Honestly though, I searched for at least 6 months before my brother in law was like “I might be able to recommend you to a guy I know at a company I used to work at” and within the month I was hired.
A lot of it is cyclical, hit it at the right time and they’ll hire any resume that comes across their desk. The other 90% of the time, yeah, get in line behind the guy that knows a guy…
I interviewed for 3 weeks in Manhattan 1988, whoever would talk to me. Dressed well, suit, nice tie, matching black belt and shoes. Every single interviewer dumped on me: “no real experience, nobody cares about your degree or what grades you got, you’ve got nothing to offer.” Finally, I bought a $2 bright red necktie from a street vendor, had my shoes shined and went and saw an agent who interviewed me at a glass table. She took a long look at my shoes through that table, then at me, and declared she absolutely could get me a job with (investment banking firm). One glance at my resume: “you do computer stuff, right? They always need computer guys, and you’ll fit right in! They’re going to love you.”
I have no real experience to back this up, but I feel like nowadays dressing up in a full suit and tie for a computer science job interview would be overdressing (if you are not going to work for a bank). I generally go with just suit pants and a button up shirt and that seems to have worked fine for me so far.
My last interview was in 2014, for a transfer within a big company from one metro area office to another. I had been on-site in my present office many times (still, mostly working from home), so I took the “dress like you would dress during a normal workday” advice - brand new sharp pair of dark blue jeans (solid - no holes or wear), long sleeve dress shirt, loafers. I already “had the job” within the company, everybody on the actual team I was to be transferring to loved me, but… the final interview was with my new Boss’ Boss, and my to-be-new boss told me, “yeah, you’re going to have to come back to see him, he’ll flat out refuse to hire anybody who wears blue jeans to an interview.”
I had been applying for a year and a half until one day one of the companies was having an open house kinda recruiting event. I went in and the manager said that based on my resume and lack of relevant experience he wouldn’t interview me. He’s now my boss.
Local division of a big name company was always advertising in the paper, I applied but they never replied. Once every 6 months or so they’d do an “open interviews night,” so I signed up. Sat down with the floor manager, he took one look at my resume and told me: “you don’t want to work here. What’s your pay, like X?” he was guessing based on my title and experience, he was within 2% "Yeah, I only get 80% of that and I’m the highest paid guy here. We work long hours and the work is both boring and demanding, long hours, unexpected overtime. Your kind of jobs are at our main facility (up north), down here we’re basically a sweat shop.
Honestly though, I searched for at least 6 months before my brother in law was like “I might be able to recommend you to a guy I know at a company I used to work at” and within the month I was hired.
I hope I don’t need to go this route. I’m currently looking for a new job, and I barely know anyone who can give me the hook-up.
A lot of it is cyclical, hit it at the right time and they’ll hire any resume that comes across their desk. The other 90% of the time, yeah, get in line behind the guy that knows a guy…
I interviewed for 3 weeks in Manhattan 1988, whoever would talk to me. Dressed well, suit, nice tie, matching black belt and shoes. Every single interviewer dumped on me: “no real experience, nobody cares about your degree or what grades you got, you’ve got nothing to offer.” Finally, I bought a $2 bright red necktie from a street vendor, had my shoes shined and went and saw an agent who interviewed me at a glass table. She took a long look at my shoes through that table, then at me, and declared she absolutely could get me a job with (investment banking firm). One glance at my resume: “you do computer stuff, right? They always need computer guys, and you’ll fit right in! They’re going to love you.”
I have no real experience to back this up, but I feel like nowadays dressing up in a full suit and tie for a computer science job interview would be overdressing (if you are not going to work for a bank). I generally go with just suit pants and a button up shirt and that seems to have worked fine for me so far.
My last interview was in 2014, for a transfer within a big company from one metro area office to another. I had been on-site in my present office many times (still, mostly working from home), so I took the “dress like you would dress during a normal workday” advice - brand new sharp pair of dark blue jeans (solid - no holes or wear), long sleeve dress shirt, loafers. I already “had the job” within the company, everybody on the actual team I was to be transferring to loved me, but… the final interview was with my new Boss’ Boss, and my to-be-new boss told me, “yeah, you’re going to have to come back to see him, he’ll flat out refuse to hire anybody who wears blue jeans to an interview.”
I had been applying for a year and a half until one day one of the companies was having an open house kinda recruiting event. I went in and the manager said that based on my resume and lack of relevant experience he wouldn’t interview me. He’s now my boss.
Local division of a big name company was always advertising in the paper, I applied but they never replied. Once every 6 months or so they’d do an “open interviews night,” so I signed up. Sat down with the floor manager, he took one look at my resume and told me: “you don’t want to work here. What’s your pay, like X?” he was guessing based on my title and experience, he was within 2% "Yeah, I only get 80% of that and I’m the highest paid guy here. We work long hours and the work is both boring and demanding, long hours, unexpected overtime. Your kind of jobs are at our main facility (up north), down here we’re basically a sweat shop.