A lot of Kossacks are looking for work and people say a lot of the usual stuff you hear for job searches (use networking! Get into a training program). Some of which can be useful (going forward with Prof certifications), some less so, some only in certain circumstances (networking).
However, one thing no body talks about is the people who make the first cuts (aka before you even get picked to phone screen, interview, etc) the HR resume scan. 99% of companies your likely to be talking to for work (basically everyone but 1, 2, or 3 man/woman operations) have an HR department and they're the ones who make the decision to keep your resume. And, from extensive talking to them through my graduate program I can tell you the laws (I mean it, they're unbreakable, if God himself came down and asked them not to use them the words out of their mouth would be "What? And increase my workload 150%? NO way." The following are these laws.
Before mentioning the important stuff, lets dispense with a few misconceptions about the staffing function:
- They want to find the best person for the job.
Fact: NO, no they don't. Unless the company is going to end without having someone in that position in the next 6 months they don't even care whether the position ever gets filled. They care about doing things in a manner that reduces their workload to the easiest level for them.
- Networking avoid HR.
Fact: This is another classic lie. Unless you know the CEO or CFO the resume still will go through HR Law and if someone other than these 2 all powerful positions tries to help you they'll get yelled at for stepping on HRs toes.
Now HR Law, the stuff that matters to the second most important people in a job search (and the gatekeepers to the most important ones).
- The Shit Jobbing Rule - If you are a traditional student the clock starts ticking as soon as you graduate. You have the approximate time from your graduation year (which you have to put on your resume) until your 30 to get what is viewed as significant job experience. If you can't manage this, HR will not even spare a thought as they run your resume through a paper shredder (yeah there's a law against that, but its never been enforced so no one cares). If you have been in the military or had some other service that pushed back colelge you actually get a bit of a break here as HR has a hard on for ex-military (heck, most of the female HR people I've met are married to ex-military) so you can be older. This is actually the rule that has pretty much doomed me to never having a future (I thought I had significant experience, but I was lied to and the first 4 years after college turned out to be a waste).
- The Out of State application Rule - If you are applying for a job from out of state you won't be considered for the position. HR law states that a person from out of state "will never move here" and thus the application won't get considered. If you are trying to apply out of state, try to move in with someone you know out of state and use their address.
- The "What Qualifications Really Matter" Rule - What qualifications actually matter for a job? Only 2 classes of qualifications matter: Professional experience and professional certifications (and the last are generally closed to you after 25 or so, I'll explain in a moment). People going to an MBA or Master's program thinking it will help them are the worst fools of all, these degrees will have people laugh right in your face when you try to use them as an advantage (though the bonus is those out of work ex-Wallstreet Hotshots going to MBA programs to "try to stand out" are going to be in for a surprise in 1-2 years when those degrees help them out jack and shit). So get significant professional experience early (it helps if you go to a big name school, no name schools get you nothing but someone will always hire a U of M, Northwestern, etc. graduate just because you have those university names on your resume for a first job) or get a professional certification right after school. The more you wait the greater certainity it'll be impossible for you to get the cert. I can use myself as an example, I'm studying for the CPA exam but I'll never, ever, ever be able to get the cert as it requires 2 years of audit experience which is only available in the amount needed to qualify from the 12 largest CPA firms (which will never bring on a 30 year as a beginner, they want the 25 year olds fresh out of grad programs, they won't say this but check their new classes and the facts speak for themselves) and governmental entities (good luck cracking that force field). Now plenty of people brought up examples of people who went to small firms and are now CPA but I am willing to bet $3,000 to guarantee that those people did this prior to the shake out in 1995 that required 2 years exclusive audit experience and, with the insurance requirements for doing audit work now, drove pretty much all small firms out of auditing.
So, to review, to break HR law you need to have significant experience by the time your 30, don't wait on the prof certifications if you think you'll ever need them, avoid Grad school like the plague unless you want to be a lawyer or college professor, move in with a friend if you are applying out of state, and if you are looking for your first job the place where you went to undergrad matter significantly. And as a bonus you found out why I'm doomed forever, for ending up on the shit side of the all powerful HR Law.