The job search frustration

tivp

So I got the LinkedIn premium for free for a month and got some interesting insight. I have almost 3 years of IT experience as an IT analyst but now I am starting to understand why I am not getting much feedback from my applications and very rarely get an interview.

Here is an example:
It Deskside Support Engineer:
96 applicants,
Provide level 1 support for users
Problem solving etc. etc. the usual boring entry level IT position.

Salary:
26k - 32k

Applicants:
36 entry level applicants
25 Senior level applicants
6 Manager level applicants
Rest other

Education:
60% Master's degree
32% Bachelor's degree
6% Business Admin
2% Other

Now, I went through around 50 jobs. 99% of them have vast majority of applicants with a Master's degree applying for low level, low pay jobs. I genuinely feel hopeless now, I only have a bachelors and I am competing with senior engineers, managers who are tripping over each other to get a job that pays barely above minimum wage. What the hell? Feels like I am never going to get a job again, even though I know that I am more than qualified for the advertised positions. I am unemployed for a month now and would take anything just to get back to work again until I find something for my skills...

I read some research and it seems for American job postings, many people would apply from other countries such as India in hopes to get a visa, but LinkedIn premium shows where the applicants are from and never seen more than 5% applicants outside Ireland, most of the jobs have 100% applicants from Ireland. Maybe I didn't realise how many people have masters degrees? I have yet to find a job where majority of applicants have bachelors degrees and not masters or higher.

I don't know what I am looking for with this post, maybe some reassurance, maybe some insight as to why are these highly experienced people are applying for entry level positions, there is no way that I can compete with that.

Harika

Hi,
As you rightly said it's an entry level position. But the 96 applications are not the true numbers. As soon as you click apply on LinkedIn, you are counted as applicant. Usually I am forwarded to the company application portal, there is no feedback if someone actually applied there.
Second someone with a master degree should be no competition for you. Either
- overqualified and would jump ship earlier than a company wanted to something they actually want to do
- master from an unrelated discipline.

Either way, don't worry about them, focus on what -you- bring to the table. E.g. three years of experience.

Entry level Jobs are still swamped so work with someone on your CV, get your network going who will refer you what will boost your chances, then practice on interview skills.
Meanwhile take some courses that interest you to keep building up yourself

GalwayGrrrrrl

Is there any option for you to do a masters part time? I do feel that these days a large number of people have a bachelors degree and a masters is the new BSc. This obviously varies across disciplines but in my area anyone who wants to progress beyond entry level jobs needs at least a postgrad diploma or MSc.

In the meantime don’t get disheartened- the new year will bring new opportunities and your experience will help your CV stand out.

Jim2007

So I got the LinkedIn premium for free for a month and got some interesting insight. I have almost 3 years of IT experience as an IT analyst but now I am starting to understand why I am not getting much feedback from my applications and very rarely get an interview.

You are reading far too much into a couple of basic statistics. You have no idea of the profile of the person who got the job nor the employer's reason for making the selection. In other words you have not really got much to go on at all.

Employers know very well that most of those over qualified people are only looking at their job as a stop gap and will be filtered out. So I very much doubt you will be in a real competition with most of them.

I am unemployed for a month now and would take anything just to get back to work again until I find something for my skills...

Being a mont out of work this time of year is not unusual and when you then factor in the current crisis, it really does not count for much at all.

Just keep plugging away and give it time.

OMM 0000

tivp wrote: »

Here is an example:
It Deskside Support Engineer:
96 applicants,
Provide level 1 support for users
Problem solving etc. etc. the usual boring entry level IT position.

Salary:
26k - 32k

Applicants:
36 entry level applicants
25 Senior level applicants
6 Manager level applicants
Rest other

Education:
60% Master's degree
32% Bachelor's degree
6% Business Admin
2% Other

They left out a statistic: how many of these applicants are in India?

Most people make zero effort with their cover letter. This is your advantage. Write a great cover letter, personalised for the job. It will make your application stand out from the crowd.

The White Feather

I know exactly what you mean OP as I was in the exact same spot this time last year. You think that there is so much competition that you cant get anything.

I wouldn't even get an interview so it can be frustrating. I never got any feedback for much as well.

I started the year with a clean slate and went back to basics. As OMM says, start with your cover letter. Write the best one that you can and save it. Then for every job, tweak it and tailor it to the job that you are applying for.

Look at your CV again. Save the one you have already but start a new one. I spent a whole weekend, looking up CVs and putting in my experience better. I mean don't assume they know what you mean, spell everything out. I had the places I worked in and a little spiel about what I did there. I changed them to all the projects that I worked on in each place and put in the buzzwords that you see in ads for jobs. Things like "large scale project in such a place" Beforehand I just had "worked in suchaplace". I would have only did a bit on the project but changed the wording to that I knew all about the project. I tried to name drop projects from well known companies.

Your field may be different to mine but for IT name drop the big companies. Like say, "I worked on Dell, Apple, HP Microsoft etc" Everyone probably does work on them anyway but you must remember the person looking at your CV first is a HR person. They will say Wow, he/she has worked on all those computers/projects and I have heard of them so they must be good.

Its a tricky thing of phrasing things so like you did loads but not be too verbose. One place I worked I was just basically updating things on a computer on behalf of a huge company. The company I was in was tiny. So I phrased it as working on "The big companies name Project" meeting deadlines, liaising with others to fulfill targets etc Everything becomes Projects as places love that!

Originally I had just updating a computer on my CV. The thing that stood out now was the big companies name. I was asked about them in every interview I got after this. Because I did a bit with something to do with them, Companies thought I must be good. Less to explain as people know what they do.

Of course, I don't mean lie! I mean just bump everything up to the max to get the interview. Once you have the interview, then its up to interview skills then which is different again.

I used to just click apply on linkedin and not even put a cover letter. Then I wondered why I was getting no response but they get loads of applications. Here is where you copy in your cover letter and tailor it again to the job.

You don't say on your CV, I have almost 3 years experience. You say you have "extensive experience in problem solving IT issues having worked on XYZ projects" Don't assume they will look at your CV. Your cover letter gets them to look at it. So you put a shortened version of your experience on it using what they are looking for in the job ad.

Aim for the job you want. I took a job on a bit lower pay as I was dying to get working. It was a dead end job and a big mistake. I left after a week. Assuming that you can afford it of course, don't accept lower paid jobs. Unless there are good prospects for advancement of course. Then it may be worth it.

Remember,

A cover letter gets them to look at your CV,
A CV gets you the interview.
An interview gets you the job.

My CV made me sound like I was in Mensa and straight away I got more interviews. As well as applying to jobs I saw online, I made a list of companies and applied to them all. Each CV and cover letter tweaked to suit each company. I applied to about 50 places. Got about 5 replies. 2 interviews from just applying on spec. So it was worth a day of constant copying/pasting Cover letters and CVs and changing them on each one.

I got a job then from one I applied to. Later I got responses from a few more wanting interviews as they only got round to looking later.

One last thing, you are falling into the trap of comparing. Comparison is the Thief of Joy. Who cares what others have. You are better so promote yourself. Concentrate on what you have. Go into the interview with this attitude too.