Well crap, I just found out I might lose my job in a month.

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:37 am

Well, I just found out that I might lose my job in about a month. I'm a contractor filling in for a person serving in Iraq and I saw this person, today at the office. Only reason I know he's coming back in a month is because I overheard him. No official word or anything from my manager.

I knew this was coming but now I have a harder set date to try and find a job. Been looking for at least 3 or 4 months and not getting many nibbles. So I'm firing off resumes left and right, getting frustrated with the idiocy that are these job descriptions, and fighting off the building panic in my system.

Yay. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

redman prime · Post by **redman prime** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:41 am

I doubt it'll make you feel better, but i lost mine two weeks ago. That, after putting in 4 consecutive 65+ hour weeks.

shoulda been doing 75's, as it were....

but good luck on the search!

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:43 am

Thanks, man.

Sorry to hear about your job. What happened? They wanted even more overtime than 65+ hours? Don't they realize that people burn out rather quickly when they're overworkd like that?

redman prime · Post by **redman prime** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:52 am

yeah, it was just that I got slammed with random shit at the worst times. grandfather died right before a weeklong trip to orlando, so there went two days of planning, what would've been 24 hours of work straightneing out things. rats. got a nice inheritance, so not all doom.

then i've got five audits due, on friday, yet catch the flu on sunday night. went in monday, worked two hours and threw up twice. went home, missed tuesday, miles behind. negative points with boss.

get by for a few weeks, dont take a day, not a day since the flu. 41 straight at one point, until masters sunday. Watch the masters, ,then log in from home to wrap up a project. the citrix interface we use has been bugging, and to deebug, they take the server down about twenty minutes after i log in. so a project that had to be done monday morning wasn't.
completed it monday afternoon, after the boss scolds me for it not being done, several dealines missed, etc.

tuesday at noon, tax day. canned.

i've been watching a lot of sports and have gotten in to pretty good shape; rana sub seven mile home today.

and chelski sucks.

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Thu May 01, 2008 3:23 am

Well, your ex-boss is an ass. Negative points for getting legitimately sick? That's just low. What did he want? Have you come in while highly contagious and contaminate everyone?

So they use the Citrix interface as well? I've had nothing but trouble from that POS. The timing for the debugging seems impeccable, eh?

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:08 pm

redman, IMO you're well out of that place of employment. Was it bombing, by any chance? No one should be expected to perform the impossible on a daily basis - occasionally, but not daily. No Union membership, I take it? And my condolences on the loss of your grandfather.

Civ - wait and see. It doesn't do any harm to send out resumes, but you never know if the guy will return in that month and want his old job.

Ackula · Post by **Ackula** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:49 pm

Firstly my condolences Redman. My grandfather just passed away on Monday as well, so I know its really rough, at least it has been for me. All my family lives 3000 miles away and I had no chance to get to go to the funeral or see any of my family back east because of my money situation, so that just made it worse.

Secondly, Civ I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you can find something thats as good or better before the inevitable happens. Just try and use all your available resources for job hunting, in my experience a lot of places may be hiring but don't bother to run ads or anything, so it never hurts to go up to a place in person and inquire.

slartibartfast · Post by **slartibartfast** » Thu May 01, 2008 8:11 pm

Cripes, sorry to hear about the deaths of close family guys. Although I'm fortunate to not have had to deal with such things. On a general note I'd like to think that I'd rather throw a party to celebrate someones' life than have my last memory of them as one of a tombstone, but realistically I expect I'd be in pieces.

Interestingly enough, my grandparents are selling the family house and emmigrating to new zealand this year at the ripe old age of 90. So I doubt me or my mum will ever see them again. For those who buy into the paradise and heaven faiths it's a nice metaphor.

Unfortunately, we waste our lives earning it. Doing 60+ hours a week will kill you. Demanding it of someone else is murder, or at the very least sadism. It's nuts. All I ask is to be able to enjoy life without having to worry about having enough to eat or somewhere to sleep, **** careers...

.. uh, sorry, getting off track.

What I'm trying to say is that I hate job hunting (and flat hunting), I feel like some kind of outcast on the brink of oblivion, having to plead to strangers for a bit of clemency. End result is I prefer to be a good boy and do as I'm told, wasting my time in a mind-numbing job, somehow happy that someone else can live peacefully because I'm contributing to society. Problem is I'm helping the wrong people.

