A word of warning about test-out degrees.

[burbuja0512]

How many hours per week do you volunteer? Did you start a small business in your free time? Are you a leader *or member* in any local organizations? (Junior Achievement, Future Business Leaders, etc) Have you considered shadowing at SCORE meetings, or polishing your public speaking through Toastmasters? Are you involved on any of your city's committees for change? Political/govt. volunteer? Think business things. Do something entrepreneurial. SHOW your acumen.

I'm not downing you, I'm showing you. People DO stuff like that, and that pushes their resume to the top of the pile. My education is 2 lines on my resume, an afterthought. How you earned your credit is irrelevant- in fact, that shouldn't be on your resume anywhere, and as far as I can tell, is something only YOU know unless you share.

Volunteering is a great point. Where do you want to work? If they won't hire you, would they accept an unpaid intern?

I'm in medical sales and had no medical experience. I couldn't get past a certain level in my career, so I took a pharmacy tech course and started volunteering at a local hospital pharmacy. It was a humbling experience and I still go there every Friday night and will be through June 2011, which is the time that I have committed to. I am free labor and it's not all that glamourous, but I will tell you that it is on my resume and helped me land a new job with a 20k per year raise.

It's hard to get a good job and gain experience in today's market with so many people out of work, but you can do it if you're creative. I honestly believe that EVERYONE here on these forums is capable of "thinking outside the box" and succeeding wildly. How many other people out there are smart enough to test out of most or all of their degree? It's just not done. I don't even tell people what I'm doing because the few people I've mentioned it to don't really believe me.

NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK. Are you on LinkedIn? Is your resume one of hundreds, or do you KNOW the hiring manager? As OP mentioned, going to community/industry events is a great idea. When you apply for a job, what do you do to get past the recruiter? Call up the company and ask to speak to someone in the department that you're applying in. If you can manage to get to a hiring manager yourself, you've already proven that you're tenacious and hard-working. Your experience might not be as good as the other candidates, but you've shown that you're willing to make up for it in effort.

What does your resume look like? You may not have 800 bucks to pay someone to professionally write it, but ask several friends that you trust (READ friends that have jobs that you want) to read your resume and give you honest feedback. Do you know anyone that hires people? Even a manager friend that happens to look at resumes on a regular basis can help you improve and get noticed.

If all this sounds like a TON of work, it is, but it will really work if you do it. It's not easy and you have to have thick skin. Not everyone that you network with will hire you. But do try to learn from each experience. If you land an interview and don't get hired, ask for honest feedback. It might hurt to know where you goofed, but if you're tough enough to hear about it, you'll avoid making the same mistake again.