All-Purpose Job-Hunting Thread

[H-Fist]

Inspired by the food service thread, I figured I'd start a thread about getting a job. If you're like me, you have good experience in a bad field and are struggling to transition out of it. Maybe you have some education but little work history. Maybe you've been successful and can chime in with some advice for the rest of us. Maybe you just need to commiserate because you haven't been able to bring in a paycheck in 6 months. Whatever your case may be, welcome to my All-Purpose Job-Hunting Thread.

This thread might be be a colossal failure, but I think it's at least worth a shot.

My case:
college education:
BA in social sciences & humanities, good grades

work history:
(good) between 12/05 and 06/08, advance from fast food pizza cook to sous-chef of busy restaurant managing all day-to-day back of house functions
(bad) in order to advance so rapidly, numerous job changes and geographical moves were necessary, resulting in stays of no longer than 11 months, and a comparatively weak set of references prior to my most recent employment

skill set:
beyond food itself, plenty. developing and managing database to help control food cost; kitchen work is essentially team-oriented and leadership-based; great research experience in college (book, academic journal, visual media, electronic sources) and strong writing skills; a bit of volunteer work through Alternative Spring Break; as a junior was a discussion group/review leader for a freshman/intro anthropology course; good math skills (albeit calculus, as opposed to business math); decently fast but ugly typist (3-finger, probably 50 wpm, on account of a shoulder injury that f***ed up the nerves in my middle, ring, and little fingers on my right hand)

So where I am at is struggling to build a resume that can catch HR's eye, but I don't know how to think like HR. Functional resumes look like I'm trying to hide my employment history, which isn't the case. However, I need help spinning the situation to people who don't understand the transitory nature of the restaurant industry. I have the ability to write a good cover letter, but larger firms aren't going to do more than skim them and the resume for five seconds total.

Any advice from fellow Crappers would be interested. And join in if you're in a similar boat as me. We can form an armada.

[Mr.K-itty]

try searching craigslist or monster

[Mr. Backlund]

The inherent issue you're going to hit on is that HR is going to want to know why you switched jobs so frequently and about any windows of time that you weren't employed. Frequent changes in job make them concerned you're not committed to them and going to follow your past history, ie leave after they get you trained to a point where you're useful to them. Gaps in employment make HR people instantly curious, as it could be due to legal issues that make you undesireable as a hire or possibly a lazy individual who isn't reliable.

My advice would to make your resume 100% truthful and upfront and cover any perceived deficiencies with a cover letter explaining your situation, where you were previously and where you hope to move on from now. I don't think you have any game breakers, but the reality is, the people hiring you are going to do their due dilligence to ensure you're right for them and not going to come back to haunt them. If you take a proactive approach and explain you were looking to grow previously and obtain as much as you could early, but are now looking to advance in a committed career, that'll likely cover some of the issues you've mentioned.

As you mentioned, you're going to have a limited time to make your impact, so you'll have to craft a concise and pointed cover letter that details what I discussed above. If you can keep it to three paragraphs/one sheet of paper, you should have their attention long enough to make your point.

[Just One of the Guys]

Always include a cover letter. And it's okay to find a sample cover letter online and change it.

The interview question, "Why do you want this job?" has a specific answer. This is the part where you tell the interviewer the info you have found in researching the company to which you are applying.

If you get a real stupid interview question, like "if you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?" just remember you will never see the recruiter again (unless you intend to work in HR) and answer the question without laughing. See this thread on Something Awful for more lulz.
www.somethingawful.com/d/comedy-goldmine/dumb-interview-questions.php