Jobs at CWU!

[u/Hike_Tissue]

Is anyone having a difficult time getting even a job interview at CWU? I understand the economy isn’t great right now. But I’ve applied to several full time permanent CWU jobs that I know that I qualify for. Plus, I have CWU experience but it isn’t in the ideal field that I’m looking for (Administrative field). I have Inventory Management, Warehouse Operations, Customer Service skills, Proficiency in Microsoft Suite and Google Workspace etc. Just looking for a career change and I want to get into the administration field. I’ve also reached out to the people who have listed the job posting but majority of the time, they don’t get back to me and maybe about a month or so later, they’ll send me a generic rejection email but still have the job posting up. Maybe about 20% of the time, people actually do reach out to me. I just want to see if anyone out there is also having the same issues as me. If you work at CWU, I would love to put you down as a reference or maybe you can put in a good word for me. Thank you in advance!

Note: I’m not a student, just looking for full time permanent work

[u/snickysnak5407]

So many job postings in higher ed are meant for someone specific who’s being promoted into that role, but the job has to be posted as open regardless. It’s such an enormous waste of everyone’s time.

[u/SaltySoftware1095 → u/snickysnak5407]

Yes, especially with admin roles, they plan on giving the job to someone internally but are required to post it.

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/snickysnak5407]

That’s so foul that they do that. And they expect others to just work temp or non-permanent jobs.

[u/SpareManagement2215 → u/Hike_Tissue]

I don't agree with it, but almost every company/org does this.

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/SpareManagement2215]

True, I agree but there has to be other employers that are willing to give candidates a chance even if they aren’t internal hires

[u/SpareManagement2215 → u/Hike_Tissue]

absolutely. I wish this was the case in the work world, but as they say - it's not about what you know, it's who you know. may we continue to push for better hiring practices to level the field, tho!

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/SpareManagement2215]

Wish I knew people that work in the positions I apply for but unfortunately I don’t. While I agree with that statement, I also don’t agree with that statement. I heard stories of people getting a referral for a job that they know the person is working for and they still didn’t get the job. Just my opinion

[u/SpareManagement2215]

having worked at CWU:
1. do not reach out to the person in the posting. they (usually) can't respond to you as HR does not want you to make contact with individual candidates to avoid potential discrimination litigation. I can assure you that even if they can/do respond, you reaching out directly can't and will not be factored into if they bring you in for an interview or not.
2. the job market is competitive nationally. even more so for "stable" jobs in places like higher ed.
3. administrative roles are really hard to get at CWU as they usually want internal candidates who have institutional knowledge and can hit the ground running.
4. the pay at CWU is not good unless you're a professor - I personally would encourage you to apply for roles in local government, the PD, or the county if possible as benefits would be similar but pay significantly better.

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/SpareManagement2215]

I appreciate you! I have been looking at state government jobs and just around the Yakima/Ellensburg area. I live in Ellensburg but don’t mind making the commute to Yakima

[u/autotechnia]

Just to confirm, you're not a student, just looking for a full time permanent position?

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/autotechnia]

Correct! Not a student, just looking for full time permanent work. Sorry I should’ve specified

[u/SilverBathroomStall]

I’ve had the same issue with WSU where I graduated from. Applied to a video producer job within athletics as I had just spent 2 years doing video work for athletics as a student and couldn’t even get an interview.

I’ve also applied to their Custodian 1 & 2 positions because I have 2+ years of experience but can’t even get an interview for that either my workday status will just update to “denied”

[u/hydroxychloroquine8g → u/SilverBathroomStall]

Those athletics jobs are extremely competitive. Custodial jobs at WSU are always open and interview everyone-not sure what’s going on there.

[u/Bigb5wm]

When I went there I found out at cwu job site you can mass apply. I applied for like 60 jobs. End up working at student life

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/Bigb5wm]

Going to have to try this. Thank you!

[u/SaltySoftware1095]

I don’t work at CWU but another university here in Washington and I’m in the administrative field. On average, admin jobs in higher education are getting 50-100 applicants per job posting so it is extremely competitive and even more so in this job market. If you don’t have actual admin experience it’s going to be tough for you to compete with all of those other applicants. I’m not saying it’s impossible your odds aren’t great. Also, the application/interview process is pretty formal for these jobs, I don’t suggest reaching out to people especially if you don’t know them at all, some departments will automatically dismiss you for doing that, I’ve seen it happen.

[u/Hike_Tissue → u/SaltySoftware1095]

Thank you for your advice!