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They aren't putting irrelevant jobs, irrelevant volunteer work, or jobs that they were laid off from in less than a year/month/week. If I put down everything that I had done in my spare time, relevant or not, including education.... the only times where I was unemployed and not "doing anything" was during summer vacation in college and the last 3 weeks.
But no, I have to put relevant information, relevant education, and relevant volunteer work. Hence why my job history is all of a sudden "spotty" and I have "huge gaps" when in reality I have been pretty damn busy most of the time.
It's certainly tough out there. It took me until last year to land a good job four years after graduating in 2010. Especially until 2012, I got rejection after rejection.
The sad thing is that takes experience to get experience, and once you have quality experience, your ability to get better paying jobs seems easy. Until you get the first of that right kind of experience, you're placed in with all the others who have nothing to distinguish them from anyone else. The longer it takes to get a break, the more likely it is you'll be passed over for the most recent grads.
They aren't putting irrelevant jobs, irrelevant volunteer work, or jobs that they were laid off from in less than a year/month/week. If I put down everything that I had done in my spare time, relevant or not, including education.... the only times where I was unemployed and not "doing anything" was during summer vacation in college and the last 3 weeks.
But no, I have to put relevant information, relevant education, and relevant volunteer work. Hence why my job history is all of a sudden "spotty" and I have "huge gaps" when in reality I have been pretty damn busy most of the time.
If it doesn't apply at all and is just plain immaterial, don't list it unless it is the bulk of experience you have. I held a job I was fired from for six months and a temp job for three weeks I don't put on my resume. I've rarely been asked about the gap, and it didn't prevent my current offer.
One reason is that its very difficult to get an entry-level job unless you had that specific internship. If you don't get that internship, you are screwed.
Many "entry-level" jobs require experience that recent graduates don't have. The only way to get the experience is someone basically taking a chance on you or if you have a connection.
Every month that goes by that someone isn't employed, it makes it even harder. An employer will reject you based on this, wondering why this person is unemployed and it becomes an endless cycle.
1) I would think you'd want to list irrelevant work if it is all you have instead listing literally nothing.
2) I don't think you can say it is luck or just knowing someone as if nobody has any ability to get a job based on their merits. The first "real" job I had in high school: I was indeed hired at an office at 17, in 2004 (shock, awe) with no previous experience. No, I didn't know anyone (besides, why is that so bad? Everybody knows somebody, so why can't you work that to advantage instead of complaining about it?).
I was told that they were interested in me from my resume hitting the right points that none of the other resumes mentioned, and ones that I thought would have been obvious. For example, this office worked with sensitive client information, and they told me I was the only candidate to mention a concern for confidentiality. They also mentioned that they liked that I delivered my resume in person and introduced myself, which no one else did. In fact, being obviously eager and interested is what employers said caught their attention and got me a job several times.
I figured everyone is probably just as excited like that so I was lucky... But now being on the other end I am not so sure. Being able to seize opportunities does have some degree of serendipity, but you can't say that is the whole of it.
I called one of these "no experience but lots of education" people for an internship interview and she never returned the call. Later I asked a mutual acquaintance who originally told me about her (those horrible, cheater connections) why she hadn't responded and she told me it was because she was scared to interview and felt she didn't really need a job, but she lives with her parents and hasn't worked at all in two years.
The person I did select had no releveant experience and was still in college, yet she listed her cashier jobs and extracurriculars that showed me she was a passionate and dedicated person, which also came across in the interview. And she was great. And now she has job experience before she's graduated, and is looking for even more work after that internship ended.
So, I don't know, seems more like a red flag to me. Or at least an orange one. For serious.
It's certainly tough out there. It took me until last year to land a good job four years after graduating in 2010. Especially until 2012, I got rejection after rejection.
The sad thing is that takes experience to get experience, and once you have quality experience, your ability to get better paying jobs seems easy. Until you get the first of that rightkind of experience, you're placed in with all the others who have nothing to distinguish them from anyone else. The longer it takes to get a break, the more likely it is you'll be passed over for the most recent grads.
I get the sense you have a narrow definition of what you can do to be relevant to an employer. That is a bit self-defeating.
Even with experience office jobs ARE NOT HIRING for secretaries, administrative people and accounts payable people as individual jobs but now you have to be some hybrid super worker and do 3 jobs in one.
That's funny, the ones I hire can't do any of the 3 jobs they say they can do. The ones who can, cost $80,000 a year plus benefits and a pension contribution.
I always reiterate that college is not a glorified trade school.
While that might be true, you can still gain technical skills that can be put on a resume.
One person we interviewed listed his degree and GPA, but nothing else on his resume that related to his area of emphasis in college for which he wanted work. When asked what his goals were when earning his degree, he literally said in the interview, "I didn't really have one."
It is surprising how many people just list their education and don't relate what they were actually doing for those four years when they have little work history. What skills did you pick up in college, did you work on any special projects, did you work for the school at all, did you do any research under a professor, what classes did you take? I am realizing how important all that really is... Because looking at resumes, I don't want to wonder what the heck that person has been doing for the past ten years and come away with no answers.
I was in a position to hire an intern a while ago and viewed quite a few resumes. I am also involved in a hiring process where I am viewing more resumes. This is for work that requires a degree. What has been sort of confusing is why so many resumes from younger people list a degree, and almost no employment, save part time work or summer jobs, even if they have been out of college for two, three, four years.
Is this an unpaid internship? Then it is quite obvious that most of your candidates will be pretty weak, because good candidates can get paid employment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basilide
2) I don't think you can say it is luck or just knowing someone as if nobody has any ability to get a job based on their merits. The first "real" job I had in high school: I was indeed hired at an office at 17, in 2004 (shock, awe) with no previous experience. No, I didn't know anyone (besides, why is that so bad? Everybody knows somebody, so why can't you work that to advantage instead of complaining about it?).
The market was a lot better in 2004, you wouldn't be able to do the same today, and it would be even harder if you tried to do the same in 2010.
Quote:
I was told that they were interested in me from my resume hitting the right points that none of the other resumes mentioned, and ones that I thought would have been obvious. For example, this office worked with sensitive client information, and they told me I was the only candidate to mention a concern for confidentiality. They also mentioned that they liked that I delivered my resume in person and introduced myself, which no one else did.
Well, the first was mostly luck. If someone else had said the same, they might have gotten the job instead of you. The second is no longer possible, as companies have started to lock themselves in, and do not like outside visitors.
But apart from this, you are right. It is a clear red flag to be unemployed for longer than 5 months, because they don't use their time in a valuable manner. They need to do something apart from applying for jobs, learn some new skills, take an internship, or at least get a service job while applying for jobs.
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The first "real" job I had in high school: I was indeed hired at an office at 17, in 2004 (shock, awe) with no previous experience. No, I didn't know anyone (besides, why is that so bad? Everybody knows somebody, so why can't you work that to advantage instead of complaining about it?).
