The Job Tips, Advice, Comiserations and Pitfalls Thread

[smalishah84]

This might be a little off topic but having been in Dubai for the last 2 years I can see that this place is beginning to boom again (at least the last 6 months and it only seems to be moving up). There is a huge demand for western expats here and they can get good salary packages and the best part is that it is tax free so you get to keep everything yourself. American nationals do have to pay 10% tax on their earnings above 90k dollars (the UK nationals don't pay any tax to their govt and out of a population of 6 million here about 240,000 are British) I think so you might want to check up on your country's tax laws but the UAE is worth having a shot at if you are looking for a life with good money and a good work life balance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriates_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates#British

You might want to try monstergulf to see if there is something you might be interested in if looking to work in the GCC region.

 

[Dan]

My question for this thread:

So I'm a Uni student, and like all Uni students I'm pretty poor and need money to pay for the copious amounts of booze I'm supposed to consume (or in my case, pay Uni fees to avoid a massive HECS debt and save for a car).

But somehow I don't think my slightly more farsighted motivations compared to my peers is likely to score me employment. So what can a Uni student with no completed tertiary qualifications and roughly the same experience as the next guy do to stand out from the job seeking crowd?

 

[uvelocity]

depends what work you're trying to achieve, but even just in a bar or a shop the basics of punctuality, reliability, flexibility, honesty, loyalty and a willingness to learn and put in effort goes a long way to any job. but if you've made it this far without a job at all it's a gap already

 

[Top_Cat]

Hit up some research groups in the field of your degree around the Uni, usually some data-entry work about the place. Can give you an in for doing more advanced work too.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Human Resources are the absolute dregs of commerce grads. Not good enough for middle management, crunching numbers, closing a deal, innovating new products or you know, basic goods and services. And who's going to fire them?

In lieu of contributing more to the economy than a benefits recipient, you'd think they'd actually have time to respond to an application within a single financial quarter.

The most I've gleaned from their practical skills is doublespeak explaining why a hot blonde got an entry-level role over you despite using her parents as references. But I'm told the standard of applicants was very high and they wish we could all work for them and etc.

Conga line of suckholes.

Agree completely. Given they're responsible for me meeting some of the ****ing retards they give employment to in different places around the country, I've never quite been able to work out what exactly it is they do.

You'd think, in a lot of cases, the owner of a business would be better off sticking all the resumes they receive on a wall and throwing a dart at one, rather than leaving it up to HR.

 

[weldone]

When I was in the Uni I got a small piece of advice from an experienced professional that has helped me in all interviews ever since:

If there's one personal trait that almost every interviewer is (consciously or unconsciously) looking for in a candidate that quality is 'maturity'. Never act childish, or sweet in interviews - act mature. Act like someone who can handle any project with utmost responsibility, someone who is willing to independently 'run the show'. Act as someone who hates being spoon-fed, someone who doesn't wait for manager's instructions to do something. Don't behave like you're having an important conversation with your father/uncle, behave like you're having an important business meeting with a stranger - if that makes sense. If you're nervous during an interview, use that nervous energy to bring focus. Nervous smiles are complete no-no in interviews.

That's a generic point about most job interviews, but extremely helpful IMO.

 

[Hurricane]

My question for this thread:

So I'm a Uni student, and like all Uni students I'm pretty poor and need money to pay for the copious amounts of booze I'm supposed to consume (or in my case, pay Uni fees to avoid a massive HECS debt and save for a car).

But somehow I don't think my slightly more farsighted motivations compared to my peers is likely to score me employment. So what can a Uni student with no completed tertiary qualifications and roughly the same experience as the next guy do to stand out from the job seeking crowd?

@Dan - like Weldone I will give you some advice I got in first year. Just take any summer job doing anything, washing dishes, cleaning cars, it doesn't matter. You just want money really. Don't think about fit with your career or resumes or anything. Just hit the streets dress nicely and you will find something.

 

[Goughy]

@Dan - like Weldone I will give you some advice I got in first year. Just take any summer job doing anything, washing dishes, cleaning cars, it doesn't matter. You just want money really. Don't think about fit with your career or resumes or anything. Just hit the streets dress nicely and you will find something.

Just my opinion, if you want something middling then filling a resume is one way to go. If you want something special, and special depends completely on the person and what they want, then luck, being creative and talented, getting to know people in your industry is far more important.

For a career, you don't employ someone for the job they are interviewing for. You interview them for their capabilities to be snr management or a decision maker some day. In my limited experience, interviewing well - and I have had **** interviews - and showing talent for the next level is what gets you the job. Not necessarily a CV of irrelevant work exp that shows you can work hard. A pit pony works hard but you wouldn't want them running the business in 15 yrs.

Edit - I don't mean the pricks who say in the interview that they want the boss' job in 5 yrs. Drive and ambition are different beasts to talent and capability. Ambition is naked without talent.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yeah, agreed. In career-type roles, nobody respects a resume builder. No mate, listing all 5 versions of Microsoft Windows you've used doesn't make you 'a bit of an IT geek'.

