I completely agree, personality, demographic, etc. all play a huge role in the decision making processes of an employer – whether they acknowledge it or not.

Thanks for sharing your story.

-Andrew

I have a degree in PR, did an internship, and worked as an Editor for a nonprofit before I graduated. When I graduated, I found myself faced with the fact that the jobs I should be getting were being taken by people who had 5-10 years of industry experience. All I was ever told when I applied was “Well, you are off to a great start in your career, but we are going with another candidate.” lol

I have had to take jobs in retail, insurance, fast food, and customer service, because I can never get any jobs in the Communications field. To this day, 9 years after graduation I still can’t get a job because all the job ads specifically say the requirements for an entry level job such as a copy editor or proofreader is 3-5 years of agency experience. The experience I was never able to get.

Since I had to pay my rent, I had to take junk jobs. So that means when I finally do get an interview for a good job here and there, they spend more time asking me why I haven’t worked in my field than asking me why I would be a good fit for their company.

Why have I failed in my career? I worked hard. I got the degree. I went on tons of interviews. I scoured every job web site. Why did I fail? Personality.

I’m just not the kind of person who has or can keep a lot of friends. I’m a nerd, and I’m not good in social situations. I do well with people in passing, but as far as building a social network? I don’t have one. I never even have boyfriends. Socially clueless. Does this mean that I don’t deserve a job?

So you are saying that someone like me should just go around asking people out to lunch? That’s like asking a cat to go program your computer.

Also, you are everything that society embraces – young, good-looking white male. Your options will always be better than, say an obese 35-year-old woman with 2 kids – especially if she is a minority. Behaviors that come across as cute and quirky, or enterprising and ingenious, would come across as pushy, disrespectful, or unprofessional for someone of any other demographic.

So really, I’m telling you all of this to say, it can’t all be boiled down to laziness. There a lot of other factors at play here. Personality, demographics, heck – even personal appearance all play a part in how people react to you professionally. So I would encourage you to at least give that some thought.

@Max I appreciate the comment and the exploration of a real-life example of what I discussed in this post. As I said in my previous comment, Brian did make some very valid points, but Max is correct, this is “landing a job 101″ for our generation. Thanks again Max.

To back up Andrew, I think resumes are a waste of time these days. Mine isn’t shabby. Coming out of college, I’ve interned with successful startups (Cha Cha Search) and Fortune 100 companies (ArcelorMittal), my cumulative GPA was over 3.0, and I had a few awards and extracurriculars outside of the classroom (scholarships, freelance projects). This made me qualified for just about any entry level job available. My resume never got me anywhere.

What got me further was branding and networking.

I don’t want to write a full biography of my last year in college but to summarize- I had 3 job offers in Nov 08 when the economy was terrible and probably could have had a 4th or 5th if I didn’t stop interviewing. The IT sector wasn’t booming with jobs, but there were (and still are) plenty out there.

I credit the job offer I chose to accept to my roommate. He interned at the company the summer before, knew my HR contact, and put in a good word for me. He didn’t get me the job (company has >100k employees), but having him as a connection helped.

That job’s start date got pushed back six months (blame the economy) so I hit the job market again for something temporary. My personally branding landed me two different jobs in a month on top of freelancing through word of mouth leads. I got one job by showing up at a startup’s grand opening and offering to work for free. I was more bored than broke so it wasn’t a huge risk, but it got me in the door and at a desk.

Andrew’s outline here is the new way to find a job. I’m no Derek Johnson as far as energy and effort, but I do all of these things and it works. TONS of my recent grad friends are jobless with no hope because they’re stuck in the cycle of dropping off apps and resumes like it’s 1950.

Brian is right when he says you can’t walk into Microsoft without a resume. The truth is you can’t get in the door without a connection on the inside. Microsoft and other big corps sift through thousands of lackluster resumes every week. With a personal brand, a little networking, and the ability to convince the interviewer you’re committed to improving their company’s bottomline, you will stand out and land a job.

To prove Andrew’s points- I do these things and had multiple job offers twice. Brian (not picking on you) thinks these things are crazy and spent 3 months looking for a job after being top of his class. I’m just saying…

I like the post… I like your message, your energy and you being confident and clear about your opinions. That said, I appreciate Brian challenging you and can understand some of his frustrations.

I don’t think there’s any sure-fire way to nail a dream job… but, like you mentioned, there are definitely many “do’s” and “don’ts” to consider along the way.

Overall, getting a great job (in my opinion) boil downs to crazy-sweaty-hustle, passion, creativity and usually a little luck

Keep em’ comin!

To address your first point… I agree with you, a resume is necessary… eventually. But here’s the problem, resumes have become a safety net, at least for many people I know. They think that all they have to do is create a resume, drop it off and they’ll be hired. Making that point was intended to urge people to leave the comfort of a resume and think outside the box, sorry I portrayed that incorrectly.

Secondly, the economy isn’t that bad. Yes, it’s obvious we’ve been in a recession for quite some time but that does not mean that people are not hiring. There are ALWAYS jobs available, always. During the “hard economic times” that you’re describing, people may have to settle for an entry level position and work their way up to their desired position, but it is far from impossible. Another thing to consider is that tough economic times inspire innovation and entrepreneurship, a job position that is always available. Also, the current unemployment rate is right around 9%, last time I checked.

Again, getting back to the economy, as you can tell from the trends of the dow over the past 6 months ( http://tinyurl.com/6oz3xp ), the economy has hit it’s bottom and is on an incline out of the recession, in my opinion.

But really, who knows and who cares, for that matter. It’s all a guessing game. The economy will do what it will and we have no control over it. All I want people to do is stop using the economy as an excuse and start hustling to get to where they want to be, as nothing is ever impossible. I hope that clears my points up a bit and thanks again for the comment.

-Andrew

Secondly, I strongly disagree with the statement ‘The distinguishing factor is laziness, or lack of drive’ in regards to those individuals who are very qualified but due to hard economic times are unable to find work at a job where they would actually enjoy working, is relevant and that actually allows for career growth. That statement is obviously being made by somebody who has never had to apply for a job in an environment saturated with “over qualified” workers with 10 years experience applying for the same entry-level job as you are. I graduated top of my class and had difficulty for about 3 months finding something in this harsh economic climate. I don’t think this guy even knows what the current unemployment rate is or maybe he wouldn’t have made such an ignorant statement.

Lastly, in regard to, ‘Is the economy really that bad? No, not at all, I actually think quite the opposite’ … what evidence supports the fact that our economy is apparently thriving? Just wondering, or is this another ‘well me and my company are doing just fine so therefore the whole economy must be doing great also…’

-Andrew