Uni students, interns and graduates - share your story here! (2 Viewers)

[toymongo]

Hi guys,

Former BOS user and long time lurker here.

I'm currently doing a research paper on the difficulties that our generation Y go through, when they finish high school/university and start looking for a job in their ideal careers.

I would like to hear about your experiences that you went through in the process of finding and successfully getting a job, after you spent years working so hard to get your degree at university, it would be good if you could tell me your story and let me know your answers to these questions that I am most curious to find out about you:

> How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.)
> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?
> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.)
> What knowledge and support did you wish you had when you were searching for your first job? (being more informed about the reality of job hunting, having a better network to help you, having a mentor to guide and vouch for you etc.)

If you could have a moment in your day to share your story, I will be forever grateful and I also would like to hear any additional things that I may not have mentioned in my questions.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

[Shadowdude]

So you want... post-grads? Or do you want any person who just has had at least one job?

 

[toymongo]

So you want... post-grads? Or do you want any person who just has had at least one job?

Whichever is fine with me, whether you're a under-grad, post-grad with a job, post-grad that's currently looking for work and even dropouts. I'd like to hear about your stories.

 

[enoilgam]

Ive got a bit of a unique experience when it comes to my career thus far. But to be honest, the same can be said for many graduates. Keep in mind that graduate programs only account for 20% of overall graduate employment, so many individuals often go through alternate routes to their desired careers.

1) I got my first industry job whilst at uni. I needed to do an internship as part of my degree and by dumb luck I stumbled across a great role with a great organisation. I wasn't very prepared or knowledgeable regarding the jobs market at that time and now looking back I realise how incredibly lucky I was to get that opportunity. However, due to the company's financial performance, the role didnt extend much beyond uni. Looking for a job after that was extremely difficult and I must have submitted over a 100 applications. I got a role with a top-tier law firm, but after a few months I left because I received a huge contract opportunity with the state government. This was in a higher level position, so I felt compelled to take it. Nine months later, Im still here, but starting to look for new roles as this one winds down.

The main methods I use to look for jobs are online jobs boards and legwork. Applying for roles directly is a crapshoot, because your CV is scanned by computers for key words and those things arent very good. My success rate with them is usually quite low, because those jobs get a high volume of applicants (with almost 40% consisting of overseas applicants with irrelevant skills looking for Visa sponsorship). Recruiters are really the gatekeepers when it comes to roles in most industries, as they usually work on behalf of the major companies. With recruiters, legwork is key to getting in the door. Usually, a job ad from a recruiter will have a contact person. I often send my CV to the recruiter and follow up with a call in order to ask some questions. The purpose of this is to grab their attention, because a call brings a lot more awareness to yourself than just a CV. I also regularly follow up with recruiters to stay within their focus. It's quite a process, but with legwork you can break into your industry of choice. Whilst these efforts arent needed in some industries, for most uni graduates, it will be quite a process before you score the job you want.

2) Overall, my initial job search took about four months. I did get a few offers in that time, but they were for roles I wasn't too keen on. I was lucky in that I had 1.5 years of industry experience. If I didnt, I would have needed to take the first offer I got.

3) The process is exhausting and a confidence killer - the hardest part of uni is getting a job afterwards. The key is to keep going - if you quit, then you will be far worse off. Friends of mine have tried and given up and to be honest, they will be languishing for a while if they dont keep pressing on.

4) I wish I knew how tough the market was and how important it was to do the legwork whilst I was still at uni. If I had my time again, I would have gone all out applying for internships in second year. As much as I loved my first industry job, it was dead end and I would have much preferred a role that offered a prospect of being extended. That being said, had I taken a graduate role I would have been a year or more behind in my career. So it's hard to say really.

 

[toymongo]

Enoilgam, thanks for telling us your story. The key is to never give up in your job search and stay persistent when it becomes discouraging and easy to give up.

However, would've it helped if you had someone out there helping you with the job search? Doing things like searching on the online boards and getting into touch with recruiters in your place, so you'll have less stress and more focus on doing the follow ups and interviews. Let me know what you think.

Beside that, I wish you the best luck in getting your ideal job and progressing further in your career.

