How to get a job?

[EternalForest]

It seems every company wants someone who's already had years of experience and no one's willing to train anymore. Job sites are flooded with people who are more experienced than you. Interview questions are designed to make you look bad (what is your greatest weakness?, specific personality tests, etc.). Overall, connections seem more important than skills, who you know is more important than what you know. How is a young person (18-25) supposed to get a job these days?

[EternalForest]

Btw, the reason I'm getting a job is just save money temporarily for the business I'm trying to start. Also, I have ways to make money self-employed but I'm trying to increase/diversify my income.

[7thLetter]

Is it an issue with the companies? Or is it yourself?

[Girzo]

In my experience it's super easy to get a job. What country are you living in and what jobs are you appling for?

My bet would be that you are not trying hard enough to get one. In some cities you have to send hundreds of applications to get any reply.

[Leo Gura]

@EternalForest It's actually not that hard to get a good job.

But it requires that you offer value to the employer rather than being a leech.

What job do you want? What skills do you have? Are you showcasing your skills well with a portfolio?

These days training yourself and building skills is easier than ever. You must train yourself and then show evidence to your employer of your skills and your willingness to learn further on the job.

Building a great portfolio is a MUST as far as I'm concerned. With a great portfolio you will eliminate all your competition.

People being more experienced than you is not a significant factor because those people also demand a higher salary. Employers are always looking for people with low experience because they need people to do grunt work and those who will work for lower salaries.

You are not competing with people with 5-10 years of experience. You are competing with people who have 1-2 years of experience, which you can provide for yourself. "Experience" does not have to mean that you were a salaried employee during that time. Experience could mean: you working on a project in your mother's basement.

[EternalForest]

@Leo Gura 

>"Experience" does not have to mean that you were a salaried employee during that time. Experience could mean: you working on a project in your mother's basement.

That's a very positive way to put it, in that case I definitely have experience. 

I'm trying to get a job in audio engineering. I have a certificate in it that I earned last year, but there aren't that many jobs for that in my area, and the ones that are around require more skills/experience than I have. The easiest answer to that would be to relocate but I can't do that at the moment. My "dream" so to speak is to be able to make money on my own from my own music & DJing/performing. And I am working on, that but until that happens/earns me enough to be my career, I want to have some form of income because atm I'm working for the family business and living at home and I don't want to be dependent forever (I'm 22). And yes, I could just work at Walmart or McDonalds for now and swallow my pride. But before I do that I'd like to at least try and get a job at a radio station or something like that that's relevant to what I've been studying.

[purerogue]

Only thing you have to do is play their game, if you will be honest you will not answer their questions as they want, it is all just lying to make you look "better".

[Leo Gura]

@EternalForest You have a very specific type of job with very specific skill set. So all you got to do is build up more of those skills and build an awesome portfolio which showcases your skills.

While you are job-hunting, spend the rest of your time building your audio engineering skills & portfolio. If you end up working at Walmart, keep building your audio engineering skills on the evenings and weekends. After a few years of that you'll get your desired job.

If you can afford to take 6 to 12 months off to focus solely on building your skills, that would be ideal. In 12 months of full-time skill-building you should be a very solid entry-level audio engineer candidate.

That's how I got my first job as a video game designer.

When you are applying for jobs, you should be applying all around the country, not just in your city.

[petar8p]

1 hour ago, EternalForest said:

@Leo Gura 

>"Experience" does not have to mean that you were a salaried employee during that time. Experience could mean: you working on a project in your mother's basement.

That's a very positive way to put it, in that case I definitely have experience. 

I'm trying to get a job in audio engineering. I have a certificate in it that I earned last year, but there aren't that many jobs for that in my area, and the ones that are around require more skills/experience than I have. The easiest answer to that would be to relocate but I can't do that at the moment. My "dream" so to speak is to be able to make money on my own from my own music & DJing/performing. And I am working on, that but until that happens/earns me enough to be my career, I want to have some form of income because atm I'm working for the family business and living at home and I don't want to be dependent forever (I'm 22). And yes, I could just work at Walmart or McDonalds for now and swallow my pride. But before I do that I'd like to at least try and get a job at a radio station or something like that that's relevant to what I've been studying.

Why not hitting up one of the companies, communicating them your enthusiasm and asking them if you can get there for free, to have a few months of practice. After that, they may employee you full-time, or at least you have more rich CV with actual work-place experience..

[How to be wise]

@Leo Gura You mentioned that with programming skills, we can start our own business. How do we do this?

The reason is that I have my life purpose in mind, but it will take around 5-10 years of study and skill building to achieve. In the meantime, I would like to have the time and freedom to actually gain skill in my life purpose. That’s why I’m interested in the programming business.

