Job Websites

Any recent college grads had any luck with any websites for finding a job? My girlfriend graduated a couple weeks ago and is having no luck. I've been to collegegrad.com and a lot of the entry level sites and just don't see much promising. It seems like it's hard to get a foot in the door if you don't know someone, and here in St. Louis I don't have any connections outside my own industry. She is a Business Adm/Management double major, mid 3's GPA, and a former college soccer player and isn't really picky and is barely getting an e-mail back. Thank god it wasn't this hard when I was looking!

So what are the good sites these days?

Nick get me her resume... It'd be a real shame if you had to follow her to Springfield and then we could rock the lake together again!

I'm in the same boat...double major finance/accounting and a mid 3's GPA. haven't gotten an internship or job offer after about 30 interviews. Seems like I'm doing something wrong, but then I've seen who gets the job and it's always because you know someone.

As and example, had a roommate who had a decent resume but had a low 2 GPA. Had no extracurriculars in College but his dad owned a seat on the CBOE. Got 20 or so job offers with no work what so ever just because of what his dad did.

Exhaust all your contacts! Even if they are simple laborers or non-professionals, if you have been with a company long enough they have some pull in getting you into a professional job.

In all seriousness back when I was looking for jobs 5-6 years ago I had 5 years experience and nothing that really stood me apart on paper from other applicants. I was sending out and submitting resumes like a fat kid on a cupcake. And same situation as you guys. Nothing was panning out! Couldn't even get a response half the time from HR departments.

Then I started researching the companies that were in my area, within driving distance. I would write my cover letters specifically for whatever positions/areas each company had available and address them to a specific person within that company (sometimes you gotta do some digging to get a name in HR or a VP of a dept), print out your cover letter and resume, throw on a suit and PHYSICALLY go down to said business, stroll in and hand deliver your cover/resume! Preferably to the person you wrote it to, if you can get past a secretary you're doing well!

I think today people get so caught up in firing off resume's through email or online applications. And YES while 99% of companies out there prefer this/sometimes even require this... an email is easily overlooked, deleted or not even read at all. Or even worse most of the time online applications go into a database are often times never seen or heard of again (trust me I know how it works at my company), BUT if you hand deliver it - make an impression - they put a face with a name and a resume/ cover letter you're ten times more likely to get your foot in the door than simply firing off online versions.

Just a suggestion! Knowing somebody doesn't hurt , but then again it doesn't always help either!

I have hired a few college grads that had some work experience over the last six months and in the process of hiring someone with more exp. So here is my $.02. In order to get an interview, know what you are applying for - I receive every resume that is submitted online for my open positions and I scan through all of them (I work for a large global company, so I get a lot of resume's). My resume's are not sent through some type of automated database. Its obvious when I see one that I know is relevant. You can find this information out by getting in touch with a recruiter - large companies may or may not give this information out. Or like bbeach says go in person. You can also tailor your resume to the actual position you are applying for rather then sending out the same resume 50 times.

Once you get an interview. Prepare to sell yourself on how your past experience can be applied to the current position. You can do this by asking the recruiter what exactly the positions duties are before you meet with the manager. I know as a hiring manager that college grads are not going to have a ton of work experience... Thats fine, when I am looking for an entry level person, I am looking for peeps that can apply knowledge in a stressful situation and ask questions to form a reasonable solution. This may sound simple but so many people utterly fail at this.

If any recent grad has questions about interviewing/getting hired, feel free to PM me and I will try to help answer them.

Beach, I'll have her send it that way! We need to start building restaurants down there soon! I need to move that way quick. I'm not getting enough lake time up here.