Hiring fresh folks, a society problem

[ShinraCorp]

I need to get this off my chest. I need to explain my story. If you're not interested then leave.

I've moved recently to the Ottawa/Gatineau region hoping to finish up my education and find a new job. I moved on August 1st, I said to myself it'll take about 2-3 weeks before I find work, they're hiring everywhere, all the places that I applied were hiring.

Week 1: No answers, no problem.
Week 2: No answers, starting to get a little strange.
Week 3: No answers, something isn't right, but then I thought that since school is starting soon I imagine they'll call.
Week 4: Got an answer did an interview never heard from it again, no answers after that. Went to an agency, hopefully to help out, redid my resume according to the agent's suggestions.
Week 5: Starting to get depressed, money is running low, I cannot pay all of my debts in time.
Week 6: (this week): Getting answers from some places I applied all of them are: Rejected, we found someone better. Complete bull****, I can guarantee that I am better than them, I have seen incompetent folks where I applied.

So now this is how it is so far. I have come to the realization that society is a problem. The mentality that the hiring managers and people a like are: Are you experienced? Every job and person will ask that. How can anyone get experienced if you never let them work. They're people who have potential, heck they're probably better than the experienced ones. But no, you need to be "experienced". I will not lie in my resume saying I have experience just to get a job. I started a mobile IT repair business (got my diploma and certificate the whole thing to prove I am able to fix PCs) before I moved, some clients asked if I was experienced, an 5+ years experienced person wouldn't charge 20$ an hour to fix your computer. So of course they hang up thinking I'll break their computer or something.

How bad is this problem? This is how bad it is. Getting rejected from Target and Wal-Mart because "We found someone better." The two biggest retail companies in North America rejects me because they're looking for experienced workers... they usually hire people who have no skills what so ever but somehow they're now looking for experienced workers.

For those who are wondering yes I am depressed right now and yes that's the reason why reading this might seem hard, I cannot focus on writing so much when depressed.

I am sorry if I wasted your time but it's seriously something I needed to get off my chest.

 

[anon(8985111)]

Week 6: (this week): Complete bull****, I can guarantee that I am better than them, I have seen incompetent folks where I applied.

If you come across the same way in your job interviews it seems reasonable to me that no one has hired you yet.

 

[ShinraCorp]

No I don't act like that at all but like I've seen some baaaaaad people.

Let me give you an example. I go to ask if my phone would work on their network, the only question he asked was. Is a from our carrier? I said no, he said can't help you then. Not a single second was spent doing research on my phone or even asked what phone it was.

I'm sorry but that's just not giving a damn about a customer.

 

[k72]

I hear you. I had the same problem after my first degree. I found you have to "know" someone. I couldn't get a job I was overqualified for, but the person they hired had a totally unrelated degree and was only staying in staying a year, but... her mom was the head of human resources. I got my job semi based on qualifications, but only got the interview because someone specifically recommended me. It makes job hunting quite hard if you don't know many people or the ones you do know work in lousy places. Even harder when you are looking for another job and your boss, who always gave you excellent reviews, is ticked off that you left and lies about how incompetent you are. Job hunting is just a lousy business all around. I do hope things go better for you.

 

[k72]

If you come across the same way in your job interviews it seems reasonable to me that no one has hired you yet.

I doubt the OP comes across like that at interviews. But they are frustrated, understandably so, and came here to vent. Having been in that same situation, I can say that a vent is not usually representative of one's typical character.

 

[ShinraCorp]

Nah me and my previous boss were pretty good and he understood that I only quit working for him because of education not because I didn't like working for him or anything.

I just want to try something new, I've been doing gas stations for over 5 years now.... I want to work in Telecom or IT or heck even Best Buy. Speaking of Best Buy, this one is actually funny. I applied to Best Buy and I was dedicated to work there, so I applied online and then a day later went there to give out my resume in person, the hiring manager said she'll call me back on Monday (she said she was hiring a lot of folks), sadly though she never did so I went back just to see if she forgot or something, she wasn't there so the customer service girl grabbed a piece of paper and I told her my name and number. She never called me so I was like, I think they're doing it on purpose now so I gave up Best Buy.