I’m currently in college, but I hate my degree and would like to start a business ASAP. Any tips? 

[CreamCat]

@How to be wise Why does your life purpose involve programming? Programming is useful, but not necessarily the way.

[Joseph Maynor]

First of all, have a resume that looks great notwithstanding what's in it.  I can get jobs easy, the problem is I don't want a regular job.  I need to create my own job.  But my resume is amazing.  I spent like 2 months working on my resume getting every stylistic point and formatting issue right.  I also have my photo on my resume which is cool, although a lot of places probably wouldn't like that.  Your resume has to look amazing from a beauty standpoint, let alone what's in it.

But yeah, the first step towards getting a job is getting the best resume you can draft together.  As a writer, my resume is a work of art, and I made it a work of art on purpose.  You want a resume that looks so good that they want to call you in for an interview based on just the way your resume looks, notwithstanding what's in it.  I've reviewed resumes before for hiring, and lemme tell you, most resumes I've seen look janky as f*ck.  So, that's where I really saw that I could separate myself from the rest of the herd by having a resume that just stands out over all the rest based on appearance alone.

A great looking resume is like making a great first impression.  Even if what's in the resume has some gaps or whatnot, just having a resume that is a work of beauty is enough to make a great first impression.

I actually applied a couple of tips from Leo's video on resumes when I was working on my resume:

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Leo Gura]

32 minutes ago, How to be wise said:

@Leo Gura You mentioned that with programming skills, we can start our own business. How do we do this?

The reason is that I have my life purpose in mind, but it will take around 5-10 years of study and skill building to achieve. In the meantime, I would like to have the time and freedom to actually gain skill in my life purpose. That’s why I’m interested in the programming business.

I’m currently in college, but I hate my degree and would like to start a business ASAP. Any tips? 

Well, how to start a business is a HUGE topic & skill set all on its own. There are thousands of books, courses, videos, seminars, workshops, and trainings available on this topic.

It would be relatively easy to set up a web programming business where you get clients to pay you so that your small team of programmers can code their website or app. There is a near endless demand for high quality web programming teams. If you were smart you could manage such a team remotely. You could have a 100% virtual programming business by hiring good programmers from overseas like in Eastern Europe or India.

Of course all of this requires business & project management skills. But that's not too hard to learn if you are serious. You could easily make 6 figures like this.

And that's just one idea.

[Samra]

When I finished film school, I didn't have proper work experience. So I did three things:

1. worked as a volunteer on many sets, as many as I could get my hands on. Eventually I got picked up one of the sets as a talent, and I started getting paid and I got exposure. After that, people found me and hired me. The working for free took around a year. 

2. I applied for internship for different companies (again, for free, full time) I did that for 6 months for two different companies. Neither of them hired me at the end, but I gained experience and confidence. 

3. I went back to school and got necessary certificates I lacked.

To pay for all of this, I lived at the corner of my sister's apartment, and did side gig's, many gig jobs. Also I got an extra student loan from bank. 

You need to get your hands dirty, try different things, get yourself exposed. The opportunity is not gonna come to you. Go offer your services and let the best of best teach you. Learn to lower your expectations, and be humble. Eventually, you will learn how to do business on your own if you want to. First, learn the trade and the people.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Samra

[EternalForest]

@petar8p @Joseph Maynor Thanks for the advice, I suppose I was just looking at this too negatively, now that I think about it I definitely haven't gotten my foot in the door as much as I could be. The opportunity isn't gonna come to me. And yes for what I'm doing, moving to a different may definitely have to be an option. And at this point @Leo Gura I've got plenty of work that I could show I've done over the past 2 years. In the meantime I'll get to know the scene a little better and volunteer/intern. @Samra .

[ivory]

I get any job interview I want. I paid a professional to do my resume. They ask you a bunch of questions and use your answers to generate a resume that highlights your skills and accomplishments. I'd highly recommend going that route. It's an investment that will last you many years. I also have a small website that highlights some of the projects I work on, has a little blog, and my resume. This sets me apart from others big time.

[harrysmith]

Looking to write about your professional and personal accomplishments to stand out you among thousands? Since, it's the first and also the most crucial part of job hunting, your abilities and professionalism need to be portrayed on your resume as clearly and understandably as possible. Resume Era’s services are not just about how you present your qualifications but you should be able to tell your employer why they should select you for specific talents and skills. It also includes your related experiences and accomplishments that can be considered relevant to the job search.

[HenryWater]

I think, you need to choose a job to your liking, so as not to regret it later.