just 3 questions here
1) for those of you guys who didn't have a sweet internship or go work for your family how did you get your current job? classifieds? student services? networking??

2) how closely do your daily duties match the job description you were originally given and/or how closely did your qualifications match the qualifications?

3) will career services still help you if u're not taking classes?
i'm technically done w. my degree but i won't graduate until may so i'm not registered for classes

I ask because i NEED to find a new job. my current job doesn't give me a lot of free time but i'm almost to the point of taking time off just to search. i ask the second question because I've been scouring monster and honestly the majority of job descriptions are a bit intimidating. i have management experience and I'm great with people and/or sales, i just can't deal with retail anymore. any help is appreciated

[Edited on March 12, 2008 at 12:41 AM. Reason : .]

3/12/2008 12:38:44 AM

1) Met a recruiter through the department and submitted a resume.

2) Mine shifted, but that was because I was actually hired for a different position. My company's posting was actually for multiple positions, and my resume and interests matched the other job better.

3) Career services should help you, especially since you haven't graduated yet. It's in their interests to ensure as many of their graduates are employed to fill the alumni association's coffers.

3/12/2008 8:44:48 AM

i wouldnt take time off to search, who knows how long itll take you to find that next job

well, unless you make a shit ton now, and are able to live off that

3/12/2008 10:21:53 AM

1) I had a decent job. Impressed a few folks. One of them found a sweet job and moved on. When his department decided to hire he recommended me and the rest was history. That would be networking I guess.

2) I could write an essay on this one.

3) No idea.

3/12/2008 10:57:53 AM

1) Student services http://www.ncsu.edu/epack
2) Still in training... but not so far
3) Refer to #1, but I think they help you for 5 years

3/12/2008 11:43:25 AM

HS/college job as "office assistant" at the grocery store got me my assistant manager job(who would of thought)....hated it, and left 6 months afterwards for the job i have now....the job I have now it was luck, the old job ended just in time, wasnt really looking for it just kinda stumbled into it.

career center sucks for business grads.

3/12/2008 5:41:51 PM

Quote :

"career center sucks for business grads."

3/12/2008 6:37:37 PM

had a research job in Raleigh for 4 years, funding ran out, got a great offer in Atlanta.


Moved to atlanta, fucking hated the job, quit after three months. Maybe not the smartest thing, but I just couldnt take it.

I applied/interviewed at several places, one of them didnt have a position, but the HR person was about to go to another company in Atlanta, so she sent my resume over to them, they hired me the day of the interview, LOVE it there, great work environment, and a 7k raise over the job I hated.

3/13/2008 12:29:43 AM

1) Current job on LinkedIn.com
Previous Job through Robert Half Technology (they called me)
Before that through personal connection
Before that through trianglejobs.com

2) I do a lot more than the original description (which is an excellent thing for me)

3) No idea, never used them as they were clueless about my profession and fields of expertise when I did go. Career fairs at state were worthless for me.

Monster and Careerbuilder are an absolute joke. You need to go do some face time with recruiters in your field. And you need to do some personal networking, especially if you are looking as business/management/sales roles, networking is gold.

3/13/2008 12:30:25 AM

what was your major? what are you interests?

3/13/2008 12:30:33 AM

my major is agricultural business management .i'm not a fan of the agricultural part, plan was to switch into regular business management.very similar work load though. i have interest in sales/marketing i'm big into anything tech related . 90% of the sales jobs i'm finding are for fly by night companies that pay only commission. i'm really good with helping people moms,animals etc. all love me. i do have proof of my sales abilities as well as my customer focus since the company(circuit city) keeps track of #'s and customer comments.

3/13/2008 2:27:50 AM

1) I got an internship, but it actually didn't do much good. I graduated with a good enough GPA to feel confident enough to talk to employers about how bad ass I was. That helped me probably more than anything. The internship was long enough before I got my first real job it didn't really help.

2) Pretty close, they wanted to make enhancements to their software and that's what I do. It's lots of different types of enhancements but that's what it is.

3) Probably not, I've heard horror stories. If you were in engineering or comp sci I know they do a good job, but everyone else sucks at it from what I've seen.

As for finding a job, if you aren't getting interviews their is something wrong with you as a candidate for the job. If you are getting interviews could be knowledge of the position or how you present yourself. In either case try to better yourself. Get a certification for your field, that could get you more interviews. As for the interviews, just practice telling them about what you've done relevant to you field and ask them questions. If you have any experience it's normally easy to keep the interviewer on your track if you talk about what you've done. Takes practice, but once you get the hang of it it's not bad.

[Edited on March 13, 2008 at 9:23 AM. Reason : a]

3/13/2008 9:17:54 AM

1) i used the career centers postings. i was pretty well qualified for the position, but i had a graduate degree as well which i'm convinced was the deal maker most of the time.
2)description is mostly what i do. im a trainer and do less development than previously indicated, but thats not a negative to me.

