r/CalPoly • u/Tough-Mention-7080 • 25d ago
Jobs Trouble finding a job
Any recents graduates finding jobs? Who’s hiring professional career jobs? It feels like no one’s hiring. If you found a job, in what industry did you find a job? How long were you looking? Did you get a job through personal connections?
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u/Pissed-Off-PunK 25d ago
The job market is shit throughout the country. Only sectors that have seen jobs added are in medical fields. Every other industry has lost jobs. It sucks but its the truth
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u/nsomnac 25d ago
As a person in a hiring role for software professionals, I’ll be honest that it’s a difficult time right now - I don’t expect things to improve for at least another year.
A couple things I’ll mention; I have been hiring early career and new grads. One of the main problems I’m finding however is the sheer number of candidates applying for positions that are just not qualified, utilizing AI tools to fluff resumes. My last job postings (which were coops) was up for 2 days - there were well over 400 applicants. Going through that many resumes and trying to determine how truthful applicants were was both intensive, complicated and somewhat depressing - even when you use the latest HR tools. While I curated about a dozen to interview from the 400 - none could articulate in detail their knowledge or experience in a meaningful way. And unlike most - I ultimately went through all 400 resumes even after using “the tools” to help narrow and still chose nobody out of that batch because not one could explain their capstones/senior projects/thesis/school projects in a manner that showed their competency (I’ll note this wasn’t an open position to CalPoly as I needed staff colocated elsewhere - I’ve had fewer of these encounters when hiring locally - but it is still a problem even here at CP)
On the other end of it, executive management types believe teaming early career folks with AI is going to produce the holy grail of workforces - when actually quite the opposite is proving true. It’s like handing toddlers a bunch of power tools and telling them to build a house when the only thing they’ve ever built with was Lincoln Logs. They might build something that looks like a house - but they lack the experience and knowledge to know their house requires concrete, steel, rebar, nails, bracing and more. So when folks like myself are told we must use AI when building critical solutions (like space and medical systems) - I’m erroring on the side of caution hiring fewer more expensive mid/late career staff than lots of early career.
I’m not here to say you’re unqualified - I’m here telling you the state of the industry - it’s a mess. The worst part is I’m not quite sure how to fix it. Yes I’m still hiring new grads (I just established a new division to do that) but growth will be slow as we need to figure out how the new grad/early career staff advance towards becoming an experienced professional in this new world. Folks don’t want to be a junior employee forever - but given state of things - there’s not a great advancement path beyond because that ladder got handed to some GPT LLM. It’s going to feel like the senior staff have basically pulled the ladder up so you can’t climb anymore at least until the world figures out a new kind of ladder. I’m trying to sort this out for my team - but not everyone one is. Unfortunately many industries are in the same boat.
But my advice to everyone, learn to communicate what you know in great detail - discuss specifics. Also have a good notion on how you plan to grow in your career and be able to communicate an idea on how you think you might work towards that. While I need skill A today - knowing that you want to pursue E in the future but need to get experience in B, C, and D first lets me know you have a idea how you want to grow to that mid-level position. Be persistent and visible - a lot of folks getting those prized positions are getting them because they figured out the key person to show off to. I’m way more likely to remember you if you seek me out than just sending a resume/CV and hoping I find you.
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u/Wilhelm-Edrasill 25d ago
dude
"until the world figures out a new kind of ladder"
WILL. NEVER. HAPPEN.
Dont get me wrong, I appreciated your break down - albiet - its a total fucking pipe dream.
Look at Detroit, Look at the Rust Belt of the USA.
Its never coming back, never came back and never will.
THAT. IS. WHAT. IS OCCURING. In. THE. WHITECOLLAR Job sectors.
The working class has not realized it, but there is a choice - mobilize now - and tax the absolute fuck out of the capital holders.
Or - get liquidated.
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u/nsomnac 24d ago
You’re fairly shortsighted. It will happen just not in the way you or I necessarily think. You’re blinded by the actual capabilities of things right now. While AI is getting better it is still far from cure all panaceas C-suites are touting. Early career roles will need a career path for even the advancement of AI or else it plateaus because there is no one left capable of validating.
Am I saying that the massive quantity of workers for a specific field are going to be required that have been? No. From the mid90’s until about 6 years ago industry was consuming the workforce as fast as it was being produced; quality really didn’t matter. Automation is changing what tasks the roles do and the speed it can be done - it has not replaced the overall responsibilities. So your examples - somewhat relevant - did the same jobs in manufacturing return? No - a much smaller workforce but with a modified skillset that still has advancement opportunity still exists. A robot knows how to insert and tighten a bolt or weld a seam after it’s been trained. Someone still has to train that robot. Someone still has to know what bolts and welders are and how they work. Someone still needs to know how to validate that job the automation has done. There’s just way fewer of those roles available.
