Something I don't understand...

Before this economic mess started, and with the first two jobs I had out of college, my resume seemed good enough to land me the jobs I applied/eventually landed. My skills were also up to date. I basically grew up with the computer and could find my way around it in my sleep. And although I get nervous on interviews, I obviously impressed someone because I landed my first job on the spot and the second by the end of the week after my final interview.

Now I hear:

-You need to find tune your resume
-You need to improve your interview skills
-You need to upgrade your skills with more training/re-training

So if the way I did things beforehand was fine and landed me jobs, how come I am not good enough and need to basically start from scratch? It just seems so confusing! Anyone else feel this way?

What they really mean is you will have to take any job for a sh!t load less money. If you can find those??

I'm so tired of hearing that stuff. You can have perfect resume and great resume skills, if there are no jobs, then there are no jobs!

americatheneedy wrote:I'm so tired of hearing that stuff. You can have perfect resume and great resume skills, if there are no jobs, then there are no jobs!

No truer words spoken

Tell me about it. I think employers are trying to discourage the unemployed from applying for jobs at their companies, adding to the fact that they also only look at applicants who are already employed.

It's just sad that employers won't give the unemployed a chance to prove themselves.

sune wrote:

americatheneedy wrote:I'm so tired of hearing that stuff. You can have perfect resume and great resume skills, if there are no jobs, then there are no jobs!

No truer words spoken

This is so true. I have applied at numerous "just anything" places and cannot seem to get in there either.

If you apply to a retail store, you have to take a lengthy personality test...all to get paid no more than $8 or $9 an hour.

I applied at a chain restaurant when working my seasonal job and thought my evening ability would be perfect. My plan was to work two jobs for the remainder of the season then continue to work at the restaurant after the season. My application was turned away because I did not have daytime availability at that time.

I have called other places over the phone and are told they are not hiring, but are "accepting applications". Nice, but not what I need to hear right now. I need to hear someone is HIRING.

I went into a cafe last week after being told I could come down and fill out an application. When I got there, they told me they were out of applications and could I come back next week?

So people who think it is easy to get "any job" obviously have no idea what we really go through.

The number of people looking for jobs is so large that companies can be as picky as they want to be and those looking are usually left out in the cold. Unemployment is really not going down. The numbers that the government releases month after month have remained basically the same for the last 2 years (high). What the government doesn't talk about is how many people become 99ers each month adding to the total number of 99ers out there. As a result REAL unemployment is 20-22% making it even harder to find work for all of us.

The thing about it is that employers are soon not going to be able to cherry pick their employees. This whole "hiring war" that employers have started have cast the unemployed into an untenable position and they really should be ashamed of themselves for acting in this manner.

And don't forget about how companies are still laying people off or closing altogether. But yet the government still tries to tell us there is a hiring boom or that the recession is over. Not buying it.

It doesn't really matter what your education and experience is. The unemployment rate is really 20% or so. There is one job opening for every five or six unemployed people. On top of that, we, the unemployed, are being discriminated against. Companies are hiring the currently employed, so it's not helping our situation.

We're perfectly wonderful, contributing, hard-working people like those who are employed. Unfortunately, we're caught up in a very bad situation.

I don't know what the answer is. Personally, I've been doing temporary work to see if something turns permanent. So far, that's worked the best because I've been able to "network" and make myself visible in the company - it's just one company I'm temping for - my former employer. But, even getting my first temp assignment took 9 months.

It's hard to get temp work, it's hard to get a "crummy" job, and it's five times harder to get a good full-time job with benefits!

Many of us would take a "crummy" job right now just to feel as though we are contributing in some form. But then there is discrimination even in those jobs.
Why hire an electrical engineer to be a Janitor? Well because the guy needs a JOB! Plain and simple. Then once things turn around you go and start applying for elec engineering jobs and you have Janitor at the top of your list, then more discrimination exists.
Corporations who are directly involved in this mess, continue to escalate it by their hiring practices.
Its a catch 22 for us.

You know I have always been honest to the point of perfection on job applications but guess what I am going to start lying on applications because honesty just doesn't pay-what has it gotten any of us so far. DO what you have to do from now on to get a job and quit being the only one playing by the rules!

americatheneedy wrote:You know I have always been honest to the point of perfection on job applications but guess what I am going to start lying on applications because honesty just doesn't pay-what has it gotten any of us so far. DO what you have to do from now on to get a job and quit being the only one playing by the rules!

It's best to be honest for two reasons. 1) Most companies do background checks and if you lie it can be revealed there (things like employment dates, education, job title) . 2) Even if you get hired and you lied it can get you fired if the company has some doubts about your skills and work experience (are you who you say you are?). My opinion but do what you want to do.

The reason they are telling you that you need fine tune your resume and to get better interview skills is because they think that if you are absolutely perfect that you will get hired. This is bullshit but it's the best that recruiters can tell you when they are paid to have answers to a problem that has no answers.

I have risen above it. I am valuable, I have experience, I have good work references and I am worth hiring.

I won't beg.