How do you guys job hunt?

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SlushboxTeggy

It's only stupid if it doesn't work
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Finished up my Masters in Accounting in December. Other than a few interview that seem to have gone no where, I feel like I'm striking out on a daily basis. Places like H&R Block won't hire me because they realize I'm out the door with a better offer, but those better offers aren't coming because I have no outside the classroom experience in my field. I feel like I'm stuck in limbo. Over educated and under experienced.

But maybe I'm just approaching it all wrong. Being my first 9-5 type job, I essentially have no clue how to go about looking for one. I'm open to all forms of accounting, finance, and banking, but can't even seem to get in to talk to these people.
 
Go work at Enterprise rent a car for a year and you will have no problem getting a job. This will be a very shitty year for you but I did it and it opened up a lot of doors, and I was offered jobs almost everyday by people I met. You will have excellent training in sales, marketing, accounting etc. its just tough work, long hours, and shitty pay.

I think I made like 29k for the year I worked there.

You are almost guaranteed to get hired if you can ace 3-4 interviews.
 
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about working at a temp for a gig or two? i got my R&D job that way. i tempted for histology company for 3-4 months and got a fulltime position at another place doing R&D work.

one thing i really wished i did differently while in school volunteering and interning more. i was so busy making ends meat and preparing for exams that i did zero interning. once i finished i was schooled but not experienced.
 
For me (remember I work in the tech field, so this may not work for other jobs), I just spam monster and craigslist with resumes, anything linux, anything python, perl, mysql, postgres, soap, xmlrpc, interface design. Anything that i have a half way decent understanding of, to see what comes back.

When I get interview requests back I see 'what does this company do, what am I likely to be doing?'. I do a ton of research before the interview so i can make sure to check all the boxes, and I prepare for the interview questions I'm likely to get.

I'll use Rackspace as an example since it's where I work now:

Level 3 system admin: Requirements, BASH (Programming language), RedHat Certified Engineer (Operating system expert), MySQL exp+ (database backends), Python/Perl/Ruby a plus (likely going to be doing a bit of api consumption), Bachelors degree + 5 years experience (Not an entry level job, want intelligent veterans).

Preperation:

I'm already a BASH expert going in. Check.
I've never touched RedHat before, but I'm a debian expert. Research the differences and similarities between the 2 distros. 6-8 hours of prep and study. Check.
MySQL experience. I can develop stuff to use MySQL but never administered it. Light reading on Performance and Tuning to answer interview questions. Check.
Python/Perl/Ruby. I've been working in Perl for years, but I've never touched the others. These are usually done in order of importance. Read up on common interface Libraries for python and write some simple proof of concept code for reference. 6-10 hours. Check.
Education. This is the hard one. You're going to have to talk your ass off here if you're missing one or the other (in my case I was missing both). New paragraph for this one since it's the one that applies to you directly.

If you're lacking the experience for a job that you feel you can do well, don't let that put you off. First you need to write your resume to tell a story. I know there's a 1 page rule, but to be honest, you're not going to get a call back on a 1 pager straight out of college. You need to go into the things that make you enjoy the field you're in and be able to go into detail in your interview.

I don't know a lot about accounting so these examples might be silly. 'Ran my father's A/P department, generated checks and contracts with vendors. Negotiated rates, reductions, and payment schedules. My negotiations saved the company $3,000 of it's previous $38,000 in monthly vendor expenditures'.

Of course you probably won't be able to use that specific example, but I'm sure if you went to school for 4 years there's a reason you did it. Tell them what that reason was and why you'd be a benefit to their company.

If you get the you're overqualified bullshit, don't take it lying down. There are no allegiances when you're trying to get paid. Stuff like 'This will be my first job out of college. I'm ready to work hard for you right now. I've got student loans to pay and I'm willing to dedicate my time to you for our mutual gain. You're business will get an awesome reputation because of my extremely detailed work, and I'll be able to afford ramen and pay off my loans. This is a win win for both of us. Even if I do leave the company earlier than you'd like you can't afford to take me at the price I cost right now with no experience. I can fill a seat for you, make your clients happy, and enhance the brand with my education and dedication to my work and the success of the company.'

You have to be ready for that statement and you have to be ready with a come back for it. It can't feel rehearsed, you just have to know what your strengths are, and even if you're under-experienced, or over qualified, if you sell those strengths well, no hiring manager in his right mind will turn you away.