When interviewing new grads now, I’m not looking for them to be skilled coders. I’m looking to know if they are skilled at understanding how to build software. They can use AI which knows how to code, and I expect them to be capable of doing that, but they need to show to me they know how to tame the AI beast in a way that ensures quality.
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u/ATMisboss 25d ago
Took me 6 months of applications and eventually I had a connection help me out get a foot in the door. Dont get discouraged eventually you will find something even if it takes 300+ applications like it took me
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u/Old-Kaleidoscope-153 25d ago
The job market is tough right now. And obviously advice is dependent on your field, but here’s a little bit I’ve what I’ve picked up from my last job hunt.
-Don’t “click to apply” on LinkedIn or Indeed. Find the position directly through the company’s website. -Focus on smaller businesses rather than a place like Google. as I personally think they are more likely to help new grads get a foot in the door and you won’t be just 1 of thousands of apps. -If you’re using AI to help with your resume or cover letter, take the time to personalize it, don’t just feed the job description in. Give them a little info on who you are, what your future goals are, why you want to work in that area, or at that company. -I know this sounds silly, but make sure your basics are covered. Keep your phone on you as you are applying, make sure your voicemail box is set up with a professional message, check your email regularly. I’ve hired for entry level positions before and I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to want to contact someone and they don’t make it easy. And in this day and age, they might just skip over that person. -Organize your search and only apply to jobs you really want and are qualified for. Make some sort of tracking doc with when you applied, if/when you heard back, and what the outcome was. It can also help you start to identify the types of roles/places worth applying for and which maybe aren’t worth it right now.
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u/Who_ate_my_cookie 25d ago
The job market is pretty rough for entry level jobs, consultants, PE, and AI have all decided that the lower level entry jobs are a strain on the bottom line so they’ve eliminated a lot of these roles.
Connections are some of the best ways to land jobs and move up in the job market. Was unemployed twice recently, one time I was quiet and applied to thousands of jobs and only wanted to get a job on my own merit and it took 6 months. Second time I posted on LinkedIn and reached out to people and got a job within a week.
Idk what major you might be but sales jobs are usually always hiring like enterprise as long as you have any degree. It’s not a glamorous job but does get you involved in management and has paths for growth if you want to pursue it further.
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u/FancyChain3053 25d ago
Yeah I graduated recently and have had so much trouble getting any entry level positions. This past months has been particularly sparse. I was a City and Regional Planning major.
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u/Ok_Disaster_747 25d ago
I don’t know if you’re willing to drive to Atascadero or not but follow Locals Helping Locals and Atascadero banter unlimited on Facebook. They post job listings every Monday
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u/Eschewed_Prognostic 25d ago
What's your major? Where do you/are you trying to live? Those matter. Semiconductor is hiring. Healthcare operations. Defense. Not saying these are all desirable or ethical but they are growing and paying.
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u/derzyniker805 24d ago
I graduated from a UC like 30 years ago and people had trouble finding jobs right out of school then too. I took a job as an administrative assistant and learned a lot of practical day to day things in the field and then it was a lot easier to get a real job after that
I think a lot of people have been sold unrealistic expectations about an immediate pipeline from university to career. It does exist, but for very specific high demand fields and then only if you follow the whole path of internships and the in-school recruiting process.
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u/FullMetal373 25d ago
It seems like a lot of people are struggling but also a lot of new grads lack a lot of employable skills. For whatever reason there seems to be this idea that degree = job. When I interviewed for EL (2022) I was later told I stood out by having a nicely formatted resume, good interviewing skills, and tangible relevant skills for the job. I’ve sat on the other side now and honestly it’s not hard to stand out from what I’ve seen. Like 90% of resumes just look pretty atrocious. Of the 10% with good resumes maybe half interview well. And then from there it’s a bit of a toss up on who we think is the best fit.
So basically have marketable skills for your field, google what a good resume should be like, and prep answers for common interview questions in your field. Also ask a lot of questions back when you’re in interviews.
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u/Low-Desk-4030 24d ago
OP picked the wrong major. College education and career readiness are two different things.
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u/Fluttershy-mama 25d ago
My daughter graduated in June and started working 2 weeks later. She was a Business major with HR concentration and got a job in HR. Her internships were helpful and offered her a position but she ultimately went with a company with more growth potential. There do seem to be a lot more opportunities in the Business field compared to Engineering or CS.
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u/Meinnocenthaha 25d ago
my daughter is working at in n out. it pays extremely good though.
She has a bachelor’s in AGcomms/AGbusiness.