The job market isn't playschool. Unfortunately, this statement is true even when you have a degree in for example engineering. Here, I want to write a few lines about problems which occur while you try to find a suitable job.
To begin with, I want to share a few information about myself. I'm 24 y/o and studying electrical engineering at a university in Germany. I don't have my Bachelors degree yet, but more importantly: I worked as a student employee in a few institutes at my university and just started my job at a huge multinational company (I'm still studying). My career path is filled with many applications, many rejects, many unanswered applications and a few job interviews and actually some jobs.
The most important thing I learned regarding looking for a job is: it mostly is not your own fault!
To make this statement clear, I want to start with a small story about an ex colleague of mine with Masters degree in software engineering who also struggled a lot to find a job.
After dozens of applications and rejects, he got a job interview at a startup (as the company advertises itself) with like 100 employees. It's November and the company sent him the flight tickets per post. In February, he travels a few hundred kilometers and talks with a few guys at the startup. They tell him that they are a startup and can’t afford to hire him. So, what happened? Why did they spend like 100€ and lots of time in the candidate and rejected him at the same day? Unfortunately, my ex colleague received the job invitation in November. In January, they probably discussed the financial plans for the new year. When I remember correctly, it was March when I read an article about how this startup bought up another startup. So, there wasn’t any money for hiring my ex colleague anymore before the job interview even happened because they planned to invest huge.
Another friend (civil engineering student without degree), another story: On the specific day of the job interview, there were 3 candidates. My friend was the first candidate and had a tremendous interview – next day, he received the E-Mail saying that he got the job. We both assumed that in the minds of the interviewers, he was already the chosen candidate before the other 2 candidates even had their interviews.
These are just examples of what happens a lot when you apply for a vacancy. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this when I started sending a lot of applications and when I received a bunch of rejects. I mean, you just get an E-Mail claiming that you got rejected. That's all. What does happen to your motivation, when you get 20 rejects out of 20 applications? You get doubts about your qualification, about the motivations letters, the style of your CV but most importantly: about yourself and your future career. Some people get a job in the first try, so you ask yourself "Why did I get rejected? Why did another one get the job and I didn't? Why do some people get the jobs after sending just one application and I don't with many applications?”. The answer is disappointing. In real, it just means that you weren’t lucky. That’s all. Like I said, the job market isn’t playschool.
Some of you might protest now. “Just luck? You messed up your application." "It just means that your qualifications weren’t enough." "It shows us how evil the companies are who expect many years of working experience and an A graded degree.” While it’s true that you should have some working experience it’s often just luck. In a job interview (when you get so far), it’s good to have a good connection to the interviewers. This will influence them in such a way that your skills will be less important. While this sounds logical it also shows how much the qualification is mostly worth. In the most cases, it doesn't matter what kind of qualification you have. You just need the motivation to study the specific topics. The interviewers often know this.
Another example: this time it’s a story about me. I worked as a student employee in an institute of our university in the field of railway security technology for one year. There was a vacancy of the biggest railway company in Germany which operates in every kind of railway transportation – especially personal transportation. The vacancy was looking for… me… At least I thought so... It was in the same field so I already had experience, electrical engineering student, a student who passed his third semester, fluent German and English skills etc. I applied and… yeah… Few days later, I got an E-Mail telling me that they hired a candidate who had "better qualification for the position" than me. To be honest, I didn’t believe. So, I sent them an E-Mail containing the question “Seriously, who has a more suitable qualification than me for this job? Why didn’t I even get any job interview?”
I’m happy that I did this back then. Thanks to this I got weeks (!!!) later a call from HR. The caller asked me if I had interest in learning how the recruitment process of their company works? I refused and visited their career page. The vacancy was still online. I assume, that they already found a candidate and so, they weren’t even interested in my CV: I got a reject. I still have no clue, why they needed so many weeks to reply to my E-Mail.
Don’t get me wrong. You are supposed to work on your CV. You should give your best for a motivation letter. Always check twice! Check the E-Mail you sent containing your application. Check the formats etc. But still, I want you to understand that in case of many rejects, it’s not necessarily your own fault. Getting many rejects is depressing. It causes a huge stress. But in the end, keep in mind that you will get a job as long as you keep up your motivation!
To help you find one, I plan to do similar post with some tips regarding applications this week. I will also try to cover the question of how to get your first job after receiving your degree. Again, I try to sum up some personal experiences. If you are interested, stay tuned.