Recent grad? Employed?

involuntary shudder..

have fun in Houston :D

:lol: I take it you're not a fan of Houston. It didn't seem to bad when I was there, but I'm sure It'll get old after a couple years. Seems like most places do for me. I'm only there for about 2.5 years anyways, and they're paying me enough money that I can deal with it. It's a lot nicer then some of the other places I have lived in!

Grad in December 2009 from BCIT with Diploma in Computer Systems Technology - Technical Programming

Got job in March 2010 as a developer/programmer working ever since.

EDIT:

It's all about connections. Don't have any? Look into volunteering. Some of the best connections I have made have come from coaching kids hockey. Got me my first job, not to mention big KUDOS with the yummy mummies and free vacatations!

Next I'm going to start looking into and applying for planning jobs. Maybe look into bc parks again and look around for municipal government work.

If you want an easier in to the planning field you'd be better off with a masters or some specialty. If you can handle a bit more schooling, grab an Urban Land Economics diploma from UBC (Sauder Biznass School) or look into registration requirements with the Appraisal Institute. Planning jobs are dwindling with the economy sucking balls. Little development kills off the private consulting jobs and few municipal $$s leaves not much to do for the public sector planners.

Also, GIS for the win. GIS jobs (can be in planning too) are growing in the public sector and seem to pay well and the entry requirements are surprisingly low.

:lol: I take it you're not a fan of Houston. It didn't seem to bad when I was there, but I'm sure It'll get old after a couple years. Seems like most places do for me. I'm only there for about 2.5 years anyways, and they're paying me enough money that I can deal with it. It's a lot nicer then some of the other places I have lived in!

not in the least..
I've spent a year in texas, have avoided it ever since. I did interview with a company in houston a few jobs back, the offer was good, but I couldn't get over living near Houston. Then I moved to Bakersfield :facepalm:

As one of my old bosses used to say, "Petroleum engineers work in the a$$holes of the world"
..

not in the least..
I've spent a year in texas, have avoided it ever since. I did interview with a company in houston a few jobs back, the offer was good, but I couldn't get over living near Houston. Then I moved to Bakersfield :facepalm:

As one of my old bosses used to say, "Petroleum engineers work in the a$$holes of the world"
..

Not going to lie, I'd rather be in Houston than Bakersfield! But ya, generally they don't send us to the places you see on postcards. Would be nice though!

So basically if your entering the job market with a reasonable degree sounds like you can still get a decent job if you are willing to travel for it

Currently doing comp sci while I try to attain enough credits to apply for nursing programs. If I keep enjoying comp sci I'm already friends with the co-op departments at school :D

Before I went back to school I sought advice from various people who have been through the system and the best piece of advice was make friends with profs/heads of departments. When they see some slight potential in you they will always give referalls.

Graduated from UBC in June 2011 with bachelors in Mech Engineering. No job interview/job offers yet although I was in Whistler until late September and really have only been onthe job hunt for 2 months. It definitely feels pretty difficult ot get an EIT job though unless you're connected through the right people I guess…

Maybe the problem is who I'm marketing myself to. I've applied to and followed up with every major mining company in the Vancouver region, marketing myself as a recent grad who has just returned from a summer of mining exploration. No mining company wants to hire a geography grad without GIS experience. I've changed my focus now to forestry companies, but entry level positions are few and far between. I've never received a call back from any company I've applied to over workopolis and those types of websites. I'm going to continue to contact forestry companies, but all the no's are pretty frustrating. I wrote my undergrad thesis on a forestry related topic, maybe that will give me an edge.

It might help you to think of what you want to do from a functional rather than an industry perspective and then broaden your search from there. Maybe you're interested in real estate but don't want to be a real estate agent. Look at commercial firms like CBRE and see if they need someone to do analytical work. This is just an example.

Also, don't just look at big firms. I work for a big firm, and I'd say that one of our blind spots is that we probably screen out some good people because they don't fit a specific profile that we're looking for. You might have better luck looking at smaller firms where people are more generalist and the volume of resumes isn't as large.

Finally, use your network! Your Dad is a CFO of a large engineering firm? Holy shit. He knows people who will happily take 15min out of their day to meet with you for a coffee. And those people know people. Talk to them, have a good story, be impressive. Even if they aren't a potential employer, they can help!

Finally, use your network! Your Dad is a CFO of a large engineering firm? Holy shit. He knows people who will happily take 15min out of their day to meet with you for a coffee. And those people know people. Talk to them, have a good story, be impressive. Even if they aren't a potential employer, they can help!

^^ What he said. It's all who you know. If you don't know anyone it is a TOTAL crapshoot. I got a job but I also have a list of at least 30 customized resumes and cover letters.

Think about this scenario here from the end of the organization that is hiring. I sat on a hiring committee for my University for a couple years and this is kinda how it went.

