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Tips on getting a job in what i studied despite not having any experience?
21stCentury
Call me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered User regular
Call me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered User regular
Hey H/A, I'm fucking done with being a video game QA tester.
So, a bit of backstory, I live in Montreal, Canada. I have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, specifically majored in HR.
I didn't do an internship because i was dumb and lazy and already had one in college and that was a whole event.
Anywho, as a result, I have a good degree but no experience. I periodically apply to jobs but I feel i may not be applying for the right ones. Then again, I don't know if there are any "right ones" for me, as entry-level jobs are scared off by my degree and other jobs require a lot of Experience... So I'm kinda stuck in a weird limbo it feels.
Add to that that I've spent the last 3 years just doing Videogame QA (which is way below what I'm trained to do) and I'm starting to think i may be kinda screwed.
Anyone got good tips on jobhunting that could help me efficiently get in a better situation?
So, a bit of backstory, I live in Montreal, Canada. I have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, specifically majored in HR.
I didn't do an internship because i was dumb and lazy and already had one in college and that was a whole event.
Anywho, as a result, I have a good degree but no experience. I periodically apply to jobs but I feel i may not be applying for the right ones. Then again, I don't know if there are any "right ones" for me, as entry-level jobs are scared off by my degree and other jobs require a lot of Experience... So I'm kinda stuck in a weird limbo it feels.
Add to that that I've spent the last 3 years just doing Videogame QA (which is way below what I'm trained to do) and I'm starting to think i may be kinda screwed.
Anyone got good tips on jobhunting that could help me efficiently get in a better situation?
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This kinda happened to me straight out of college as well. Graduated with my masters and could not find a job in my field without experience. To make myself look better I made sure that unrelated job experience (retail) looked better by highlighting the transferable aspects of it. I worked to get promoted into a leadership/management level position so I could put the management experience on my resume (actually had to change companies to do this part).
As far as applying I applied for pretty much every entry level position in my field that I saw, and not just local ones. LinkenIn was pretty great because they have the easy apply jobs that you don’t need to fill out a separate application for, just submit your profile with the option to attach a resume/cover letter. If I was too tired after work to fill out full applications I would just search and apply to all of those that I found. That’s actually how I got my current job.
It took me 2-3 years, so don’t get discouraged, but I did eventually find something. I needed to move away from my ideal location, but I did so with the plan in mind to get the experience I needed for a couple of years and then start the search up again, this time having the freedom to be more discerning about where I worked and what I was doing (I’m just starting this phase now).
For my first job in commercial construction I submitted roughly 400-500 resumes for superintendents inspectors admins and others. I was hitting an phone interview 1 in 20 and an in person interview with half the phone interviews. It's a better time to get a job then when I was starting. But it is still a numbers game.
Tips: use multiple sites linkedin indeed career builder Craigslist. Have several versions of your resume (I have 5) based on the way the job is presented.
I assume from your post it's been about 3 years since you graduated, are you still in contact with anyone you went to school with? If you have their contact information, it may be worth reaching out to friends/acquaintances from college in the same line of work. Be friendly, and work around to asking if they're hiring or know of any places they'd recommend you look in to. It sounds awkward but is surprisingly common.
There's also your alma mater. Ask professors you got along with if they know of any opportunities, or would be willing to write you letters of recommendation. Universities are also very concerned with having high rates of placing graduates in their field of study (it makes good statistics), they often have job assistance offerings.
If your college internship didn't go too terribly you can also look for old contacts there.
Everyone has different success stories, but I've always had more luck with personal contacts than shotgun applications.
Ooh boy.
-I graduated while I was in a super long, super ugly slump, so i didn't really make friends with anyone. I don't have any contacts.
-I didn't really get along with my professors either, sadly, for more or less that same reason.
-My college internship was at a company that died since.
-I'm still super shy around people due to past trauma, anyway.
-My Alma Mater is in the country, pretty far in. I'm in the City, pretty far from my alma mater. I don't drive and can't really get a license because i have intense anxiety behind the wheel, so I'd rather stay in the city, with its public transit allowing me to not need a car.
That said, I'll look into the University resources. Maybe they do have opportunities in the City. Still, since I don't have a good network of contacts, I'm not really holding my breath.
Like, I'm aware that not setting up a good network of contacts in college and university is bad, but at the time I was dealing with some pretty bad trauma.
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