Getting job interviews

[Bill Brasky]

Right now I'm in the process of switching careers and am having a tough time securing interviews. I went to a top-tier school and am applying for entry level positions, so my credentials are competitive as compared with other candidates. Applying thru job websites like Monster, etc, has been a complete waste of time. I've never heard of anyone having success when using them. My current strategy has been to tap every contact (friends, relatives, etc...) to see how they can help. So far this has worked with minimal success. Does anyone else have good ideas or strategies that have worked for them?

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

Right now I'm in the process of switching careers and am having a tough time securing interviews. I went to a top-tier school and am applying for entry level positions, so my credentials are competitive as compared with other candidates. Applying thru job websites like Monster, etc, has been a complete waste of time. I've never heard of anyone having success when using them. My current strategy has been to tap every contact (friends, relatives, etc...) to see how they can help. So far this has worked with minimal success. Does anyone else have good ideas or strategies that have worked for them?

I got my present job with monster, and my last from careerbuilder. when I was looking for a job, I got at least a telephone interview with 50% of the jobs I applied for.

you may want to look at your resume and cover letter - the quality of these is really key in getting to an interview step.

by the way, what field are you looking at?

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

Right now I'm in the process of switching careers and am having a tough time securing interviews. I went to a top-tier school and am applying for entry level positions, so my credentials are competitive as compared with other candidates. Applying thru job websites like Monster, etc, has been a complete waste of time. I've never heard of anyone having success when using them. My current strategy has been to tap every contact (friends, relatives, etc...) to see how they can help. So far this has worked with minimal success. Does anyone else have good ideas or strategies that have worked for them?

In contrast, I secured most of my previous jobs through online career sites. A couple of them were through Monster. However, if your skills are more specialized, you might want to try recruiters. They will take a chunk of your first year's income, but they might find you a more suitable position in a shorter period of time. Unless you know insiders of companies that you want to work for, it might be difficult getting your resume to the right person. A good recruiter who works with your industry should have good contacts.

Other than that, get good at the shot gun approach. I was pretty disciplined when I applied for jobs right out from undergrad. I kept track of everything on an excel spreadsheet and had several versions of resumes and cover letters. Out of the 100+ applications or so, I landed just over 10 phone interviews, 2-3 of which became in-person interviews, and I got a job that I wanted. This whole thing was over a time period of about 6 weeks.

 

[mbc]

Find someone at the company you can call. Use your school's alumni database for starters. Give them a call and ask them if you can talk with them about their job, the company, etc. It's called an informational interview. Since everyone loves to talk about themselves, as long as you ask good questions and seem generally interested you should get them talking for 15 - 30 minutes or so. At the end of the call, ask if they have anyone else in the company they can refer you to so you can chat with some other people as well.

Then when you write your cover letter, make sure you mention how you talked to these various people at the company, and how much you learned about the great environment, challenging projects, blah blah blah. If you did the informational interviews right, the hiring manager will call the people you list in your cover letter and they'll tell them what a great conversation they had with you.

Basically you are trying to demonstrate that you've done your homework about the company, and that you have a specific and genuine interest in them.

 

[larryr]

Without knowing your current or future field, a guess may be that although the field is new, you have work experience and may seem as an over qualified for an entry level position.

Most applicants for entry level positions are kids out of school, which a company does not have to pay a lot for nor do they in the near future. An employeer may view you as a someone who may start as entry level but look to move quickly. Plus they may be looking for a certain degree which you may or may not have.

I've had success using Monster and Dice. All depends on what fields your in, I wouldn't give up on them.

I would contact all the agencies that list on these sites by phone. They will set up face to face appointments to meet you, and if they have other positions available they will consider you for those. Usually once you get into a face to face meeting and a recruiter likes you, they will work with you to find a job. They like to send their best candidates out, those that will likely get a job and also represent their agency well. They also get a better idea of how to represent you to a possible employeer.

