My youngest son graduated from university last spring with a Bachelor's degree ,majoring in Professional Technical writing, and a minor in Business. He's currently employed in retail, but is getting a little depressed by the lack of results in his job search. He regularly applies on Monster.com and Carrers.com, but I'm wodering where else he could be searching. All ideas are welcome. Thanks Gang.
I don't know of any others online...
I'd suggest he start going in person to places he's interested in working, whether they're hiring or not, asking for an application, or asking if they're hiring. Eventually he'll find someone that will be willing to talk to him, whether they're hiring or not, and he can make (hopefully) a lasting impression at that point.
More and more i'm finding it's less about the applications as it is having a connection. I ended up with three job offers in 2011. I didn't even apply to any of those three.
He should be talking to everyone and anyone he can.
Where is he located?
indeed.com is a search engine for all job sites. It's great. Where does your son live??? My company could use him right now.
Dexter? Is Rochester Hills too far???
I graduated last spring with my Bachelors in Engineering (Materials Science with experience and publications in nanotech research) and have had a total of 1 interview in all that time. He isn't alone!
Indeed.com has proven to be VERY good at even catching things originally listed on other sites for me. The BIGGEST key is to really work on your search terms. Find related terms to his field and search them, not just "tech writer" and use term subtraction to help eliminate things you dont want.
Examples from my hunting... the VAST majority of things that show up searching "engineer" are either IT type jobs or positions where they are dolling up what seems to be a janitors position by calling it a something-engineer. I found a few common terms that really only showed up in those and subtracted them.
The other one is that I find a lot more searching "semiconductor" then "materials engineer" or "materials scientist".
I am looking in the DC area myself.
Right now I am only really doing 1-2 good days a week on the job boards, otherwise it just gets too depressing. I am moving to Gaithersburg this weekend and am going to have my suit cleaned and have my resume printed and start (cold) visiting companies that I think might be interested in me.
If there's anything else I can be doing to help land a job, PLEASE, let me know!
Been working my personal network, online friends networking, and all that to no avail. Its becoming a real fight to not be constantly depressed over it.
Apex, after being out of work for nearly 2 years I'll tell you what worked for me.
I didn't let myself get down, depressed or desperate screams at an interview.
Network, tell everyone you know you are out of work. They'll say "what do you do". Don't say "engineer", say something very specific or they can't help you.
I didn't search the boards everyday either, it gets depressing. Like you, I'd search every 3 days or so. Indeed saves your searches and tracks how many new listings.
Came here to say www.indeed.com as well.
Tech Writing degree, eh? I got my first Tech Writing job because the manager saw on my resume in my "personal interests" section, that I was a gearhead who worked on cars and rode motorcycles. I have a Journalism degree.
That got me the interview and subsequently the job. I'm in my third company now in 5 years.
If you're son doesn't have some good writing examples, tell him to go out in the garage and take pics and put together a document on how to replace the pads/rotor on the car, or install sway bars, etc.
Have him do at least 2, preferably 3 writing samples of this nature. As long as the pictures are clear, he can use Word to drop the images in, add callouts, etc and convert to PDF.
Boost,No , Rochester Hills isn't too far at all. We'd just find an apartment near any job he could get.
For the others: We're in SE Michigan, right next door to Ann Arbor.
.....and Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.
In reply to Apexcarver:
Have you considered looking outside of the DC area or are you tied to that place?
I think one thing that helped me was some kind souls here helped review my resume and after that I got two interviews and two offers.
Also there is usajobs.gov.
https://www.michworks.org/mtb/user/MTB_EMPL.EntryMainPage
http://www.mitalent.org/Job-Seekers/
......He's also done some advertising work for a group of Harley-Davidson dealerships in mid-Michigan. He had his work up on a billboard along I-75 near Saginaw for several months. He took some graphics type courses in his curriculum, and he designed a Harley T-shirt that's available through the dealer chain,too. He can do quite a bit if we can find the right slot for him.
z31maniac and Marty!,
Thanks for those links.
93EXCivic wrote: In reply to Apexcarver: Have you considered looking outside of the DC area or are you tied to that place?
Just signed a lease and my GF's degree is to be a museum curator, so yeah...
DeadSkunk wrote: ......He's also done some advertising work for a group of Harley-Davidson dealerships in mid-Michigan. He had his work up on a billboard along I-75 near Saginaw for several months. He took some graphics type courses in his curriculum, and he designed a Harley T-shirt that's available through the dealer chain,too. He can do quite a bit if we can find the right slot for him.
That's good and graphic skills are important, my predecessor at my current job was good at making manuals with a fancy cover....................but she couldn't get across simple (or complex) concepts, how to operate or fix the machinery, etc.
Doing Ad work isn't very related to Tech Writing at all.
If you'd like, shoot me an email (z31maniac at gmail dot com) and I'll shoot you the PDF's of my writing examples I used when appling for my current position.
In reply to z31maniac:
Email sent. Thanks
Documents sent.
Let me know if I can be of anymore help!
DeadSkunk wrote: Boost,No , Rochester Hills isn't too far at all. We'd just find an apartment near any job he could get. For the others: We're in SE Michigan, right next door to Ann Arbor. .....and Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.
I got your PM, you have a reply. I'll help in any way I can.
A tech writer has freelancing as an option. He might want to check out this guy's book if he wants to go that route:
http://www.wellfedwriter.com/
Has he tried LinkedIn yet? With a fully filled out profile, the "Jobs you may be interested in" feature may help unearth some opportunities. For me, it is dead on the vast majority of the time. I have also been contacted out of the blue three times in the last four months by recruiters happening across my profile...and I'm not even looking to go anywhere at present.
Don't forget the last company that will leave Michigan...
http://www.governmentjobs.com
I know of three grads that signed up for jobs in the last 6 months all are very gainfully employed with the state.
More links and places for him to lok ! The GRM community is great. Thanks everyone.
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