Need some job advice?
Jane Buckingham is one of the country’s foremost experts on Generations X, Y and V (aka “Becomers”). She is a bestselling author, speaker and television host and she is now appears as the Career Expert on ABC Family’s reality show, Job or No Job.
Job or No Job follows recently graduated college students on three interviews for different companies in the industry of their choice. Buckingham is on hand to help guide and prepare them for each of the interviews.
CelebSecrets4U chatted with Jane Buckingham to get you the scoop on what to expect from the series. In our interview, Jane tells us about the feedback the show has received, the biggest mistakes you can make on a resume and what the show has taught her.
On tonight’s episode, Sarah Ruhlman, a part-time teacher and blogger, leaves her friends and family behind in Kansas City to head to New York to interview with three successful online magazines. However, she commits a major faux pas when she has multiple typos on her resume.
Job or No Job airs Wednesday, August 26th at 9 PM ET/PT.
Make sure to read our Q&A with Jane and check out the stills from tonight’s episode below!
CS4U: You’ve had two episodes of Job or No Job premiere on ABC Family already. What has the feedback been like?
Jane Buckingham: So far it’s been great for the most part. I mean, I have found that young people have really responded well, saying that they really appreciate the advice. A lot of people saying ‘can you get me a job, can we get on the show to get a job,’ which, of course, the bleeding heart in me is like ‘yes we need more seasons so we can get everyone jobs! We want to get everybody jobs!’ Because I do. I find it’s always the older people who can be a little bit cranky about younger people and saying ‘why don’t they take advantage of their college careers centers,’ and only like a couple, but it’s why I think part of us wanted to do the show, which is that young people are so mis-stereotyped today with everyone thinking that they’re entitled or they don’t want to work hard and all of those things that I think have been said about them which aren’t really true…some of them are true, but it’s not true about everybody because it’s hard to be young today and it’s hard to get a job today and so I’m glad that people are getting to see that it’s not all of what they’re about. So, for the most part it’s been great and people seem to really feel like it’s a needed show. They feel like it’s a good show. A couple of people have said things like ‘oh did she really forget her resume. Is it real?’ and it is all real like we did not make any of this stuff up and I’m like oh just wait because it’s all real and it gets worse. We didn’t have to make anything up because they messed up plenty on their own.
CS4U: You mention in the show that there seems to be a higher unemployment rate among younger people or people under 30. Why do you think that is? Do you think we’re not being taught enough or people could do something differently that makes us seem more employable?
Jane Buckingham: Well, I think there are a lot of factors at play. Generation wise, or the generation over 30, are twice the size of the previous generation, generation X. More people to fill fewer jobs right? So that’s one factor. Another is in just the way jobs have gone. There are fewer jobs to fill. If you just think of some of the industries, you look at the airlines’ terminals and how many things have been automated. You go in and you can go to a terminal to get your ticket. At the parking lot, you just put your card in. There are often just fewer jobs to be filling these days because there are fewer jobs and what happens is they will give it to people with more experience who are willing to then take less money because they just want the job so then the younger people who should be able to get the job don’t get it because someone with 3 years experience will get it, so it becomes a vicious cycle. On top of that, I think that young people today we train them for so much. We give them so many advantages. What we don’t do is teach them how to interview. We don’t teach them how to get a job, so it’s unfortunate because they’re in debt. They have this four year liberal arts education, but no one said here’s what you do when you walk in to meet a potential employer. Nobody says here’s why it’s important to print out your resume instead of just emailing it. Here’s why you cannot have one typo on your resume, even that is not acceptable, so of all the things that they’ve learned they haven’t learned that so it’s like sending the lamb into the wolves and it’s just incredibly unfair.
CS4U: Something that Lauren said in the last episode really resonated with me. She said a lot of employees post entry-level jobs but they say you need to have this number of years of experience. Not as many college students can get that experience because they have other things to worry about. What would be your advice for kids in college or coming out of college about how to face a job application like that?
Jane Buckingham: I don’t think you ever have to apologize for not having experience. If you’re just out of college, they don’t expect you to have experience. That’s reality. What they’re looking for at that point is someone who they can train someone, who’s willing to learn, and if they’re saying you need to have experience, then you’re not going to get that job. You have to go for the job that are going to be the ones that are entry level and that’s okay because those do exist too. At that point, you may have to say ‘look I’m willing to intern, I’m willing to do something here for little or no pay for a few months’ because that is the reality of what it’s going to be like these days. but if you don’t have experience on your resume then you can talk about the things that you did do in college or you did do in high school. I think that people often think that the only thing they can put on their resume is real work experience. That’s not true, even something like a lemonade stand, if you’ve done that for 5 years, is growing a small business. If you were a babysitter, you are a child care provider. Now, no you cannot lie and say you created a huge business or something like that but what people are looking for is someone who has that grit, who has the ability to work. Someone said to me I would rather take someone who bagged grocery for five years than someone who went to an Ivy league college because that person knows what it’s like to work hard. It’s hard to fight someone with 3 years of experience but the reality is that if you’ve got the drive and you’ve got the ethics, chances are they will hire you.