 

[enoilgam]

However, would've it helped if you had someone out there helping you with the job search? Doing things like searching on the online boards and getting into touch with recruiters in your place, so you'll have less stress and more focus on doing the follow ups and interviews. Let me know what you think.

It would have helped enormously. What would have been even better is a connection who could have actually got me a job, because honestly that trumps almost any other attribute.

I think people have to realise that in most sectors, getting a job without networking/connections is very difficult. It isn't a reflection on you or your industry of choice, but rather what is in my view, a badly broken job market in terms of recruitment practices. Ive been rejected from jobs for not having enough experience, having too much (the shittiest excuse in my book) or for not being the right fit (which I think is a fair reason). Ive also been beaten out by internal candidates, which I also loathe because in those situations, the company is pretty much wasting your time.

As I said though, you have to be tough. Whilst you should look within for self-improvement, you need to avoid tying your sense of worth to your job hunt.

 

[Shadowdude]

crap I was supposed to write this

So umm.. my first job ever was football refereeing. The story of how I came to that is quite long but it pretty much came down to the fact that I was in second year of uni, so many other people in my grade were already in the workforce, and although I was at university - full time - I felt quite bad that I was still getting pocket money every week from my parents.

So I decided to get a job. But where? I was like 18 years old, and I went through the usual process. Thought about maccas, KFC, maybe some retail, I knew someone who sold shoes... but none of them really appealed to me. But then the Western Sydney Wanderers A-League team came about, and I signed up from day one to help support football in this country (this is a whole other story) and I felt that it was stupid to watch games at 4:45am on SBS when a similar professional football team was playing at a nice time for me, and at a stadium not far from my house.

So this interest in local football led me to inquiring about refereeing. I hadn't lost my HSC weight, and I figured it'd be a good thing to do on weekends, get some money, get paid to exercise, it was win-win-win-win, so why not?

Sent a few emails to the head of the local association, but since I was complete n00b and I had never played football in my life, I had no idea what to expect. Anyway they directed me to an online course which I did, and then when I told them I finished that, they said I should apply for the proper Level 4 Referee's Course, which I completed, passed and the next month, I was out at one of the local parks for my first match!

This process from "hmm I should have a job" to actually getting the job was quite on-and-off. It wasn't, "I am going to get a job... now" and I didn't stop until I got it, because things don't work that way. I pondered a while, did some work on my resume, discussed it with friends and the like, until refereeing came along and I just latched onto that.

The main difficulty I had was... absolute n00b-ness. I didn't even know we had a local association, I had no idea how it all worked. All my concepts of football were from the professional league. I didn't know how long the games were, what ball size to use for the younger games, etc. but the association stepped us through that really well, and they're very helpful to new referees.


So I guess I'm not the best person for this survey since I've never actually had a proper job interview before. But I've had a few random jobs, but all part time or casual. I was a notetaker at uni, I've done some private tutoring for maffs, and I've been a Lab Consultant at university - helping first years with the computing side of their maffs. I've also done vote counting at an election, and did a summer internship with a lecturer at the university and helped him develop his online suite of lectures.

All this I've gotten without any proper interview. Sure, they're not "real" jobs in a sense, but a lot of it was just doing some research, getting to know people, getting connections and then getting in that way. For instance, a friend of mine recommended I work at NICTA on their mathematical verification team but I just didn't have the time for that... and there are other opportunities as well which I could've gotten if not for external circumstances, but I think my story just shows the value of earnest searching for opportunities, taking them when they come, and building a social and professional network so that you're on the list when people want an x, y, z where you just so happen to be a great x, y and z.

 

[toymongo]

crap I was supposed to write this

So umm.. my first job ever was football refereeing. The story of how I came to that is quite long but it pretty much came down to the fact that I was in second year of uni, so many other people in my grade were already in the workforce, and although I was at university - full time - I felt quite bad that I was still getting pocket money every week from my parents.

So I decided to get a job. But where? I was like 18 years old, and I went through the usual process. Thought about maccas, KFC, maybe some retail, I knew someone who sold shoes... but none of them really appealed to me. But then the Western Sydney Wanderers A-League team came about, and I signed up from day one to help support football in this country (this is a whole other story) and I felt that it was stupid to watch games at 4:45am on SBS when a similar professional football team was playing at a nice time for me, and at a stadium not far from my house.