 

[sallyann2007]

Do you have any job experience at all? I think you may have better luck if you emphasis your job experience and not rely on your educational experience, unless of course you have a PhD or an MBA. Otherwise, I think employers want to see if you will be able to jump into the job with little training.
Also in your cover letter mention that you are applying for entry level positions with the intention of learning from the ground up, make it sound like you intend you intend so stay there a while. YOu may be scaring them away if you are over qualified, they probably think you will be gone in a year. Also,as everyone asked, what is your line of work?

 

[Joffrey]

INformational interviews with alumni. It may not land you a job directly, but they may offer additonal contacts to reach out to. I'm in the process of doing that and it works great. Don't go in expecting a job though, but you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Great advice so far. I don't think I'm too overqualified, as I'm only 3 yrs out of school and haven't moved up that much just yet. Right now I'm in wholesale sales for a fashion company/retailer; I'm looking to get on a trading desk at a bank in a sales assistant role. The responsibilites/job functions are very simillar, so I have accrued valid experience that directly translates. My cover letter and resume focus on this aspect. However, the problem is that it is quite tough to secure interviews for these jobs, so any edge helps. Going the traditional way is pretty much a dead end.

 

[mikeber]

Bill, I feel your pain. Most people do not realize that our world had dramatically changed in the last 10-15 years. A whole culture that was established and worked well for decades is no longer viable.
In the past, graduating from a decent school, writing a nice resume would secure interviews. Not any more. Before you go on with your search, please remember:
1) HR departments and hiring mangers do not spend more then 10 sec reading your resume.
2) In the past, mostly local guys would apply. At present, there is a flood of job seekers work from all over the globe. (Internet is #1 reason for that). Now you compete against THE WORLD!
3) They all want you to gain experience. Just not at their place.
4) In the new economy, hiring personnel is any CEO's nightmare. Wall Street punishes harshly for this sin. Stealing, cheating, perhaps... Just not new employees.
5) People today have no time. It is hard to grab their attention. They are cynical, impatient and overworked at all levels.
6) In general, people are rude, much more so then in the past. They would let you wait, will not apologize, won't return your calls and don't expect courtesy calls or messages.

I know that nice people still exist, they are just harder to find.

So you need to work on a few fronts:

1) Why not offer your services to a potential employer as a contractor? This way you might get your foot in.
2) Do some research and perhaps you can offer a solution to their problem. For example, I once got hired by making a contact between the employer and a service provider which they needed.
3) It is possible that the scenario you describe as your goal (bank) is not practical right now. Get a job in a similar industry to gain experience.
4) Try sending your resume directly to hiring managers after you find their names. Even without an open position. Maybe the timing is perfect.
5) Network through alumni, groups and industry websites.

It is possible that all this advice will not yield results, but it is worth trying.
Good luck to you!

 

[mikeber]

There is a lot of interesting material on these websites:

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/careerist/19128

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/

Now be careful when reading this one, it can seriously depress you:
http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/baitandswitch.htm

 

[DNW]

Try vault.com to get some insiders' perspectives.

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

Great advice so far. I don't think I'm too overqualified, as I'm only 3 yrs out of school and haven't moved up that much just yet. Right now I'm in wholesale sales for a fashion company/retailer; I'm looking to get on a trading desk at a bank in a sales assistant role. The responsibilites/job functions are very simillar, so I have accrued valid experience that directly translates. My cover letter and resume focus on this aspect. However, the problem is that it is quite tough to secure interviews for these jobs, so any edge helps. Going the traditional way is pretty much a dead end.

The job responsibilities may be similar, but a HR person won't see it that way, and it's very unlikely that you'll be able to convince them to hire someone for an entry level position that counts as overqualified due to their years of work experience, but doesn't have any experience in the field at all (not even an internship) when they can hire a newly minted undergrad for less.

You won't like this answer, but the best way to change careers to the field you're describing is the MBA route. MBAs are the preferred career changing route at this point and people will understand why you're doing so. That said, it's still not a walk in the park.