Unemployed Rant

[Ixarku]

Wow, no mercy in this place. 

Life itself shows no mercy. As much as you'd like to believe otherwise, in this reality, it's survival of the fittest. Sometimes, an ice cold dose of reality is what gets people motivated. Coddling is not always the answer.

I'm not an idiot.  I'm quite aware that survival of the fittest is the way the world works, and I actually prefer things to work that way.  I'm also quite aware that coddling certain people will not produce results.  I’m old enough that I've likely been in the job market longer than a lot of people posting here.

That said, this right here & now is an internet forum, not some primeval jungle where people have to bash an animal's brains in with a club just to stay alive.  I doubt very much that anyone posting in this thread is looking for a little “tough love” to keep them motivated in their job search.  That’s all I’m saying about that.


On a different note, there have been a few bits of good advice in this thread, so I’ll add a bit of my own to anyone who wants it:

(click to show/hide)

1) Be prepared!  Know your prospective employer & their industry.  Research as much as you can ahead of time.  Know what they want & what they are looking for.  Tailor your resume to fit the job.  If you get an interview, explain to the interviewer how your experience is relevant to the position.  Draw comparisons between what you know and the kind of work the new job entails.  Even if your area of expertise is outside of the job, provide whatever examples you can where you’ve done something similar.

2) Engage the interviewer.  In general, be positive & show some energy during the interview – no one wants to hire a person with a negative attitude or someone who shows disinterest in the job.  Ask questions about the job & the working environment.  Be alert, attentive, and friendly in the interview.  Every interview & interviewer is different, so try to read the interviewer’s body language & be ready to adapt to the people you are talking to.  Be yourself & be relaxed, but be professional at all times.  Sometimes, talking about your personal life & interests are appropriate; other times, you need to stick with talking about the job.  Be careful not to oversell yourself, though, or you risk losing your credibility.

3) Don’t make stupid mistakes.  There are boatloads of articles out there that talk about job hunters taking phone calls during interviews, or dressing inappropriately, or bad mouthing past employers, or posting the wrong things on their Facebook page, and so on and so forth.  Don’t be that guy!

4) I said this once, but I’ll say it again – whenever appropriate, tailor your resume to fit the job.  I don’t advocate outright lying on a resume (you will most likely get caught), but you really need to emphasize the skills & education that are most relevant to the job you are applying for.  Sending the exact same resume to every prospective employer is likely a mistake, especially if you are applying for a wide variety of jobs.

5) Follow up on the interview.  Contact your prospective employer after an appropriate period of time, thank them for their time, reiterate your interest in the company, etc etc.


Luck does play a part in any job hunt.  You can say & do all the right things, and have all of the right experience, and you can still not get the job, especially in the current market with competition being as tough as it is, even with the lower end jobs.  You may not click with the interviewer(s), or they may like someone else better.  You could be overqualified, and your prospective employer may want someone with less experience so that they can more easily justify paying them less.  Your resume could get lost in the shuffle, or whatever… a million things beyond your control can jinx a job hunt.  The important thing is to present yourself in the best way possible.  Persevere and try to stay positive whenever possible.  Certainly, if you are desperate for work, look at jobs that you would never otherwise consider.


Off the subject of the job hunt itself – try to find alternative ways to bring in money in the meantime.  Cut your expenses wherever you can.  I could write pages & pages on the idiocy of people who don’t live within their means because they don’t know how to budget.  If necessary, sell off whatever possessions you can live without.  Scour local pawn shops and flea markets for stuff that you can turn around and resell yourself for a profit on eBay, Amazon, or wherever.  Do odd jobs for people if you can.

Good luck to all you job hunters!

[relic2279]

 I doubt very much that anyone posting in this thread is looking for a little “tough love” to keep them motivated in their job search.

What people want, and what people need often differ from one another.
But you're correct. This is indeed an internet forum. As such, you'll have to accept the fact that there will be people telling him what he needs, rather than what he wants.


Your advice in the spoiler was good advice though. Just wanted to mention that.

[Ixarku]

  I doubt very much that anyone posting in this thread is looking for a little “tough love” to keep them motivated in their job search.

What people want, and what people need often differ from one another.
But you're correct. This is indeed an internet forum. As such, you'll have to accept the fact that there will be people telling him what he needs, rather than what he wants.


Your advice in the spoiler was good advice though. Just wanted to mention that.

Thanks.  Not to be presumptuous, but I think everyone gets it -- life is hard, and sometimes people have to be prepared to really push themselves and do whatever it takes to survive or succeed.

Now, you wanna help me take down that mammoth over there? 

[relic2279]

Now, you wanna help me take down that mammoth over there? 

Sure, I'll be right behind you. 

[ervy]

I would help, but I'm allergic...