Mine for Rackspace was: "You're right I don't have a degree. I went to college for 2 years to become an English teacher. I'm well read, I'm well spoken, I think for myself and I think about the best way to solve problems. Outside of those things, what else does college buy me in this industry without the real world experience to back it up? I've been in this industry for a very short 4 years, but in those 4 years I've done some amazing things. I started as a Flash Developer for a small marketing company. I was just sitting in their call center making cold calls when suddenly they needed someone to help them with their web development effort. I told them I had done some Flash programming in high school, and they gave me a shot at the job. I didn't get a raise, I didn't get over time, I just got a shot. I spent 20 hours a day on that project for a month, and what came of it? I'd developed a dynamically generated inventory system based in flash, virtual test drive applications, written in flash, and a full rich media campaign ready to be started, in one month. I did all that for $10 an hour just to prove to myself I could do it.

After the project was over they got their deal, sold the campaign to the customer without management rights, so the job was over for me, but I decided right then, that I'd never had this love for literature, so I immersed myself in the technical world. I quit my job with the marketing company and took a job as a phone support rep for Verizon. Yeah, I was that guy. At Verizon I took my primary job very seriously. I destroyed their metric system, while I was on the clock, and while I was off the clock I optimized their ticket system integration with their internal systems, created a note taking system for phone calls that went global, and was promoted to an internal software developer. They eventually outsourced all of their call centers and I was out of a job again.

I then got a job as a low level tech at a hosting company. I started the job learned the ropes, and got to work doing what I do best. First I optimized my job by setting up their astrisk server and having it integrate into a web interface for their customer directory. When a customer called in, it would update a web page of recent calls with the customer's information so the tech taking the call could easily see all of the systems for the account. I created a 1 time use login token system for support techs to use that would keep the client's machine secure, but wouldn't require the tech to waste time looking for the password to help the customer immediately. For all of that work I got promoted to build tech. Put in 16 hour days as a build tech with an average turn around time of 45 minutes per system. You guys work in a hosting company, so as you can imagine that turn around time is unheard of in this industry.'



I had more than all of that above, but eventually at then end of this they double checked my stories with all of my references and I had an offer literally within 4 hours of my interview. My plane landed in dallas and I had the email with the offer letter by the time I made it home.

I was grossly under experienced and under qualified for the job, but I got it, and every job before that purely for the fact that I'm dedicated to doing good work. You give me an interesting project and I will take that thing to the moon and bake you cookies for the flight. You can't afford not to hire me. That's the sentiment you have to give people when you walk out of the interview room.


TL;DR: Research the company. Research the job requirements. Make them forget you're under-qualified by telling them why you are the best investment they could ever make. Make experience secondary and dedication your primary strength. Remember, you're selling yourself, don't be timid when they tell you that you don't meeting their experience requirements. Be ready for that and woo them.

Btw, I'm going on to my third promotion in 2 years at Rackspace. Believe me, my methods do work, but they can't be empty words.
 
let me know if you need a reference in the field
honestly, if you can't find a job somewhere in accounting during tax season you're not looking hard enough
look for something lower level, data entry type bookkeeping, answering phones, etc
the actual bookkeeping can be a fun challenge, and it will start to get your mind into the proper mindset for where things need to be and how they affect the bottom line on the P&L and BS.

don't be afraid to dumb down your schooling, tell them you have a 2 year degree from a community college or something. just to land that first out of school job so you have a base to grow from.

try and pick up some side work on craigslist
bookkeeping is basically recorded bills, and writing checks, and reconciling
if you can balance your check book and reconcile it with your bank statement thats really all the knowledge you need to get involved
and you can hit em for 30+ an hour cash money.

what sort of job are you looking for exactly?
tax prep? audit work? and what money requirements do you have?
 
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Hmm...


I live and work with professionals of all level.

Get a head hunter. Recruiter. etc. Works for everyone. Call your buddies who interned places, etc. While you are looking. Go volunteer. Don't do a big commmitment, but something that shows you're not resting on your laurels.
 
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I average 7-10 emails a day and 2-3 unsolicited phone calls a week from recruiters. and thats on top of my daily subscriptions to dice, jobfox, beyond, theladders, monster, careerbuilder, and a few others that i don't remember.

