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Status:
"Mistress of finance and foods."
(set 14 days ago)
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,975 posts, read 63,287,500 times
Reputation: 92424
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The few recent grads I know have gotten jobs with the firms they co-oped for, right after they graduated. Neither stayed there, but they were able to get their toe in right away.
From either experience or your knowledge of others, on average how long did it take a recent college graduate (say within the last 5 to 10 years) to land their first job out of graduation?
I was a law school graduate. It took me twelve months after taking the bar exam (and fifteen months after graduation) to find a professional position, doing purchasing and acquisition for a federal agency. I'm not currently practicing law, although I do have a law license.
If you've been unemployed for two months and your Mom is harassing you... just understand that's the nature of mom's. Mine harassed me endlessly, to the point where I stopped talking to her for weeks at a time. She kept saying I should get a job at Starbucks, at gas stations, etc, and it drove me nuts.
Why do they have to do that? I'm assuming that should've been done prior to being hired as a temp. It's like you need to go through the same hoops that should've been taken care of in the first place
Georgia-Pacific has a policy were human resources has to post the job on their public site for 2 weeks even though the manager already has someone for the position. I was employed through aerotek: the staffing company that Georgia-Pacific uses to recruit its new hires in the chemical division so they did the background check. Now that they are hiring me directly HR has to do another background check. When I first interviewed with GP I did not have to go through HR. I did my interviews with the R&D manager and 2 research scientists. All I have to do know is wait till August 15th and GP can give my official employee badge with my picture on it.
If you have a CS degree and don't get callbacks on at least half the positions to which you apply, either your resume is poor or you went to a junk school. It is really that hot out there for this line of work. There are companies that are paying teachable students to attend coding bootcamps in order to place them in full-time jobs afterward. If you have an actual degree and can solve technical questions in an interview (this is where I assume most C.S. grads fail and bounce out of the interview process) then you should have zero difficulty finding work, even in less populated areas of the country.
I know two computer science grads from my school. I went to Georgia State University in Atlanta. It's not the university of Georgia, Georgia Tech, or Emory but it's a decent state university. Both of my friends who were computer science grads at my university found jobs before or 2 months after graduation here in Atlanta. One did a internship for NCR and was hired on directly through that company after he graduated. The other one did an internship for Home Depot and they did not offer him a full time position but he got a job with State Farm as a system analyst early July and he graduated in May. It all depends on your location. Atlanta is a hot area for computer science grads so they have no problem finding jobs quickly. Other computer science grads in small cities or towns don't have as many options and probably can't afford to move to another city so they have to apply to local positions in their area. My profession wants you to have a few years of experience under your belt before they consider you for a junior or mid level chemist role. According to pay scale Atlanta is actually one of the best market for chemists salary wise. Chemists in Atlanta get paid 25% more than the national average salary for chemists but that is for mid career salary not entry level. Most large scale companies hire their brand new chemists in temp to hire positions to avoid a bad hire. So every profession is different and your job opportunities are different for every profession.
Location: Somewhere in a Field of Hopes and Dreams
596 posts, read 624,440 times
Reputation: 683
Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepingnearthesea
Comp Sci is in demand, but there's just so many people, both experienced and new, fighting for the same jobs. If there is one word I could use to describe my experience over the past year then it would be without a doubt "humbling". I never expected the moon, or 60k a year to start, or for the process to be so easy to the point where I would have 10 offers and I could just pick and choose the best from the pile. However, I never thought it would take a year. As I talk with more people like me in this position, the more I realize that it's far more common than I ever realized.
I'm just happy to have a job at this point. I've been looking for so long, and fighting for every interview I can get. Elation is the only word I could use to describe the feeling I had when the recruiter from HP called me to officially extend an offer. I'm not making anything close to what I see some people say they're making straight out of school, but it's good enough, and I can at least begin a career where I can learn and grow.
Congratulations! I'm glad you found something and didn't give up. I don't get why people make assumptions that things would of been easy just because of your degree, EVERYONE and their mother has a degree in Comp Sci, so it isn't all too shocking to me your experience. Still though, I think school helps. I went to a school heavily known for their STEM programs and most did find something right away, but we had many recruiters from your biggest STEM Field Industries come to our school every few months for career fairs.
I'm not familiar with Arkansas, as I'm in a major metropolitan area (think top 3) so that probably played a factor for those too.
