Chat Thread ver.2

[K73SK]

Well, I don't quite mean spammy... Just stuff like once a day something new similar to:

"Anyone here got any drones? Show off your drone pictures" or something. Things you can build topics on lol

[Nightshade]

Any advice on finding jobs? I'd like to be employed, but I can't get past an initial screening to even make it to a human interviewer.

[K73SK]

Depends on the kind of job. I've always been pretty good at making resumes, it seems... Always helping friends and had a few career advisers say that they couldn't find anything I need to improve on them lol. But I could probably only really help on technical jobs... If not that, then not sure how far I can help lol.

[Nightshade]

I don't have a lot of... 'resume-friendly' achievements, which is a big part of the problem, and then I've overeducated myself out of the opportunity for entry-level positions, without the experience for anything above the entry level.

Ideally, I'd like to do public policy work, but I'm mostly looking for data science / analysis roles. Or, that's what I'd like to be looking for, but I can't get past the resume-scanning robots to a human being in the first place.

[K73SK]

I don't have a lot of... 'resume-friendly' achievements, which is a big part of the problem, and then I've overeducated myself out of the opportunity for entry-level positions, without the experience for anything above the entry level.

Ideally, I'd like to do public policy work, but I'm mostly looking for data science / analysis roles. Or, that's what I'd like to be looking for, but I can't get past the resume-scanning robots to a human being in the first place.

Are you still in school, or already graduated and searching with a high education? If the former, an internship may be an easy grab to lead to a full-time position somewhere. If the latter, then maybe you could try applying for position asking for experience and see whether you get somewhere or not - even if you have no prior "work" experience.

Also, although I'm sure you are already trying it, be sure to try places outside of your city/state. A lot of big companies will fly you out for the interview if you sound like a promising candidate, assuming they don't do virtual interviews.

For the data science and analysis... Are you looking into things like data mining? If so, big-name companies might be something you look into. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc... All those large companies, especially the ones looking at data and interpreting it, will probably snatch you up fairly quickly if you're interested in a data mining position.

For the resume, keep it to one page if it's possible. If you absolutely need more space, then do two pages but never exceed that (You may know this, but I gotta say it because I've seen way too many resumes that exceed 2 pages). The very top of the page containing your name/number/address, then a section showing your education (degree/GPA/Major GPA). After that, put your skills. For example, I got into a technical field so I put a "technical skills" section and just put what I'm good in. Here's a snippet of what I had before I got the job I have now (The total was only 5 lines worth of technical stuff):

Languages: Proficient in C# 1-5, Experience in C, C++, Perl, Python, Java, ASP.NET, HTML 5/CSS 3, HSL;
Applications: Visual Studio, Eclipse, Dreamweaver, Unity, Hero Engine, GitHub, SVN

Next, put experience... Since you have no experience, just put the last jobs you had... At least that's what I did. If you had any kind of volunteer or unpaid work that may benefit the position you're applying for, it might be worth putting that (I did). Lastly, activities that relate to what you're going for. For me, I put a group I was teaching at my school called "C# Programming Group" where I taught students C#. I also put that I developed and manage this website here.

Lots of places will also pay a lot of attention to your willingness to learn - not just what you got in school. If you have any personal activities or things you did *outside* of school, those help a lot because it shows you have a true desire/interest in what you're going for and that you're even interested in doing it as a hobby without pay.

[Nightshade]

I mean, I've done most of that stuff, and while I haven't finished my dissertation / Ph.D., I do have two Masters degrees and have advanced to candidacy for my Ph.D., so it's not like I'm short on education.

Just an issue of every position requiring 3-5 years of industry experience, and not having enough resume-friendly accomplishments to get past the resume-scanning robots used by the applicant tracking software utilized by pretty much every company these days. No matter where I apply, there never seems to be a shortage of better-qualified, more-experienced, and closer-fitting candidates for hiring managers to choose from.

So I'm not even sure that I'm employable, if I can't even make it past the robots.

[K73SK]

Maybe start by looking at smaller companies with "OK" wages, get a few years of experience, then jump board to the big guys?

[Nightshade]

Sadly, unlike in software development, there's not really *anyone*, size of company aside, which is hiring for true entry-level, no-prior-industry-experience positions. At least, none that are advertising as such. Those that are still want internship experience and are exclusively hiring undergraduates for their 'leadership development / rotational programs', or whatever the h*ck they're calling them now.

[K73SK]

Well... Not sure what else to say, lol. Maybe the school has some career center advisers or something?

[deadly virus]

Still alive.. I think