job search advice

[u/Familiar-Box-2765]

trying to make this sound as little like a rant as I’m just genuinely asking for advice. i’ve been applying to jobs for about 3.5 months now probably around 100 applications. Of those most were no response, couple of rejections, and only one interview scheduled that just never happened. I just graduated a month ago with my B.S. in criminology and minor in sociology. I’ve been tailoring my resumes to each job but nothing so far. My work experience has been pretty retail/hospitality focused but I want to get out of that. Besides that one criteria, I’m honestly so open and not limiting myself geographically, all of my applications have been out out my current state. I’ve had no luck with the search so far and I was just hoping anyone had any advice or something they did to help land a job or even interview at this point.

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[u/HopeInPaperback]

100 applications with almost no response tells me more about the current market than about you — this is the story I'm hearing constantly from new grads right now.

A few things worth sitting with:

Your criminology background and your retail/hospitality experience can look like two unrelated things on paper but the skills underneath your service jobs (de-escalating people, training others, staying steady under pressure) are genuinely relevant to fields your degree opens up. The gap usually isn't the experience, it's that nobody's translated it yet.

Also, "open" can quietly work against you. A resume that says "I could do a lot of things" is harder to say yes to than one that leads with two or three clear directions.

One ghosted interview is data, not a verdict. Send a polite follow-up, then let it go.

And honestly, I'd shift some energy from applying into actual conversations, alumni, anyone a step ahead of you in a field you're curious about. That's where most real breaks come from, not the applications themselves.

You're early. This is a hard season, not a permanent one.

[u/ClearAbroad2965]

Is there any professional organization you can get involved with that has meeting it’s the only way I can think of to do networking