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Just Sunday I did my commencement and walked across the stage. And now that the heat-stroke is gone and my hangover is gone. I need to start looking for a job. Some of you may remember the waterpark thing from a few months ago, where they said they would promote me if I came back. Well they didn't. they found out I was graduating, Figured I wouldnt stay long and gave it to someone else.
So, i need some advice. I have only worked retail my entire life. Didnt have the time for internships or the money. Not only but I heard internships do not factor much into howhire able you are. I'm nost and im not sure what to do. I look at Monster or Indeed, and all the jobs in my field have additional requirements that I do not have.
I know networking was important, but the problem is im not sure. Im thinking of tapping the resource of all the older professionals I met through 40k, Because I heard that it tends to not be good friends that get you jobs, but weak connections. Friends of friends, parents of friends.

Networking is the best way. Or be prepared to relocate anywhere across the country.

Congrats on graduation!

What degree did you earn?

Do you want to work in the same field as your degree, or do simply want a 9-5 position that requires a bachelor's degree to get your foot in the door?

I am in the process of job hunting and there are sites/apps that are making that process a little easier. Glassdoor and Indeed.com are two good ones to check out.

Read up on resume writing and cover letter writing and keep templates of those documents so that you can quickly alter them to the specifics of each job posting you are applying to.

I got a degree in Sociology. And Im hoping to work in a field that fits it, eventually atleast

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I got a degree in Sociology. And Im hoping to work in a field that fits it, eventually atleast

Not sure if you've seen this, but there might be some useful information.

http://www.bhsu.edu/academics/programsmajors/behavioralsciences/sociology/careers/tabid/4810/default.aspx

If your looking for public service to get your foot in the door and start networking, social work is in need of people.

Honestly, continuing education is probably one of the best ways to get a job. You learn new skills and meet people in fields you want to be in. Simply being enrolled in a SQL course got me a job over other candidates that didnt get that background in their normal business education.

https://www.usajobs.gov/

https://jobs.ca.gov/

Work on getting your resume looking the best it can, speak to recruiting firms about finding job placement for you. You have two main things to lean on, you resume (education and experience) and your references (people who will vouch for you). Don't be afraid to apply to jobs in sectors that you don't necessarily fit into but in which you know people. Having somebody vouch for you can get you hired because employers can always teach you skills if they believe you'd be a good employee.

I've heard good and bad things about working for a state in social work. It's a steady career and good job security but working within the state bureaucracy can be just as frustrating and disheartening as trying to work with it from the outside.

Any work is better than no work.

If you're not applying for nearly every job that's better than what you have, you're not being serious in looking for work.

You need to emphasis what separates you from the literally thousands of similar people with no real work experience and a BA in a liberal art.

When applying, look, speak, type, and act professionally. Yes, endless applications and interviews are dehumanizing, but you need to get through them.

if you are unemployed then right now find any job you can, cause the longer you are without a job the worse it looks on your resume, it doesn't matter if its minimum wage, take it, meanwhile still look for a better job, but if you hold out for that perfect job for you, you may be waiting a long, long while.

Have someone proof read your resume and cover letter.

It helps to have someone else find and catch spelling mistakes and poor wording.

Apply to jobs, even if you don't have every qualification. You never know.

Look at jobs outside your field, but in a related one. Again, you never know.

Monster.com, careerbuilder.com, anything, really. Also, check out local education sites for jobs.

Even if it looks like a headhunter posted it, talk to them, too. If you don't qualify for the current listing, you can bet they have a drawer full of jobs that their department/company is working on that might fit you.

Best of luck, fether!

 kronk wrote:


Apply to jobs, even if you don't have every qualification. You never know.

This is super legit advice. Just go for it. Sometimes they'll have the requirements you don't meet but they decide they still want YOU at their company and will work with you.

Do you maybe have any teachers that might know people in the field or recruiters for companies in the field? I feel pretty lucky about it, but one of my teachers was sending my and my classmates resumes out for us, to places he knew were hiring or looking for interns. I just graduated too, and I've got my foot in the door thanks to that guy.

Best of luck man!

BossJakadakk wrote:

 kronk wrote:


Apply to jobs, even if you don't have every qualification. You never know.

This is super legit advice. Just go for it. Sometimes they'll have the requirements you don't meet but they decide they still want YOU at their company and will work with you.

Do you maybe have any teachers that might know people in the field or recruiters for companies in the field? I feel pretty lucky about it, but one of my teachers was sending my and my classmates resumes out for us, to places he knew were hiring or looking for interns. I just graduated too, and I've got my foot in the door thanks to that guy.

Best of luck man!

problem with that is employers now a days have the advantage of being picky about who they hire, back in say the 80's? that was not the case, if you were breathing you could get a job, sometimes if you were not, now a days it is all about experience, you can have the schooling but if you don't have the experience your chances are low and sometimes you have to work up from within the company. right now while hes sending resumes to those hopeful jobs he should get a real job for now, since longer he goes unemployed the worst his chances of getting hired are, when I looked at resumes and did hiring or interviews I looked at work history, didn't care if it was in the field I was hiring for or not, if I saw someone who was unemployed for a year or two and not in college or anything that would tell me they are not serious about working, since a serious worker will work any job just to have a job.