3/13/2008 10:04:55 PM

1) put my resume up via the career center and was contacted by the company i now work for to apply for a sales role.... looked up the company and found that they had 2 marketing roles open, so I replied and asked about applying for them, which they were fine with

note: I also had 3 years worth of marketing/communications related experience as an undegrad, all paid internships which I found myself, though none of these lead directly to employment after graduating (my choice as I felt my skills were better utilized elsewhere)

2) very closely for 6 weeks, then a merger was announced and my job pretty much ceased for 6 months... I was given a new role post-merger which I still continue today (after another major acquisition...) and my role is (imho) MUCH better and more challenging than my original role, but still similar in many ways

3) no idea, never had to find out

Overall, I think the internship experiences helped during the interview process, but none of them lead to me finding a new job directly from them. I still keep in contact with former bosses/co-workers and get leads for jobs from them on a monthly basis (just about), so they are helpful for networking, as well

3/14/2008 11:19:59 AM

my biggest challenge i guess is determining which companies are worth appling for and what i'm qualified to do. like i said a lot of job offers i've seen offering sales or marketing positions turn out to be cut throat 100% commsion or a fancy pyramid scheme. the second part is me having a tough time understanding how closley companies stick to their description,requirments etc. i.e. say i were applying for a business anayalist postion would they say "welcome to the team, bathrooms that way, coffe is that way,... now go analyze" or genrally speaking do they have an orientation type thing where they ease you into things. i'm a really hard worker and i'm confident theres not many things i can't do but like i said i'm a little intimidated by some of the descripstions i've seen and i'm not sure if i should even apply.

3/14/2008 3:59:05 PM

^ I'm of the type that "you never know until you apply" and really, if the HR dept thinks you're THAT unqualified, they won't pass you on anyway.

I can relate to the marketing/sales job thing, and I'd say just get a list of the Fortune 1000 or Fortune 500 companies and start looking there. Also, if you know what industry you want to work in, go to research sites and publications via the library @ state and start doing some studying up on industries or companies you'd like to work for... then go directly to their sites and see if they have vacancies, rather than relying 100% on something like monster.

I could be completley wrong as I'm no HR person, but that's the approach I would (and did, before I was contacted) take to applying for marketing jobs...

3/14/2008 6:46:14 PM

yeah, my current job(same agency, different job) i applied for thinking I wouldnt get but I did because there were many openings....I was shocked when I got it, I had very little experience in what I got hired for, but I was with the agency so I think that helped alot. 4 months later, I am very much more comfortable, though still learning since I was had never really done what I was hired to do before.

the position I left I was always usually one of the top producers, it was so frustrating not being that...hopefully with a little more time I will be up there near the top.

[Edited on March 14, 2008 at 7:03 PM. Reason : w]

3/14/2008 7:01:19 PM

i've promised myself that i'll apply for at least 2 jobs per day until i find something. i've taken the advice and recently been even applying to jobs that seem like a strech. circuit city=the suck lot of helpful info thanks guys.

keep the thread goin if anyone has anything they wanna add... i'm off to apply

5/18/2008 10:02:54 PM

1) Every job I've ever gotten was through networking.

2) Both my duties and qualifications matched extremely closely.

5/19/2008 11:24:52 AM

I've generally gone with the approach that I'll let them decide whether or not I'm qualified. i just started a new job today in which I sent a resume just on a whim thinking "eh, they probably won't call back, but screw it, i'll send something anyway". When they called i didn't even recognize the company name until i looked them up on the internet. the next week i went for a short interview and then the following week i was made and offer. Its a TOTALLY different industry and type of position than what i had previous experience in.

so don't discount what you think may be a long shot, you never know until you try. that being said, i also agree with others, the best way to get a job is through networking. tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job. i've had interviews solely on the basis of being recommended by a friend of a friend.

5/19/2008 4:38:06 PM

yeah, you never know if you dont apply, worse they can say is "no", dont sale yourself short and automatically think you arent qualified...sometimes they do train you, however, the training most of the time is sink or swim unless you can find a coworker willing to help you out. It was kinda that way with the position I got, the lack of direct experience with that particular program (even though I had worked with the agency for years), i really had to rely on many coworkers to learn the program.

[Edited on May 28, 2008 at 6:25 PM. Reason : w]

5/28/2008 6:22:33 PM

ok i'm applying a little more frequently now. one last thing i'm concerned about is most job listings don't have any type of pay scale listed. i've gotten callbacks and they won't tell me any pay info( most of those turned out to be pyramid schemes or insurance sales). i don't want to watse my time apply for jobs that pay peanuts... i already have one of those. is there a tactful way to maybe find out more info about a jobs pay scale without going full term with an interview , job offer , etc.