One of those, was the one I replied to to get my current position.



An advanced accoutning degree opens way more doors than a basic H&R tax preparer. I work in the finance dept at my office, and most people are under 30. These guys are making contracts, cost sheets, helping sales, and other financial data to sell contracts at a profit and all the other number crunching stuff. I think that would be WAY more fun than doing people's taxes. Fuck, i hate taxes. recked does mine and i still hate doing them. lol You legit couldn't pay me 250k a year to be an H&R tax bitch, let alone 29k.


Since you only have schooling, make sure your resume is an education fronted resume. Having no experience is tough. Did you do an internship at least? If you haven't, you need to do an internship or volunteer.

Even something as simple as going to the senior center in town on a saturday and offering tax help to some old people for a few hours looks stellar on a resume.

Make sure your res fronts your skills beyond your paper degree.
6 Tips For A No-Experience Resume
How to Write a Resume (When You Have No Job Experience)
 
when i go out job hunting, i take my ol' trusty 12 gauge shotgun nicknamed "Buford" and my trusty blue tick hound named "George" out. i get George to flush out them there jobs. when George gets to barkin' and hawlin' at them pesky jobs, i bring ol' Buford up, take aim, pull the trigger and POWWWWW!!! down goes the dang jobs. i tell you what, ol Buford and George are a hell of a team.
 
when i go out job hunting, i take my ol' trusty 12 gauge shotgun nicknamed "Buford" and my trusty blue tick hound named "George" out. i get George to flush out them there jobs. when George gets to barkin' and hawlin' at them pesky jobs, i bring ol' Buford up, take aim, pull the trigger and POWWWWW!!! down goes the dang jobs. i tell you what, ol Buford and George are a hell of a team.

:thumbsup:

you fucker, i read this thread earlier on my iphone but didnt want to bother to type "i go job hunting with my friggin 12 gauge" and post a photo of napoleon dynamite.
 
Go work at Enterprise rent a car for a year and you will have no problem getting a job. This will be a very shitty year for you but I did it and it opened up a lot of doors, and I was offered jobs almost everyday by people I met. You will have excellent training in sales, marketing, accounting etc. its just tough work, long hours, and shitty pay.

I think I made like 29k for the year I worked there.

You are almost guaranteed to get hired if you can ace 3-4 interviews.
Enterprise actually contacted me within the past year about a position managing a location or something. I was all about it. Interview went great. Finally I got a cookie cutter email saying I didn't meet the requirements. I pressed back seeing as they contacted me, not the other way around, and finally got the lady to say that they don't want to train me just to see me leave.
endlesszeal said:
about working at a temp for a gig or two? i got my R&D job that way. i tempted for histology company for 3-4 months and got a fulltime position at another place doing R&D work.

one thing i really wished i did differently while in school volunteering and interning more. i was so busy making ends meat and preparing for exams that i did zero interning. once i finished i was schooled but not experienced.
Hindsight is 20/20. I tried to get internships anywhere. Year 1 of grad school I started too late. Year 2 I was relying on my brother-in-law who ended up switching companies shortly before I was suppose to start. Screwed me, but I shouldn't have had all my eggs in one basket.

As far as Temp agencies go, I loathe them. Two separate companies brought me in for the intial interview, then decided they wanted to interview me as a possible recruiter, then never even contacted me about the initial temp job. I do have a pending temp job right now, but it's clerical/administrative. Fuck it, just being in an office looks better than waiting tables. Waiting to hear back.

reckedracing said:
let me know if you need a reference in the field
honestly, if you can't find a job somewhere in accounting during tax season you're not looking hard enough
look for something lower level, data entry type bookkeeping, answering phones, etc
the actual bookkeeping can be a fun challenge, and it will start to get your mind into the proper mindset for where things need to be and how they affect the bottom line on the P&L and BS.

don't be afraid to dumb down your schooling, tell them you have a 2 year degree from a community college or something. just to land that first out of school job so you have a base to grow from.

try and pick up some side work on craigslist
bookkeeping is basically recorded bills, and writing checks, and reconciling
if you can balance your check book and reconcile it with your bank statement thats really all the knowledge you need to get involved
and you can hit em for 30+ an hour cash money.

what sort of job are you looking for exactly?
tax prep? audit work? and what money requirements do you have?
I'm looking to work. I need experience. I don't want to do taxes eventually, but I'm open to all opportunities right now. Money is negligible. I'll keep waiting tables to pay my bills, plus I have a decent amount in savings.

