Why is it so hard for me to get a job?

[Krk3561]

EDIT: I talked to the manager opening an EB Games store opening in ~1 week (2 minutes from my house) over the phone, and I'm going to another store to meet him in person. This is the job I've really wanted.

Ive applied to 10 different places (retail stores, ie best buy, circuit city, ritz camera, etc., I dont want to work in a restaurant) and not one has hired me, or even called me for an interview. I started applying a month ago. I can't figure this out. Anyone have any job search tips?

These places dont really ask for much other than references, highest degree, gpa, school attending, awards. They have specific apps, so I dont attach a resume. But heres my resume basically (edited for AT):

Valedictorian Class of 2005
Weighted GPA: 5.065
Unweighted GPA: 3.98
SAT: 800 Verbal; 780 Math
Ford Motor Company Scholar
National Merit Scholarship Winner
AP Scholar with Disticntion
Will attend Northwestern University in Fall, Materials Science and Engineering major (Not until Mid-September)
Attended Stanford University in Summer of 2004, took classes in
Computer Science and Economics
Very knowledgeable with computer software and
hardware, building and repairing systems
West Broward YMCA Volunteer - over 500 hours of service

My referrences are very strong.

I dont have work experience, but you gotta start somewhere...

I dont think my apperance is lacking...
My Pic

I think I'm very humble too. I dont think I would give off the impression of being snobby or superior in an interview.

To clarify the weight:
A regular class is a 4.0 for an A, honors is 5.0, AP is 5.5.

 

[venk]

What the hell is a 5.065 GPA?!?!!?!

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: venk
What the hell is a 5.065 GPA?!?!!?!

In HS classes have weights on them. APs, Honors, Regular are weighted differently into your GPA.

 

[CRXican]

all that tells them is that you're a giant boring nerd

those aren't real skills

 

[LuckyTaxi]

geek!

 

[chowmein]

HS kids has it rough, you live in FL ... dont know the employment rate there

 

[tennisflip]

Maybe it's cuz of this typo... "Very knowledgeable with Very knowledgeable with computer software"

 

[Drakkon]

are you going in for interviews? making it to that stage at least? if not methinks your appilcation skills need some tweaking, and if you are then your interviewing skills need some work probobly...

 

[jaedaliu]

you have friends that work? ask them to help you. If you have an in-n-out in town, that seems like a good place to work. They pay good for being fast food. I know you don't want a restaurant, but it's not a bad place to work.

and even with weights, how do you get above a 5? some classes give you +2 for being super-honor-ap-act-ssat-cbat classes?

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: CRXican
all that tells them is that you're a giant boring nerd

those aren't real skills

You think thats the whole app? I also have to answer all kinds of psycological questions, write short essays, etc.

 

[Qwest]

retail stores are tough on hiring people just for the summer. they dont want to waste time training you only to know you're going to leave in 2 months.

 

[PingSpike]

Old people stole all the good walmart positions. Firebomb a retirement home immediately.

 

[beer]

Consider this - Retail managers don't like to hire overqualified people. They prefer people that will do as they are told and not cause problems with what are sometimes illogical management decisions. Just a quick example, at Best Buy for instance, you are pushed to sell service plans (PSPs) even though you don't receive an active commision and most consumers don't benefit from having one. It's a profit-generating measure and they don't even want to hear any dissent because pushing them benefits neither the employee nor the consumer. If you are overqualified you are preceived as a potential source of problems and since you aren't experienced in sales you might try to push what is best for the customer, not what is best for the business - the ethical but unfortunately wrong course of action

 

[hjo3]

Pretending to be an employer:
The fact that you can't use punctuation correctly leads me to believe you're lying about getting an 800 on the verbal portion of the SATs. If you're lying about that, you're probably lying about the other stuff too. And no references? Eh, I'd rather hire someone less amazing but more experienced.

 

[ggavinmoss]

College kids are home and willing to do the work you would do.

-geoff

 

[ggavinmoss]

PS - in your mini resume you didn't list any work experience. That's probably not helping.

-geoff

 

[Nitemare]

Got to dumb it down some, managers don't like to hire people that are smarter than them.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I see a few reasons. They can get full-time employees who aren't going to be there for just a summer perhaps. Next would be either you're resume isn't so well done, you have poor interview skills, or perhaps you have a reference on there who isn't giving you positive support. Lastly, perhaps a lot of your potential employers don't want someone who has so many academic accolades, they could feel threatened or think that you will probably be snobby and act superior to them.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: ggavinmoss
College kids are home and willing to do the work you would do.

-geoff

Bingo. Some colleges let out as early as late April, and now all colleges are out, so there are tons of people applying for the same positions.

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: ggavinmoss
PS - in your mini resume you didn't list any work experience. That's probably not helping.

-geoff

Gotta start sometime, no?

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
I see a few reasons. They can get full-time employees who aren't going to be there for just a summer perhaps. Next would be either you're resume isn't so well done, you have poor interview skills, or perhaps you have a reference on there who isn't giving you positive support. Lastly, perhaps a lot of your potential employers don't want someone who has so many academic accolades, they could feel threatened or think that you will probably be snobby and act superior to them.

I haven't even been called for an interview. I think I'm very humble too. I dont think I would give off the impression of being snobby or superior.

 

[akubi]

:camera:?

your appearance does matter for a retail position, no matter what it says on paper...

with your credentials you should have looked for an internship in a real company (office work).
too late for that now, enjoy your summer.

 

[venk]

PM sonz70 for job oppurtunities.

 

[notfred]

BEcause everyone thinks that you're making up your resume, because no school I've ever heard of makes it possible to get better than a 5.0 GPA?

Or maybe because you're going to Northwestern in the fall and they dont want to hire someone for a month or two.

Or possibly you just sound arrogant in interviews.

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: notfred
BEcause everyone thinks that you're making up your resume, because no school I've ever heard of makes it possible to get better than a 5.0 GPA?

Or maybe because you're going to Northwestern in the fall and they dont want to hire someone for a month or two.

Or possibly you just sound arrogant in interviews.

A regular class is a 4.0 for an A, honors is 5.0, AP is 5.5.

 

[ucdnam]

it's also late in the year to apply for summer positions. Every HS kid and college kid out for the summer wants those jobs, so it's still competition. You should apply and look around really early in the spring, to find out where openings are and to get your name out.