a quick question for young professionals/ aspiring professionals - Page 2

Lots of effort and some dumb luck -- as a sophomore, I emailed dozens of people in the industry in which I was interested, and one happened to have an opening in his group because an employee had just quit. I got hired for the summer, asked back for the next, and then was offered a full-time job.

First (crappy) job by applying to 80 jobs. Second by getting brought in by a friend.

I took a somewhat dangerous internship as an undergrad. It sounded interesting when I applied, but I never thought I would even get interviewed due to the requirements.

It led to a full time offer. Now that I'm in the field, I have good connections due to the small size of the field. I can call up former coworkers / managers, and they'll get on the phone and find out everyone hiring within no time at all. The downside, we also know within about 48 hours when one of us starts looking for a new job.

I've tried to feel out opportunities outside my industry every now and then, and it has never gone well at all. It is rare I get interviews, and when I do, I get the impression it is solely because of my education credentials (top schools for undergrad and MBA) and that they really don't understand what it is I do / have done based on my resume (and I cut the jargon out extensively / dumb it down A LOT). Once they talk to me about the work I do / have done, they shy away rather quickly it seems.

Don't overlook lying to get a foot in the door if you feel you really can do the job once you're past the interview.

Make sure you can hang on for at least six months before they catch on. Then when they blow you out you can be upfront with your next interview in the same field: I lied to get my previous job because I'd never done it before but knew I could and did and did a good job as anyone at the other place will tell you except they don't like you lying to get in there so now that I've got the experience and track record I don't have to lie about it with you. But can you trust me to be honest in the future? Well I'm telling you all this aren't I?

Or something like that.

I can see how this might work because you've got to back yourself, but I would really hesitate against using it myself (although my industry is quite close-knit in my city and your reputation is your biggest asset to succeed at work and also to get hired). Personally it's too risky but sitting around isn't going to get you the dream job either. If I were to use that method I probably wouldn't bring it up at all in an interview. If you were using this tactic it would be better to go in with the aim to succeed, not work there for 6 months and quit. To add, look for recruitment resources. These have questions to ask, what answers are good, and what answers are red flags. Example is the Sales Executive Council guide for recruiting Challenger sales people.

Thank you for the sorta endorsement. You and I now form a tiny pack of potential liars in this thread. What I suggested I have done. When I was 21. I didn't do the second part tho, because I didn't have to. No one ever found out. And just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting working at the first one for only six months, I was proffering the hypo of getting caught and blown out at six months.

it's not lying you idiots, it's asymmetrical information dispersion, and everyone does it so stop calling everyone liars

I don't see how non-desperate employers would take the second part well. In fact, they will most likely assume "once a liar always a liar".

Just finished my undergraduate degree and I got my job as a result of my dad's connections. It's not a career, just a good job for me to get some experience before heading back to school in a couple years.

Cool, man. +1 on that!!

When I was about to enter my last year for a BSEE degree, I polished up the resume (which didn't have any really good EE experience on it yet) and went to a career fair, hoping to land something good for an internship that would lead to a job after I graduated (which would happen in December so I had one more summer available). I did my best to network at the fair and I remember thinking how cool it would be to work at Motorola, as I lived fairly close to the Corp headquarters campus.

Ended up getting a sit-down interview with MOTO and then a second one. Did not get an offer for internship - but I did get an offer for a full-time position after graduation! So, no inside connections or anything for me.

OP, I can say this much - during the two interviews that I had, I truly believe that it was the enthusiasm that I felt and the interest that I had in the company that put me ahead of my peers, some of whom definitely had performed better in certain classes than I had!

gl,
Sean Paul

do you work at moto now? im actually interning at schaumburg for the summer.

It's all who you know and who you're related to these days. If you're lucky enough to get an interview with a company, you will be passed up for the dunce that didn't go to college because, well, she was the interviewer's neighbor.

I did it the old-fashioned way. Studied in HS, went to a good school, got pretty good grades, got an internship, and then was recruited out of college.

Must be a lot harder if you don't follow that cookie-cutter path.

This is key. I had the great fortune of working in a small-quickly-becoming-medium sized hyper tech company of some really smart people. One of their practices was an interview process, beyond the initial weed-out interview, involved candidates spending a 1/2 a day of 6 or so 30 minute interviews with a range of people in the company - specifically people outside of what they were being hired for.

Once I was on-board, I learned that everyone in the company rotated through the responsibilities of being part of interviewer tracks. I actually enjoyed it a lot so I had the great fortune of conducting 100 or so interviews for a variety of positions.

If you made it in the door, I presumed you're smart. What I want to know is what you going to do for the organization, your department, your team, and me. You tell me. I mean it - tell me what you're going to do. I'll illustrate the landscape, tell you our success and failures, our positions and challenges, but then I want to know what you're going to do with them. All you have to do is convince me you can and are going to do it.

Bottom line is that if you have the experience and skills that shouldn't be difficult.