Most contract jobs go through a recruiter who works for a staffing company. They have a contract you sign. If you fake it, fine... but if you get in there, can't perform, then they find out you don't know what you're doing -- you will be liable for thousands. Just like that.
Thanks for the feedback and the sarcasm. Maybe it is time I looked to move outside of CALI although i do love it here. In any case i'll still be browsing the usual websites and such and hopefully i'll land something. Like others said I'm just looking to get my foot in the door.....i don't expect to get some great job.
http://mysolar.cat.com/cda/layout?m=106660&x=7 Solar is a great company based in San Diego! Here is a list of positions that are currently open. Alot of IT. Hope this helps.
Just browsing websites isn't the best way, especially if you are only looking at job boards like careerbuilder or monster. For web searches, you should find companies you are interested in joining and go to their specific websites for job postings. Many companies don't make all of their postings available to the various career websites. You should also network. It is pretty tough networking straight out of school, but there are opportunites. Search around for "communities of interest" or "communities of practice" in subject areas you would be interested in. For instance, if you are interested in data management, you could join Data Management International (DAMA) and attend local meetings. If you are interested in data warehousing, you could join TDWI. If you are interested in project management, you could join PMI (you don't have to be certified to join) and attend local chapter events/meetings. I also recommend researching what area of expertise you'd like to pursue. MIS is pretty general for IT, so there are lots of options. I personally recommend pursuing ERP systems like SAP, or reporting functionality, like Oracle based Kimball data warehousing (or a mix). SAP BW is also getting bigger and bigger for a reporting engine as SAP has made it suck a lot less in recent years, especially with the aquisition of Business Objects for a front end. Learning applications like Informatica is also insanely useful. I'd also focus more on system architecture and design (maybe even data/system modeling) as many programming jobs get shipped overseas, but the project, architecture, and design jobs tend to stay around. Another good place to be is "in the middle". There is a severe shortage of people that can work and network with the business for their business requirements and correctly translate those requirements into functional and technical specifications. I have some highly paid employees that work for me that their main job is working with the business, and writing specs and psuedo code to hand off to the programmers in Bangalore. The key in these roles is that you have to know the business and function (finance, supply chain, HR, customer, vendor, procurement, etc) almost as well as the people that sit IN those functions. The cool thing is that it lets you straddle jobs between both IT and in the business, depending on how you want your career to go. I personally have moved between Finance and IT about half a dozen times depending on how the work environment, my career, and my preferences swings. It has allowed me to be a SME in multiple businesses (finance gets to work with everybody) and functions. It ultimately led me to my current, sweet gig managing a entire department of IT, Finance, SAP, and MDM experts (many of whom I will readily admit are smarter than me). There is also a big shortage of people that work data management, especially when it comes to Master Data Management. You'd be surprised at what a valuable niche that is to larger corporations. If you'd like to hit me up through the board, I'll send you my email and you can send me your resume. I can make some recommendations or maybe get you a lead or two. It'll most likely be in Houston, however.
If you have relatives in different cities in the same region(Portland, Oregon /Nevada/Southern California), ask them if you could use their address for your resume. Local candidates with no experience will get higher priority over out-of-town candidates with no experience. Even if your cell phone is from a different state, it will not matter. Many people keep their original cell phone numbers to keep their contacts. It will appear like you just moved. Since you are in the same region, you can can make the interviews in person with a day's drive. If you are looking towards Texas or other states, keep your local address. Even though, you will get a lower response rate, it would be too hard to pretend that you can make an interview within the next day. The companies that are interested will do phone interviews. Please take some classes or workshops in job hunting skills. It makes a world of difference, since you have no job hunting experience. After my first class, I was able to swing a $12.5k increase in a contract position. As I was still get responses, I got a better offer for $25k. This was during the 2008 job collapse. I had no degree and only 2-3 experience playing with Access and Excel.
A month is really isnt too long but if for some reason it goes much longer than that I'd consider getting part time work or volunteer just to add something to the resume to show that you are doing something. The longer someone is unemployed the worse it works though I'm not sure if this would apply to a recent grad...
It's all about confidence and a bit of faking... Good luck, took me 4 months to find a new job Try dice.com and craigslist, yes craigslist, you'll have a better chance of getting hired through craigslist than at GE.com or some similar big company btw, I have been dragging my MIS for almost 6 years lol, got like 6 more classes...
Just curious. How are you "looking" for a job? Does this consist of applying online with sites like monster.com and careerbuilder? If so, you are probably wasting your time. Set yourself apart from the others, do something different, network, knock on doors face to face. Read this guy's site for true job hunting skills: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/
This is your problem. Sitting at your computer and browsing the "usual" websites isn't really job hunting. It doesn't work.