So this interest in local football led me to inquiring about refereeing. I hadn't lost my HSC weight, and I figured it'd be a good thing to do on weekends, get some money, get paid to exercise, it was win-win-win-win, so why not?

Sent a few emails to the head of the local association, but since I was complete n00b and I had never played football in my life, I had no idea what to expect. Anyway they directed me to an online course which I did, and then when I told them I finished that, they said I should apply for the proper Level 4 Referee's Course, which I completed, passed and the next month, I was out at one of the local parks for my first match!

This process from "hmm I should have a job" to actually getting the job was quite on-and-off. It wasn't, "I am going to get a job... now" and I didn't stop until I got it, because things don't work that way. I pondered a while, did some work on my resume, discussed it with friends and the like, until refereeing came along and I just latched onto that.

The main difficulty I had was... absolute n00b-ness. I didn't even know we had a local association, I had no idea how it all worked. All my concepts of football were from the professional league. I didn't know how long the games were, what ball size to use for the younger games, etc. but the association stepped us through that really well, and they're very helpful to new referees.


So I guess I'm not the best person for this survey since I've never actually had a proper job interview before. But I've had a few random jobs, but all part time or casual. I was a notetaker at uni, I've done some private tutoring for maffs, and I've been a Lab Consultant at university - helping first years with the computing side of their maffs. I've also done vote counting at an election, and did a summer internship with a lecturer at the university and helped him develop his online suite of lectures.

All this I've gotten without any proper interview. Sure, they're not "real" jobs in a sense, but a lot of it was just doing some research, getting to know people, getting connections and then getting in that way. For instance, a friend of mine recommended I work at NICTA on their mathematical verification team but I just didn't have the time for that... and there are other opportunities as well which I could've gotten if not for external circumstances, but I think my story just shows the value of earnest searching for opportunities, taking them when they come, and building a social and professional network so that you're on the list when people want an x, y, z where you just so happen to be a great x, y and z.

Shadowdude, as a soccer fan I think it's very cool to work in the industry and I'm glad things worked out well in the beginning for you - with luck and connections playing a big role there.

I'm curious, do you see yourself progressing through the ranks in the soccer industry and hopefully get to referee for major games, in the A-League, international friendlies, Premier League or perhaps even the Champions League? Or are you planning to pursue other career pathways at some point in the future?

 

[Shadowdude]

Well, we all have grandiose dreams and it'd be nice to referee an A-League match one day, but unfortunately as a fan of one of the A-League teams... I don't think they'd allow that (*insert diatribe about Peter Green, from Brisbane, refereeing the Brisbane Roar v WSW grand final...*)

The previous branch coach of my association did a few international games (friendlies) and he said he loved every moment of it. Some of them have stories when they refereed players now in A-League, or refereed teams coached by people now at A-League level, and that'd be really cool.

However refereeing is a hobby of mine. I do it because I love it, it's awesome, and I get paid to exercise pretty much.


I will progress through the ranks though, there are only so many Under 12s matches you can do before you realise that your talents are better suited elsewhere - and the head of referees looked at one of my matches two weeks ago and he only gave me praise, which was really awesome and a massive compliment, and I was just stoked!

The branch coach now gave me a call a couple of months ago to encourage me to take it to the next level, in terms of qualifications, and next time a higher level course comes around, I'll be there.

I'm just enjoying myself at the moment, and seeing where it goes. When I get to the Level 1 stage, if I get there, I'm sure that they'll probably have full-time referees for A-League and stuff, but I'll hopefully be able to get some nice games.

In terms of a career, that's what my maths degree is for

As a fun hobby for weekends, that's what refereeing is

 

[classicjimbo]

> How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.)
> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?
> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.)

If you could have a moment in your day to share your story, I will be forever grateful and I also would like to hear any additional things that I may not have mentioned in my questions.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

- Still in university and trying to search for relevant trainee/intern roles. All the organisations I've had interview opportunities with were found through seek or govt portals.

- I've had 7 different jobs/roles over the course of uni so far, 3 paid and 4 unpaid. 5 of them have been relevant to my area (analyst/lab/research assistant). Every one of the paid jobs I have gotten were from people I'd previously done unpaid work with (no formal interviews).

