No Experience no work, no work no experience

Lounge
1

Hi Everyone:

Do any of you agree that after you graduated from university/college you cannot get a job because you have no experience in the area you studied. And the saying goes if you have no work, how are you going to get experience in your field.

After graduation you have a fat student loan. Can you afford to volunteer your time. You have bills to pay plus you have to eat. I certainly cannot afford to do any volunteer work anymore, plus all the volunteer work is not getting me anywhere that i did in school.

In my opinion, i don’t think universities and colleges are preparing students very well for the real world of work. They just take our $40 000 ( 4 years living there and tuition) and don’t even help us find careers in our fields…during and after graduation.

I checked my university alumni service …1 year after graduation and 7 years after graduation, and all the postings were dead end jobs not even related to my field.

The career counsellors at my university career centre don’t even scout to find professional careers. I think that should be part of their responsibilities besides giving endless resume and interview workshops… They’re mostly dead end jobs… How sad…

The professors are making over $100 000 a year. They are not living in our shoes… graduates with no careers… stuck in dead end jobs…trying to make ends meet.

I actually told the alumin career counsellor about this. She said “Research indicates higher education pays off.” Yeah that research is only on those individuals who are able to secure employment in their profession. Its Bias…What about those of us who are doing dead end jobs…

Its very frustrating and discouraging when you bust your butt to make it there and finish, then you end up with a minimum wage job because no one is willing to hire you because you have no experience in your the field you study. What’s the point of having all those As in your degree if its useless…

Any ideas on how to overcome this barrier besides cooperative work (where you work while attending school full time) and internships. What should the rest of us do that are not lucky enough to get cooperative work, internships or have connections in higher places.

Some entry level positions require at least 3 years of experience.

2

I love that you posted this! I am going through this very issue right now. I just graduated with a post-grad in public relations and I am struggling to find a job- it seems to be all about connections.

It’s not right that a university graduate who has completed a post-grad course (with honours) cannot find a job. Our course was great and we did have a good prep course on resumes and job searching, but is that enough?

I agree that internships and co-op work is ideal, but it’s difficult to get. My solution right now is contacts and networking, but I’m not a super outgoing person, so I struggle with it a bit. I am going to volunteer to help develop a media kit for the YMCA/YWCA here as I made a contact there and she asked if I would like to help. Also, her friend works at a company that has a job opening in September, so that’s good but of course not guaranteed.

The worst part of the whole thing? I went to the mall and applied for jobs and I got two interviews. I also have two years of retail experience, so I’m qualified for these jobs. The one woman told me straight out that she would be afraid I would leave too soon because of my education. I haven’t heard from the other job yet, but I think they probably agree with the other woman, I’m overqualified.

So we’re new grads with no work experience in our fields, but overqualified for other jobs? Not fair to me at all. They didn’t tell me that when I started university and plunked down my money. They make it sound like you’re set if you have a degree- NOT TRUE! Even if you go into a specialty it’s tough.

Okay- sorry for the rant. You’re not alone though Lynn, I just wanted to make sure you know that.

3

Yep you are so right. My brother was having the same exact problem. My father who works for a big American company as a hiring manager. He had just listened to my brother rant about how hard it is to find a job when you graduate college when entry level wants you to have experience. My brother was like WTF “why is it called entry level if they want experience?”

When my father was hiring for a position he recieved all this resumes, and he is required to interview them all. One of them was a recent graduate and my father asked why should I hire you. and he said well its entry level and how can I get experience when no one will hire me? the kid said I trained to do this in school and no one will let me even bother to give me a shot, and that made my father think of when brother was looking and complained of the same. So my father hired him. and he never regretted it.

So try to remind the interviewer or the person getting the resume when he was in that position. It worked on my father.

4

Sorry kids, but having been in the workforce longer than you’ve all been around, some jobs just plain call for experience. Doesn’t matter how much time you’ve put in studying something, that’s all theoretical. The experience you gain on a job puts you in real life situations where things happen that don’t fit into textbooks. And the company wants to hire someone who does have that experience they can count on tol be able to do the job, not spend time actually learning it.

Think about looking at entry level positions where there are advanced positions you’d like to have. You’ll gain experience working at that company, within that industry, and many companies hire from within because they know that person’s track record.

5

Any advice on those who cannot even get an interview for the position that is related to what you studied. Grrrrrr

Some places (profit companies) will not allow you to volunteer and it is those companies that you need to get experience to overcome your hurdle of experience. Base on my personal experience once you work in an entry level position, most employers don’t care about your post secondary education, they only care about your experience…Grr… Once again, what’s the point of education. Mind you this company believes in staying in school… Its a major bank which i am not going to name…How hypocritical…

So how are you supposed to get the experience. Only non profit companies will allow you to volunteer.

