Job Hunt Thread

[mr_genius]

I finally got a job offer!!! Well that only took 23 months. I'll be starting in about three weeks. Yeah!!! Thank God that the stress of the hunt is over!

 

congrats! must be one heck of a relief.

 

[dasox24]

Is it too early to apply for jobs now if I graduate in may? Will companies even read past that part on my resume or cover letter? I'm not getting as much interest as I thought i'd get... Not trying to sound cocky.

Absolutely not. I've been applying for jobs since February and have gotten quite a few interviews over the last 2-3 weeks because of it.

[StrangeSox]

I finally got a job offer!!! Well that only took 23 months. I'll be starting in about three weeks. Yeah!!! Thank God that the stress of the hunt is over!

 

 

'grats!

[StrangeSox]

Is it too early to apply for jobs now if I graduate in may? Will companies even read past that part on my resume or cover letter? I'm not getting as much interest as I thought i'd get... Not trying to sound cocky.

 

absolutely not. this was before everything in the economy went to s***, but I already had a job lined up by this point in my last semester.

[SnB]

Is it too early to apply for jobs now if I graduate in may? Will companies even read past that part on my resume or cover letter? I'm not getting as much interest as I thought i'd get... Not trying to sound cocky.

 

no way, the goal is to have a job lined up before graduation. I had my offer in the first semester of my senior year.

[Whitewashed in '05]

no way, the goal is to have a job lined up before graduation. I had my offer in the first semester of my senior year.

That's definitely my plan. I've been stepping up my efforts lately, hopefully it pays off. I've been applying mostly out of state (Los Angeles area).

[The Beast]

I have a friend who work for Red Frog. She gets to travel all over the world and plan fun events. She loves it there, and it does sound like an awesome job with some great perks.

They are also an organization that will allow an intern to learn different facets of the job and actually do things to learn some skills. It is paid and doesn't require the student to obtain college credit.

 

Groupon is also on my list to apply to. These Chicago based start-ups or small businesses with a presence in Chicago is starting to really intrigue me and want to go after these jobs.

[dasox24]

I've worked for Boeing; very good company in the grand scheme of things. In addition to what others have been saying, I will point out a few items. On the job requisition, there should be a section that outlines the skills and competencies they are looking for in potential hires for the given position. This may seem like common sense, but if you are able to describe, in detail, exactly how you fulfill/exceed those competencies, you will have a leg up. I'm not really sure how much you'll get probed about your technical knowledge, that kind of depends on the job and the interviewer. Obviously, you should know your stuff, but a lot of times, the assumption is that if you've graduated from a reputable program, its an entry level position, you had a good GPA, etc, then you will most likely have sufficient technical know-how.

 

But you will absolutely get behavior-based interview questions. In fact, the interview could essentially be composed of nothing but behavior based questions. So, with that being the case, I would have 5-10 good experiences that you are proficient in describing, and being able to tailor those stories to multiple different types of questions. Do your best to "click" with the interviewer - that is another huge component of the interview that could be a deciding factor in the hiring decision.

 

To my knowledge, most of the hiring in the company right now is for positions in Seattle and South Carolina. St. Louis has been up and down, as you can probably imagine, with the type of work they are doing out there. It sounds like you have good internship experience, so be sure to sell that as much as you can. Good Luck!

Thanks for the detailed response, especially since I know you're not posting much these days (but good to see you still active). That was really helpful. I definitely already have at least 6-7 really good experiences from GE that I can talk thoroughly about that I kind of tailor to different questions, so I should be pretty prepared in that aspect.

Edited March 28, 2011 by dasox24

[NorthSideSox72]

The age old IT conundrum...the problem with the IT industry is experience trumps education...always has, and this is a problem. You will often see IT jobs go to people without degrees, simply because they knew the right person to give the hands on experience.

I don't think that's a problem at all - I agree with that philosophy, when we are talking about people who have been in the workplace for a while. If some person has 10+ years of experience, I really could care less whether or not they have a degree, or what it was in. Its a minor factor at that level.

 

Now, if you are looking to high someone more junior, then obviously their education is key.

 

I tend to favor a hybrid strategy with hiring in IT. Bringing in a bunch of young folks with just a degree or mininal experience, who are cheap and who you can train quickly into your company's way of doing things... and mixing in some experienced hands who know the industr(ies) they are coding for. For the former, degree and academic training are everything. For the latter, it is minimal to nothing.

 

[Y2HH]

I don't think that's a problem at all - I agree with that philosophy, when we are talking about people who have been in the workplace for a while. If some person has 10+ years of experience, I really could care less whether or not they have a degree, or what it was in. Its a minor factor at that level.

 

Now, if you are looking to high someone more junior, then obviously their education is key.

 

I tend to favor a hybrid strategy with hiring in IT. Bringing in a bunch of young folks with just a degree or mininal experience, who are cheap and who you can train quickly into your company's way of doing things... and mixing in some experienced hands who know the industr(ies) they are coding for. For the former, degree and academic training are everything. For the latter, it is minimal to nothing.

