Finding work after college (part 2)

This was the biggest problem I had. I needed prior work experience before I could get an entry level job. I sent my resume to that job position but I never heard back. This became a daily routine. I’d log into the college career database, look for accounting positions, and send my resume there. Each day, there were only about two new accounting positions available. Quickly, I had to come to terms that I might not be able to get a job in my field and should just start sending resumes to related positions. I found myself sending my resume out for accounting, finance, management, and sales positions. I even started sending my resume out for positions that I wasn’t necessary qualified for. I figured that if I could at least get some sort of correspondence with another party, they might be able to network me into a job opportunity. After having applied to over 20 different positions, I got a response for a sales position.

Unfortunately, this position sounded terrible. Since it was sales, it paid a base salary and a good part of compensation was based off of sales commission. It paid $8 per hour base. The worst part was that the worksite was located at least 28 miles from my home which was incredibly inconvenient without a car. Online reviews of the company also brought up results of prior employees being incredibly frustrated with the company and in some cases said that the company was a scam. However, since I never had a job interview before, I decided to go through with it. I dressed up in a suit and took the local transportation for over an hour to the job site.

The problem was that it was not a position I really wanted and that was apparent in the interview. The man asked me why I wanted the job and I stated that I needed any job just to start working and building up job experience. I explained that I wanted to fill the role of accountant if an opening appeared later. After about five minutes into the interview, the interviewer said I was not the right man for the job and promptly showed me the door. The whole ordeal took up at least five hours of my day. I came back home very discouraged without anything to show for it.

During the next few weeks, I sent out about a total of 50 resumes and only received three callbacks. One of the positions available was an accounting intern at my state’s university. Unfortunately, this was a position only available to current students, and when I said I had graduated, the man on the other end of the phone said the interview could not go further. I also had a third piece of correspondence by email. I got a short message stating that someone would like to interview me however I never responded back because I was feeling pretty hopeless at the time.