Also it doesn't matter who you know most of times unless you know the owner, recommendations are taken into consideration, but if the experience and job skills are not there will look at someone who has those. Employers can be picky, so if looking for work you have to give them a reason to look and take notice of you.

Make sure you check the governmental agency sites for job postings; even if it's a crap-job or one you're not interested in, once you're working there, you usually can get the first crack at new openings. I know several social workers that started out as job coaches (for which, the pay is lousey, even for my field). And they only had to suffer through entry-level positions for a few months.

Best of luck!

My best advice is be the friendly guy. It took a while to get it through my thick skull that my resume loaded with my accomplishments would only get me to the interview. Have something to talk about. Sports is a good topic with male interviewers. Don't sound desperate and be ready to not sound like every other guy they interviewed.

You may have to do some free internship work while working another job to break into your chosen field. It sucks, but my free slave labor internships got me the experience to land my job. And be nice to the secretaries. A smart supervisor always asks the secretary's impression.

Sociology, eh?

Interesting choice!

One avenue that you could look at would be marketing/advertising.

Lets face it..sociology is the study of society.

Few companies have such an impact upon society as advertising/marketing firms..seriously.

You can (or could) show a direct impact your degree can have upon the company in a positive manner (obviously).

Just something to think about.

While I agree with casting a very wide net for finding employers, I'd temper it with making sure you do you research as well. Don't get saddled into a miserable job just because they were the first people to say yes.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I got a degree in Sociology. And Im hoping to work in a field that fits it, eventually atleast

So...back to retail?

 redleger wrote:
If your looking for public service to get your foot in the door and start networking

So much this. Out of all the jobs I've ever landed, I only got one where I didn't know someone who helped me get in the door.

Also, do practice interviews with people. It makes a huge difference.

Asterios wrote:

Also it doesn't matter who you know most of times unless you know the owner,

<--- Hiring manager for 10 years.

The above advice is bs. Ignore it.

Hiring managers, employees of the hiring manager, and even a secretary (er, admin assistant) can land you a seat in front of an interviewer.

Network. Call people you know, ask friends of friends and families and neighbors. Make sure people know you're looking. You never know.
Apply to jobs. Talk to Recruiters you find on career builder and monster.com. You might not be qualified for the job they posted, but they may have other jobs. <--- This is how I found my current job.
Practice interviewing.
Polish your resume.

Use it as a base to go get a masters or doctorate in something useful. Jobs are few and far between for sociology degrees. Most people get them or similar degrees to use as stepping stones for their masters and doctorates. While a masters might get you in the 40-50s bracket, I know friends of mine who continued with it to their doctorates who are making well into the 6 figures.

Otherwise you will likely be joining the 75% of post collage students who do not work in their field of study and using your diploma only as proof that you can learn and put up with 4 years of school.

Most actual job advice above has been good. Putting in for everything you see is good advice. I would be putting out 5-10 resumes a day. USA jobs.gov is great but without a military background, you will be the under dog for any job that comes up. That said, sociology isn't a common degree for vets and I have had friends who intentionally got weird science degree and received call backs from USAjobs for appropriate jobs.

Go where the money is. Someone who has concreted their feet into the ground will not be very successful in finding a decent job. If its a decent job but requires you to move to Timbuktu, especially a government job, do it. You can always transfer and have a leg up on others once you are in the system and pass your probation period.

http://www.goarmy.com

They'll get your foot in the door, and if you can swing an Airborne slot they'll get your foot out the door too!



Get a Linked In profile going. 'Connect' with friends and friends of friends. Have a base resume, but be willing to tailor it (and your cover letter) to specific jobs/companies. Often the scum bags in HR only use automated tools to get their first batch of resumes and if you don't have The Key Word in your resume it gets skipped.

If you get called for an interview, do some research on the company before you go. Know a bit about what they do and how they do it and try to work some of that into your interview, "For example, you guys work a lot with X which really interests me, I find your research showing X is responsible for .... fascinating and would love to help continue that trend"

Rehearse your interviews. Guess what they may ask you and have go to answers. Have go to examples of stuff you have done that you can then shoehorn into answers for surprise questions.

If you have piercings that show in work clothes (especially facial), grow up and get rid of them.

Any help I can provide, PM me.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I look at Monster or Indeed, and all the jobs in my field have additional requirements that I do not have.

Find out if there is any way you can get those requirements. If not apply anyway. It is vary rare you get someone with all of the requirments, and most of the time when you do it is someone who is over qualified and you know will be looking to move on. Most job adverts are written by people who have no idea what they want, so just use a cut down job description.

