HELP!!! I need to find a job! (Seriously...)

[SunnyD]

Obviously, I'm getting rather desperate here... I'm posting on ATOT to try to help me find a job for god's sake. But I'm really running out of options here. I figured with 91,000+ registered users flocking to these forums (how many of them are even active?) someone, somewhere might just happen to know, have, or otherwise direct me toward employment, and no, I'm not talking about McDonald's either.

I'll run down the brief summary...

Laid off from Software Engineering/Programming position last October...
Been on unemployment since then...
Been sending out resumes like there's no tomorrow...
So far only 1 callback for verification...
No interviews...
Luckily got on the unemployment extension...
Unemployment runs out in 6 week...
Still no interviews 100+ resumes later...
Have a family to feed so Mickey-D's don't cut it...

It's getting down to the wire and I'm looking high and low for a job that will pay me "decent" (read: enough to support a family of 5) money, preferably programming, or dealing with something to do with computers - I didn't just finish my bachelor's in computer science degree to be shifting X-Box games at Walmart.

Basically, I'm looking for a software engineering job (programming) primarily. Alternatively, in no order of preference, any sort of IT-related job... Software QA/Test, Technical Writer, System Admin, etc... that would be able to tide me over until I find another software engineering job.

My main skill set is C/C++ and Windows-based programming, but I have a lot of tools under my belt as well. Location doesn't matter to me, with the limitation that I prefer to stay/work in the US (Yes, I'm a US citizen in case that matters). I'm willing to relocate to just about anywhere.

If anyone has any leads (real serious leads, not pulling my chain)... please hook me up. I'd like to refrain from becoming a welfare junkie if possible..

And also - don't suggest "look in the paper", "look on Monster.com", "look on HotJobs.com", "look at this Career site", etc... I've done them all for the past 9 months, and as you can tell from the above, they haven't gotten me ANYWHERE.

I really appreciate anyone taking the time to seriously help me out here.

SunnyD

PS - I almost forgot - PM me if you need my resume or anything like that.

 

[pyonir]

if you have a family to support and absolutely no choice, Private Security.

You can get hired Full time, benefits, usually about 8-12 an hour with all the overtime you want. OR call center. i know Temp agencies might suck for the three month contract or whatever with no benefits but you can be hired on and get full benefits. (that's what i did. six months after i started i had full benefits and vacation time.)

 

[Ameesh]

Have you tried talking to companies directly rather then going to monster.com?


Like email or calling IBM, MS, Sun etc? They all have HR departments.

What about going to the Job Fairs at the Universisty you attended? If yours doesnt have them im sure a School nearby does. If you live in California, all the UC Schools have them UCLA and UCSD have great Science and Technical Job Fairs.

 

[SunnyD]

Have you tried talking to companies directly rather then going to monster.com?

MS spit my resume back at me saying they couldn't read it - MS apparently doesn't know how to read resume's generated with MS Word. :Q

Yeah, I've been looking at that route, but with IBM displacing a ton of workers recently, the big companies are scary in the market as well. But yeah, I've been flogging my resume all over the place... MS, IBM, NVIDIA, anywhere I can really.

I think I'm going to send out a new baragge of resumes tomorrow morning.

a family to support and absolutely no choice, Private Security.

Hmm... that's the second time someone mentioned a "security" related field, though the first time was to become a prison guard... Trust me, it's in the back of my mind.

SunnyD

 

[ggavinmoss]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
Have you tried talking to companies directly rather then going to monster.com?


Like email or calling IBM, MS, Sun etc? They all have HR departments.

What about going to the Job Fairs at the Universisty you attended? If yours doesnt have them im sure a School nearby does. If you live in California, all the UC Schools have them UCLA and UCSD have great Science and Technical Job Fairs.

He's absolutely right. You're not the only online submission these places are seeing. Get you the person out there instead of you the resume. I know what you're going through... just hang in there!

-geoff

 

[CrazyDe1]

Yeah, you should cold call. IBM has thousands of internal jobs that are available to people inside the company if they get laid off...of course these jobs aren't listed ni the paper or on job sites. They only list these jobs on job sites as a last resort if they can't find someone, which means they're looking specifically for one type of person.

 

[Alienwho]

How much are you looking to earn?

Summer is here, and yesterday morning I looked on flipdog.com for jobs for about 15 minutes, sent out 3 resumes. Got a reply 4 hours later and got an interview today. Went to that interview and now I got a job as a "Data Entry Specialist" for $12 an hour just to type crap and listen to music.

<edit> i'm 18 and going to college in the fall. I found it pathetically easy to find a job this summer, and I can say i hardly put forth any effort. I allready make more then enough being a freelance web developer and i only got this job to get out of the house during the afternoons(10am to 4pm)

 

[SunnyD]

Okay okay - so contact the larger corporations directly - that's fine, but any tips on how to go about this? Should I email my resume to their HR "database" first? Should I look up a contact number and call that first? I know with MS, they basically STEER you into their online job database and corral you into just submitting your resume, no phone numbers listed anywhere.

Help help?

SunnyD