No recent work experience WTF???

Post by **SkiDork** » Oct 18th, '06, 10:26

Steve wrote:The way I see it, a year out of work is killing her and the angle she has to play is that she was out of work for a year BECAUSE she recognized that the demand wasn't there for the skills she had, and thus retrained herself in .net. She graduated from the program a week ago, and now she's looking again.

I know, captain obvious to the rescue, but there are a million .net jobs in nyc and long island, and less than a million .net developers. She should be able to find something, even at her age.

-steve

yup - thats the angle she's trying to play and it will most likely yield results.

I'm just pissed that the "establishment" is so pompous so as to disregard folks who might be talented but for various reasons (maybe not that good of an interview or maybe not a good networker) haven't landed anything. I guess I know how the UNAbomber felt...

XtremeJibber2001 · Post by **XtremeJibber2001** » Oct 18th, '06, 10:37

SkiDork wrote:
Steve wrote:The way I see it, a year out of work is killing her and the angle she has to play is that she was out of work for a year BECAUSE she recognized that the demand wasn't there for the skills she had, and thus retrained herself in .net. She graduated from the program a week ago, and now she's looking again.

I know, captain obvious to the rescue, but there are a million .net jobs in nyc and long island, and less than a million .net developers. She should be able to find something, even at her age.

-steve
yup - thats the angle she's trying to play and it will most likely yield results.

I'm just pissed that the "establishment" is so pompous so as to disregard folks who might be talented but for various reasons (maybe not that good of an interview or maybe not a good networker) haven't landed anything. I guess I know how the UNAbomber felt...

I agree with what Steve said.

Another thing I think could be hurting her is the fact that she's experienced so she requires a higher pay grade. Meanwhile, she's relatively new in .NET. That puts her in a very unique situation. IMHO, the best way to get a job is to go to job fairs.

Some of the best contacts I've made have been via my University and at random bars on business trips.

Maybe Ty could talk to some of the NYC schools into letting her use some of their resources. They're much more helpful then one might think and have a lot of jobs available that you don't see on monster etc. Also, schools just don't provide new grads job placement, often times they extend their services to alum, but often times if you call they university will be more than happy to help.

Post by **SkiDork** » Oct 18th, '06, 10:44

XtremeJibber2001 wrote:
SkiDork wrote:
Steve wrote:The way I see it, a year out of work is killing her and the angle she has to play is that she was out of work for a year BECAUSE she recognized that the demand wasn't there for the skills she had, and thus retrained herself in .net. She graduated from the program a week ago, and now she's looking again.

I know, captain obvious to the rescue, but there are a million .net jobs in nyc and long island, and less than a million .net developers. She should be able to find something, even at her age.

-steve
yup - thats the angle she's trying to play and it will most likely yield results.

I'm just pissed that the "establishment" is so pompous so as to disregard folks who might be talented but for various reasons (maybe not that good of an interview or maybe not a good networker) haven't landed anything. I guess I know how the UNAbomber felt...
I agree with what Steve said.

Another thing I think could be hurting her is the fact that she's experienced so she requires a higher pay grade. Meanwhile, she's relatively new in .NET. That puts her in a very unique situation. IMHO, the best way to get a job is to go to job fairs.

Some of the best contacts I've made have been via my University and at random bars on business trips.

Maybe Ty could talk to some of the NYC schools into letting her use some of their resources. They're much more helpful then one might think and have a lot of jobs available that you don't see on monster etc. Also, schools just don't provide new grads job placement, often times they extend their services to alum, but often times if you call they university will be more than happy to help.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

She's more than willing to accept a jr level position, knowing ful well she doesn't have the experience to categorize herself as a sr level .net developer. problem is are there positions like that available?

XtremeJibber2001 · Post by **XtremeJibber2001** » Oct 18th, '06, 10:56

SkiDork wrote:
Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

She's more than willing to accept a jr level position, knowing ful well she doesn't have the experience to categorize herself as a sr level .net developer. problem is are there positions like that available?

