Job Hunting Tips and Tricks. - Or how to not get stuck as a retail wagie

[JustStopDude]

Many people apply to thousands of jobs with the exact same resume. That’s a great way to get thousands of rejections. When I hire people onto my team I look for someone who has actually written a cover letter and resume for the job I’m trying to fill. It helps get you past the two main hiring hurdles:

1: Jeets will apply for every job at my company with the exact same resume (like someone on the factory floor running a forklift all the way to our CFO role that was just advertized). It’s incredibly easy to toss all those applications in the garbage. The skills needed for forklift drivers are wildly different than those needed for setting the direction of the company. Companies have hiring dashboards and you can see every applicant and which roles they’re applying for (now and in the past). Someone applying at both levels is obviously not going to be a good candidate for either.

2: Posting a job online is like putting up a big target. I’ll have worked with HR to specify a role and the things we require. Applicants then try to hit the bullseye which is the person we usually go with. If you put up a resume that’s a fit for every job you usually won’t even hit the inner rings. If you tailor your resume to match the role you’ll hit in the center and be more likely to get a callback. It’s better to send in tens of perfectly tailored applications than it is to send in thousands of generic ones.

The one exception… if you’re applying for non-skilled labor (e.g. retail or fast food) then go crazy. Fill out as many as you can.

You expect a cover letter for a fork lift operator?

That is fucking retarded.

 

[One Sixth Native American]

You expect a cover letter for a fork lift operator?

That is fucking retarded.

I don’t… the company I work for (and do hiring for) has an upload field for a cover letter to be uploaded. You don’t have to upload one but you can if you want.

I hire for different roles where a cover letter is useful but I can see the applications for the entire company in the dashboard I use. The jeets I was talking about (that apply for every position) will send in cover letters for all the positions and it’s the same exact cover letter.

So yes, I agree, a cover letter for a forklift operator is retarded.

 

[Waifu Denier]

You expect a cover letter for a fork lift operator?

That is fucking retarded.

I don't know why they even exist for most lower level jobs still, considering even before AI, it was just a creative writing exercise for how much you can lie that getting a paycheck isn't your primary motivation for why you want the job and you need to shotgun 100+ applications to even get a job..

 

[JustStopDude]

I don't know why they even exist for most lower level jobs still, considering even before AI, it was just a creative writing exercise for how much you can lie that getting a paycheck isn't your primary motivation for why you want the job and you need to shotgun 100+ applications to even get a job..

It's because HR people are remarkably stupid and lazy.

I recently had to find a new job as an electrical engineer. It is incredibly annoying to try and explain to mouth breathing morons what their own companies do and not end up rejected because the wrong buzz word was used.

In the future, only two things will exist. Broken AI and HR people. Nothing will be created. Nothing will get fixed. Just a dystopian future of rejections and mass firings.

 

[The Hardest R]

In a lot of cases, the first ones seeing your resume is an HR cat lady, not a warehouse supervisor. So yeah, a cover letter for a forklift operator is retarded but the first set of eyes on your application is someone who has a retarded sense of what is considered decorum for an application.

If I had to give tips based on my success and failures:

Yeah if you don’t know shit about the place you’re applying for, you’re not going to have a good time. Being able to intelligently speak about the company during the interview is a good way to place you in the top 10% of candidates. A five minute cursory glance at the company website is enough to impress most hiring managers. They won’t expect you to memorize the material but being knowledgeable enough to comment on things or ask a couple questions will go a long way.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

I'm just not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've altered a resume over and over for different roles. I live in sort of a weird zone full of retirees and moved back in with family after grad school during the tail end of the coof years. The job app shit seems to have gotten brutal. I currently work in gigs. I've got hearing aids and physical balance issues, so anything in the realm of blue collar is out of the question.

I'm just so tired. I'd like a nice desk gig so I could have stability while searching for more opportunities. Even the state's career-helper org's people at the local job fair just looked at my resume and told me "these days, it's so rough that it really comes down to who you know".

I'd even take data entry at this point, but apparently I have to compete with dozens of over-qualified people down in ye Olde Sunshine state

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Be  real in interviews, even if it means occasionally saying things that don't sound great. The majority of candidates will play themselves up, lie about their competency and give very vague and mundane "weaknesses" when asked. Canned answers if you will. It's so obvious.

The candidate who seems to really know himself and is honest about it will stand out. The one who is comfortable speaking about himself, has the power of accurate self-reflection and tells you his real weaknesses and how he works around them, that's the guy you want.

Disregard this dude

 

[Lovely Kin]

If your job, private or public sector, does something where they scan for keywords, chances are they aren't reading your cv/resume in the first place. I have a coworker who entered the keywords they were looking for, and he got through quickly.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

If your job, private or public sector, does something where they scan for keywords, chances are they aren't reading your cv/resume in the first place. I have a coworker who entered the keywords they were looking for, and he got through quickly.

I've applied to plenty of white collar clerical entry level positions where they see that I haven't listed down XYZ years of work in the app+resume. It's weird to me.

 

[National Defense Advocate]

I'd advise people to lie on their resume.
You ran a RadioShack, only profitable one in the state, matter of fact!
Companies lie about their pay, lie about promotions, lie about what jobs are even available.