6

I’m so with you gals! Been there, done that, experienced it all. I got my Ph.D. a year ago, and my job situation is ok, but not great. I have to work two contracts, work on papers in my “free time” (Ha!) and I will take courses in the fall. :passedout: I just wanted… ya know, a normal job? :shrug: But really, I can’t complain because some people are in a worst situation. I can pay my bills, so it’s already a lot!

I so understand what you mean. Some entry-level positions have unattainable requirements. And if you go for something you are very well qualified to do, you’ll be considered “over-qualified” and won’t be hired. :roll: And yes, the famous experience thing. ARRGH! :wall:

I do agree universities don’t always understand the job market. University profs sometimes are over-optimistic - my PhD supervisor would say to me “Bah, you’re smart, someone will hire you”. Well maybe 25 years ago it’s all it took to get a job, not anymore. :shrug: And stable jobs where you get in at 25 and get out at 65 don’t seem to exist anymore either!

How did I get my two contracts? One word: contacts. Seriously, tell everyone you know you are looking for a job. Even people who are not working in your area of expertise, you never know. Email people. Call people. I didn’t like to do it, because I’m not a person who asks for help. But I realized that people were very understanding, and truly wanted to help. And they did!

See also if you can get short term contracts. It’s not great, but it helps to pay the bills. It’s better to have that than to have nothing in your resume. Think of offering consulting services (as a self-employed). It depends on what area you studied in, but for me this is what ended up working. I never, never thought of having my own “business”, but well sometimes life is full of surprises. :teehee: And if you think you have some things missing in your resume, go get them. Courses, certificates, or teach yourself new skills.

The most important thing: BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. You ARE good and qualified. Make it clear during the interviews. Sometimes it takes a while before something works out, and I know how hard and stressful it is. But you’ll find something! :thumbsup:

7

You don’t need to volunteer, but look for entry level jobs. Employers want someone with a record of being a good employee, that knows the value of hard work and is willing to put in the time. They can’t tell all that just by a school record. Once you have some experience ‘just working’ in a similar environment you can move up.

8

I think what most of the older adults are not realizing is the “entry-level” is not really entry-level. they say entry level but they are not. How is it entry level if they are asking for 3+ years of experience?

The job market really is not there for college and post grad students. Part of it is the current job market is flooded with laid off employees who have experience who will take the entry level job because they have mortgages plus are still paying off their student loans and have started families. Employees know this.

So new graduates are forced to try to get jobs any job, which is a joke because they won’t get hired because they are overqualified for. I’ve been there. It sucks. I went to college and post grad. It took forever to find a job. Thankfully i’ve been with the same company for a long time now.

9

Older adult… :?? :teehee: Well certainly if they are asking for 3 yrs experience that is not really entry level. Sheesh! :doh:

My youngest daughter graduated last year and took a job with local city. She knew she would end up being a go-for kind of person sometimes, but she gained experience working in an office and learning the office programs, etc and has now moved up and is being paid pretty well. We are lucky that we live in an area where there are lots of choices. If you are in a small town I can see that it would be very hard to find a place to start. :hug:

10

heehee I’m getting to the older adult category I think now. I just meant the ones that no longer qualify for entry level.

11

I agree.
I think the “no experience” is simply an excuse to hire people at low wages or drive the wages lower in that field.

I also agree that colleges aren’t preparing people for the real world and they are more for networking and making connections to get you hired on who you know rather than what you know (but don’t ever say that to a big corporate interviewer because odds are that’s how they got the job).
I heard “we don’t normally hire from that college” many times, and it’s not like there are many real jewelry/watchmaking schools for them to choose from. That was an excuse to pay piece rate until you prove yourself and then never decide you’ve proven yourself.
The school didn’t teach real world methods and I saw more people who went there with me fail than succeed in the real world.

Then when you lose your job after 10-20 years you will hear the excuse that you’re too qualified.

Without knowing what career you are talking about you just have to take any job in the field or even close to the field that you can get no matter how low paid or crappy it is. Stay there a year and ask for a promotion or find a place that will take that experience and keep rolling your experience over until you get up to one of the places that pays better and requires more experience.

12

just because a job advertises for somebody who has 2+ years of experience doesnt meen you can’t aply for it. There are unlikely to be many candidates who meet all the criteria. So say you have an accredited qualification but no experience, somebody else may have some experience but not the acredited qualification.
Yes experience in the field is important, but so is knowing the subject well and having the up-to-date knowlege which somebody who has been working may not have. These things all get balanced (and fought) out on CVs and at Interviews. It is worth applying jusyt to get the experience. If you don’t get a job or don’t get asked for an interview, ask the companies for feedback and why so that you know what needs to be strengthened.
I think the career service that Unis ofer varies school by school. One Uni i have been to is very good, the other was a bit vague. One has realy helped with things like networking and career development, the other didnt. Some are good some are bad. A lot of it will depend on the course you are doing, your expectations and what effort you put into it.

