^^^ What type of test stands?

6/14/2009 4:45:38 PM

on month 3 of my unemployment... losing my mind. with the exception of the first few weeks i've been doing a solid 8 apps a week online. i've only had 2 interviews (they went worse than i thought obviously), 1 letter of denial. i don't want to settle for a pos job where i'm not gaining skills, ,not using my 30k$ degree and making around the same as unemployment pays but between the boredom and lack of $ i think i may retire my green MasterCard soon. maybe someone should start a open jobs/ networking thread or somethin

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 9:06 AM. Reason : .]

6/17/2009 9:02:27 AM

Yeah, it's particularly infuriating seeing how much help Wall Street and the automakers were given, seeing all the bullshit "green shoots" talk and the general papering over of just how shitty the economy is when I can see first hand how few jobs are coming available.

It's so shitty that some of my former coworkers (like 4-5 of them) are working on a Labview project for UNC...FOR FREE, just so they can work on new stuff to put on their resume.

I've applied for jobs that I absolutely know I could destroy, and would be taking a 25-30% pay cut for them...and can't even get a call back or a "thanks but we're looking at someone else" letter.

6/17/2009 9:08:56 AM

the market is always right

6/17/2009 9:46:12 AM

rofl, is this some of the lingo you're picking up at your new job?

6/17/2009 9:51:21 AM

more like soap box mantra

Quote :

"FOR FREE, just so they can work on new stuff to put on their resume"

i've been in this situation twice. yeah it sucks doing work not getting paid, in hopes that keeping forward progress might lead to paychecks. is that what's shitty to you, that they aren't getting paid? or that they are schmucks for doing something for free? the worst part is the illusion of normalcy that continuing to go to work every day (for free) creates. that's why eventually i had to quit - so every day i would be reminded that i didn't have a paying job

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM. Reason : .]

6/17/2009 9:58:56 AM

Quote :

"is that what's shitty to you, that they aren't getting paid? or that they are schmucks for doing something for free?"

The shitty part is guys with tons of education and experience are being forced by their circumstances to do work for free to try and get a leg up on everyone else that got dumped on the street.

It wouldn't be such a big deal had these years worth of consumption that was pulled forward by withdrawing from the home ATMs would have trickled down to the employees instead of the banksters, because then you could at least say that everyone got a piece of it. But no, wages were stagnant as hell over this entire housing bubble while the crooks got rich beyond their wildest dreams. I think I saw a stat where GS had 400 employees receiving more than 1 million in bonsues. That is mind boggling. In our company of 40,000 we had maybe 3 guys that made 1 mill. AND WE MADE A REAL PRODUCT, NOT A PIECE OF PAPER WE SOLD TO PEOPLE THAT COULDN'T UNDERSTAND IT. And then, when the crooks on Wall Street succeeded in destroying it all because of their short term greed, we gave them a bailout to keep up the good work.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 10:06 AM. Reason : .]

6/17/2009 10:04:50 AM

Had a 4th round interview on Monday, should find out in the next couple weeks.
Had two companies call me yesterday that I had interviewed with a while back.
Had another friend contact me about a potential opportunity at her company.

While things feel like they're getting a little better, I'm not getting my hopes up until I've got something.

6/17/2009 10:09:40 AM

What industry are you in again?

6/17/2009 10:12:58 AM

I'm flexible, was in Consulting in the FS Industry, but looking at Marketing as well.

6/17/2009 10:32:55 AM

Quote :

"with the exception of the first few weeks i've been doing a solid 8 apps a week online."

What are you doing the other 99% of the day then?

I was unemployed for several months and was doing more than 8 apps online/in person a day.

And these were for legit jobs one of which I now have.

6/17/2009 11:54:50 AM

^ and what industry/field are you in that you found 8 reasonable jobs/day to apply for?

6/17/2009 12:28:12 PM

^ Well, if you look nationwide, I'd estimate that you could find 8 jobs a day to apply for in your field. Some days less, but overall 8 is plenty reasonable. I saw about that many that I was eligible for when looking for civil/structural jobs. Note that that's a really low rate of job postings when you consider that you're looking at half of the country, lol.

^^ Possibly playing video games like I did, trying to ignore the fact that your life sucks and nobody wants to hire you?