 

[Top_Cat]

When I was in the Uni I got a small piece of advice from an experienced professional that has helped me in all interviews ever since:

If there's one personal trait that almost every interviewer is (consciously or unconsciously) looking for in a candidate that quality is 'maturity'. Never act childish, or sweet in interviews - act mature. Act like someone who can handle any project with utmost responsibility, someone who is willing to independently 'run the show'. Act as someone who hates being spoon-fed, someone who doesn't wait for manager's instructions to do something. Don't behave like you're having an important conversation with your father/uncle, behave like you're having an important business meeting with a stranger - if that makes sense. If you're nervous during an interview, use that nervous energy to bring focus. Nervous smiles are complete no-no in interviews.

That's a generic point about most job interviews, but extremely helpful IMO.

I would add the addendum to stuff like this - 'unless you're a gun'. Even then, have to be careful because your margin for mistakes shrinks in relation to how much of a gun you are.

 

[Hurricane]

Just my opinion, if you want something middling then filling a resume is one way to go. If you want something special, and special depends completely on the person and what they want, then luck, being creative and talented, getting to know people in your industry is far more important.

For a career, you don't employ someone for the job they are interviewing for. You interview them for their capabilities to be snr management or a decision maker some day. In my limited experience, interviewing well - and I have had **** interviews - and showing talent for the next level is what gets you the job. Not necessarily a CV of irrelevant work exp that shows you can work hard. A pit pony works hard but you wouldn't want them running the business in 15 yrs.

Edit - I don't mean the pricks who say in the interview that they want the boss' job in 5 yrs. Drive and ambition are different beasts to talent and capability. Ambition is naked without talent.

I am going to be contrarian (sp?) here Goughy. I play down my ambition.

When asked in interviews where I want to be in 5 years I regard it as a trick question. If you say, just as you have indicated in your response, anything that vaguely could be construed to mean you want the equivalent of the hiring managers job you are ****ed. My practiced answer is to say I would like to be given projects of a greater responsibility some years after being hired after having established a good reputation.

Once in an Amazon.com job interview I lost the job on the question which part of amazon do you want to work on - I tried to pick any product manager job I could think of that she wouldn't already be the product manager for and went with books and struck out. She wrote something down in her notebook and the rest of the interview went sour.

In my first ever summer job interview they asked me for some unknown reasons what my career aspirations were as I was interviewing for the stock boy job. And I said maybe ordering the inventory. And the third person on the panel got alarmed and said I wanted her job, I still got the job but she lobbied for me to be fired some months later and I was (although I did suck at the job too which didn't help).

Where I can agree with you and perhaps if I read your post again I would see you are trying to say this - if you appear in the interview to be so competent that you have upper management written on your forehead you will get the job. You just can't come out and indicate you want upper management overtlly.

 

[Top_Cat]

tbh, I don't think you're really disagreeing with him. Goughy, from what I gather, is advicating a similar mindset to that writers are taught - show, don't tell.

 

[uvelocity]

this could quickly decend to dick waving

 

[Hurricane]

tbh, I don't think you're really disagreeing with him. Goughy, from what I gather, is advicating a similar mindset to that writers are taught - show, don't tell.

Yeah - I came in here to edit my post to change it as I realised later that I am not in disagreement with him (Goughy). I will leave it now however and just make this post with an acknowledgement. I think I just wanted to emphasize his point about not being a threat to the hiring manager.

Not sure on Uvos post - apologize if I was doing anything like that.

 

[uvelocity]

yeah ignore me i don't know what i was on about

 

[Top_Cat]

Nah, it's fair enough to be worried about it in this sort of thread. Not what I wanted when I started it.

 

[Top_Cat]

Just saw this posted. Thoughts?

The true cost of a dud hire | News.com.au

 

[GotSpin]

My question for this thread:

So I'm a Uni student, and like all Uni students I'm pretty poor and need money to pay for the copious amounts of booze I'm supposed to consume (or in my case, pay Uni fees to avoid a massive HECS debt and save for a car).

But somehow I don't think my slightly more farsighted motivations compared to my peers is likely to score me employment. So what can a Uni student with no completed tertiary qualifications and roughly the same experience as the next guy do to stand out from the job seeking crowd?

Bad option I reckon.

 

[Dan]

Bad option I reckon.

What's the rationale behind that? I know HECS isn't a bad debt to have, but if you can pay it off early (and at a 10% discount), why wouldn't you?

 

[GotSpin]

What's the rationale behind that? I know HECS isn't a bad debt to have, but if you can pay it off early (and at a 10% discount), why wouldn't you?

I'd like to hear the views of other members but I always thought it was better to have more money than less when studying. You're not going to have huge amounts of disposable income while studying and I'd rather put it towards the now more than the later. Things like travelling and buying that car are much easier with HECS. Pay it off when you've graduated and either have a better paying job or at least more available time to work