How the @#%$ to get a *real* job as a college student or recent graduate?

[TopHatFox]

My curiosity is piqued by the massive amounts of unpaid internships or minimum wage-like jobs available to current college students and recent graduates. You know, the kind that say: "bachelors degree required, must be able to lift 50 lb."

It seems to me that most if not all of the high paying internships & jobs available to undergraduates or recent graduates are either in finance/consulting, engineering, or computer science. Next in pay is working as a scientist technician or assistant. After that, social justice, campaigning, outdoor camp, and non-profit galore. Pay: usually net $0. Even worse are the pyramid schemes: "compensation based on commission, make $100/hr in one summer!!1" /Rant

Recent grads or current college students, how are you faring? What are your strategies/plans for job and internship hunting?

(theanimal, YoungAndWise, I'm looking at you )

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P.S. I realize that *real* job can be a vague and judgmental term. I think when I say real, I mean jobs extraordinarily useful for the accumulation phase of ERE. For example, as a camp counselor earning 1.5k every 3 months, I'd reach FIRE in...never. (That's not to say that job wouldn't be worthwhile for other reasons, of course). As a software engineer doing creative work and being paid 60-100k a year--with benefits and large responsibilities--for example, that's the kinda thing I"m after and unqualified for (like most people, I suppose).

[C40]

I'm about ten years down the road, and I was in engineering, so whatever I would share might be outdated and not what you're looking for anyways.

I never thought I would recommend this guy, but some of Ramit Sethi's material was focused on college aged guys getting jobs and he did a good job of pointing out the lengths and type of tactics that some of the high performer types use. I don't really know of a good and short example to share, but the overall message is that getting a job is a bit of a game or competition, and some people are playing that game on a level that many people do not even know exists (they're doing things to improve their own job prospects - things that other people don't even know about or think to do)

[vexed87]

I graduated from my MSc in Bioscience Dec 2010, hardly recent, but it was still post recession so get where you are coming from. I kept on my part time job waiting tables (~£10/hour after cash tips) from while I was at Uni.

A few months after fruitless job interviews I took an entry level temp job in clinical research. The pay was awful, £16,333 if I worked full time, but I only did only 3 days so was making equivalent salary of £9799.80/year on top of my restaurant gig. If I had my ERE head on then, I would have been fine, but I distinctly recall it being a struggle and it wasn't long before my overdraft suckered me in.

As C40 says, interviewing and getting a job is like a game, once you have a few real life experiences of interviews and solid feedback under your belt the world becomes your oyster. Just don't expect to make a million in your first year. It wasn't long until I turned that entry level job into a career opportunity. Admittedly the pay still isn't amazing, but I'm earning more than the UK median now and still have the occasional side gig brining in cash.

[cmonkey]

The most important thing is to just be yourself. This might seem cliche, but in hindsight you'll completely understand. Don't try to be something you aren't, any interviewer will see right through you and you will forever need to maintain this fake persona. From your forum posts, you seem like a hard working, intelligent person with lots of energy. Try to find something that capitalizes on that. Have a conversation with the interviewer, don't go into it in a 'robot' fashion where the only thing you are trying to get is hired. That is only one step, you'll still have to cultivate the relationship with your employer.

I took the above route and didn't really realize that's what got me into my current position but it is. I never "tried to get a job". I just went with whatever came my way, was friendly about it with everyone, and I'm here. I never had a traditional interview, I bypassed the entire formal process because they liked me for who I was.

[henrik]

Another time (end of last century:)) and another place, but my completely unplanned path was to start a business based on an interest the summer after graduating high school. The business wasn't financially very successful, but based on what I was doing, job offers started coming in soon enough. They had absolutely nothing to do with what I was studying in the university at the time. Eventually I accepted one and from there, one thing has always led to another somehow.

[Dragline]

Treat getting a job as new skill set like learning to juggle or make a souffle.

So (a) you need to practice early and often and (b) expect to fail early and often, because almost everybody does. You'll get better and you'll get something. And if you don't like that something you'll have the job-finding skills to get something else. Be patient with yourself, but don't procrastinate on getting out there.

Start with whatever career services resources you have at your college and work from there. I agree that doing some internet research (Ramit Sethi) or otherwise wouldn't hurt either. Don't put all your efforts into just one job-finding method. Treat finding a job as a job itself.

This is one area where the old adage that 90% of life is just showing up works out to be true. Because employers aren't looking for "you" in particular. They just pick from whomever shows up when they need somebody. Show up early and often and eventually you'll get picked if you meet their basic qualifications.

[TopHatFox]

Treat getting a job as new skill set like learning to juggle or make a souffle.

So (a) you need to practice early and often and (b) expect to fail early and often, because almost everybody does. You'll get better and you'll get something. And if you don't like that something you'll have the job-finding skills to get something else. Be patient with yourself, but don't procrastinate on getting out there.

I think this is key. Job hunting is a like a job isn't it. And I think I do need to actually start applying to things I like and seeing what sticks rather than simply thinking about it. Goal: Find employment for the summer that I like, that pays 5-10k+, and that might lead to better work down the line! (:

"Be patient with yourself, but don't procrastinate on getting out there." This is extra key. Procrastination out of fear and boredom is what resulted in the useful but sub-optimal library job last summer.

[Dragline]

Now, if I could only get my own progeny to be so receptive . . .

[FBeyer]

... You'll get better and you'll get something...

Getting better at something usually requires some sort of feedback. And I mean non-binary feedback, especially one with a more even ratio of fail/success.
So, how do you gauge how well you're doing on getting a job, if the initial parameter space is the following:

Academic skills, CV, writing style, how you dress, how you interview, personality clashes with the interviewer, personality clashes with the company profile,... etc?

I am genuinely curious how you nail down the one/two/three things you actually did wrong, not what you think you did wrong.

[Dragline]

The easiest way (that nobody wants to do) is to ask people who rejected you what you could do better next time. Asking others for feedback can sometimes be useful, but often they don't want to be honest with you to avoid hurting your feelings.

Doing mock interviews can also be helpful if you have that opportunity.

But if you do enough interviews, you will be able to figure out for yourself whether you are attracting interest or not, and simply to read interviewers better.

Obviously, if you are not getting any interviews, you probably don't have the right skill sets for the jobs you are interviewing for or are not presenting them well, so you need to make changes on the written submissions. But I've never called someone in for an interview and then gone back and rejected them on the basis of their application or CV.

[Chad]

The easiest way (that nobody wants to do) is to ask people who rejected you what you could do better next time. Asking others for feedback can sometimes be useful, but often they don't want to be honest with you to avoid hurting your feelings.

This is a good idea. If you do this, you have to do it with tact and zero animosity.

You also have to remember, you requested this communication, so you have to drive it. Don't show up or make the call without having thought through a line of inquiry before hand. These people are busy and would be doing this because they really want to help. You need to make sure they feel like they helped at the end of it. Not by saying thank you, which you should, but by showing you were serious about finding out the "why."

This has the added benefit of making you memorable to a person who will be hiring people in the future.