Glad those days are behind me now.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 12:47 PM. Reason : aids]

6/17/2009 12:46:48 PM

Likewise, I applied to everything that I thought would be tolerable. This isn't the kind of economic situation where you really want to pick and choose which job opening will get you on the right career track. Sure, you'd like something in your area of expertise, but most recent graduates don't really have any 'expertise'.

Beggars can't be choosers, 8 jobs/day sounds about right. I woke up at 8 am, looked online, took lunch, and then stopped around 6 (after everything for that day was posted on sites), EVERY weekday.

finding a job is an unpaid job, and you should put as much effort into it as possible.

6/17/2009 12:50:36 PM

you must have been looking in other random ass cities, cause i can't imagine applying to 8 jobs a day in the raleigh area. or i'm just way too picky or something. plus it takes me forever to fill out apps.

6/17/2009 1:04:11 PM

^ I'm lucky to find 8 new jobs posted in this area within 1-2 week timeframe

6/17/2009 1:06:57 PM

Don't just look on like 2 sites. You need to look on every company's site, every day (or do the e-mail notifications).

It does take a long time to fill out some applications, probably on average about 1hr/each. I had separate cover letters prepared (ie for validation engineering, product design, regulatory affairs, document control, lab work/chemistry, computer validation, environmental sciences, marketing, and administrative assistant duties).

Staffing companies are becoming more useful now, because not a lot of companies can continue putting full salaries into HR reps who go through the whole employee search stuff. Instead, they pay the staffing companies to find the potential employees for them. So don't think these staffing companies are below you. Even temporary work is better experience and pay than video games.


[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 1:11 PM. Reason : ]

6/17/2009 1:09:34 PM

Based on some of the comments I've been reading in this thread, I believe that many of you are spending way too much time looking for jobs online. Think about how people got jobs before the internet, they physically went to a career fair, or to the company itself and asked to speak to the hiring managers. My first two jobs out of college were not acquired via the internet, I got them by literally meeting with people and making connections at career centers/fairs. If you have your resume in hand, literally go to the company and ask to speak with the hiring manager. This may seem old-fashioned, but you need to be realistic. Any HR representative is going to think of the guy/girl that took the time and initiative to come in and talk, instead of the thousands of electronic resumes they have stashed away in their Inbox.

6/17/2009 1:46:39 PM

Have you been to a career fair in the last 12 months? They're absolute clusterfucks.

6/17/2009 1:56:51 PM

I stood in line for over an hour to talk to 3 companies at the last career fair I went to. Might as well have thrown my resumes in the trash can. It was a complete waste of time.

6/17/2009 2:00:05 PM

I see the point behind physically dropping off a resume at a company, but the larger ones typically have some kind of security in place so that a member of the public can't just walk in and drop one off. On the other hand, I can see where this would be useful for a smaller organization.

6/17/2009 2:04:37 PM

ATTN: Civil Engineers

Quote :

"Civil Engineer with 1-4 years of site design/land development experience. They do not have to have their EIT or PE but certainly they should be on that track. The pay will depend on years of experience but they are thinking in the $45-55 range. Located in Camden NC which is in the Outerbanks. They prefer candidates from NC or VA."

I've got a recruiter contact here. PM me your email address, name, and phone number if you're comfortable doing so and I'll forward your info on to them. Gotta be local to NC/Virginia. That's $45-55k/yr btw, not per hour. Still, good money.

6/17/2009 2:09:05 PM

Quote :

"Any HR representative is going to think of the guy/girl that took the time and initiative to come in and talk, instead of the thousands of electronic resumes they have stashed away in their Inbox."

thats not always the case; back when I was looking, I had several companies (ranging from small to large well known companies) who explicitly stated the resume HAD to be submitted electronically. And now after working somewhere for awhile and seeing people getting hired, and going to career fairs to represent my company, etc. I've learned that most companies prefer getting the electronic copies at least in addition to the hard copies if not only exclusively.

Bottom line, certain companies might see this as a positive, other companies actually DISCOURAGE people from doing this. At the very least, if there is an electronic option make sure you are doing BOTH; if you do decide to try and do the physical copy route, it better just be something to make you stand out and you should have already done the electronic version as well imo.

6/17/2009 2:10:30 PM

Quote :

"thats not always the case; back when I was looking, I had several companies (ranging from small to large well known companies) who explicitly stated the resume HAD to be submitted electronically. And now after working somewhere for awhile and seeing people getting hired, and going to career fairs to represent my company, etc. I've learned that most companies prefer getting the electronic copies at least in addition to the hard copies if not only exclusively."