I Would recommend a general use Application for wagie jobs and sit down with Chatgpt to hammer out a more specialized application for jobs you really care about. Cover letters are easy these days, AI can handle most of it.

If you have friends, boom there's your References handled, if they even ask for those (most don't).

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

It's an absolute hellscape for entry level position, especially when all you get is chirping crickets.

 

[babyDunk]

I don’t… the company I work for (and do hiring for) has an upload field for a cover letter to be uploaded. You don’t have to upload one but you can if you want.

I hire for different roles where a cover letter is useful but I can see the applications for the entire company in the dashboard I use. The jeets I was talking about (that apply for every position) will send in cover letters for all the positions and it’s the same exact cover letter.

So yes, I agree, a cover letter for a forklift operator is retarded.

Do companies check if cover letters are AI generated? Cause there is no way i'll individually fill out a cover letter when i apply for 100 jobs a day

 

[One Sixth Native American]

Do companies check if cover letters are AI generated? Cause there is no way i'll individually fill out a cover letter when i apply for 100 jobs a day

We don’t have a way to check but if someone just copies and pastes an AI generated cover letter, it is pretty obvious. AI has a very recognizable way of writing and it’s very easy to tell when someone uses it without thinking. I want to hire people who use AI as a tool, not as a replacement for their own brain.

What I find works well is to AI generate an handful of individual paragraphs for specific topics, work history or skills. These will be very generalized, not tailored to any specific job. Tweak each paragraph so it’s in your voice. I keep a bunch of these in a text file in my hard drive (e.g. if I learn a new skill and use it to finish a project I’ll AI generate a paragraph about it and put it in my own writing voice).

When you apply for a job, generate the introduction paragraph specifically for the application. Copy and paste 2-3 of your previously generated paragraphs to make up the body of the cover letter. AI generate the conclusion based on the paragraphs you’ve written. Read it over once to make sure it flows and you’re good to go.

 

[Fascist Kirk]

try the marines or go army, or hang yourself. . . . welcome to the suck gooner zoomers you will figure it out ......

 

[James Brown]

moved back in with family after grad school during the tail end of the coof years

Wtf did you major in to be grad-school educated yet still unable to get a desk job

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

Wtf did you major in to be grad-school educated yet still unable to get a desk job

In something that would normally be able to get me a desk job. It's not one of the genderspecial humanities. But it is a humanities.

 

[Audit]

I highly encourage everyone to just use good ol' fashioned nepotism. Cozy up to well connected people and use them to land a job. It's not that no one's hiring. It's just that no one's hiring anyone through the internet. Network or be a neet. Victory to the most affable.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

I highly encourage everyone to just use good ol' fashioned nepotism. Cozy up to well connected people and use them to land a job. It's not that no one's hiring. It's just that no one's hiring anyone through the internet. Network or be a neet. Victory to the most affable.

Doesn't work as well any more. Anyone connected knows there's a billion people seeking jobs now.

 

[Audit]

Doesn't work as well any more. Anyone connected knows there's a billion people seeking jobs now.

Works just fine still. My own workplace specifically avoids hiring jeets. The winning candidate is selected and known long before a single application is submitted. It's rare for a real "open" position to emerge. We know the talent pipelines and work behind the scenes to avoid problems. We don't care there are a billion people looking for jobs. We got who we wanted with the exact skills hand trained already.

You have to end up in the talent pipeline for good jobs. A bullshit bachelor's degree means shit and fuck. An internship at the right company, knowledge of the right esoteric software, a letter of recommendation from the right person landing you in the right college, and such matter far more. Once you fall off the train you're fucked. You'll be competing against younger people who did everything right.

Concerning jeets, if a company wants jeets, they WILL hire jeets. They will discover jeets are retarded and whole divisions will become useless. My own pet jeet story is that a couple of jeets I know have been trying to use machine learning for ages to solve a simple problem. Years later, and I just wander on in and solve it using basic algorithms. The jeets were too stupid to try the obvious simple solution because trying to impress their peers with excessive and stupid machine learning efforts. These are the "smart" jeets btw. All of them have serious backgrounds and get the 6 fig salaries. Never hire jeets. Random ass chinks, whites, and even spics will work better and faster every time. Good employers know this and tip the scales.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

Works just fine still. My own workplace specifically avoids hiring jeets. The winning candidate is selected and known long before a single application is submitted. It's rare for a real "open" position to emerge. We know the talent pipelines and work behind the scenes to avoid problems. We don't care there are a billion people looking for jobs. We got who we wanted with the exact skills hand trained already.

You have to end up in the talent pipeline for good jobs. A bullshit bachelor's degree means shit and fuck. An internship at the right company, knowledge of the right esoteric software, a letter of recommendation from the right person landing you in the right college, and such matter far more. Once you fall off the train you're fucked. You'll be competing against younger people who did everything right.

Yeah, I fell off the train, admittedly. I'm trying to figure out how to get back on. The coof years were horrendous, involved family tragedy, and I just kept eating shit. I've been trying to get somewhere, but it's just not working out here.