That hurts

So I am a junior in college(university) and for the past month I've been preparing for today knowing that getting an internship would largely improve my resume and help me take the next step to getting a job of some sort.

Pre cursor- Econ Major Finance minor- I also dont do well in large crowds of people, sit me down with 3 or 4 people in an interview and I do wonderfully but 200 or so internship hungry people and 70 employers not a good mix.

so the day started out fine classes went well, off to work then to the ole internship feeding frenzy. So I went and talked to a couple companies I really didnt want to get a job or anything at just for practice and to try and kill the butterflies in my stomach. With a couple overwith I was feeling quite overwhelmed and taken aback by the aggressive nature of the employers. I pride myself in being straight forward and confident while talking one on one but something about me made employers not want to give me the time of day. I continued on to other booths with companies of interest companies looking for people with my skill set and major and still all i got were dissmisive looks and about 20 seconds of their time. I finally got the attention of one company and I thought maybe my luck was turning. at the next three I got dismissed with out even a comment, berated for a slight error in my resume( granted a mistake non the less which i take responsibility for) and yelled at by some crazy old lady because I asked her about the application process a seemingly answerable question, but on this day I guess not. after that I said F this i'm out of here i'll go live in the woods or something.

so yeah a no where near some of the days i've had before or expiriences i've read on this forum but a pretty shitty day non the less, it has left me feeling quite pessemistic about my future.

I apologize for all the grammar and spelling errors but i couldnt care less right now.

thought suggestions are welcome

Actually I think droid summed it up, thanks bud

No problemo.

Sorry to hear that businesspeople hate you, though.

yeah well it happens, I have the one company but who knows, this just reminds me of when I applied to 73 (no joke) businesses around my home two summers ago and got one interview, which was over the phone and they had already hired someone

And you spelled Achilles wrong too.

Akilies

Play to your strengths. Go to the person on campus who set up the interview process in the first place and get the names of the contact people for the ten or so companies that would be your first pick. Then make it your business to get them on the phone, email or drop by and give them your corrected resume. Think about it like pursuing an alliance in the first year of a classic game. They really haven't had a chance to get to know you yet. Keep on them until one of them gives you the opportunity to sit down one on one. Don't think "Oh they're busy and will gt pissed and write me off" because anyone who does is dumb and you don't want to work for them anyway. This is your chance to show that you are resourceful, commited, and hardworking. Who wouldn't want to hire you in that case. Odds are that some of the people who came out looking great in the internship interviews will sit and wait for a phone call or otherwise not follow up properly. You can ease them out of the running by being the eager and entirely human young applicant who knows his strengths and more importantly how to use them to the best advantage. They hire human resources people for their ability to spot people who will go the extra mile for the job and to hire those people. Make it your job to get a job. A good rule of thumb might be attempt contact every four or five days. Make an extra special effort to get back in touch with that lady that yelled at you. Be sweet and gently remind her who you were. Odds are that she was just as overwhelmed and you might get a different result when you get to speak to her without 25 people in line.

If they're telling you "Don't contact these companies on your own" or some garbage like that, I'd contact them anyway. What have you got to lose. Somebody might just hire you to shut you up. It wouldn't be the first time somebody got a job by virtue of the fact that they wanted it more than the next guy.

Good luck

@ Crazy- thanks for the advice. However, in the case that they still ignore me can I stab them and take one or more of their supply centers?

@Fiedler- wow, did you figure that out all by yourself? thank you for letting me know i spelled it differently, without you I wouldnt have known!!!

Bad time to be an aspiring finance capitalist.

Anyway, you're a junior. Plenty of time. Plus, unemployment is our age bracket's destiny, it seems. The baby boomers enjoyed the good times and then tanked it for the rest of us.

farkin baby boomers have always had it their way, fuckers.

@akilies - you're welcome. I would not worry about your day, as putin said you're only a junior, and in this economy™, they are only hiring perfect people and relations/friends of existing employees. On the bright side, at least you have not just graduated and loooking for real. In reality as an educated (american?) person, you are already in the top 1% of the worlds luckiest people, so don't worry you can do most anything you want to do in this life, if you keep at it. Have a coke an a smile etc.

@fiedler - You misspelled "and." Also, it's "the world's luckiest people". And why do you think you or anyone else holds a trademark on the word "economy?" And finally, "looking" only has two "o"s.

DRAUGNAR UP IN THIS BITCH

basically everything Kingdroid said

@ Crazy- thanks for the advice. However, in the case that they still ignore me can I stab them and take one or more of their supply centers?

lol, perhaps that metaphor wasn't clear enough:


Job = supply centers
Other appicants = other great powers
Anybody in the human resource department = potential ally

Go get 'em tiger.