6/19/2008 2:18:43 AM

Most decent companies hiring for a non-sketch position should be able to give you some sort of pay scale for a position, if you tell them how much experience you have. Roughly speaking, anyway. I mean, all the big companies in my area that hire for my field (civil engineering) will usually put up some range in the section under salary (e.g. 50-70k/yr) and that will be the range they are looking to hire somebody for. I imagine they put that up there for anywhere from entry level up through several years experience (but it's a low level job in the company so they set a lower ceiling on the pay as they can't afford anybody who is overqualified for that position).

I know HR departments operate fairly similarly from different companies, so unless there's something really sketchy going on or the job pays shit they should be able to give you some numbers if you say "I have x years experience doing management work for company x, can you give me a general idea of what this job's salary range might be?". I'd say it's best just to ask for a general range for the position up front, and if they say "based on experience" ask them a little more directly how much they'd pay for a certain amount of relevant education and experience (i.e. well what sort of range would be typical for your company if somebody had a bachelor's in marketing and two years experience doing sales?). Putting them on the spot like that probably won't help your chances at getting a job, but it'll probably increase your chances of getting an answer (or the promise of one).

I have to say I'm kind of glad I read this thread as I'm having difficulty finding a job right now for the fall semester that I can use my CE degree for. I'm unemployed and trying to find a position that pays better than $crap/hr because, otherwise, I am going to have to make some fairly painful choices that I don't really want to make and it'll just be another time wasting job that doesn't contribute to my knowledge as an engineer (and that will not help me at all in grad school). Good luck to you on your search.

6/25/2008 5:17:07 AM

Has anyone ever used an agency to find placement? I am thinking of getting with one on Monday. I have also been heavily considering trying to become an officer in either the Air Force or Navy.

6/28/2008 4:17:51 AM

Quote :

" 1) for those of you guys who didn't have a sweet internship or go work for your family how did you get your current job? classifieds? student services? networking?? "

monster dot com

Quote :

" 2) how closely do your daily duties match the job description you were originally given and/or how closely did your qualifications match the qualifications? "

pretty close, though technically I could do higher level stuff, but I get paid decent and its a nice chill job while I sit back and think about doin grad school while working.

Quote :

" 3) will career services still help you if u're not taking classes? "

no personal experience there, but I don't see why they wouldn't help you out, being a new grad and all.

6/28/2008 7:11:03 AM

1) for those of you guys who didn't have a sweet internship or go work for your family how did you get your current job? classifieds? student services? networking??
My first job out of college, I sent resumes and cover letters to professors who did research that interested me telling them I wanted research experience. I applied to 3 different departments and talked to several professors. That job led to me being assistant manager of that facility which led to a job in RTP. Networking is a large part of it, but I also used monster, the ncsu job site, classifieds, anything that listed jobs I looked into.

2) how closely do your daily duties match the job description you were originally given and/or how closely did your qualifications match the qualifications?
I've had pretty good luck with duties matching pretty well with the original job description BUT I have had a few unpleasant surprises that I really wish I knew about beforehand. So far I have had interviews for some positions that I didn't think I was all that qualified for, but ultimately they decided to go for another candidate. The jobs I have had were most directly related to the experience I already had and my degree.

-------------------------------
As for agencies, I've worked with Manpower and Kelly Scientific, both of which were usually very helpful (manpower more so, at least with the chick I was working with) in pointing me toward companies. The lady at Manpower calls every now and then to see how I am doing and even told me about this company I had never heard of (and I hope to work for someday) and wanted to know if I wanted her to send my resume over there. I'd say it never hurts to look into something like that.

Good luck!



[Edited on June 30, 2008 at 4:28 PM. Reason : Can't help with #3, sorry ]

6/30/2008 4:27:31 PM

1. Networking (Noen posted it here on TWW actually)

2. I pretty much got to write my own job description. Once they found out I had a very diverse skillset, and the ability to learn on the fly, they found a place for me. You can't beat that.

3. I don't know, I never used them. My intent was never to use them, anyway. You get the best jobs and opportunities via networking.



What was your major? Where are you applying? It can be kind of hard to make the jump from retail into something else if you don't have experience.

6/30/2008 6:00:09 PM

My major is in agricultural business management with a minor in economics. i've been working retail throughout school and i now manage a department that does about 10mill a yr in annual gross sales and i'm personally responsible for close to a mil of that. i manage about 6 people regularly and more during the "on season". i enjoy sales but i'm starting to really hate retail esp since i'm working for a failing company where there's no room for advancement.

Since i'm no longer in school it's tough to really network like i want. most of my friends are in totally different fields(computer/ electrical engineering). i've been applying heavily on career builder and monster not really sure where else to look. i usually pick up a job finder every once and a while but that seems to be useless unless u wanna be a security guard or work at cracker barrel.

[Edited on July 2, 2008 at 1:10 AM. Reason : ..]

7/2/2008 1:01:12 AM