I have been searching for a job for over six months now without success. Despite having all the necessary qualifications and receiving high praise from former colleagues for my performance, I haven't received any interview calls. My resume was professionally written, so I’m puzzled by the lack of responses. I'm starting to wonder if my status as a minority citizen is affecting my job prospects.
Any suggestions what I should do to secure a position?
Every place I go, they tell me your CIO is funny. They think we have fun same as Neal
Let us face it, Walgreens IT employees find it hard to land a job outside of Walgreens. Dysfunction in Walgreens IT is public knowledge. Walgreens IT does not have a good brand in the job market. Leadership messed it up and we are paying the price for no fault of ours.
Depending on what kind of role you were in, the job market is very rough, so don't take it too personally and keep getting out there. Also always get a second opinion from your peers on your resume, especially you're in a specialized role.
Your Walgreens experience maybe a liability in the job market. The company is not a success story in today's world. Downplay your Walgreens experience and highlight other experiences you had.
You need to custom-tailor your resume for each different position to which you're applying. Look at the ad for the job, and use some of the ad's key words they're looking for, within your resume. Then change things around like that again for the next job you're applying to, etc. It might seem tedious in the beginning, but you'll get better results in the long-run.
Are you including a cover letter when applying? Even if it's "optional" on the company's portal where you're uploading your resume, send a cover letter anyway. And again, customize it so it's not just a generic cover letter. Include something about the company that you can easily find on its website or Wiki, where you mention it in terms of how you can contribute to making that particular aspect of their business better. Cover letters should be just a couple of paragraphs, but make them "personalized."
Have you tried applying to companies which are other types of business besides whatever you were doing at Walgreens? Your experience and skills can be transferrable to something new, which you might not have ever considered before. Go to a site like indeed.com and look around, then start applying to different types of places.
Another option is a placement agency or temp. agency. You can use them as a stop-gap until you get something permanent, and it helps you to learn new skills by being placed in different companies along the way. You can get a perm. offer from a temp. placement, too. A lot of times temp. jobs are so the employer can "test-drive" a potential employee through an agency, so they can find the right fit for a permanent offer. Agencies have WFH, temp. temp.-to-perm., and direct-hire placement options, too.
Best of luck, and keep pushing!
Persistence pays off!
You should look into AI tools to optimize the job searching, application, and interview. Some of the tools i’m using:
Simplify - automate filling out application. Works for most sites
Final round AI - adaptive mocks + real-time feeeback
ChatGPT - overall recommendations on updating resume, interviewing tips