Job Search Venting Thread

[discouraged]

Exactly - what are you going to say that is different from your resume????? It's not like they don't ask the same questions that you have answered on your resume. Drives me crazy! And I feel like I'm putting word for word from the resume onto their questionaire. I just don't get it. Either they should take the resume or do the online, in which you can just cut and paste from your resume, which is what I normally do anyway. Why do they need both????

[helpme2010]

Exactly - what are you going to say that is different from your resume????? It's not like they don't ask the same questions that you have answered on your resume. Drives me crazy! And I feel like I'm putting word for word from the resume onto their questionaire. I just don't get it. Either they should take the resume or do the online, in which you can just cut and paste from your resume, which is what I normally do anyway. Why do they need both????

Agreed. They do extract some of the info from the resume, but this becomes formatted improperly in the wrong fields, and I still have to go in and add a ton of information. This is like when you have to go into the interview and they make you fill out a job application which again asks you to fill in all the crap that is already on your resume. And then they turn around and ask you again to go over your job history. I write like a doctor, so that is what I tell them when my writing is sloppy.

The last thing is references which I won't give out until the very end as the final means of hiring me as I don't want to burn out references getting bothered repeatedly by recruiters.

[RichM]

It's an employer's market right now, unfortunately. Hang in there!

-Rich

[helpme2010]

It's an employer's market right now, unfortunately. Hang in there!

-Rich

RichM, you are totally right. It has been this way for many years. Unless you are one of those high-end programmers with a certain programming language that is in huge demand, you are pretty much at the mercy of the employer. I phone interviewed with one the other day in the entertainment industry, a huge company that is making bank, and they decided to just pay less than the people are worth, even though they are making record profit, they decided to be cheap with their employees, who have very little bargaining power.

I think of job searching as a giant funnel, you keep pouring it in and very little comes out, but keep pouring more and more will come out.

[tobee43]

RichM, you are totally right. It has been this way for many years. Unless you are one of those high-end programmers with a certain programming language that is in huge demand, you are pretty much at the mercy of the employer. I phone interviewed with one the other day in the entertainment industry, a huge company that is making bank, and they decided to just pay less than the people are worth, even though they are making record profit, they decided to be cheap with their employees, who have very little bargaining power.

I think of job searching as a giant funnel, you keep pouring it in and very little comes out, but keep pouring more and more will come out.

i also think it may depend on your field...remember i mentioned my daughter JUST got a job...but she's in the admin. part of health care....and they need people...but her field is something that they require just like you said those postings were ...10 year of this...and 5 years experience of that....it's bad news!

[helpme2010]

i also think it may depend on your field...remember i mentioned my daughter JUST got a job...but she's in the admin. part of health care....and they need people...but her field is something that they require just like you said those postings were ...10 year of this...and 5 years experience of that....it's bad news!

tobee, I have been facing another fear in looking and that is I am likely going to end up taking another unstable job with a smaller company, just like I have for the past 10 years. The pay will be enough to just scrape by, the job I'm guessing will probably last 3-6 months, then I am right back to looking again and living off of unemployment insurance. So this makes it really difficult to build up a nestegg to help pay the bills while I am out of work again.

I am trying like crazy to find something with a more stable company and can pay enough to get by plus a little extra that I can put in the savings account for those rainy days I know are coming.

I watch Survivor Man and Man Vs. Wild, so I am thinking, maybe I can learn to live in the forest and eat animals and berries. This should help me take a lower paying job and still sock away a little money... hummm, giving it some serious thought!!!

[tobee43]

Helpme2010
I watch Survivor Man and Man Vs. Wild, so I am thinking, maybe I can learn to live in the forest and eat animals and berries. This should help me take a lower paying job and still sock away a little money... hummm, giving it some serious thought!!

LOL!! ok...i'm really not laughing...and i know these are really hard times. but, something will come up!! i know it will take some time, but it will........and it's terrible to have to just "settle" and not be happy at what you do everyday. i know, it's like a catch 22.