CS4U: Going back to the show, what is the process for finding candidates? Do you know what the process is?
Jane Buckingham: I did not find the candidates. They found the candidates but I know what they were looking for were people with that ethic. People who hadn’t gotten the chances that they deserved but showed potential. It wasn’t someone who was going to be a shoe-in because they had a graduate degree in economics and were clearly going to get the job in accounting. We wanted it to be fair. We wanted it to be that person who for some reason had sent out 100 resumes but just hadn’t gotten their foot in the door because that’s the reality today. Why aren’t you getting the job and so it was someone who should be getting a job but isn’t because I think that’s the real situation so I think they were looking for normal people who just for one reason or the other weren’t getting the opportunities they should. I think that’s real life. There wasn’t anyone who I said ‘oh my god,’ well actually I shouldn’t say that, there were a couple of times where I watched the first interview and said ‘oh this person is totally gonna get a job or they’re gonna get all three jobs.’ I would watch the first five minutes and think ‘why am I even here…this person is going to be perfect’ and then, after 15 minutes, I’d go ‘oh okay never mind’ or one or two where I’m like ‘there’s nothing I’m going to be able to do here…this is a disaster’ and then it wasn’t a disaster. Because they were all within the bandwidth of most people who just needed help. They just needed help.
CS4U: We’ve already seen you help two girls successfully land jobs. What can we expect from the season? I’m assuming not everyone is going to get a job but I could be wrong.
Jane Buckingham: Unfortunately, I will tell you that not everyone gets a job and I wish they all got jobs, but in life, we don’t all get what we deserved. In the real world not everyone gets the job and they should get the jobs. I will say that I think that everybody learned something. The problem is that it’s a combination of trying to help them get their dream job in a real world situation. This isn’t extreme home makeover where we buy them a dream home. We can’t make the companies hire them because they have to sink or swim on their own. The best we can do is give them the chance to pursue their dream and give them the best advice we can to realize their dream and give the audience the chance to then do it on their own too. They have to go do that job. They have to be there the day they get hired and however many years they stay so we can’t control the outcome and we don’t.
CS4U: Has the show surprised you in any way? Is there anything that you’ve learned?
Jane Buckingham: Yes, it really surprised me that there are some really bad interviewers out there. That it is a lot harder to get a job than even I realized. I knew it was hard, but it’s harder than I thought. That interviewing is a skill, which I knew but I sort of forgot, but also that, and again I knew this I guess, but that the interviewer actually wants you to win. The interviewer…they’re hoping you’re the right candidate. They’re hoping you’re the best person because they just want you to solve their problems. It also amazed me the dumb mistakes people make. I was shocked. I will tell you two of the candidates cursed in their interviews. Okay? Like of all the advice I prepared I’m trying to come up with my wise and insightful things that I’m going to bestill upon these people, like never in my mind did I think ‘you know, I should probably tell them not to curse.’ Right like? It was like the dumb things that they did or didn’t do like thank the interviewer at the end. I’m like ‘are you kidding me?’ Like really? I have to tell you that? Those kind of things amaze me.
CS4U: Lauren last week put that she was from California on her resume (for those who do not watch the show, she’s from Texas) and you told her you cannot lie on a resume. I personally have had friends who have said it’s easier to land a job if you just tell people you’re already in that city. What would you suggest that they do instead?
Jane Buckingham: You have to move to the city if that’s what you want to do then move to the city because what can happen is the person says ‘great come in tomorrow morning’ and you’re clear across country and you go ‘oh I’m on vacation’ and then suddenly the person goes ‘oh they’re lying.’ Right? Don’t lie. Once you get caught in a lie, they will never trust you again and that’s what I was trying to say to Lauren. She didn’t know where the place was. It is just too easy to get caught in a lie. If you want to move to the city or if you’re desperate to live in that city, find a friend or go to an airbnb and go live in the city if that’s how important it is to you. Go and stay there for two months to try and get the job, but don’t lie about it because you’re going to get caught with anything on a resume and then you’re done.
CS4U: Since we are CelebSecrets4U, do you have any secrets about what goes on behind the scenes or any secrets about yourself that fans don’t know about you?
Jane Buckingham: A secret about myself? I’m trying to think of something juicy. I can tell you my worst job. I demonstrated Swiffers at the mall. That was pretty horrific. I’ve gotten fired from a couple of jobs. What else can I tell you? Behind the scenes? I definitely got thrown under a couple of conference tables and behind doors so the people wouldn’t see me. I’m a huge Pretty Little Liars fan and best friends with all the girls from Dance Moms who stay at my house when they come into town. What else can I tell you that’s a secret? Okay, I’ll tell you a secret. I don’t have a resume.
CS4U: Oh really?
Jane Buckingham: I don’t because I haven’t had to interview for jobs, so I don’t know if I would be very good at making a resume right now.
Photos: Adam Taylor and Lou Rocco/ABC Family
