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I need to know where can I go to talk to someone and give them my details, so they can give me the brutally honest truth as to why employers are put-off by me.

The places I have applied never give feedback and the only thing I have found online is to get resume format advice.

I am a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering, I have job experience for an actual engineering firm (that I got because my brother had worked here in the past, not by my own merit), a decent undergrad and graduate GPA.

I am graduating in December and in the past year have applied to 200+ jobs with ZERO call-backs, even for an interview.

Obviously, something is horribly wrong and employers don't like what they see.

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  • I'm nobody noteworthy, but send me your resume and I'll give you feedback. There might well be a number of simple things that can take it from "horrible, don't call this person" to the "maybe" pile or better. My contact info is in my profile.
    – KlaymenDK
    Jun 18, 2019 at 20:10

5 Answers 5

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You're a student, so ask your mentor, or whoever is undertaking that role.

You have a support network there, you should use it in order to assess the suitability and attractiveness of your resume and online profiles and help you to become more successful.

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  • The only "mentor" I interact with is my research advisor, which I don't think it would be appropriate to approach him about my personal career pursuits. The university offers "resume workshops" once a semester but that I all I have found thus far
    – throwaway
    Jun 17, 2019 at 15:37
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    @throwaway Most universities have a career center specifically to help students find jobs after graduating. It's likely in addition to the resume workshops they have counselors you can meet with to for more personalized advice.
    – David K
    Jun 17, 2019 at 16:45
  • @Throwaway, Be assertive. Don't wait for a resume workshop. Go to the career center or library that usually offers these events. And ask for someone with experience who can give you some quick feedback on your resume.
    – Stephan Branczyk
    Jun 17, 2019 at 22:30
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Talk with a recruiter. Either to get help on finding a placement, or to help with your CV.

I'm a bit biased against college academic advisors - in my experience, they drift away from a business-world mentality and into an academic one (understandable, since they spend each day surrounded by academia.)

A recruiter doesn't have that issue. They're used to working with businesses and generally know exactly what the companies are looking for. (There are downsides to recruiters, but in this particular case, it seems like all-upside.) Generally, they should be able to take a look at what's going on, figure out any problems, and start getting you interviews - or at least explain why you're currently not getting any.

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Have you discussed your cv with friends and family? Usually, you will know some people with work experience. They will tell you if your cv is terrible.

From your description it was not clear to me whether you are available immediately, or only several months in the future? I know that many companies are not interested in finding an employee for next year, but within the next weeks/months.

Salary might also be an issue, if at all it was discussed in your cv.

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  • I don't have enough professional experience for a CV, but my resume does not mention salary. I am available at the start of 2020, I figured since some of my peers were hired very far in advance that it might be a norm for engineering to hire early for a position.
    – throwaway
    Jun 17, 2019 at 15:36
  • @throwaway Those peers are the ones you need to talk to and seek feedback on your resume. Offer them a cup of tea/coffee/beer in exchange for them to take a look at your resume for a couple of minutes.
    – Stephan Branczyk
    Jun 17, 2019 at 22:26
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I do agree with others that the best source would be friends or family members who are in the industry. I do not agree that a mentor at the university is a good idea. Here's the issue I found: most of my professors never worked a job outside of the academia or research. The career counselors at my university were students themselves who never held a job outside of the school. So overall you should take into account of who you're dealing with.

Also linkedin, and github are great sources to see other people's resume and even post your own. Try to look for people who are at the companies you want, and try to see how their resume is set up. A lot of folks I work with have their personal site posted on github along with their resume.

Finally you can do your own checking. Look at the job posting and match the skills they want to your resume. Are they the same? Did you added stuff? Are things like Microsoft Word listed on your resume? Good with computers? Are you writing things you worked on at school?

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Job applications to online job sites, or web sites of individual companies, have an extremely low acceptance rate.

Some applications are filtered away before any person even sees them.

Often these types of job applications are posted for legal or compliance reasons, and there is no intention of ever filling the job from these applications.

So if most or all of your applications have been of this kind, then 200+ rejections is not really that unusual.

You would be better off finding people to contact, either through recruiters or other people in your industry. Are there meetups or forums where people come together?

Landing an opportunity through a personal contact has a much greater chance at success.

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  • Everyone says that it takes contacts to get a job in engineering, but the various career fairs I have gone to, the recruiters have been dismissive at best, some have just been rude. its frustrating
    – throwaway
    Jun 17, 2019 at 16:55
  • @throwaway that is also pretty par for the course with recruiters unfortunately. Like any other profession, the pool of good, helpful, and experienced recruiters is rather small. It does take some work to find the right ones.
    – mcknz
    Jun 17, 2019 at 20:12

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