- the main difficulties for me so far have been final face-to-face interviews with unknown panel members because my anxiety gets the better of me and I usually don't communicate well or mess up answers. I've never passed a face-to-face interview and I don't think it'll ever be a skill I'll be good at it so I'm trying to cast out my nets more this year and hopefully networking and being friendly with the right people will continue to get me employment. It was tough to deal with the final round rejections after being so close to getting the role. But what has helped me the most in dealing with it was counselling friends of mine in the same position after they've been rejected because I realised how dramatic and silly I sounded and 'just getting on with it and learning from it' is really the best thing to do instead of self-indulgently sulking a lot.

 

[Examine]

How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.)

Seek

> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?

It was pretty much on and off. I'm still a 2nd year uni student so it was mainly looking for firms that had openings for cadetships/traineeships. Before I found part time work in the accounting industry some time late last year I was mainly just tutoring, and then from that I moved to another firm to get a full time position.

> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.)

I think a lot of people underestimate how competitive the market is nowadays (I know I did) and I went through quite a lot of rejections. However in hindsight it was good that I did since it kinda made me take myself off whatever pedestal I was on during year 12 and started trying to get involved in more things I liked instead of lounging around playing computer games/watching anime (which I still do at a much lesser extent). So yeah I reckon the ego killing was good in the long run.

Interviews get better the more you do them. With the exception of 1 interview, I felt that my face-to-face interviews became a lot smoother to the point where I started enjoying them.

> What knowledge and support did you wish you had when you were searching for your first job? (being more informed about the reality of job hunting, having a better network to help you, having a mentor to guide and vouch for you etc.)

Hmm, I wish I started working casual during year 11/12 (like anywhere) and maybe not shy away from certain interviews during the start because I felt like I wouldn't get the position because of the ego killer of getting rejected from other firms. Also maybe getting more involved in things I liked much earlier than I did than getting involved in something for the sake of being involved in it.

 

[4025808]

Hi guys,
> How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.)
> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?
> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.)
> What knowledge and support did you wish you had when you were searching for your first job? (being more informed about the reality of job hunting, having a better network to help you, having a mentor to guide and vouch for you etc.)
Thanks, I appreciate it!

First job was a tutoring job that I got from my former tutor. He was looking to expand his tutoring college so then he offered me a job since he saw that I was determined enough to help out other students.

Search process? Probably none. I just knew that when I was studying for the HSC, he said that if you get E4 for both MX1 and MX2, he would give me a tutoring job.
Though on the other hand, I was searching for other jobs during November and then turns out that none of them were hiring because they took their christmas casuals already. It was pretty exhausting

Well basically my parents were about to cut me off so thus I had to go around and look for work, then I was panicking and was pretty desperate to find a job, or pretty much anything that got me money. Eventually managed to find work through tutoring. Then later turns out some students quit and then I had no work for a while. Literally started up my private tutoring thing going on. It was pretty rusty to begin with (lots of ups and downs - not only to mention that many ppl did free trial and then left). Later onwards I managed to make around $200-$300 a week consistently (running on $25-$30 an hour), so it wasn't too bad in the long run I guess, as I had enough money to fund my own food and other pursuits. However if I was kicked out of home, it wouldn't have been a lot worse.

Honestly speaking, if I knew about Christmas casual and stuff earlier onwards, I should have applied during trials of my HSC year. Then I'd try out for some of the interviews and see if I can pass through them. Then I would have at least got my foot on something and not have to worry about finding jobs. I didn't repeat that mistake again and I applied in August 2012. Did the interviews and I passed so all good for that time being.

 

[Constantine]

> How did you end up getting your first job after university?

I had my first ever job this year (so first year of uni) if we exclude the whole one week unpaid work experience thing in high school. It's at BridgeClimb so essentially I take people up the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The funny story is that I searched for a job for two months with no luck whatsoever because I had no experience at all. During hs I didnt' work at McDonalds etc. because I was lazy and thought the study load was enough, so it was hard for people to be interested in my resume. One day I was walking around uni and saw the advertisement on the bulletin board. I later found out that one of BridgeClimb's HR generalist is doing his masters in my uni so it was promoted at my uni - all a lucky coincidence really.

