Things I learned about the job hunting
I graduated recently and have been looking for a job. To be honest, I studied science-related major and most of people who studied with me got a job, so I thought I would get a job soon. Well....things have not been going well. I swear I submitted approximately 200 resumes and got 15 interviews. I got 2 offers, but had to reject it as the companies are way too far from where I live and they only offer me $18/hour. I am not rich, so I can’t afford living with that amount. Anyway, I am not sure if I am the only one who struggles with job hunting, but there have been things that I have learned (or realized) about “real” job hunting.
1. Thank You Letter does not give me any benefits
As an entry-level job seeker, I have read so many good articles and comments about “What to do after interview”. Yes, most of them recommend sending a ‘thank-you’ letter, so I have sent so many thank-you letter, but I just learned that it does not make HR people change their minds like “Wow, she sent thank-you letter, so I should list her on the top candidate and give her an offer!”. I have never gotten second interview or offer from companies where I sent thank-you letter.
2. I don’t have to follow-up
Before I talk about this one, I should note that this is extremely my “personal” opinion. There might be many people who think follow-up is necessary and I don’t want to say they are wrong. It’s just from my experience. Anyway, I recently came up with this statement: I don’t have to follow up. If companies need me (or want me), they will contact me. I have sent follow-up letter to many HR people after interviews. Sadly (or maybe I should call it as a ‘reality’), many HR people ignored me. I understand they have so many other things to do or they might have policy that they should not talk about interview process with candidates, so I don’t want to blame on HR. However, I just realized that if companies want me to do second interview or if they want to give me an offer, they reach me out and this usually happens within 2-3 weeks after the interview. It can take longer, but my point is that if companies do not contact me and ignore my follow-up letter, it’s very safe to assume that I am not under their considerations anymore.
3. Many companies already have their “ideal” candidate
This is kinda sad, but happened quite a lot to me. Whenever I go into the interview, I sometimes feel like they are not interested in interviewing me at all. They do it because they have to, not they want to. How do I know that? I mentioned that I had 15 interviews, but if I include phone-screening interviews, I might have had 25-30 interviews so far. I have met different types of HR people and hiring managers. Some of them are very nice so they ask me many questions and these are where I usually got second interviews or offer. On the other hand, there were some people who only asked me “Tell me about yourself” thing and that was it. They did not want to know what I did at my previous intern workplaces nor did they want to know why I want to work at their companies. Among many bad interview experiences, the worst one was where the hiring manager did not ask me ANYTHING about me and he only talked about why it’s hard to find a job there days. Okay, that was a good advice, but I don’t think he was the right person who should talk about that topic at that time.
4. I can sense how I did interview from the interviewer’s gestures
This one is so obvious. I can even find thousands of articles about this, but I really want to talk about it as I learned gut is something that I should not ignore. Hiring managers or HR people who usually liked me and wanted to go further show very positive and active gestures like smiling, eye contacting, leaning slightly towards me, and most importantly, listening to what I say. My first language is not English, so I mumble a LOT when I go into interviews. Since I am so nervous, my grammar is terrible and pronunciation gets worse than usual. Despite this, there are people who listen to what I say and pay attention to me during the interview. In this case, I usually get second interview or offer. On the other hand, I have seen a few people who does not smile nor do they pay attention to me during the interview. Obviously, I have never heard from them again. I am not saying they are bad because they don’t listen to me. I am saying that I can just feel it if I did well on the interview from their gestures.