 

[switch side method]

Believe it or not... Your looking for a job the wrong way...let me explain....when you go for a Job others will as well right? Soooo......the trick is (and it ALWAYS GOT ME A JOB) to phone places that isn't advertising. I rang up local residential and nursing homes for example and 9/10 I get the reply of "actually someone will be leaving soon for maternity leave" straight away I got an interview.....they didn't advertise and I got a job...that's the trick. And if your after a normal paid job then go for nursery work. Men are like gold dust to find and makes the nursery looks good so 99.9% they will hire you. I am a guy and believe me... Getting paid to play with Lego and mixing with hot female staff is the best damn job I ever did ;-p

 

[spaulagain]

Experience will almost always trump fresh graduates. Based on my experiences, experienced candidates are almost always better because there are some things just not taught in college. You don't learn things like how to deal with office politics, ways to work with others to get what you want (is the right solution).



My first job out of college was a mess. Both myself and the business I worked for were immature and inefficient. Now that I've been in the professional environment for 6+ years, I understand the value of experience.



You might think you are "better" because you have some recent training but that may not be the case. Also, in the IT world, it's widely known that self-taught experienced applicants are far better than fresh college grads. Colleges often teach old methods and practices, something the IT world doesn't want. 95% of what I do and know now at work was from experience, not college.



Also, the job market is still very rough right now. There are thousands of experienced and intelligent workers that are under employed and looking at the same jobs you are.



I graduated in 2008 when the economy crashed. I had a job lined up from an internship, but even then it wasn't until 2 months after I graduated that they brought me on. And that job was horrible, no benefits, horrible pay, and horrible work environment.



In summary, get over it. Keep trying, and do like others have stated, go to companies and ask. Also, are you following up after interviews? And maybe you don't interview well. Talk to recruiting firms about interview skills.

 

[ShinraCorp]

Not really, during my internship. I've done things that my supervisor (20+ years in IT) didn't know about. Not sure how your colleges are but here they talk about EVERYTHING, Software level, Hardware level, OS Level and Network level. Also I did go to a recruiting agency about that and the only problem that I had was my resume but that was fixed weeks ago.

 

[spaulagain]

Not really, during my internship. I've done things that my supervisor (20+ years in IT) didn't know about. Not sure how your colleges are but here they talk about EVERYTHING, Software level, Hardware level, OS Level and Network level. Also I did go to a recruiting agency about that and the only problem that I had was my resume but that was fixed weeks ago.

That's one circumstance. And supervisors are not the greatest example. I'm not doubting your skills, I'm just saying from my experience college grads lack on the most current trends, etc. Especially in the web development world where things are changing every month.

Just keep trying, it takes patience. My first job out of college sucked, and the company essentially went out of business a year after I joined. I then went 8 months in a retail job until I found another job in my career. I think parents and colleges give a lot of kids false confidence in the ability to get a job after graduating. You may be more likely than someone without a degree, but that still doesn't guarantee you a job.

 

[bilzkh]

It's not so much that there are a lot of fresh graduates around as it is the reality that there aren't many suitable jobs.

In the old days a lot of jobs (especially entry-level/low-experience) were produced and maintained by the manufacturing industry (directly and indirectly, e.g. the towns and cities that benefited from having major factories). However, as manufacturing in Canada declined over the years, so did a lot of jobs young people and/or fresh graduates would take up. To compound matters further, major companies aren't really putting in a lot of money into hiring new employees that aren't already trained and experienced.

You can make of these facts as you will, I'm not going to pass a moral judgment, just stating the realities as they are... There are some who believe that companies ought to be responsible for supporting the local economy as *the* goal. But this contradicts a critical element of our society, i.e. the notion that we value freedom in all aspects of life, including economic freedom. Having companies serve a societal goal at the cost of better margins isn't exactly freedom, and some will say, 'if we went down that path, what about other freedoms? What if those companies leave?' etc.

It's a tough situation. In fact, this is probably one of the toughest situations to actually emerge from. Although this is *not* a solution to the general problem, you should consider committing some of your time towards starting a business and/or learning in an area where labour is in high demand. Again, doing this isn't going to solve the problem of young graduates, but it might help you out as an individual.