Dear Ella,I have a bachelor's degree in business administration and an associate's degree, but I only have experience in general clerical or administrative support roles.I don't want to go back to being a receptionist because I am capable of doing more. Most of the jobs that I have applied for that claim to be entry level still require up to three years of experience and a four-year degree, and employers are picky if you haven't worked in the type of setting that they are hiring for. What is a girl to do?
Dear Raise Your Opinion Of Yourself And The Rest Will Follow,When interviewing for an entry-level role, your ability to do the job is a given. After all, an entry-level job is a position that requires just a modicum of expertise and is usually used as a stepping-stone to something better. Aside from personality, an employer wants to know where you see yourself going once you've entered the organization. Clarification on this point is what will set you apart from the competition.
The key to success when interviewing for a foot-in-the-door job is clarity. Make sure the interviewer understands why you picked his door to knock on.
For example, you might say that although your degree is in business administration, your primary electives were in quantitative research, which is a big part of your interest in their company, since its research lab enjoys a stellar national reputation.
Ideally, companies like to grow their own talent from within, so they look to fill entry-level roles with candidates who show promise, direction and promotablility. By going beyond the measure of a support role, by sharing your goals and selection rationale, you demonstrate solid strategic reasoning that's got great appeal to an employer looking for that diamond-in-the-rough.
By helping an employer identify ways they can further capitalize on what you've got to offer, you'll probably get that offer, or two or three.
Dear Ella,I am in the process of filling out job applications that request my former employers' and coworkers' phone numbers. The phone numbers no longer exist.One company was a bank that merged with another, and the other company I worked for was down-sized. Neither one of my former supervisors work for the current companies. To avoid looking like I am trying to hide something, I am not sure how to respond.
Dear That Number is No Longer In Service,After a merger or acquisition, and the subsequent consolidation of resources that typically follow these types of unions, it's not unusual for an employee to lose contact with colleagues and superiors who left.
However, even though a company has been downsized, merged or acquired, it still continues to store employment records of past workers that can be easily accessed by human resource personnel. While HR can provide the standard title, date hired and the date you left their employ to any inquireing employer, if more thorough feedback is needed, a former boss or colleague will need to be contacted directly.
While you could write that there are no contact numbers available due to corporate acquisition and displacement of workers, with the ability to track workers and their home phone numbers through sophisticated search engines, you should still be able to provide a reference or two if you look hard enough.
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