You apply for a position, they get 300 resumes, 150 go in the garbage because they are written like crap. Assuming you can write properly you move on.

25 resumes have all the major qualifications in the posting. Usually union hiring rules say something that they can only move on to calling the people without the required qualifications if they don't find someone in the first round of interviews, or if no one meets all the qualification. In Vancouver, there's gonna be a bunch of people who meet all the qualifications.

Say you are one of those 25. Then it starts coming down to personal opinion. Usually this is when the HR person gives the resume stack to the supervisor who is hiring. Usually they each pick their top 5 and combine the list. It's really hard to know what the supervisor or HR person is looking for unless you know them or have an "in" with the organization. Remember all these resumes already meet the qualifications in the posting. They know exactly what they want the person to do and what their first few projects are going to be. Do you know this? Maybe. Depends on who you know, or if you are lucky, how detailed the job posting was.

So now say you get through all this and are one of the 5 or 7 or 10 they interview. If it's one position they would likely be crazy to interview more than 7 unless they all turned up to be duds.

So now you are in your interview and even if you answer all the questions right, they are still usually looking for the person who "fits" best with the company. So much depends on your attitude and general personality. How does it "mesh" with the perceptions of the people who are interviewing you? You can be a general sort of person only so much, your personality will come through and if it doesn't that's probably a bad thing. Who knows what mood members of the hiring team are in either. Is it a full moon or near to it? Ok, maybe it is not that hit an miss, but it can be.

So the interview team has done the 7 interviews, usually they can all unanimously knock off about 3. So then they each rank the 4 remaining. The things that stick out in some of the hiring team's minds really baffle me at times. I really think it comes down to a personality crapshoot, that's if you won the random/well put together resume crapshoot.

Sorry I'm rambling.

Of the 30 or so places I applied to this spring, I got three interviews. They were all done over the phone, which has its pros and cons. The one I felt that I did the absolute worst on was the one I got the job for.

So really it's so hard to tell. Just keep applying to everything, but you still have to put the effort in customizing the resume and CL.

It's really so much easier just to get a friend of a friend to hire you!

Thanks for all the support, reps have been distributed.

Having an "in" is definitely a plus, that's how I won nearly all of of my jobs. I'm going to reassess my network and see who I could get in contact with.

Graduated from BCIT with a Forestry Certificate (1yr certificate of technology) in 2005, found work in the Fraser Valley with a Forestry Consultant within a few weeks of finishing school. Pay was decent (around $40k/yr) but I soon realized that living anywhere in the Lower Mainland sucked balls for me so I moved to Nelson. Didn't take long to start work with another Forestry Consultant locally although the pay was slightly lower (around $33k/yr). I stuck it out with them for 5 years but started to get bored and hate my job so I quit a year and a bit ago.

Retrained in Cabinetry/Fine woodworking but quickly realized that even though I really enjoy the work, I'll never be happy working a 40hr/week job no matter what it is. Since nearly dying in a car accident a year or so ago I really realized that Mountain biking/snowboarding/enjoying life is far more important than being stuck in a dead end job making piles of money so now I just go where the money is; work some high paying silviculture contracts in the summer for a few months, some carpentry here and there, pick up the odd reno job, worked for an Arborist for a while, now moving on to doing some framing on the coast. Variety is the spice of life for me, couldn't be happier with how my life is going these days.

I'm sure that when I'm old/have kids/own a house I'll be singing a different tune but for now it's working out great so I might as well enjoy early "retirement" while I can.

Graduated from BCIT with a Forestry Certificate (1yr certificate of technology) in 2005, found work in the Fraser Valley with a Forestry Consultant within a few weeks of finishing school. Pay was decent (around $40k/yr) but I soon realized that living anywhere in the Lower Mainland sucked balls for me so I moved to Nelson. Didn't take long to start work with another Forestry Consultant locally although the pay was slightly lower (around $33k/yr). I stuck it out with them for 5 years but started to get bored and hate my job so I quit a year and a bit ago.

Retrained in Cabinetry/Fine woodworking but quickly realized that even though I really enjoy the work, I'll never be happy working a 40hr/week job no matter what it is. Since nearly dying in a car accident a year or so ago I really realized that Mountain biking/snowboarding/enjoying life is far more important than being stuck in a dead end job making piles of money so now I just go where the money is; work some high paying silviculture contracts in the summer for a few months, some carpentry here and there, pick up the odd reno job, worked for an Arborist for a while, now moving on to doing some framing on the coast. Variety is the spice of life for me, couldn't be happier with how my life is going these days.

I'm sure that when I'm old/have kids/own a house I'll be singing a different tune but for now it's working out great so I might as well enjoy early "retirement" while I can.

lifes to short to spend it all at work. yet alone a shit job.

Bachelor of Design, Major in Photography.

Graduated May 2011

Working freelance, in shared office space with a collective out of Vancouver. It's a struggle but its going.

How about others trying to break into the creative industry?