[helpme2010]

I agree tobee. I am lowering my standards more and more each week. Flipping burgers is beginning to look good right now. ahahahah

[tobee43]

i think the entire county has to lower their standards....

all you hear on the news is people have to start saving and SPEND...but DO NOT spend....and saving accounts are up?? (i guess someone has SOME money to save). i know it took us two years and finally we are just being to save a tiny bit).

[BKOnce]

Every Black Friday... we always hear people's stampede at Walmart... rush in for BIG SALE% !!

Spending will never be stopped.. only GOING ON..& ON... more etc.

[helpme2010]

I am amazed how much money I see people spend when a sale is advertised. Also how much I see people spending at expensive stores (my gf and I walk through the mall and watch people plunk down thousands on crap). I live as lean as a human being can live, actually lived this way for many years. I kept hearing that I need to earn my degree so I can get better jobs and earn more money, but all I see is the same jobs with the same companies with the same life expectancy rate (just a few months to six months). The degree at least allows me to submit my resume to most companies, so at least I get past the resume blockade! But this is really pathetic. The best I can do is making the same I made 10 years ago, which is just getting by, so when I get terminated again, I go right back to running out of any money I was able to scrimp away. That is if I can even find a job first. I know the degree will pay off eventually, but this is truly depressing!!!

[tobee43]

I am amazed how much money I see people spend when a sale is advertised. Also how much I see people spending at expensive stores (my gf and I walk through the mall and watch people plunk down thousands on crap). I live as lean as a human being can live, actually lived this way for many years. I kept hearing that I need to earn my degree so I can get better jobs and earn more money, but all I see is the same jobs with the same companies with the same life expectancy rate (just a few months to six months). The degree at least allows me to submit my resume to most companies, so at least I get past the resume blockade! But this is really pathetic. The best I can do is making the same I made 10 years ago, which is just getting by, so when I get terminated again, I go right back to running out of any money I was able to scrimp away. That is if I can even find a job first. I know the degree will pay off eventually, but this is truly depressing!!!

i do believe there will always be a sector of the population where there are always some that are never touched by what is going on with the economy. or, even the world for that matter. their jobs are not effected or their business owners that simply are unaffected by much. of course, we'll never feel or experience that in our life time...but it's there and those are the one's out there spending and buying........or they are racking up their cc's before they file bk!!!

[daylate]

Helpme- I share your pain. I find on line apps to be a complete waste of time because as an overqualified individual they are never going to select me. As a person who has been out of the mainstream job market or awhile, they aren't going to select me for jobs which my background is relevant because I'm not current, underqualified, etc. for those jobs. Heck you can't even apply for a job at the grocery store without filling out an on line form.

On a side note, I was reading an article that quoted a recruiter who was frustrated by companies demands for the perfect candidate. Apparently if you meet 49 out of 50 the company will wait for the candidate who meets 51 of 50. The recruiters have named the candidates companies are looking for "purple squirrels". Ever see one of those?

Hang in- something will pop up.

[BKOnce]

This world is filled with.. BILLIONs of people.. Until all have debts & filed BK (and I mean China & India population in debt too).. then ALL spending will stop... LOL

Still... some people never learn & still repeat it.. (Caveat Emptor!)

[Dee]

My husband filled out an application for Best Buy today and you would have thought he was applying for a job at the Pentagon! And I should know, since I have Dept of Defense clearance with my job! It's ridiculous that you have to answer 100+ hypothetical questions just to submit an application for a minimum wage job!

And let's get real, if someone is stupid enough to answer those questions with a "yes" as to whether they've stolen from their employer, done drugs while at work or had a fist-fight with a customer, the'yre not likely to have gotten that far through the application anyway! They'd probably still be stuck on the first page trying to figure out if it was okay to put their previous cellblock number down as their prior address.