Yeah, his entire statement just smelled of "I have a job and I haven't looked for one in this economy and I don't know what the hell I am talking about".

I've seen more than 1 listing state in all bolded caps "IF YOU DO NOT MEET ALL OF THESE QUALIFICATIONS, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR RESUME, IT WILL BE THROWN IN THE TRASH"

And who cares how resume submission was done in the past? Should we also ride a horse there and back to do the drop off? My first job out of college, in 2003, they contacted ME after they found my resume on monster. Electronic submission IS the standard now.

The reality is, the few companies that are hiring are getting smashed by all the submissions they are getting and while it probably won't look terrible to go in person, you absolutely run the risk of interrupting a moody hiring manager who is swamped with resumes already.

If you know an employee on the inside that can talk to the guy and get your resume in front of him, this is going to work better than anything else.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 2:16 PM. Reason : .]

6/17/2009 2:16:14 PM

I've even seen warnings on the bottom of some job postings saying you will be disqualified if you call about your application. I can understand this knowing how many resume submissions there are for jobs these days.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 2:39 PM. Reason : .]

6/17/2009 2:39:01 PM

I just wish there was some sort of etiquette for company response. I just hate applying and applying and never hearing anything.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 2:43 PM. Reason : k]

6/17/2009 2:42:43 PM

I guess it really depends on how well you present yourself. If you have never even considered handing your resume to a hiring manager face-to-face, I suggest that you try it. What do you have to lose? I never said to stop submiting your resumes electronically, instead my suggestion was to enhance your chances of landing a job. Just because I never did the internet submission route doesn't mean my way of doing things is better, it's simply another way, which maybe some of you haven't considered.

6/17/2009 2:45:14 PM

Quote :

"What do you have to lose?"

Your chance at getting the job?

Did you read the posts above yours?

6/17/2009 2:49:32 PM

Might as well try it, I have to make myself stand out from the thousands of other applicants somehow. And yes, I wish there was some etiquette as to responses from HR departments too. I got an email from a hiring manager saying they wanted to schedule an interview for me and then never heard back from them. I emailed asking if I could still come in for an interview and they didn't respond to that either. But there are the rare companies that take the time to at least send an auto-generated message with regrets that you weren't chosen.

6/17/2009 2:49:57 PM

Quote :

" Based on some of the comments I've been reading in this thread, I believe that many of you are spending way too much time looking for jobs online. Think about how people got jobs before the internet, they physically went to a career fair, or to the company itself and asked to speak to the hiring managers."

you sound like someone from the employment consulting firm our company was kind enough to hire after they laid us off.

..... the employment consulting firm that, as far as I know, hasn't helped a single one of our people land a job in 5 months

6/17/2009 2:51:38 PM

If I were you, I'd be willing to risk losing 10 great opportunities by seizing the day, then decide to sit back and watch 40 get taken by someone else. To each his own I suppose, good luck everyone.

6/17/2009 2:52:37 PM

Your posts make no sense.

6/17/2009 2:54:08 PM

^^ I agree, I personally don't have anything to lose by showing up in person. Something is better than nothing.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 2:56 PM. Reason : .]

6/17/2009 2:55:49 PM

Quote :

"I got an email from a hiring manager saying they wanted to schedule an interview for me and then never heard back from them"

I got a an email from an HR lady at Tekelec that used to work for my former company. She said there was a job opening and she remembered me from before and remembered what our managers said and was I looking for a job. I replied yes, and she said she'd call me by the end of the week to talk to me about the job. A week went by and I heard nothing. By the end of the second week I emailed and said I was still interested to please give me a call. I got a reply saying she was sorry she didn't get back as she was very busy and she would get back to me in a few days. Weeks went by and I wrote her off. Finally, after about 6 weeks passed from the first time she initially contacted me, she called out of the blue and asked if I had time. So we chatted for about 30 minutes about the job. I told her it wasn't what I had recently been doing but i was certain I could do the work. She said she would have the hiring manager call and talk to me about it more, to study up on their company and the job position, and he'd be calling between 11-2 on that Friday. I spent the next 2 days cramming in material of shit I had never seen before to at least appear I knew what was going on. That mother fucker never called.

This is the kind of job market we are in.

6/17/2009 4:13:08 PM

Quote :

"^ and what industry/field are you in that you found 8 reasonable jobs/day to apply for?"