There were three rounds of interviews so you can imagine how scared I was because I had never ever done job interviews before. The first interview was also a group one so I just went in with a thick face and got it over and done with. So glad I went ahead with it. Great job. You learn so much.

Nowadays I also do some work at a tutoring place.
My tourist besties are my main priorities though.

> How long did the search process take for you?Did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?

Two months. Nope. No job. Nothing. Zero income.

> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them?

Rejection. A lot. I talked to friends about it and they all comforted me and said I had to get in touch with reality. Most of them worked in high school so they knew a lot about the workforce and young adult labour culture than I did. For example one friend took five months for her first job.

Now that I have jobs, I would say time management is a big one and obviously exhaustion from time to time. With my bridge job, it's a physically and mentally demanding one. I pretty much don't stop for four hours straight and talk the entire way, and you also deal with some really strange people from time to time. So on some days I finish work feeling completely strained... In this case I found having a routine helps so much, and take it easy. You are only human and you are still learning.

> What knowledge and support did you wish you had when you were searching for your first job?

Network is so important once you want to stay in that company/field. This is something I learn after a while, I just can't stress this enough.
Also, utilise the support your uni may offer! Most of them are free, so why don't you use them? They essentially do the search for you!! All you have to do is polish up your resume and cover letter!

 

[classicjimbo]

- Still in university and trying to search for relevant trainee/intern roles. All the organisations I've had interview opportunities with were found through seek or govt portals.

- I've had 7 different jobs/roles over the course of uni so far, 3 paid and 4 unpaid. 5 of them have been relevant to my area (analyst/lab/research assistant). Every one of the paid jobs I have gotten were from people I'd previously done unpaid work with (no formal interviews).

- the main difficulties for me so far have been final face-to-face interviews with unknown panel members because my anxiety gets the better of me and I usually don't communicate well or mess up answers. I've never passed a face-to-face interview and I don't think it'll ever be a skill I'll be good at it so I'm trying to cast out my nets more this year and hopefully networking and being friendly with the right people will continue to get me employment. It was tough to deal with the final round rejections after being so close to getting the role. But what has helped me the most in dealing with it was counselling friends of mine in the same position after they've been rejected because I realised how dramatic and silly I sounded and 'just getting on with it and learning from it' is really the best thing to do instead of self-indulgently sulking a lot.

btw just got a full-time 80% admin, 20% technical job via networking so it's worth it guys
messed up both interviews but they didn't care because from previous 2 weeks of volunteering with them they knew i was a good culture fit in the office and that i had good work ethic.

volunteer as much as possible in your field and be as social aa possible even if you're shy like me

 

[OzKo]

btw just got a full-time 80% admin, 20% technical job via networking so it's worth it guys
messed up both interviews but they didn't care because from previous 2 weeks of volunteering with them they knew i was a good culture fit in the office and that i had good work ethic.

volunteer as much as possible in your field and be as social aa possible even if you're shy like me

And just to add to this, this is one of the reasons why finding work should get easier the further you are into your career, but this depends on the type of work you're looking for.

I work in energy and public policy and you're exposed to a relatively tight circle of people so once you get to know people in other organisations, they should already have an idea of how you operate. This is why networking is such a powerful tool, especially once you have started work.

 

[Chronost]

> How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.)

I'd say I started relatively earlier to everyone else here. I got a job at McDonalds when I was 15 years old - I failed one interview, and got it the second go, no biggie at the time. I researched heaps on jobs, everything from how to get it, what you need etc.. and I had a goal in mind, I planned everything in advance but I was still very unprepared (as you'll see later on).
Worked at McDonalds all the way through High School knowing this experience would be in-valuable later on during university and I was specifically targeting cadetships since year 10 - ol and behold year 12 comes and I start applying for them - had made several mistakes in hindsight in my applications and interviews and got rejected from 4 firms before miraculously ending with a job offer with my final application and the firm I still work at today. Funnily enough I didn't take the greatest deal in preparing for it or thinking much of it, and ironically I got the job at the end - I think it helped greatly when the managers interviewing me thought I was very chilled and relaxed when I was in fact going shieet the whole time.
Either way my preparation had helped me secure some interviews, but actually doing them was a different matter and I was lucky enough to have interviewers I could connect with which I think is an important aspect in getting jobs at firms you don't have connections with that do face to face interviews (hard to make a good connection with big firms that will offer you a job, for smaller firms it's reachable, unless you got your dad/mum's friends doing it for you)

> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?