I hit Craigslist every day. I swear only money scams get back to me. As far as not being able to land something at tax time, I'm dumbfounded. I've applied everywhere. H&R, Liberty, Jackson Hewitt, even private CPA firms. I can't imagine there are that many accountants out of work that I'm on the bottom of the list, but IDK what else to think.

Slammed89Integra said:
Hmm...


I live and work with professionals of all level.

Get a head hunter. Recruiter. etc. Works for everyone. Call your buddies who interned places, etc. While you are looking. Go volunteer. Don't do a big commmitment, but something that shows you're not resting on your laurels.
I have a friend who's an executive head hunter. I want to pick his brain about where to go from here. He's said before he doesn't personally do entry level, but maybe he knows somebody.

B said:
An advanced accoutning degree opens way more doors than a basic H&R tax preparer. I work in the finance dept at my office, and most people are under 30. These guys are making contracts, cost sheets, helping sales, and other financial data to sell contracts at a profit and all the other number crunching stuff. I think that would be WAY more fun than doing people's taxes. Fuck, i hate taxes. recked does mine and i still hate doing them. lol You legit couldn't pay me 250k a year to be an H&R tax bitch, let alone 29k.


Since you only have schooling, make sure your resume is an education fronted resume. Having no experience is tough. Did you do an internship at least? If you haven't, you need to do an internship or volunteer.
I HATE tax accounting. But at this point, if it pays, I'll play.

My resume is solid. My sister helped me with it(she works at Goldman Sachs) then I had the head of the CAP center at my grad school pick over it and make a few changes. For what it is, I can't do any better. It has collegiate sports, leadership, volunteer work, consistent employment. Maybe some up to date volunteer work would help, at least it would occupy my days in between sending a ridiculous amount of emails. I have Monster, Career Builder, Indeed, TheLadders, and I hit up Craigslist just about every day.

I feel like I'm covering all avenues with little result. I just about fully expect the job I finally land to come from someone I know, because I don't even get called in to interview about the other stuff. Luckily I'm first on the list when my brother-in-law's firm opens up hiring. But I really don't feel like waiting, even though it is a great job.
 
have you tried looking at working for an Insurance company..i know our company is looking for a staff account, it's in our rocky hill, ct office but we do have a princeston NJ office or not sure if it could be a telecommute

https://www.appone.com/MainInfoReq.asp?R_ID=597675&B_ID=44&fid=1&Adid=&ssbgcolor=17143a&SearchScreenID=590&InternalJobCode=9534

Look at the Big ones like The Hartford, Travelers etc..they always need finance people or analysts or even actuaries who make 6 figures

Also make a LinkedIn account and start joining finance groups and connecting with people and post you are looking for a job
 
When I lost my job at Yale (I had been a consultant for 10 years before that position) I had to find some work quickly. I started off with the "Get gas money" type of jobs, Dunkin Donuts at night, and then a job at an arcade. All part-time. Just to put cigarettes in my lungs, food on the table, and gas in the car.

Then when I decided that no one is fucking hiring, and the possibility of getting a job through an application process is has the same chances of working as playing the lottery - I decided to go extreme.

I offered my services for free. For months I worked in people's houses - fixing computers - for free. I slowly began to get offers to work in their small businesses at full rate. Now 4 years later I own my business and make enough to get by. On my terms, at my schedule, and without the possibility of getting fired. (I can lose one client, but I'll have another 20 or so to pick up the slack)

It's definitely something I would advise people to do. I have a client who is an accountant. He couldn't find work after his degree either. After 15 years of working in his basement, he still works there - only his basement is in a 5000sqft house, with 4 employees and making over $500k a year - reliably. He doesn't even charge that much.

Another friend who is an accountant just resolves himself to keep looking for a job, he'll work at $16 an hour or some bullshit and have to commute long distances. Still hasn't found anything after about a year, and is getting really depressed. Even if you have just a bedroom, you can do accounting. Start for free, then work your way up. It'll be over before you know it.
 
It's definitely something I would advise people to do. I have a client who is an accountant. He couldn't find work after his degree either. After 15 years of working in his basement, he still works there - only his basement is in a 5000sqft house, with 4 employees and making over $500k a year - reliably. He doesn't even charge that much.

