Unemployment Island

You need an employment agency. Even a temp agency. I have fifteen years of experience and the first thing I do when I need a job is call all the agencies in town. I've only gotten 1 job in my life through direct hire, and that was because I knew one of the vice presidents there. Just to give you an idea of what it's like out there right now, my company got 800 applications for a third shift warehouse job opening. Seriously.

First off, check outhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/56550583@N06/5271986645/, which I searched out for you special. Okay, serious now. You may not hear anything from anyone until the thing opens up and drops in your lap; one day you're sweating it out, the next you're shining your shoes to go to the new gig. As so many have noted, people are buried in resumes and cover letters, big piles of them. Don't limit yourself to only resumes. I've heard various stats over the years saying that this percentage or that one got jobs not listed online or in the paper, and while no one can really know the exact number the fact is that lots of jobs get filled outside of traditional routes. Talk to everyone you see, in a grocery store, on the street, tell them you're hungry for work, they'll see you're sincere, who knows who might help you, right? Some little old lady who looks like she has gas, hey, she might be the mother of the woman who owns the local commercial real estate winners in your city, or she may own that agency herself. Since you don't have any particular skill set that you're hewing to, they are hiring YOU and what you project as your abilities to get things done, and not your GPA or your experience with CSS or whatever it is. And do informational interviews, if anyone will give you one, READ UP ON THE COMPANY FIRST to find out about it then go sit down with someone inside, with your shiny shoes and wide-awake fresh smile, your nice note-book in which you take notes, etc and etc. Again, who knows what might come of any of this? Maybe nothing. But it'll put you 'out there' and that's something, it'll hone your people skills, it'll help cure you of not wanting to cold call people. Make no mistake about it, you are on a sales job, you are cold calling, you are selling yourself. Understand that you're probably not going to close this one, or that one, know that you're going to be in this for the duration, it's hard to do this but you're going to have to amp yourself up for each occasion. And you can't do that of course, so you're gonna fall on your face, and you'll learn from that, too. And call a head hunter, call around until you find someone to talk to you. No one is going to take you on as their client, but you might get lucky and find one to tell you how they would approach your case; I had a head-hunter in Houston tell me everything I'd need to do the job exactly as he would, he even gave me names and numbers to call. He didn't help me because up til that time I did not have database experience, and I didn't have a degree, and it was a very slack time in the job market, the chances of him finding me that job AND getting his commission on top of that was about nil. But I did what he told me he'd do, called the numbers he gave me PLUS I asked EVERYONE I spoke with if *they* knew of anyone that they'd call, on and on. I'm not saying that if you do all that or none of that it'll help, just telling you what I did in what was one of the scariest job searches for me. Good luck.

Even better is [email protected]. Domain names are cheap, and Google Apps will host your e-mail for nothing. This is a good idea. I will put it into action immediately.

I have no personal experience to help you here, but I thought you might like these blog posts: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/stanford-admission-after-rejection-hustle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IWillTeachYouToBeRich+%28I+Will+Teach+You+To+Be+Rich%29 http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/turn-failure-to-domination-stanford-admission/?awt_l=9Iyq_&awt_m=1dMWQewLM5LKbn

So, I am curious why does one not respond to an applicant? Many jobs these days, especially the kind of non-specialized ones where you're probably applying, get literally hundreds and hundreds of applications. One does not reply to an applicant because one could not look at all the resumes that came in, reply to each one, and still do things like eat and sleep. It's a basic reality of job hunting that while looking for work is usually by far the most important thing in the life of an applicant, finding someone to fill a given position is rarely more than one of several competing priorities for the person doing the hiring, and sometimes it doesn't even rank that high.

You need to learn how to network. And fortunately for you, OP, someone http://ask.metafilter.com/173035/I-dont-think-they-mean-some-CAT5-and-a-Router

You need to learn how to network. That is how people get jobs (especially if they don't have much experience). Companies will get literally hundreds of resumes for a job posting. The ones they pay attention to (unless it's a highly specialized role for which you have the relevant experience) are the ones where there's some sort of personal connection to the applicant (i.e. someone from the company knows you are applying and asks HR to look out for your application). Join your alumni club and go to events. Volunteer somewhere you will meet people who work in the types of the jobs you want. Chat people up, be friendly, mention that you are looking for employment in fields X,Y, and Z. Consider doing some sort of internship/part-time position to gain experience, and more importantly, professional connections. Talk to people who work at places where you want to apply for jobs- contact your school's alumni office, get in touch with anyone (family friend, former classmate, etc) who might be willing to help. Ask these people to review your resume and cover letter and give feedback. Set up informational organizations with people in companies/organizations where you'll be applying for jobs. Go in and meet these people- ask them about their career, what they enjoy about it, what sort of advice they can give to people starting out. It sounds daunting, but it works. Not everyone is up for this, some people are extremely busy and won't answer your email, but in general, people love giving advice and you will be able to find a couple of people willing to mentor you. You need to convey the fact that you are very interested in the job-that you know what it entails and that they're not just one of dozens of unrelated jobs you're applying for just because you're desperate.

ugh! not (not or) organizations

oops, I meant informational interviews, or organizations.