post position announcements - they just hand those off to one or more recruiters to screen candidates. And for many companies, blind submissions will never get read by the people you’ll want to read them. So, definitely get recruiters working on your behalf.</p>
<p>And geographic flexibility is another - I recently did a bit of informal research on published job openings for a specific engineering job title in the U.S., and found that some ~60% of the openings were all within a 40-mile radius.</p>
<p>I’m not in a hiring position now, but the biggest problems we faced in hiring newly-minted college graduates was in their transitioning to a corporate work-ethic, and retention - between the two, we probably lost 90% of hires within the first year. The most capable prospects nearly always used the position to leverage a “better” position elsewhere. That’s when they’d tell you “This wasn’t exactly was I was looking for, I just needed a job.”</p>
<p>Because the conventional wisdom in many knowledge-based companies is that it take 3 months to a year for an employee to become worth their keep, what with learning curves and cost of recruiting - if you leave in 6 months, you’ve cost that company money. So, retention is going to be a big, if unmentioned issue. </p>
<p>So, while I’d certainly cast a wide net, I’d also recommend the opposite - develop a/some clear definitions of the types of work you want to do, and in what type of industry, and communicate that in your resume/cover letter. The point being that you plan to be in it for the long-haul.</p>
<p>It’s a fine line - you don’t want to be too restrictive, and you don’t want to sound too rigid. But you want to communicate that you’re not looking for a “job”, but a “career”, and you’re not the type, for example, to go through a six-month training program, then immediately leave for a 5% raise somewhere else (have seen that many, many times.) </p>
<p>And finally, that work ethic - it’s dangerous to show you’ve done nothing for six months - while I don’t suggest you take just anything, try to find something to do, even if it’ just volunteer work (though I’d probably avoid anything too polarizing, like political campaigns - I mean, if you want to do it, fine, but putting it on your resume has an equal chance of hurting your prospects as helping.) </p>
<p>Look at it this way - if two people came in for a job, with identical degrees from the same university, both have been looking for employment for a year, and one of them spent a year in TFA, or joined the Army Reserves, or spent a year as a missionary, or worked as a laborer or garbageman, the other spent a year living at home, looking for work, playing XBox, and hanging out, who do you think will get hired? </p>
<p>Part-time retail jobs won’t be your friend, here, but I’d rather be able to tell a corporate recruiter that:</p>
<p>“Collecting garbage is obviously not my career goal, but until I find someone who’ll give me a chance, it’s honest work, and I’m just not the kind of person who can just sit at home feeling sorry for myself. The world doesn’t owe me a living, and I’m willing to work hard for what I want.” </p>
<p>than saying something like: " I don’t want to take a job that’s beneath me."</p>