Another friend who is an accountant just resolves himself to keep looking for a job, he'll work at $16 an hour or some bullshit and have to commute long distances. Still hasn't found anything after about a year, and is getting really depressed. Even if you have just a bedroom, you can do accounting. Start for free, then work your way up. It'll be over before you know it.
after experiencing the freedoms that come with my current position, i don't really think i could ever work for someone else again
if this job falls apart i'll start my own accounting business, start with bookkeeping and small type stuff, good regular monthly income to pay the bills, and build a base of tax clients from the business bookkeeping i do, to the personal returns for those businesses, and just grow from there.

i am fortunate that I live very cheaply, so I don't really need much work to make ends meet.
 
When I lost my job at Yale (I had been a consultant for 10 years before that position) I had to find some work quickly. I started off with the "Get gas money" type of jobs, Dunkin Donuts at night, and then a job at an arcade. All part-time. Just to put cigarettes in my lungs, food on the table, and gas in the car.

Then when I decided that no one is fucking hiring, and the possibility of getting a job through an application process is has the same chances of working as playing the lottery - I decided to go extreme.

I offered my services for free. For months I worked in people's houses - fixing computers - for free. I slowly began to get offers to work in their small businesses at full rate. Now 4 years later I own my business and make enough to get by. On my terms, at my schedule, and without the possibility of getting fired. (I can lose one client, but I'll have another 20 or so to pick up the slack)

It's definitely something I would advise people to do. I have a client who is an accountant. He couldn't find work after his degree either. After 15 years of working in his basement, he still works there - only his basement is in a 5000sqft house, with 4 employees and making over $500k a year - reliably. He doesn't even charge that much.

Another friend who is an accountant just resolves himself to keep looking for a job, he'll work at $16 an hour or some bullshit and have to commute long distances. Still hasn't found anything after about a year, and is getting really depressed. Even if you have just a bedroom, you can do accounting. Start for free, then work your way up. It'll be over before you know it.
I'm definitely going to look into this. I just need to figure out what I can do that isn't tax related. I truly hate it and its an ever changing shit storm of rules and regulations.

i do have an idea I want to bounce of some professionals/entrepreneurs, maybe I'll work that out sooner rather than later.
 
And I want to figure out what I can do that isn't "calmly training absolute morons what the fucking right mouse button does". And I know lots of people who are in my field, working independently. They have weeded out these people.

And I scooped them up and took their money with a smile on my face.

You're already off on a bad foot there, skippy.
 
And I want to figure out what I can do that isn't "calmly training absolute morons what the fucking right mouse button does". And I know lots of people who are in my field, working independently. They have weeded out these people.

And I scooped them up and took their money with a smile on my face.

You're already off on a bad foot there, skippy.
Sit down and read a book about tax code. I'd gladly teach morons about a real mouse before I decide I'm going to be miserable day in and day out.
 
most accountants find the fun part to be the actual tax work
thats when it becomes an art

i hated income tax in school, what sort of tax experience did you have to make you hate it?
 
most accountants find the fun part to be the actual tax work
thats when it becomes an art

i hated income tax in school, what sort of tax experience did you have to make you hate it?
Schooling really. My worst grades were in my tax classes. I find it mind numbing. But I do enjoy auditing. It's weird.

Honestly, I'd rather be an analyst than an accountant. I simple got my degree in accounting because it has more range than a finance degree. Ultimately, I do want to be my own boss as well. An accounting degree is more helpful for that as well.
 
bookkeeping is sort of like a small scale audit
first you get your bearings, then you find out all the shit that they fucked up, then you fix that, and proceed with anything new.
 
Schooling really. My worst grades were in my tax classes. I find it mind numbing. But I do enjoy auditing. It's weird.

Honestly, I'd rather be an analyst than an accountant. I simple got my degree in accounting because it has more range than a finance degree. Ultimately, I do want to be my own boss as well. An accounting degree is more helpful for that as well.

As someone that spends time with a lot of accounting, audit sucks. My roommate works at a big 4 letter named firm which is mainly composed of auditors and says they mainly hate their jobs. The only time its fun is to kick the suggestions back and bill a ton of hours for the hive.




Have you started volunteering or called a recruiter yet? The sooner the better man.
 
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