Why Can't I Find A Job?

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I have two Ivy League degrees, a nice chunk of experience, a normal-looking resume, and presumably good references. But I've been out of work for 18 months with only two real interviews to show. I am totally one of those people you read about in the paper every couple of years "Fred X used to have a high paying bank job, but now all his savings are gone, and he pulls lattes at Starbucks to make the mortgage payments."

Wah! I so want to die! (At least I don't actually have a mortgage.)

― i'm a loser, baby, Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

what do you do?

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 17 February 2006 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

Rather unique to go into all the details, especially with google looking over our shoulders. My grad degree is in international economics. I worked in the former Soviet Union for about seven years running development programs.

― i'm a loser, baby, Friday, 17 February 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

maybe your skills and experiences are too unique for the job market, or you are looking too narrowly. try generalizing out your experience on your resume and applying for dumb ass project management jobs at companies.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 17 February 2006 00:09 (nineteen years ago)

i'm in the same boat. i start a 2nd job at kinko's this weekend just to keep up with the bills.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 00:13 (nineteen years ago)

Have you networked a lot within your field?

― Confounded (Confounded), Friday, 17 February 2006 00:17 (nineteen years ago)

They said on the radio today that the job market is exploding.

Do you look at those international employment papers they have at the library? They're looking for folks like you; I keep checking them for bartending or caddying gigs in the South Seas, but it's all "must have five years in aid management, position is in Djibouti, starting pay $79,000..." seriously, go ask the librarian to look at them.

― andy --, Friday, 17 February 2006 00:19 (nineteen years ago)

I think -- I hope -- part of the problem is that I have too much experience, i.e., too much for the jobs they advertise but not so much I'm in that rarefied group that just kind of bounces from one job to another. Plus, like everything else, everyone gets sniffy about their own little sub-field: "Oh, you did economic development? Well, do you know anything about humanitarian aid? (Or democratization? Or whatever. The same thing holds for geography.) I'm on all kinds of mailing lists for jobs in the field and, yes, I probably should start looking more broadly, but my problem is that I can't even get in the door. A friend of mine believes I don't interview well -- I don't necessarily agree but full disclosure, etc. etc. -- but I can't even get interviews.

― i'm a loser, baby, Friday, 17 February 2006 01:05 (nineteen years ago)

don't just send your resume in for advertised jobs. start using the phone. call up companies in your field, ask if there are any positions open or if there is someone in HR or a functional manager you could talk to. your resume sounds like it might be intimidating to an HR person. creating a good first impression on the phone will soften the resume. there'll likely be a lot of rejection along the way, but one of those phone calls will pay off. working your network is even better. you really have to let every you know that you're looking for work, even if that makes you uneasy.

― Gregory T (tubesocks), Friday, 17 February 2006 02:38 (nineteen years ago)

I have this problem. Except without the ivy league degrees.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 17 February 2006 02:44 (nineteen years ago)

also you should always try to answer the question "what are you going to do for me," even though it won't be asked. the best answer is usually i'm going to help close deals or bring in more business, even if you're not in sales.

― Gregory T (tubesocks), Friday, 17 February 2006 02:46 (nineteen years ago)

maybe you interview badly

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 17 February 2006 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

See thread re: are you working the field your degree is in...

or something like that if I recall. You're totally niche market and probably will need to seek out a job at a university teaching or do a hatchet job on your resume and get someone skilled to back you up on your "job experience". all that can be asked of a previous employer by US law is, dates of employment, verification of salary and eligibility for rehire. Broaden your scope and think outside the box - maybe international marketing; like " teens and Japan - expendable income in the Millennium" Best wishes, hang in there and spin, baby spin! If you're a poor interview, get someone you don't know to do a fake interview and then video it and have friend critique it and then practice!!!!

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Friday, 17 February 2006 03:55 (nineteen years ago)

severe halitosis?

― S. Cope, Friday, 17 February 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

Uh, do you live in DC? Whereabouts are you looking?

― dar1a g (daria g), Friday, 17 February 2006 05:45 (nineteen years ago)

it's interesting to read that this type of shit isn't happening ONLY in the legal industry.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 17 February 2006 06:52 (nineteen years ago)

The things I always had to remember: Interviews get better with practice (so do some mock interviews where they tell you what was wrong) and the amount of ratio of interviews to resumes sent is insanely low. This is less true for positions that demand more experience but I'd imagine it's still a factor. Seeking employment immediately post-college I remember hearing that if you hear anything back from 1 in 5 resumes sent you're doing great, even if it's a rejection letter. If you get one interview for every 20 jobs applied for, that's supposedly decent.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 17 February 2006 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

8 in 10 people get jobs through contacts not through replying to ads, apparently. So ring everyone you know and those you don't, too.

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 17 February 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

I'm playing hard to get with jobs.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Friday, 17 February 2006 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

severe halitosis?

I sit well back from the interviewers so this won't be a problem :)

The ultimate humiliation is that I am living with my parents. It's free, and who can get an apartment in NY without a job, anyway? (I have made a couple of concerted attempts to find things through craigslist, but apparently sublets are like jobs in that 8 in 10 people get them through contacts, too.) Looking in NY (and, grudgingly, DC).

― i'm a loser, baby, Friday, 17 February 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

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