 

It's a long standing problem in IT from the point of view of the college graduate (is what I meant), especially in my area. I work with firewalls and perimeter security, and getting into this area of focus was pure luck as I had no prior experience with firewalls. Nobody will even think about hiring a security engineer without experience, and there are no "junior" level security positions...at least there have been none of them at any company I've ever worked for...and being able to get experience is next to impossible unless someone decides to teach you.

 

I don't necessarily disagree with it, it is what it is...experience trumps education. But that said, it's a problem for college graduates in the IT industry...because it's one of the few industries that really doesn't care about college degrees...and it never really has. Counter example, you'll never meet a dentist, doctor, chemist, etc...without a college degree.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Y2HH

[nitetrain8601]

It's a long standing problem in IT from the point of view of the college graduate (is what I meant), especially in my area. I work with firewalls and perimeter security, and getting into this area of focus was pure luck as I had no prior experience with firewalls. Nobody will even think about hiring a security engineer without experience, and there are no "junior" level security positions...at least there have been none of them at any company I've ever worked for...and being able to get experience is next to impossible unless someone decides to teach you.

 

I don't necessarily disagree with it, it is what it is...experience trumps education. But that said, it's a problem for college graduates in the IT industry...because it's one of the few industries that really doesn't care about college degrees...and it never really has. Counter example, you'll never meet a dentist, doctor, chemist, etc...without a college degree.

 

For someone like me, it blows because I find it really hard to breakthrough the IT industry. Really really hard. That and Information Systems.

[bmags]

Counter example, you'll never meet a dentist, doctor, chemist, etc...without a college degree.

 

They formed cartels.

[bigruss]

For someone like me, it blows because I find it really hard to breakthrough the IT industry. Really really hard. That and Information Systems.

Honestly, Im kind of shocked by this. Even after I received my offer for an internship last summer I was still being begged by professors and career services to apply for internships, companies were desperate for IT interns.

 

I know that the company that hired me is increasing from 6 IT interns to 14 this summer, with only myself being carried over, so there were 13 slots open.

 

And I am not a technical person, that is not what I am interested in and is not my specialty, and that was pretty much made clear in all of my interviews with my hiring company, they took me because of my business knowledge and leadership experiences. Most of the software/applications I used (SAP R/3, Novell IDM) were never going to be taught in the classroom anyways. The manager that pulled me from the applicant list did so because I had many other skills to offer besides being technically strong, and one thing he mentioned to me was that he can train me in whatever technical area they need to, that's what getting a 4 yr degree proves, that you can learn. Some companies look for interns just to be cheap programmers, etc, and that isn't for me.

[bigruss]

Thanks for the detailed response, especially since I know you're not posting much these days (but good to see you still active). That was really helpful. I definitely already have at least 6-7 really good experiences from GE that I can talk thoroughly about that I kind of tailor to different questions, so I should be pretty prepared in that aspect.

Any luck with the company that we spoke about last semester? We could always use another Sox fan!

[Y2HH]

Honestly, Im kind of shocked by this. Even after I received my offer for an internship last summer I was still being begged by professors and career services to apply for internships, companies were desperate for IT interns.

 

I know that the company that hired me is increasing from 6 IT interns to 14 this summer, with only myself being carried over, so there were 13 slots open.

 

And I am not a technical person, that is not what I am interested in and is not my specialty, and that was pretty much made clear in all of my interviews with my hiring company, they took me because of my business knowledge and leadership experiences. Most of the software/applications I used (SAP R/3, Novell IDM) were never going to be taught in the classroom anyways. The manager that pulled me from the applicant list did so because I had many other skills to offer besides being technically strong, and one thing he mentioned to me was that he can train me in whatever technical area they need to, that's what getting a 4 yr degree proves, that you can learn. Some companies look for interns just to be cheap programmers, etc, and that isn't for me.

 

I interned at City Hall for 3 months in their IT department.

 

Talk about witnessing "waste". Simple jobs would take 3-4 people to do, like changing a printer toner cartridge (and I'm not kidding), and I'm also not counting the Interns that tailed along with the 3-4 people performing the work, watching them to "learn the trade".

 

I only took that internship because I had too for a class...I was already working at an ISP (Internet Service Provider) startup, and stayed there after I graduated...

[bigruss]

I interned at City Hall for 3 months in their IT department.

 

Talk about witnessing "waste". Simple jobs would take 3-4 people to do, like changing a printer toner cartridge (and I'm not kidding), and I'm also not counting the Interns that tailed along with the 3-4 people performing the work, watching them to "learn the trade".

 

I only took that internship because I had too for a class...I was already working at an ISP (Internet Service Provider) startup, and stayed there after I graduated...

Wow, that really is incredible that they let it get that way, and that interns were put into those situations (they must've been bored out of their minds).

[Y2HH]

Wow, that really is incredible that they let it get that way, and that interns were put into those situations (they must've been bored out of their minds).

 

That's the way the public works...works. If a department is budgeted X dollars, if they don't spend X dollars in that fiscal year, they don't get that budget next year...ergo, they spend it all even if it's not necessary. For example, if they're given $2,000,000 for employee salaries, they'll spend every dime, or they won't get $2,000,000 next year. The same goes for just about every City department.

