I have been searching for a job since December 2011. I have been to numerous interviews and seem to nail them, but not so much because I never get a call back. I'm most positive my resume, cover letter and references are good; I've had them edited. Any suggestions?
Bella Luna said:
I have been searching for a job since December 2011. I have been to numerous interviews and seem to nail them, but not so much because I never get a call back. I'm most positive my resume, cover letter and references are good; I've had them edited. Any suggestions?
Network. Visit people in your field or friends to ask for info and advice. Don't ask for a job, just info and ideas and leads. Some jobs are never advertised, and some may be altered or even created for someone with promise.
Get a second opinion about your resume and cover letter. Different people have different ideas about what's best.
Make sure you'r covering all the job ads in your field. Don't just depend on general sources like WashPost.com. For example, if you're in non-profits, you should be looking at idealist.com too.
If you want to tell us here what your field is and your level of experience, we can give more specific advice and maybe even leads.
So you get interviews–that's good. Something's not gelling in the interviews though? Ask people (friends of friends perhaps) for informational interviews, and ask for honest feedback. People representing a company that is hiring (and not hiring you) are not allowed to for fear of lawsuits.
What is it that you do? Tthis might not be the best forum to exchange information/resume(s) but I'd be more than happy to help.
I've been looking for a better job for two years, keep your chin up.
If you're getting the interviews, the resume and the cover letter are not the problem.
If you're not getting the job, the interview is the problem. You may think you're nailing the interview, but obviously you aren't. There are some books out there on what to do/say during an interview. You can probably find a ton of resources on the Internet as well.
newty25 said:
If you're getting the interviews, the resume and the cover letter are not the problem.
If you're not getting the job, the interview is the problem. You may think you're nailing the interview, but obviously you aren't. There are some books out there on what to do/say during an interview. You can probably find a ton of resources on the Internet as well.
I second this. If you're past the resume stage and getting calls for interviews, then it's the interview stage that you need to improve.
My only advice is that interviewers are people too. Unless you're dealing with HR, most interviewers are busy people who had to stop everything they're doing just to sit down and talk to you. They'd rather be doing something else. They hate interviews as much as you do. So when you look at it through this perspective, there is no need to get all nervous and awkward during interviews. If you talk to them like normal people and have a REAL conversations instead of treating it like a police interrogation, you'll find that you'll do better.
I've been in hiring positions and in all honesty, if you make it past the resume stage, it's a personality test for me. I know you've got the skills. Now I want to see if I can tolerate your personality enough to work with you. If you're not weird, have a personality, have a life, do fun things after work, keep clean and dress well enough, then you'll at least get considered for the final round.
i interview people on a weekly basis and can tell you one consistent thing that causes me to not offer an individual a job is when they fail to acknowledge the opportunity with a thank you note or email. While it may seem like a simple task, it demonstrates to me that they really want the job and thus would be a good employee for my company.
hearns_bush said:
i interview people on a weekly basis and can tell you one consistent thing that causes me to not offer an individual a job is when they fail to acknowledge the opportunity with a thank you note or email. While it may seem like a simple task, it demonstrates to me that they really want the job and thus would be a good employee for my company.
If it was me doing the interviewing, follow-up thank yous and emails would just annoy the f**k out of me.
if you are applying for a govt job, i wouldn't do the follow up email, but a thank you card could be ok. its usually not the interviewers job to do hiring, so the constant emails/calls/etc are annoying.
and i agree with the rest, if you are getting interviews, its not the resume thats the problem, its the interview. revisit your interviewing strategy. i have interviewed people that 90 seconds into it i know i am wasting my time and i wont recommend them for hire due to their personality and the fact i couldnt work with that person.
To get to the interview stage in my department, you have to jump through some hoops.
Those who've failed at that point have, as jinushaun implies, failed the compatibility test.
VaGurl said:
if you are applying for a govt job, i wouldn't do the follow up email, but a thank you card could be ok. its usually not the interviewers job to do hiring, so the constant emails/calls/etc are annoying.
You bring up a good point, is this a govt or private industry job? Which industry? Big or small companies? Different industries interview differently. I work in tech, so interviews tend to be very laid back.
VaGurl said:
and i agree with the rest, if you are getting interviews, its not the resume thats the problem, its the interview. revisit your interviewing strategy. i have interviewed people that 90 seconds into it i know i am wasting my time and i wont recommend them for hire due to their personality and the fact i couldnt work with that person.
What bothers me as an interviewer, and this is especially true in tech, is that a lot of people don't have heart. A lot of people get into tech for the money and treat it like just another job. While a large corporation might be OK with a 9-to-5 employee that does their job adequately and follows orders, in a tech startup, everyone has to have heart and passion because startups can't survive on mediocrity. We want people that live and breathe this stuff. We want people that actually enjoy waking up and going to work everyday because they enjoy what they're working on. The cliche “do what you love” is never more true in tech.
I can tell if you're BSing about your credentials really fast during the interview, but determining heart and personality makes up the bulk of my interview questions. (I'm the “Coke or Pepsi?” guy 
) I really try to suss those things out. In the dozen or so interviews I’ve done so far this year, those are the only two reasons why someone fails the interview. My colleagues all agree.
Swag said:
hearns_bush said:
i interview people on a weekly basis and can tell you one consistent thing that causes me to not offer an individual a job is when they fail to acknowledge the opportunity with a thank you note or email. While it may seem like a simple task, it demonstrates to me that they really want the job and thus would be a good employee for my company.
If it was me doing the interviewing, follow-up thank yous and emails would just annoy the f**k out of me.
Interesting to hear that. I wouldn't dream of not sending a thank you after an interview. The best part is it gives you a chance to follow up -mention something you missed in the interview or use some information you only just learned in it.
