By the way, what you are doing is simply amazing. It inspires us to not lose hope.

-A greater focus on jobs outside of “new media” (the web, online social networks, etc.). Tangible work is important to me.
-Generally, how to locate potential organizations for application. I have tried beyond the typical job boards, but I still primarily locate “administrative assistant” positions; and let’s face it, I would be one unhappy office lady.
-Perhaps sourcing reliable international positions.
-How to enter a new field rather than merely continue with that which you seem most qualified to do. How can I convince a new employer to take a chance and let me learn new skills? I have been told repeatedly by both professors and employers that I should work as a professional writer, but I actually highly dislike spending any length of time writing.

My position in brief:

I graduated from a highly respected “public ivy” college with a 3.97 GPA–Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude. I have since acquired great experiences through internships and freelance work. All of my employers have offered me strong recommendations. However, very few employers seem interested in hiring me for a full-time, salaried position. I do believe that a large portion of the problem is that, given the economy, combined with the fact that I am admittedly not very good at locating interesting job positions, I merely “need a job” and lack the absolute passion for a position that others may show. As a matter of fact, I would probably be personally disappointed with myself for “settling” if I accepted a number of the positions for which I keep applying. I would love to find work which makes use of my love for international travel and/or material manipulation (for example, visual effects companies with a non-computerized focus), but am unsure how to do so.

I would also love to see your job finding course cover how to locate interesting positions in a given locale. Say I wanted to live in… Chicago for example, how could I locate interesting jobs there without having to bite the financial bullet and relocate to search?

I just got a notification e-mail that you signed up, so it looks like you figured it out. Thanks for jumping through the hoops. I’ll try to make sure nobody else is having this problem.

In any case, I didn’t see the sign-up box because I’m only using the latest version of Firefox. Apparently, your blog doesn’t like Firefox.

VT

Where is this magical newsletter sign-up page that you speak of? I see the daily job e-mail subscription page, but can’t find the spam sign-up form anywhere. Will you enlighten me on this matter?

Thanks,

VT

I like what you’re doing. I’m a recent graduate myself, looking for a job just like most of the people visiting your site. My job search, up until now, has been completely orthodox. I need to change my approach. I look forward to this training thing you have coming out.

Good luck,

VT

Darlene
Interview Guru
http://www.interviewchatter.com

@Kevin – I’m glad that my story struck you. I’m also glad that the contest is opening up ODOJ to a new audience. Glad to have you.

My ideal situation would be a job in which I can actually learn a career path. I willing to roll up my sleeves and jump right in, however I need an opportunity to prove that I can be an asset to my employer. Thanks for all that you do!

@Laura – I’m glad that you’re excited. We think that this will be a great course both for individual students and Career Services Offices to invest in.

@Kate – I think that there are more old media companies in our archives than you think (go here http://www.onedayonejob.com/past-jobs/ and browse by tags), but here’s the thing – old media is dying. You don’t need to know how to code, but you should know how to use the new social media tools. Why invest in learning skills that are unique to a dying industry? Everything that I know about new media, coding, etc. is self taught. There are tons of free online resources, and if you start expanding your skills beyond what you learn in school, you’ll be a much more desirable candidate whether it be with a new media company or an old media company. I’ll still keep on the lookout for entry level jobs at more traditional companies.

@Gannon – Can you develop the skills? I think that you can, so why not do it? As for bargaining about a future position, it’s possible but not easy. We try to serve both current college students and graduates, so it’s hard to address both. I say that you should apply now, but make it clear in your cover letter that you graduate in May. The worst that can happen is that you’ll have to apply again in the spring.

@Scheherazade – Great post idea. It’s so easy to develop new skills by learning online, yet it’s so hard to just do it. We’ll definitely make that part of the guide, and I’ll try to do a blog post about it too.

@Erin – I’ll do my best. Sometimes it’s tough because the company has many locations, but I’ll make a conscious effort to try to get the location in the intro paragraph. Here on the site, you can just look at the tags on the bottom; unfortunately, the tags don’t come through in the e-mails.

@Ruth – Sounds like a great approach

@Chris – See what I said to Erin. Also, we’d love to expand, but right now I’m writing about as much as I can. If this course ends up being successful, you can bet on the fact that we’ll look at new ways to expand the reach of locations and genres that we cover.

@Eric – At least you figured it out now. A lot of people don’t ever figure it out.

@Walter – I sure hope that we can help. My wisdom isn’t infinite, but maybe one day… lol

I’ll definitely be thinking about how I can improve upon these issues.

I’d love to hear more about what all of you would want from an online job search training course. We have a great plan, but we want to make sure that we don’t miss any pressing issues that you are dealing with.

I have been following you off and on since you started following me on twitter. Therefore when this article caught my eye I want to see what the hype was about. So hopefully your website and your infinite wisdom can help me find a better job.

Still looking in Ohio,

Walter

Since I found your site a couple weeks ago I’m constantly checking for companies in my area as I am a little tie-down geographically. I’m not a new college grad but I can sympathize. I graduated two years ago, got a job like everyone tells you to do, and now I’m stuck in a crap job that’s going nowhere. Problem is, I have a liberal arts degree (English) and was too lazy and stupid in college to really make my time there more meaningful than going to a couple classes a week. So now I’m looking for the second job that will hopefully take me out of the rat race. Thanks for the work you do researching companies, I would never have the time to research that many companies so having you out there is like having somewhat of a personal assistant.

So, I feel like I share some of the uncertainty of the newly-hatched undergrad, and want to read more. (At least that music tangent had me using MySpace/Facebook/Twitter, etc.)

Thanks so much!!

Ruth

Agree that the featured jobs often require a level of web savvyness that will turn people off. I share your opinion that these kinds of jobs are still entry level, but you might offer or suggest to current seniors what kind of things they can try or learn during their remaining year to get up to speed on such jobs (e.g., start a blog and start tracking user stats and search engine queries to get a basic understanding of user data).

I’d be interested in seeing more jobs in state and municipal governments. These are areas of opportunity that often go unnoticed, I think.

I know as well as you that History majors get hired as financial analysts and administrative assistants and everything else that falls under ‘Other’ as far as expertise goes, but I haven’t seen too many of those positions highlighted. Actually, I’ve gotten excited about several companies you’ve posted, but two things have stopped me. One is that I don’t have the skills they need, and of course I can’t do anything about that. Another is that they don’t seem to be interested in hiring a college senior who won’t be able to work for them until May. I know many companies do that, but what I was wondering is if it’s possible to try to bargain for that while talking to an employer the winter before graduation for a position they want filled within the month.

Thanks again for your site and congrats on one year!