Who on earth pedantically corrects meaningless posts on an online forum at 2:15 in the morning?

Wow, it's 2:15 am and I have to run for a dictionary to look up pedantically.

@Putin33,fiedler - us baby boomers started out with a world economy destroyed by war and with a large portion of everything we produced going towards the Cold War. What did we do? We rolled up our sleeves and worked our arses off. We enjoyed the good times because we *built* the good times. You wanna enjoy the good times too? You gotta stop whining, stop blaming others and start working for it.

I'm feeling like an alien, cause the Speaker was definitely speaking to me on that one.

+1 Speaker

-1 Whiners

@speaker - So in the 60's, 70's and 80's there was more or less full employment all the time. Not until the late 80's did you need much education in order to get a start. Now look at the current situation. And the situation pre-WW2. Are you claiming, speaker, that your baby boomer generation is somehow superior to all other generations? - PATHETIC.

I was not whining, I was stating a political fact. Because the boomers have been a very large and distinct demographic, they have pretty much had it all their own way, from political concessions to domination of popular culture.

And I do quite nicely, thanks for your concern. Ass-hat.

akilies, only thing I would have suggested is to have gone back to some of the employers that dismissed you out of hand and say something like: "Excuse me, if I might have a moment of your time, I came by earlier and you, like many of the others here, dismissed me very quickly. I was wondering if you could tell me what I'm doing wrong."

Obviously it is something. You aren't dressed right, or hair is too long, or you have crazy eyes, or something. Hopefully something that can be remedied.

And heck, after asking that, they might even give you a second chance now that they are past the first impression.

Oh well, better luck next time!

I think they know you play diplomacy and wouldn't want a cutthroat bastard like you working with them.

Then again, Economics and Finance...

@alderian- with some of them I did stop back a second time, though I wasnt as "forceful" as I should have been.
I was wearing a suit, my hair is clean cut, maybe an inch to 1.5 inches long, and my eyes have never been described as crazy :)

@Xapi- do you think they figured it out when I asked if they could support move me to the next booth, cause they had ignored my last message and I wanted to make a statement

@feidler - I dont know if calling speaker an ass hat is the best choice, but I do like the debate that has sprouted out of my misery :)

thanks again forum dwellers-

great advice from crazy anglican. also look for unpaid internships -- it's a great way to make the connections that will get you jobs later.

@akilies - keep going and be inventive - here's my tips.

1/. be prepared, type clearly on a a large white board. "I'm a mute - please don't discriminate against me." Hold this up so a to get the interviewer's attention.
2/. Now shuffle that board to the back of your boards. The next one reads "The future is uncertain"
3/. Next board "In thirty years time, you could be asking this mute boy for a job"
4/. fourth board "How much time would you like him to spare you?"
5/. when the answer (some will rwrite their response asuming you can't hear) say.
6/. Thank-you very much, I assume you will afford a non-mute boy the same length of time.

You may get kicked out, but if your getting kicked out anyway at least be original and have some fun.

"us baby boomers started out with a world economy destroyed by war and with a large portion of everything we produced going towards the Cold War. What did we do? We rolled up our sleeves and worked our arses off. We enjoyed the good times because we *built* the good times. You wanna enjoy the good times too? You gotta stop whining, stop blaming others and start working for it."

How did you manage that considering you were a child during the booming post-war economy of the 50s and 60s? The welfare state and conditions of full employment were built by the war generation for your benefit. If you'll notice every country is broke because your 'hardworking' generation doesn't want to give up a penny of their massive entitlements that is bankrupting everybody. And +1 to fielder about babyboomers and jobs. People in our generation are working harder then ever and getting more and more education for less and less benefits. You can sit here and laugh at us all you want while you collect your social security checks and have our country living off of borrowed money.

I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with @Putin33. It's ridiculous how hard we work for less benefits.

Hey, I'm 45 and I know Social Security will be bankrupt before I retire in the next 15-20 years. My parents are slightly pre-baby boomers and had it easy compared to me. My dad retired as a non-degreed engineer. Try being one of those today. Hell, you need a bachelor degree to get HR to *not* file your resume in that round file under the desk.

Aren't you making 6 figures and isn't your wife rich?

I'm sure lots of people would love to have your tough life.

Actually, when I work, my salary is big enough such that, with investments and side jobs (consulting has it's advantages), I do break 100K on the year. My wife comes from money, but she doesn't have it yet. Her 83 year old mom is still very much alive and we'd like to keep it that way.

But I've worked hard to get where I'm at. I make more per year than my dad ever did, even accounting for inflation, because I work hard both at my full time job (when I'm employed) and for my private clients. I'm looking now and am thankful I live in the second fastest growing region for tech jobs in the US.