I was in civil engineering. Then took a contract position after going to every employment agency in the Triad at a large manufacturing company. Going to employment agencies dosn't mean they are temp jobs and if anything you will have someone looking while you are as well. The contract position worked out well and they referred me to a another company that I was hired full time at. I am not in civil engineering but engineering yes and project management just like i was doing for the civil firm. You have to look at all options not delivering pizzas if you don't want to but you don't have to say there are no civil engineers hiring so i can't find a job when some of your skills can go into different engineering fields.

6/17/2009 6:43:42 PM

Finally found work!

We're looking for a few more for the team I'm going to be on. If anyone out there has experience as a Data Storage Admin and knows NetBackup well, send me a PM

6/17/2009 6:51:18 PM

I think I'm going to be funemployed in the next week or so...

man, am I an idiot!

let's see how the nyc market is for entry level nobodies like myself

6/17/2009 8:17:55 PM

An idiot? Why for?

Missed some signs that the business was going downhill, or that your manager was plotting behind your back?

6/17/2009 8:19:01 PM

a) borrowed thousands of dollars, moved to one of the most expensive areas of the country, and gambled everything I had on at least one of three things working out:
-me finding a subletter
-my fiancee getting a job (in a shortage, it seems like people are less willing to hire)
-this position lasting for the year

none of them did

I'm now signed into an 1800/month lease with no way to sublease or break. Company will cover 2 months rent at max if I have to relocate. I have 7 left. I'm in debt up to my eyeballs and may have no job within days.

b) now realizing that in college I should have focused (on specific areas) waaaaay more. I took random jobs, random coursework, random hobbies. Now I'm <1 year experience on everything, which is effectively the same as none.

Every job posting I look at requires 3+ years minimum.

[Edited on June 17, 2009 at 8:32 PM. Reason : adsf]

6/17/2009 8:31:53 PM

Daaamn! That sucks man, best of luck to you. Hopefully it'll all work out soon.

6/17/2009 8:34:53 PM

Euro, I feel your pain in terms of experience. I have less than a year of experience and it was a contract position in testing.

6/18/2009 8:49:24 AM

Quote :

"let's see how the nyc market is for entry level nobodies like myself"

Wanting to be at the top of your field is not for everyone. Business Week reports that eighty percent of generation Y thinks they are in the top ten percent of all workers. So a bunch of you are overestimating your capabilities, right? But the truth is that NYC is very, very competitive, because it's a magnet for ambitious, strong performers, and if you are not in the top, you will probably not do very well there. So if you do not go to NYC thinking you will work your way to the top of your field, you probably don’t need to be going there for your work.

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/06/11/do-you-belong-in-nyc-take-the-test/

6/18/2009 11:47:35 AM

Quote :

"eighty percent of generation Y thinks they are in the top ten percent of all workers"

that's incredible! most productive generation EVER!

Quote :

"More than 80% of young people say they want to live in New York City"

what kind of retarded poll was this though. i'd say less than 20% of Americans in their 20s would say they want to live in NYC

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 4:56 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2009 4:53:30 PM

I'd live in NYC

If I made 10 times as much as I do now

6/18/2009 5:04:27 PM

I'd live in NYC.

But failing to wear a jimmy hat just once ruined that

6/18/2009 5:06:55 PM

Got an offer today in rocky mount

6/18/2009 6:39:38 PM

congrats!

6/18/2009 6:43:54 PM

Quote :

"Wanting to be at the top of your field is not for everyone. Business Week reports that eighty percent of generation Y thinks they are in the top ten percent of all workers. So a bunch of you are overestimating your capabilities, right? But the truth is that NYC is very, very competitive, because it's a magnet for ambitious, strong performers, and if you are not in the top, you will probably not do very well there. So if you do not go to NYC thinking you will work your way to the top of your field, you probably don’t need to be going there for your work. http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/06/11/do-you-belong-in-nyc-take-the-test/"

:facepalm:

please explain how one can be in the top of their field immediately out of college. please

and in your detailed answer, feel free to list all awards and certifications you received in the womb.

6/18/2009 7:50:52 PM

Quote :

"please explain how one can be in the top of their field immediately out of college. please"

Just ask all the Harvard and Chicago business grads.

6/18/2009 7:51:49 PM

Someone came into my work today to drop off a resume (for the position I just filled).

which one of you was it?

6/18/2009 8:13:24 PM