Oh yeah. Present a professional appearance. Get normal colored hair, get rid of the Mohawk cover tattoos and get rid of facial jewelry. Like Jake says, time to grow up. Dress one step higher than the job you are going for. If they wear button up shirts and a tie, you wear a coat.

As far as your resume goes, tailor it for the job you are applying for. No one cares if you were in the slam poetry club in high school. If you are applying to work at a social workers position, detailing your experience with pulling cable with an electronics company is just wasting paper and time to read(if they bother).

Cover letter especially needs to be tailored. Find out what the job does. In government that's a little easier, everyone knows everyone, especially in my field(Comms). My boss told a story how he got a GS15 position in DC. He studied the building and found out about much of the utilities and how they function and researched them. Then was able to mention having knowledge on how the such and such equipment operated and how his knowledge of such would be valuable. The cover letter is selling you. How can you benefit that company specifically?

What do you actually want to do? I decided what I wanted to do and got degrees and training and experience to get that job.

If you know what you want to 'do' then you can find out what is needed to get into that position and go that way.

Getting a degree in something random and then hoping to trip over a job doesn't seem wise.

Well, some strategies I found with a few twists with our networked age:

Make yourself easily found and nice to see if found.
- Google yourself, see what there is to be found about you, if the employer is interested, they will look.
- Make sure your facebook page is looking "professional" for visitors.
- Ensure you have a LinkedIn profile and it is up to date.
- Deal with any areas on the net you would look less than great.

Networking
- Now that you have how your look online sanitized, let people know you are looking.
- Post it on your social media, talk to friends and associates, if they like you, they will report back if they hear anything.
- Do not be afraid to register with job placement companies: a couple of my permanent jobs were found through them. Be polite and treat them as partners.
- Setup profiles at job search sites like Monster. They find data in local advertisements that is easier than you hitting all the local means of job postings.
- Talk to acquaintances you have a rapport with, I got all kinds of leads from a guy I know who owns a coffee shop: he hears all kinds of things.
General Notes:
- Cold calls/visits can be difficult, but visiting a local company and chatting-up the reception is worthwhile a good lead-in is "I live in the area and am looking for work, do you have any positions posted for XXXXXX?". They are people too and reception is a combination of boring and meeting rude people so be polite or be ignored.

Day to day.
- Get up and get ready every day like to go to school or work.
- Set aside a time of the day to review postings and opportunities.
- Many adult learning centers, job placement companies and colleges offer training to upgrade your skills.
- I learned an advanced level of MS Excel use and it always was of interest and got used heavily in every job I have been in.
- Some database and statistical side-skills would be helpful to have.

Since you are low on experience, ensure as many learned skills you have are listed first, then the job experience on the resume.
I am speaking from my own experiences and some discussions I have had with our HR in the past.

Good Luck!

And if you have Facebook....make sure you clean up your profile and make things provate, remove tags to unsavory pics, etc.

Employers do check FB to see what kind of person you portray to the world.

What do people think about temp agencies?

 kronk wrote:

Asterios wrote:

Also it doesn't matter who you know most of times unless you know the owner,

<--- Hiring manager for 10 years.

The above advice is bs. Ignore it.

Hiring managers, employees of the hiring manager, and even a secretary (er, admin assistant) can land you a seat in front of an interviewer.

obviously you did not see what I wrote, go back and read it. right after that part. where I said recommendations are considered, but if the skills are not there, no go, sorry but in todays world the less training a job has to do the better, they want someone they can throw in the deep end and will float without wasting valuable time having to babysit them.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
What do people think about temp agencies?

Employers love them, they get the workers for same price they pay their employees without the headaches of medical and such, employees hate it, they work for half of what the regular employees are making.

Col. Dash wrote:

As far as your resume goes, tailor it for the job you are applying for. No one cares if you were in the slam poetry club in high school. If you are applying to work at a social workers position, detailing your experience with pulling cable with an electronics company is just wasting paper and time to read(if they bother).

But definitely still include something about an unrelated job/club if you need to fill the resume. Don't leave a lot of blank space, but still keep it concise and to the point. Using the above example, if you need something else to put on the resume, put a spin on it that will apply to the job you're trying to get. Such as what kind of people skills or time management or maybe even supervisory things you had to utilize in the electronics company. I still have a blurb from retail on my resume and it has nothing to do with my current field (the job that is), but the skills I learned there regarding leadership and time management and working with clients are relevant no matter where I go.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 CptJake wrote:

If you get called for an interview, do some research on the company before you go. Know a bit about what they do and how they do it and try to work some of that into your interview, "For example, you guys work a lot with X which really interests me, I find your research showing X is responsible for .... fascinating and would love to help continue that trend"

Rehearse your interviews. Guess what they may ask you and have go to answers. Have go to examples of stuff you have done that you can then shoehorn into answers for surprise questions.

This is also great stuff. If you walk into an interview and ask them questions about their company, that's going to stand out, because you're showing interest in the COMPANY and not just the JOB.

Oh, and stay positive! Some places won't call you back after an interview, and that's okay! Call those practice.