Things will not fall in your la, no matter what qualification you ahve or what uni you go to. You have to find the jobs, apply for them, go throught he rejections, do the low-level ro contract jobs and work your way up.

13

Okay, everyone has made great points, but it is still very hard- especially in this economy. I have applied for jobs with up to 3 years experience and so-called “entry level” jobs too. It’s tough to even get an interview! I haven’t had one interview from all the resumes I sent for Public Relations jobs. It’s starting to get very frustrating and I am starting to feel terrible about myself and my potential.

I think the main point was that it’s pretty sad that we’ve been trained for these jobs and worked our butts off and been promised we’d get jobs and right now? I can’t even get a retail job. It’s not right in my opinion.

14

I know exactly how you feel! I’ve been through this too. It’s very important you keep your confidence, and don’t take these things too personally. It’s very stupid and unfair, but it’s all about image, contacts, communication, and a reasonable amount of self-confidence. I totally agree with Mike on this. It’s not so much about what you know. :shrug:

About the “experience” thing, I get very frustrated with this. I have a lot of experience. For my PhD, I had a boss, co-workers, and I had a difficult job to do. Now that I work in industry, I have a boss, co-workers and an easier job to do. And I’m paid a lot better!!! Just because I had a grad student salary doesn’t mean it’s not “real life”! It’s not like I was in prison or something! :teehee:

I think it’s important to highlight that your studies ARE a type of experience. Maybe not exactly what they are looking for, but it SHOULD count for something, in my opinion!

15

With any job these days it seems to be more who you know, not what you know. Sad but true.

16

I think though that people have to realsie that it doesnt matter what level of qualifications you have getting work is still ahrd work in itself. a degree or post-grad degree just meens that your hard work might well be for a mroe specific field or start you off at a higher level. It is not just graduates who have the difficulty of find ing work and relevent work experience, Perhaps Unis should explain that to students better. but then, people who don’t go to uni don’t have anybody tell them either.

It is a shame, that even with all the work you ahve already put in can sometimes feel liek it meens nothing, but then thats were being able to sell youself comes in. I know it is somthing i am finding frustrating, but i know that i would find it just as frustrating to get a job if i hadn’t been to uni, if i expected anything more han shop work.

17

This topic is very close to home. I’m also looking for a job. This time I have more experience. (I graduated in 2005.) I’ve been applying to so many different jobs with different experience requirements, and to jobs doing what I did before. I’ve been surprised to not hear back about the lower experience jobs. I think I’m qualified, but not over qualified. That could be because a lot of people were just laid off here, so I could be competing with 40 or so people for the one job.
It’s very frustrating, and a lot of it has to do with bad timing. With the country in a recession and a lot of industries hit hard, its going to be hard to find jobs. I was talking to my Dad about this, and he was saying how lots of his friends’ children are having the same problem. We’re all either unemployed or working really low paid jobs that aren’t in our field.

Good luck to all the other jobs seekers here!

18

Been there, done that. And the worse part is that some of the places that will hire you to acquire the experience are terrible.
After I became a CNA here in the States, I had a really rough time finding a job. In the end, I got hired at an assisted living facility where the amount of lifting required damaged my joints and I’m still trying to move around with it. I’m an excellent weather forecaster, let me tell ya.

One of the things that I miss from Mexico is that students seeking a degree in Mexico are required to complete a certain amount of hours of community service in at least 2 different non-profit organizations and it doubles up as professional practice. When I majored in Clinical Psychology I must’ve done around 1000 hours. It helps in the long run, because you make valuable contacts while you’re working for free.

19

:doh: I just remembered something… my DD’s first job with the city was through a temp agency that contacted her after she put her resume on monster.com. The temp job led to her permanent job with the city that she has now.

She did NOT want to work for a temp agency as I’m sure you don’t either, but don’t rule it out. It’s one way to gain experience and help pay the bills. :hug:

20

I currently am not employed or looking, but to respond to someone who said it was probably easier to find work 25 years ago- Not so! There was probably a smaller percentage of working age people with degrees, but there was also a much higher unemployment rate.
I sympathise with all of you struggling to get started in your chosen fields and I am thankful that now that hubby is in his late 50’s he probably won’t be laid off again. He’s worked steady for 4 years now. His bachelors has not been a huge help, but it does make him a lot more useful to his employer.
I hope that you all find a job that challenges you and allows you the surplus funds for a large stash. Best of luck to you all.