Anyway. I'm happy you found something and HP is a pretty good name to put on your resume.
My daughter and a few of her friends were looking for careers in advertising, graduating in 2012. All of them had job offers before graduation from their internships. Their degrees ranged from Psychology/Film to Communications. They lived in a major metropolitan area where advertising agencies were very common.
I understand that you have to start at the bottom and work your way up, but how about not starting beneath the bottom working as a temp. I don't understand why most companies hire recent college grads as temp to hire as a "try before you buy period". If they want to do that, just put the worker on a 90-180 day probation period and if they don't work out just dump the worker. We don't know if the OP is having a difficult time finding a job because he is super picky or not, but I think every recent college grad shouldn't have to work for janitor wages just to get their foot in the door.
"Getting your foot in the door"
I eventually worked for "janitor wages" (sorta right out of school) in an area of interest. That part took months to happen and was word of mouth stuff. I was smart enough to show up on time every day, find something to "piddle with" until after quitting time (just for looks), "sucked up" just a little.. to my very malignant boss, and in 7 months got a lead to a higher paying job (involving a move out of state). There, (now getting paid twice as much) I repeated that "stay late, look involved" thing, used my "maximum state of energy" people have in their 20's thing, and effortlessly got my salary up'd and up'd (without even asking) to twice what they hired me at, in less than 6 months. I was, far as I was concerned, rolling in dough. And to top it off, the worst part of my duties (weekend call) got split with two other people! I never asked for that. Heh...25, and I was in hog heaven.
80% of this was purely coincidental. 20% (I would estimate) was my extra effort. Less than 2% was my plan.
Bottom line: 18 months previously, while slaving in a donut shop, I'd of never ever predicted that.
And, one other thing: Networking is important, but you don't have to do it all yourself. Canoodle the parents, older sibs, relatives, friends, etc. They get around, they talk. Just make a little effort to look well groomed, be sociable with them, do a favor or two if the issue arises, nothing extreme. You'll have the rest of your life to go "hermit" if you want (I did). Your 20's is an important time to look and act as normal as you can. It pays off.
Last edited by TwinbrookNine; 08-02-2015 at 09:03 AM..
Here's the thing about networking, which is used way too loosely. You can network but unless people don't "know you know you," you aren't getting anything over their niece or son's best friend.
Furthermore, many people say they can "get you in," but really only mean they can give your resume to someone in HR(effectively being lost in a pile of 500 applicants.)
It's quite rare when someone actually does what is necessary to BE an effective network. Like bridge a connection, talk you up to the hiring manager, and so on.
That is a p*** poor attitude attitude to take. For many people, it seems like 70% of the game is getting your application pulled out to bypass whatever convoluted software looks for the best candidates.
Few people are willing to say "She's a rockstar" because even if they think you are, if you aren't, or you don't interview well, their credibility is shot. They are happy to get you up to bat but you still have to hit. What you don't understand is that getting called up to bat (having someone put in a word for you at HR) is kind of like being drafted by the baseball team, instead of having to go to a open tryout. Only instead of Major league scouts, you have some Brass Ring or Taleo evaluating you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MMorena
Bless you for the link! I have found a paid internship and I'm happy. I get to travel, I will be paid, and my boss wants to mentor me! It's also for a notable PR firm in a very competitive market. I see this as a good investment despite it being an internship.
I never had the expectation I'd be making close to 6 figures. My question stemmed from my family putting it into my head that I was doomed.
I, like you, did lots of studying on the job market within my desired field and that's why I thought my situation wasn't tooooo abnormal. My family had me starting to think otherwise.
But I'm still gonna look at this link because I can use it for reference.
Thank you
Congrats on the paid internship. Anything paid and in your career path is a good progression.
If you have a CS degree and don't get callbacks on at least half the positions to which you apply, either your resume is poor or you went to a junk school. It is really that hot out there for this line of work. There are companies that are paying teachable students to attend coding bootcamps in order to place them in full-time jobs afterward. If you have an actual degree and can solve technical questions in an interview (this is where I assume most C.S. grads fail and bounce out of the interview process) then you should have zero difficulty finding work, even in less populated areas of the country.
CS degree and had trouble finding a job? thats unheard of?
I would bet someone either had unrealistic expectations , really bad luck, or just sucks terribly with interviews.
Plenty of jobs for someone with a computer degree
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