 

Technically, this isn't called 'waste' by their definition...because they're using the money to it's fullest.

 

My father in law worked for Streets and San for decades. When the government bailouts came, Chicago used the money they received to buy a fleet of trucks for Streets & San, only the best part about it was they didn't need any...because they rent the entire fleet. So, every truck they bought...sitting in lots, unused. Meanwhile, they continue to pay out the rental money to the truck rental company. But if you ask them, that's not waste, because a day may come when they need those trucks...but in the mean time they rust away, unused, in a lot. Bah. Until you mentioned Internships, I had forgotten all about my nightmare at City Hall, and everything I got to see my tax dollars NOT doing.

[bigruss]

That's the way the public works...works. If a department is budgeted X dollars, if they don't spend X dollars in that fiscal year, they don't get that budget next year...ergo, they spend it all even if it's not necessary. For example, if they're given $2,000,000 for employee salaries, they'll spend every dime, or they won't get $2,000,000 next year. The same goes for just about every City department.

 

Technically, this isn't called 'waste' by their definition...because they're using the money to it's fullest.

 

My father in law worked for Streets and San for decades. When the government bailouts came, Chicago used the money they received to buy a fleet of trucks for Streets & San, only the best part about it was they didn't need any...because they rent the entire fleet. So, every truck they bought...sitting in lots, unused. Meanwhile, they continue to pay out the rental money to the truck rental company. But if you ask them, that's not waste, because a day may come when they need those trucks...but in the mean time they rust away, unused, in a lot. Bah. Until you mentioned Internships, I had forgotten all about my nightmare at City Hall, and everything I got to see my tax dollars NOT doing.

Ha, yea I can totally see that happening. The amount of waste and ridiculous spending that I saw in University Housing was always astounding to me. And people always wondered why they had to pay so much to live in the dorms, or why each meal cost so much. There were way to many workers, even during dinner rushers, that just stood around not doing anything and wouldn't even answer a question or help you, and they are either getting paid about $9 an hour if they are a student, or on a $30k or so salary.

[Iwritecode]

Honestly, Im kind of shocked by this. Even after I received my offer for an internship last summer I was still being begged by professors and career services to apply for internships, companies were desperate for IT interns.

 

I know that the company that hired me is increasing from 6 IT interns to 14 this summer, with only myself being carried over, so there were 13 slots open.

 

And I am not a technical person, that is not what I am interested in and is not my specialty, and that was pretty much made clear in all of my interviews with my hiring company, they took me because of my business knowledge and leadership experiences. Most of the software/applications I used (SAP R/3, Novell IDM) were never going to be taught in the classroom anyways. The manager that pulled me from the applicant list did so because I had many other skills to offer besides being technically strong, and one thing he mentioned to me was that he can train me in whatever technical area they need to, that's what getting a 4 yr degree proves, that you can learn. Some companies look for interns just to be cheap programmers, etc, and that isn't for me.

 

I got my first programming job 6 months before I even got my 2-year degree. I learned more about programming at that job than I ever would have in school. In fact, I learned a couple of programming languages that I never even knew existed.

 

I think I got really lucky in the fact that the company was willing to hire and train me that early though.

[Y2HH]

I got my first programming job 6 months before I even got my 2-year degree. I learned more about programming at that job than I ever would have in school. In fact, I learned a couple of programming languages that I never even knew existed.

 

I think I got really lucky in the fact that the company was willing to hire and train me that early though.

 

Programming sucks.

[Iwritecode]

Programming sucks.

 

Somebody has to do it. Plus it pays the bills.

[dasox24]

Any luck with the company that we spoke about last semester? We could always use another Sox fan!

Unfortunately, no. They've already filled all of their supply chain positions... It's looking like Atlanta is a pretty likely destination for me.

[bigruss]

Unfortunately, no. They've already filled all of their supply chain positions... It's looking like Atlanta is a pretty likely destination for me.

That's too bad, but goodluck wherever you end up!

[nitetrain8601]

Somebody has to do it. Plus it pays the bills.

 

I'm interested in where you started working to gain experience. Even internships. It's tough trying to break through and I'm graduating next year for Database Management. I love doing other things in IT and IS, but DM has a lot of programming and I also want to dabble in programming if I want to do other things that are closely related.

[Iwritecode]

I'm interested in where you started working to gain experience. Even internships. It's tough trying to break through and I'm graduating next year for Database Management. I love doing other things in IT and IS, but DM has a lot of programming and I also want to dabble in programming if I want to do other things that are closely related.

 

I worked at a magazine fulfillment company in a little town about 30 miles south of Rockford. They handled the subscriptions for a number of different magazines. They've since merged with another company and moved most of their operations to Florida.

 

I think my experience was more of a "right place, right time" kind of thing. Although I did beat out 8 other candidates so I must have done something right. I was in school with two people that already worked there at the time but I didn't even find that out until after I started so I can't say if that made a difference or not.

 

I had taken a some COBOL and RPG classes in college which were really similar to the languages they used. Plus I was only 20 at the time. So I guess they figured I would be a good person to come in, learn the company and stay a long time.