Job Interviews

I've been looking for a job since i graduated college in May.

and it sucks.


I have a good resume! I got good grades! And i went to a respectable university and got a degree in computer engineering. It's utter BS. I've been on quite a few job interviews and always get the same reaction. They like me. At least they say they like me, and they lead me to believe that they will be pushing for me to get hired. Of course then a few weeks go by, i don't hear from them and so i try dropping them a line. Then they either tell me they just don't have an opening (which they must have thought they had before), or they don't get get back to me at all. I know the economy sucks, but then don't tell me you have something when you don't!

I want to know if it's common for interviewers to lie and say they like cantidates even if they don't.

Also, if anyone has any tips, things to do/ not to do at an interview or funny stories in general post them here.

Who else is in a job search right now and how is it going?

Oh, and don't even get me started on the BS that is online applications. The next company rep that gives me thier company's job site is getting my pointy dress shoe straight in the throat.

I think they always try to stay positive in a job interview. Some types of business's are always trying to hire, when they don't even really have a job opening. They do this cause they may have a high turnover rate and it keeps them a constant pool of resume's and people on hand to hire, when an opening comes available.

I've had some people waste an entire week of my time, just to tell me they didn't have an opening for me. I could have jerked em up for doing that.

I pretty much try and social engineer the interviewer. I've gotten pretty good at it, I goto job fairs at school and I don't even need a job. I just go and B.S with people and make connections.

I usually talk to em all cocky and be assertive like you could take em. Most good employers like that in a person. Also make sure you talk to em as if you would a friend, if they are friendly and not drilling with questions. It helps out in keeping you in their mind if you leave a good impression on them.

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Originally Posted by stormy

I've been looking for a job since i graduated college in May.

and it sucks.

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been looking since december myself. thing is i dont even get the interviews. but before/during college any interview i got i landed the job sometimes having several offers at once. the moment i got that degree it all went to shit. but basically i was relaxed and talked normally like they were just somebody off the street.

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Originally Posted by stormy

Of course then a few weeks go by, i don't hear from them and so i try dropping them a line.

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A job offer is like a chick, dude. You gotta let them know you're interested. If someone with the same credentials as you (maybe even less) came in for the same interview and called them two days later, that person probably got hired. You can't wait a few weeks to call them back.

What sort of things do you have experience with? Programming? SQL? PHP? Web design?

Are you going to large companies with conservative owners? What are you wearing to the interviews? A black or dark grey sport coat with black or dark grey dress pants and a white dress shirt with a dark to medium red tie are the things to go with for most businesses. Possibly a faint hint of blue in the coat and pants.

Did you keep eye contact? Address people directly, with their first names? Ask questions about company policies/pay/benefits?

All things to keep in mind. With that said, good luck in the future, man. Getting a good job is going to be tough until we get back on track economy-wise.

i do all the "right" stuff. I wear a shirt and tie with dress shoes, pants, and sport coat. I have all the answers for things on my resume and the standard questions like "where do you see yourself" or "talk about a time when you were challenged" blah blah blah. I ask about potential career paths, and what kinds of things i can expect to be doing. I don't talk about pay unless they bring it up, which i've heard is the right thing to do. They are usually the ones that say i'll get back to you in a week or whatever, in which case i wait until the time frame they give is up and then call right away. I try to be personable and friendly and i think i succeed but i do tend to get a little nervous, just not sure how visible it is.

If you ask about pay and flat out say something along the lines of, "I believe someone of my skill should be making...", most employers will get a better idea of how motivated you are. If you're applying at a company and they get offended at what you want to be making, you don't want to work for them anyway since those are the places who don't give raises and whatnot.

I have had about 200 interviews since September 2001 and only one summer internship to show for it. I think I'd be better off playing the Powerball.

hehe, I;m lucky enough to have fallen ass backwards into my current job. Too bad it sucks anus.

My first job interview was a few years ago. Completely unprepared and really sick, I walked into it very drugged up not knowing what to expect.

<interviewer> what are the 3 things you're most proud of?

<me> (I sigh fuuuuck under my breath), Um, I'm pretty rad at soccer... I'm pretty smart I guesss...um...not sure...

<interviewer> ...

When going thru your resume' and they are asking about some of the things you've done or can do. Just go through telling about it, as if it was something simple that you do allllll the time. It can impress the interviewer a bit more.

If you look a lil nervous or kind of akward in describing stuff you've done and what you can do, they'll consider that as either, you don't really know or you know but still need some practice and training.

When describing, try and make it interesting or show some passion about it. Nothing worse than boring the hell out your interviewer or not showing that YOU don't even like doing the stuff you went to college for.

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Originally Posted by arjue

hehe, I;m lucky enough to have fallen ass backwards into my current job. Too bad it sucks anus.

My first job interview was a few years ago. Completely unprepared and really sick, I walked into it very drugged up not knowing what to expect.

<interviewer> what are the 3 things you're most proud of?

<me> (I sigh fuuuuck under my breath), Um, I'm pretty rad at soccer... I'm pretty smart I guesss...um...not sure...

<interviewer> ...

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Bwahaha thats hilarous. Usually if I don't care about the job and just B.S'ing with some interviewer at a job fair, I find it fun to start popping them with questions. Sometimes you can catch em off guard and its pretty funny. Other times, I just get them totally off subject and cutting up about stuff. I've actually known people to land jobs this way.

My secret was that I would ask the interviewer at least as many questions as they asked me. As soon as I could, I'd start pounding them with questions, putting them on the spot about the job.

This did a number of things: threw them off balance, made me look confident, interview became a dialogue, not an interrogation, made me look interested in the job, kept them from having to talk so much (they don't like doing it either), made it seem as if I was already a part of the company, made me seem aggressive, I dunno, I could keep going. You always want the person on the other side of the table off balance.

On my third interview of any kind (this one was over the phone), they liked me enough to fly me out to LA, and then about two days after the interview in LA, they made me an offer, which I took. Worked out.

Don't be afraid to move in order to get a job. Otherwise you limit yourself. Look in different cities, states, etc.

After a couple of years with real experience go back to a similarly paying job where you want to settle down.

Even though its a retail job, i like how i managed to land the gig at my current place of work - i basically got hired during their "hiring freeze" - certain periods of time where our store doesn't hire anyone - because of Iron Maiden. Yeah thats right.

I was bugging them for shit during the summer of 2000 constantly calling and asking about job openings, status of my application, etc - and finally when i was up there in person one day i actually got a hold of the H.R. manager and i think he was so tired of hearing about me that he granted me an interview the next day. So I come back to do it and we sit down and i'm going for a position in this border's music dept, he asks me what was the last cd i bought and i tell him the new iron maiden, well he jumps up and starts raving about that album, turns out he's an Iron Maiden and Pantera fan and we just talk about those bands for the next 10 minutes and eventually he goes "Alright come on to the back room and we'll get you filled out with the proper forms."

It was kind of a truimph for me because I HAD to get a job as soon as possible, having quit my previous one a week before, and as a teenager i always thought that it would have been a cool place to work and always saw the people who worked there as such. I was actually pretty proud of my tenacity I must admit. Of course, the reality of the job is far less glamourous but truth to tell there are moments where I'm grateful to work there.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

I have had about 200 interviews since September 2001 and only one summer internship to show for it. I think I'd be better off playing the Powerball.

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You'd still need to go for 10,000 times that number of interviews to get anywhere near the odds for Powerball. ;)