Welcome. Trust me, several 'experienced hires' call local uni's when they're in need of a job because often times the school will let you use their resources, alum or not.

That's great she'll accept a Jr level position, but make sure it says something along those lines in the cover letter. With Ty's experience and long IT career, I'd imagine a hiring manager would think right off the bat that Ty wants a higher-paying salary, UNLESS she indicated something on her cover letter (i.e. Jr level positions are fine, salary highly negotiable, very flexible salary req's, etc).

There are positions available. My friend (a .Net developer) got a Jr level job no problem. Another buddy of mine went straight to Lockheed out of school as a C++ coder (Jr Level). I'm sure the NYC market is similar, if not better than the Philly job market.

Also, at this point if I was Ty, I certainly wouldn't restrict myself to F/T full-hire positions. At this point, I'd even accept temp or contractor. Maybe she's not limiting her options, but just throwing it out there.

Has she ever spoke to, applied with, Rob Half or Spherion?

http://www.roberthalftechnology.com/portal/site/rht-us
http://www.spherion.com/corporate/home.jsp

They're both recruiting/staffing agencies. The .Net dev I know used/works for Robert Half and a guy I worked with at SAP used/works for Spherion. It's worth a try.

Post by **SkiDork** » Oct 18th, '06, 11:00

XtremeJibber2001 wrote:
SkiDork wrote:
Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

She's more than willing to accept a jr level position, knowing ful well she doesn't have the experience to categorize herself as a sr level .net developer. problem is are there positions like that available?
Welcome. Trust me, several 'experienced hires' call local uni's when they're in need of a job because often times the school will let you use their resources, alum or not.

That's great she'll accept a Jr level position, but make sure it says something along those lines in the cover letter. With Ty's experience and long IT career, I'd imagine a hiring manager would think right off the bat that Ty wants a higher-paying salary, UNLESS she indicated something on her cover letter (i.e. Jr level positions are fine, salary highly negotiable, very flexible salary req's, etc).

There are positions available. My friend (a .Net developer) got a Jr level job no problem. Another buddy of mine went straight to Lockheed out of school as a C++ coder (Jr Level). I'm sure the NYC market is similar, if not better than the Philly job market.

Also, at this point if I was Ty, I certainly wouldn't restrict myself to F/T full-hire positions. At this point, I'd even accept temp or contractor. Maybe she's not limiting her options, but just throwing it out there.

Has she ever spoke to, applied with, Rob Half or Spherion?

http://www.roberthalftechnology.com/portal/site/rht-us
http://www.spherion.com/corporate/home.jsp

They're both recruiting/staffing agencies. The .Net dev I know used/works for Robert Half and a guy I worked with at SAP used/works for Spherion. It's worth a try.

Actually we were just speaking about her taking contract work - now that I'm _finally_ going to be hired full time it will definitely be a viable option. Thanks for the links.

What was a venting/complaining thread ended up becoming quite useful.

tyrolean_skier · Post by **tyrolean_skier** » Oct 18th, '06, 23:49

XtremeJibber2001 wrote:
SkiDork wrote:
Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

She's more than willing to accept a jr level position, knowing ful well she doesn't have the experience to categorize herself as a sr level .net developer. problem is are there positions like that available?
Welcome. Trust me, several 'experienced hires' call local uni's when they're in need of a job because often times the school will let you use their resources, alum or not.

That's great she'll accept a Jr level position, but make sure it says something along those lines in the cover letter. With Ty's experience and long IT career, I'd imagine a hiring manager would think right off the bat that Ty wants a higher-paying salary, UNLESS she indicated something on her cover letter (i.e. Jr level positions are fine, salary highly negotiable, very flexible salary req's, etc).

There are positions available. My friend (a .Net developer) got a Jr level job no problem. Another buddy of mine went straight to Lockheed out of school as a C++ coder (Jr Level). I'm sure the NYC market is similar, if not better than the Philly job market.