Search process wasn't really there cause I researched about these things way beforehand, but from start to finish, I think in total it took about 3 weeks to one month. Yep I worked at McDonalds all the way through until I was about to start my new job in a few weeks even though I got the offer for the job about 8 months prior to that - still wanted money to fund my overseas trip post-HSC and never tried to rely on my parents for money.

> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.)

obviously as mentioned before - rejection sucks - I was quite sad when I got rejected from the firms I had wanted to work at the most but I tried to focus on the rest of the applications/interviews I had left - knowing me at the time, I would've kept applying for different firms if I didn't get my current job - but it definitely helps if people research all this before and can really at the very least prepare you mentality for what's to come - I've did hours on hours of reading on this forum and also the Whirlpool forums on people trying to get jobs etc.. What issues they faced, challenges, what did the people who got jobs have or did etc.. and I basically tried to mimic that or understand it at the very least so that when the time comes, you're not faced with all these new challenges or difficulties, but rather you expected it and can move on to keep going.


> What knowledge and support did you wish you had when you were searching for your first job? (being more informed about the reality of job hunting, having a better network to help you, having a mentor to guide and vouch for you etc.)

Not too much but honestly wish I focused on school exams earlier in my life and went to somewhere like NSB where the networking from each cohort is insane - any friends you make there - you'll know they'll end up somewhere good and it's never a bad thing to have friends like those before starting university - though you can still network just as hard then I guess. Stumbling upon the forums was good and I would tell everyone to seriously read and research as much as possible on these things and the jobs you're going for/industry etc. There's a wealth of information on all these types of situations on the internet and some of the old Vogue forum posts, Whirpool and Bored of studies threads have some of the best information and advice possible that's still just as relevant today (other internet information is also great, listing these as starting posts and because they're all Australian, it's easier to comprehend/understand)

 

[enoilgam]

btw just got a full-time 80% admin, 20% technical job via networking so it's worth it guys
messed up both interviews but they didn't care because from previous 2 weeks of volunteering with them they knew i was a good culture fit in the office and that i had good work ethic.

volunteer as much as possible in your field and be as social aa possible even if you're shy like me

Congratulations man - update your linkedin so I can see.

And just to add to this, this is one of the reasons why finding work should get easier the further you are into your career, but this depends on the type of work you're looking for.

In theory, yes, in practice 50/50. If you have a strong network, then it goes without saying that you should do well if you decide to go on the recruitment market. If you take networking out, then experience can be a double edged sword. Whilst it obviously gives you tangible, in-demand skills, it can also "pigeon hole" you into one particular area. These days, many companies (especially smaller ones) have little focus on training and desire "ready made" applicants who have the exact skill/experience set required. So in some cases, your experience may restrict you to a very specific area.

 

[seremify007]

I wonder if Op is still looking at this given he hasn't signed in since June!

 

[nerdasdasd]

Hi guys,

Former BOS user and long time lurker here.

I'm currently doing a research paper on the difficulties that our generation Y go through, when they finish high school/university and start looking for a job in their ideal careers.

I would like to hear about your experiences that you went through in the process of finding and successfully getting a job, after you spent years working so hard to get your degree at university, it would be good if you could tell me your story and let me know your answers to these questions that I am most curious to find out about you:

> How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.)
> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work?
> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.)
> What knowledge and support did you wish you had when you were searching for your first job? (being more informed about the reality of job hunting, having a better network to help you, having a mentor to guide and vouch for you etc.)

If you could have a moment in your day to share your story, I will be forever grateful and I also would like to hear any additional things that I may not have mentioned in my questions.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

> How did you end up getting your first job after university?(was it through searching on seek.com, by a referral, knocking on doors etc.) I applied online via the ACS + others
> How long did the search process take for you? And did you have to take on a casual/part-time job to support yourself while you were searching for full-time work? no part time job or anything. Took me a few days
> What difficulties did you go through and how did you handle them? (facing lots of rejection, anxiety, confusion, being exhausted all the time etc.) I got no replies a lot of the time and got a lot of rejection letters . It wasn't an attack on me personally , but HR doing their job.