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I'm not going to itemize the complete history, I have done that before in other messages (so it is out there), but spent three years after graduation, volunteered the entire time, applied to jobs in about 10 different states, averaged a good 10-12 targeted resumes every single week (not counting the 100s of government jobs I applied to and not including all the other non-accounting jobs) over the three years, participated in a couple professional orgs to network which I started as a student member before graduating to help find internships, worked with professionals continuously to rewrite resumes, cover letters, and perform mock interviews, applied to lots of other non-accounting jobs in companies to get my foot in the door etc.... I would get calls, but only to talk about my past work history and gap and that is as far as it went. No matter what I did or said, and I approached it several different ways, I could not get over that hurdle and there is no way for me to change it. Very few actual interviews beyond that. Before all this, I had zero issues getting interviews and offers.
I have a hard time believing that there were no jobs in any professional setting to be found in 10 states over a course of three years.
You were competing against other people with no experience who are getting jobs. What were they doing that was successful?
I have a hard time believing that there were no jobs in any professional setting to be found in 10 states over a course of three years.
You were competing against other people with no experience who are getting jobs. What were they doing that was successful?
The same thing I was doing, except they weren't a stay at home dad in their 40s who hadn't worked in many years who use to be an engineer trying to get into a completely different field.
The same thing I was doing, except they weren't a stay at home dad in their 40s who hadn't worked in many years who use to be an engineer trying to get into a completely different field.
I'm sorry you went through what you did, I'm not trying to sound uncaring (as much as it might come across that way). Hundreds of applications in ten states over a period of three years and there wasn't a single job in a white collar setting? The people getting those jobs were doing something different. It's a red flag when people can't think of a personal weakness or area where they might not be as good as others.
The problem isn't "something more needs to be done for recent graduates". The problem is "recent graduates need to learn how to do more to find jobs for themselves". There's a big difference between those two.
The same thing I was doing, except they weren't a stay at home dad in their 40s who hadn't worked in many years who use to be an engineer trying to get into a completely different field.
America loves children on TV and when they are other people's kids. But does not believe in supporting parents in real life.
I'm in corporate tax and can vouch that the market is extremely strong. This whole thing about "needing experience to get a job" is not true in my field- we need more headcount at the lower levels than at the upper levels. There is lots of work to do and entry-level folks are the ones who are really putting the hours in on our projects.
Good grades and an accounting or finance background is all you need to get in to this field.
At my level (10-15 years experience), I am frequently solicited by recruiters for jobs that have a large pay increase- 20 to 50%. So far none have been worth jumping for, but I always let them fully describe the role and consider it before declining. It's a wild time right now.
Ah, but what is the maximum age at which someone will get hired for one of those entry level positions?
Exactly. I think there will be very different views on job availability depending on if you are in your 20's or 30's versus 40's or 50's.
The "experienced" 50 year old is going to have a really tough time, I don't care how "strong" the market supposedly is.
The funny thing here is there's quite a few positions I would NOT feel comfortable hiring young and I'm sure most people when they think about it wouldn't either:
- Doctor
- Lawyer
- Dentist
- Engineer
- Accountant (anything Tax code related)
- B2B Sales
- Chef
- Believe it or not Software Dev and many IT fields
The businesses and B2B relationships I've had the best experience with as a partner or customer were all headed by experienced people age 50-60. The worst experience was when a key partner or stakeholder was under 30 had their head up their buttcheeks and no idea what they were doing and proud of it too.
America has a problem with age. And because of that I'm expatriating around age 50 - The age I will become worthless based on this society. About T-minus 20 years to go. Will probably be moving to Japan, where the average age continues to rise so age discrimination will be less of a factor there.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tencent
America loves children on TV and when they are other people's kids. But does not believe in supporting parents in real life.
I wouldn't say that. My employer provides 4 weeks paid parental leave for a new mother or father and our state law provides another 5 weeks, combined with FMLA that's very generous and something none of us had when we had kids in the 80s-90s. Hiring someone who was a stay-at-home parent for years is not lack of support for parents, it's simply doing what's best for the business. There are many changes every year in the technology and processes used in business, employers want current experience.
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