[fohfoh]

Tailoring your resume is no easy feat. I know. I'm applying for a summer job atm and it's like... "Wtf? I cut out 80% Of my WORK experience and even the last one is sort of close to being cut (left only because the other company has a connection with that company), all that I have left is pretty much volunteer stuff that is applicable since it's very similar to the type of work this job for.

I'm missing references which I can probably scrape up in like an hour or two in the evening (just need to ask for permission) [references available on request] and proof of attending a post secondary institution in the fall. (Which won't work since AFAIK, none of the institutions in my city have started allowing of registration of classes (which is a requirement of most of them to get a letter like that).

Options?

Go in prior to the hiring dead line and ask in person what my options are for that missing information.
Call up some connections to try and push the deal (I actually have 2). Rather not use this method though.... but... they've already volunteered to do so.

Ask around for friends/colleagues to further edit my resume.

I'm considering this job for 2 reasons.
1. Want to try something new
2. Recommended by friends and old employer (Will still probably work part time for this person)

I've reworded my cover letter SEVERAL times. Realizing I'm using wrong terms, or just other crap that could make it so much better but not lying of course. Look it up, there's many ways to spice up stuff.

[MrIntruder]

Hmm, thread resurrection time!

So since the last time I posted here, this thread scared me away from this forum and I've lurked since. After all the replies that this thread had received here I was pretty upset and also at the same time nearly slipped back into a depressive state (not as a result of this forum I'd like to add, more of a case of the stress and worry building up due to the situation).

There have been a mixed bag of replies here and people getting quite involved in one side or another. It is quite disturbing to see that people can be so hostile towards others when only using assumptions as a basis of fact (very wrong way to do things).

Well I think I'll give you some feedback now. As of the 18th of October 2010, I finally managed to find full time employment. It certainly had been a difficult year having to look after my Dad, get further in debt and all manner of other worries. The Job Centre certainly are a horrible service and I really hated being part of the system seeing so many people who "knew every answer" on how to exploit the system and how many people could only ever complain about how shit it was to do what they had to do to look for work (which is why they never did find work) however I stuck it out followed every piece of advice I got, kept on applying for jobs upon jobs and eventually it has paid off.

I have to say being back in work is a relief. Being able to to set off in a morning, arrive at work, do everything that needs to be done and return home, time now really is passing by and I'm enjoying it.

I do have to give my sympathy to others though, the job market really is volatile still, with more job losses prospected in the near future and many people I know who once had secure jobs, now have lost them and with the current government, I don't think finding work is going to become any easier at all.

I will also add that some of the posts made in this thread I feel were very inappropriate and it's a shame that some people really have this kind of view upon the world including themselves but what goes around, comes around.

Well, hopefully this has made an interesting read. If there are any questions, I'll happily answer them!

[dogsinafen]

Grats on getting a job.

I've applied at a lot of places got a few interviews and no jobs. Sucks since there are fuck all for work here so I ended up working at a place for min salary.
Not very pleased with it... but next week I'm applying for a transfer into the regular military awww yeah. Hopefully they wont dick me around and have me transferred ASAP. 

[Ixarku]

Congratulations on the job MrIntruder.  Sounds like you're back on the right track.  Don't worry yourself sick about being debt -- you're certainly not alone in that regard, and as long as you don't continue to wrack up new debts, you can make incremental progress and eventually pay it off.  (Personally, it took me about 7 years to pay off debts that I accumulated in my early 20s.)

[mgz]

Congratulations on the job MrIntruder.  Sounds like you're back on the right track.  Don't worry yourself sick about being debt -- you're certainly not alone in that regard, and as long as you don't continue to wrack up new debts, you can make incremental progress and eventually pay it off.  (Personally, it took me about 7 years to pay off debts that I accumulated in my early 20s.)

yea being fiscally responsible is something most people dont learn properly till its to late.

Fortunately i had it pounded into my head by my parents since i was young so by the age of 20 i had a 750+ credit rating and zero credit card debt.

PS - I dont know about what most of you are willing to do for jobs but i can say from experience and dealing with my company that extermination is a field that always needs people if your in any part of the country that is warm for a prolonged period of time.

I know my company has been looking to hire people constantly since i started with them, and while the pay for most people started is seemingly low(like 13/hr start) the amount of overtime worked = guys bringing home like 700$ a week after taxes @ 13/hr

I know competing companies pay more for people starting but have less hours available which to some can mean they might make 20$/hr after 6 months but only getting 40 hrs a week.

If you dont mind dealing with a dead mouse or two ide highly suggest anyone consider this kind of line of work since its a stable and nearly recession proof business.


I still have my opinions of many unemployed people as stated in my previous posts. Just figured ide throw this bone out there to anyone who is willing to actually work for their money even though they might have a degree