Also, at this point if I was Ty, I certainly wouldn't restrict myself to F/T full-hire positions. At this point, I'd even accept temp or contractor. Maybe she's not limiting her options, but just throwing it out there.

Has she ever spoke to, applied with, Rob Half or Spherion?

http://www.roberthalftechnology.com/portal/site/rht-us
http://www.spherion.com/corporate/home.jsp

They're both recruiting/staffing agencies. The .Net dev I know used/works for Robert Half and a guy I worked with at SAP used/works for Spherion. It's worth a try.

Funny that you mentioned Spherion since they where the ones trying to help me land a job after I got layed off. Maybe I should contact them again. As far as Robert Half goes, they have my resume from a job fair that I recently attended. I have not heard from them at all probably for the reason that you mentioned in that I am a Sr. Software Engineer with Jr. level .NET skills and they are probably assuming that I will want to match my past salary. I have looked at many of the .NET jobs that are out there but most of them require at least 3 years experience even though .NET is quite new and there are not many people around with that knowledge base.

Post by **Bubba** » Oct 19th, '06, 06:16

tyrolean_skier wrote: Funny that you mentioned Spherion since they where the ones trying to help me land a job after I got layed off. Maybe I should contact them again.

No headhunter/search firm is trying to help you land a job. They're trying to fill positions that are given to them by their clients - employers. The only one trying to land you a job is you.

Post by **SkiDork** » Oct 19th, '06, 06:19

Bubba wrote:
tyrolean_skier wrote: Funny that you mentioned Spherion since they where the ones trying to help me land a job after I got layed off. Maybe I should contact them again.
No headhunter/search firm is trying to help you land a job. They're trying to fill positions that are given to them by their clients - employers. The only one trying to land you a job is you.

It's good you cleared that up.

Post by **Bubba** » Oct 19th, '06, 06:21

SkiDork wrote:
Bubba wrote:
tyrolean_skier wrote: Funny that you mentioned Spherion since they where the ones trying to help me land a job after I got layed off. Maybe I should contact them again.
No headhunter/search firm is trying to help you land a job. They're trying to fill positions that are given to them by their clients - employers. The only one trying to land you a job is you.
It's good you cleared that up.

LOL...well, with the exception of you...you're trying to land her a job too.

yeti · Post by **yeti** » Oct 19th, '06, 10:33

Lie (her) ass off and say she was staying home with the kids.

XtremeJibber2001 · Post by **XtremeJibber2001** » Oct 19th, '06, 10:40

yeti wrote:Lie (her) ass off and say she was staying home with the kids.

Haha ... altho that would be funny. I think a company would be more impressed that she took real iniciative to get out there and re-train herself.

DMC_Freeride · Post by **DMC_Freeride** » Oct 19th, '06, 11:06

Ty - send me your resume'... Maybe I can help..
I see people from all kinds of companies every day... who know...

yeti · Post by **yeti** » Oct 19th, '06, 12:30

XJ

You would be wrong. Moms returning to the workplace are very strongly sought out.

XtremeJibber2001 · Post by **XtremeJibber2001** » Oct 19th, '06, 12:34

yeti wrote:XJ

You would be wrong. Moms returning to the workplace are very strongly sought out.

What are you basing this assumption on? hehe

tyrolean_skier · Post by **tyrolean_skier** » Oct 19th, '06, 14:31

Bubba wrote:
tyrolean_skier wrote: Funny that you mentioned Spherion since they where the ones trying to help me land a job after I got layed off. Maybe I should contact them again.
No headhunter/search firm is trying to help you land a job. They're trying to fill positions that are given to them by their clients - employers. The only one trying to land you a job is you.

I am trying my hardest to get myself a job but with headhunters with this attitude I don't think I have a very good chance of landing a good one. I just received this reply today:

"Nothing right now as we are only looking for candidates with recent working experience. Good luck!"

They don't care if there was a good reason that you were not employed recently. Even going back to school does not count. :(