Still at it... It seems like I am at a barrier in my career. Frankly it is very frustrating. Every thing I see management or project management wise wants 2 to 7 years of experience on paper.

So how the hell do you get experience if no one will hire you without any on paper?

The only things that seem to be viable are to either go for an assistant management position in a retail establishment or to go for an entry level position and work my way up. Neither of which will pay enough to feed or house my family. Other than that, I can keep doing contract work for half of what I should be making at my age which provides no benefits and no security for my family.

I have always been told that you cant get a good job without a degree. Now that I am about to finish that, I am finding that you cant get a good job without experience.

That does not even count the student loans that will be costing me more than a house payment in about 8 months.

I hope you are applying for those jobs requiring 2-7 years of experience. In job announcements, "require" can often translate to "want". (or they wrote the requirements to match someone they already have in mind, in which case nothing much you can do).

Many times, you don't have to fully meet those requirements, you only have to come closer than anyone else that applies for the position.

Make them turn you down.

student loans are easily deferred for 3 years.

Lie about management experience.

Just keep trying.

In this market, those are really about the only options.

OH and networking with people who may or may not be in that field.

That's how I got my job. I have never sold mortgages in my life, but I did work with a guy who had, at another sales job. We got screwed by that company but stayed in contact and that later turned into a good job doing mortgage sales where he ended up. You never know.

Some of mine have been deferred for 5+ already

Military Office Recruiter?

That can backfire if you've got student loans. A friend of mine from tech school (wound up in the same AMU too) was having trouble with his bank, because they'd allow him to defer his student loans if he was active duty military. Well, he was, but not under the bank's rules, which did not consider basic training and technical training "active duty," even though everyone else does (including the guard and reserve for the duration of training).

I suppose that what is pissing me off about it all is the dozens and dozens of adds I see that have incredibly detailed requirements and I know that 80% of those are things that will never be used by that position.

It's called the HR wishlist. They shotgun out everything possible, having no idea what any of it means; and then they take the resumes they get that match the most buzzwords, and forward them on to the hiring manager.

I saw one tonight that advertised for a district manager for a waste management company... wanted 10+ years in management, starting pay $33,000...

So dont worry so much about not meeting all of the "requirements"?

+1!



I never got a job anywhere that I didn't have some kind of connection. It truly is not what you know, it is who you know.



Don't worry at all about not meeting all the 'requirements.'

I have seen two listings looking for co-ops (as in current engineering students) that "required" previous experience. One 2-5 years, the other 3-7 years.

Sometimes it can be hard to meet them when they're completely unreasonable, like requiring 10 years of experience running Windows 2008 Server, which obviously hasn't even been out that long - so how can you meet that one?

I'm sure you've also discovered many companies are using the depressed job market to low-ball salaries for available positions. I had one place who offered me little more than 1/2 of what I was making when I got laid off (yes, I'm still looking too).