Jobs for Students - Where Are They?

jtpalinmajere asks: "The past few years students like myself have found themselves in an ominously precarious situation. This is to say that the availability for jobs in the computer industry that are suited well for fresh meat graduates are dwindling at an alarming rate. Personally, I graduate this coming Spring and have been job searching for the past semester with little if any success at finding a prospective future employer. The placement office at my university hasn't been too helpful for many students in the CS department. The only companies that I have come in contact with that might consider fresh graduates are Microsoft and government agencies such as the FBI. If I can actually compete with the 76% foreign immigrant population of Microsoft then I might see that as a fairly good start, though the odds don't seem to roll in my favor. As far as the government is concerned, I'm simply not old enough for any job that gets paid more than minimum wage and has actual job security. Most of my job searching has been conducted through services like Dice and Monster. 99% of the jobs listed in these services require 2 - X many years of previous experience using Y software with a current Z security clearance level. I've even found one company that wants 10 years experience specifically with .NET -- go figure! I'm not looking for the dream job that everyone hopes to one day attain. I'm looking for a job that will simply get me into the industry with a meager salary large enough to sustain life. How many other students find themselves in my position? What are some opinions, particularly from our non-students, for soon to be graduates like myself?"

Jobs for Students - Where Are They?

[gowen]

That depends. Can you say "Do you want fries with that?"

some rules....of mine

[hswerdfe]

Make sure every one you know, from your aunt who works in health care to your drugie high school friend knows you are looking for a job, and has a copy of your resume.

Contact all your old employers, make sure they know also, see if they have any openings, or know of any, in the industry, send them an updated copy, and get letters of recomendations from all of them, even if it was a McJob.

Have samples of work to show prospective employers.

apply to a minimmum of 5 jobs a day!

Never use the auto submit for a job posted on a job board unless no other contact info is given.

Include a Cover letter with Every Submition.
use words in your cover letter that are used in the job description.

and last show up to the interview DRUNK!

Re:Jobs for Students - Where Are They?

[macdaddy357]

You are wording that wrong. "You want Fries with that" is not a question. You are telling them. More people buy fries when you tell them than when you ask them. Suggestive selling.