Anyway, don't get yourself racked up over a job man. Something'll come up, just don't let the wait get you down

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Fri May 02, 2008 12:06 am

Thanks, guys and gal. Well, it's official, I'm done on June 1st/2nd. Oh well, at least I have an interview tomorrow so I guess I'll have to see how that goes.

rattrap23 · Post by **rattrap23** » Fri May 02, 2008 12:34 am

I know all about trying to get perminent work...
good luck, man

redman prime · Post by **redman prime** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:31 am

Thanks and good luck, Civ!

I am much better off beig out of there, tbh. I get to watch all the nba playoffs, but no nhl. damn versus.

And i'm moving back to home, so ive got a month of collecting unemployment checks whilst sunbathing, playing tennis with cougars and watching CL action, all as i fulfill my lease with a room-mate who is going to get her house foreclosed on. which i'd feel bad about, if she wasn't a bitch.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:36 am

Take my job. Please.

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:27 pm

Okay, I gotta blow off some ****ing steam here. This job search is ****ing fustrating as hell. Looking at the online job boards for my career and what I want to do and roughly 90% of the jobs I've been seeing want someone with 5 to 7 years of experience or more. Now, just a couple years ago, it was 3 to 5 years, which also pissed me off then. Why do they want so much damn experience and where do they expect to get people to fill these positions along with the laundry list of other requirements that usually accompany the listings? Anywhere from programs that no one at my current job has ever heard of to absurd requirements for entry-level positions. Companies want entry-level candidates to have 2 years of experience? I hope they mean 0 to 2 because otherwise, they're idiots.

EDIT: I should also add that even if a candidate meets every single requirement, they'll still need to be trained on how to do things. I'm honestly not seeing why companies are being so damn picky, especially since some of them have had the same posting up for over 2 months. If you don't fill a job in two months, chances are you're asking for too much.

Now, comes the part where I'm not sure if I'm on a high horse or not. I just turned down a position in Wisconsin for a job that sounds like something I could do quite well but the problem is that I have to make the product as cheaply as possible and then outsource it to China. Oh wait, I'm sorry, they didn't say China at first. They said a "low cost country" (LCC) and I really had to pry it out of them to find out what the **** they meant though I had a pretty good hunch.

If I took the position, it would mean spending roughly 20% of the time in China training workers. I turned it down because I have an issue with outsourcing since I've seen it hurt people here in the states, both on the factory floor and in the office; and with the deplorable working conditions, which based on what I've seen in photos and heard in stories, treat workers like dirt since they work so cheaply. As said, I don't know if I'm on a high horse or if this is decent or good justification. I do have the option of calling back if I still want to pursue it but I'd rather not.

Thoughts?

Sir Auros · Post by **Sir Auros** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:53 pm

I think you did the right thing. The way I see it, the only reason we're friendly with China (as opposed to a similar country like Cuba) is that they could beat the everloving shit out of us if we pissed them off. Not a fan of outsourcing, the massive government censorship, or the human rights violations.

The two positives I'd see for that job are the travel and that you feel it would be easy.

I haven't had to deal with the experience thing much, but I think the worst thing about job hunting anywhere is the ****ers who tell you they'll let you know either way and never bother. No ****ing common courtesy anymore.

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:59 pm

Thanks.

Sir Auros wrote:The two positives I'd see for that job are the travel and that you feel it would be easy.

If it was those two things without the "go and help **** people over in the states" part, I wouldn't mind that at all. But as it is...

Sir Auros wrote:I haven't had to deal with the experience thing much, but I think the worst thing about job hunting anywhere is the ****ers who tell you they'll let you know either way and never bother. No ****ing common courtesy anymore.

That is so true. I've had the same thing happen to me I don't know how many times. I had to call up the company after a their date of a promised answer and pretty much ask, "well?"

Another thing I noticed is that companies in general, this time around, are really, really slow in getting back to you. I asked a headhunter why this was, so take it with a grain of salt, and he said that it's due to the economy and companies evaluating to make sure they have the right candidate.

Post by **Warcry** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:47 am

Civ wrote:Companies want entry-level candidates to have 2 years of experience? I hope they mean 0 to 2 because otherwise, they're idiots.

It's nonsense, isn't it? Where are entry-level people going to get experience if they can't get hired without two years of experience? I mean, shit, I graduated at the top of my class from a damn good university almost a year ago, and I can't get an entry-level job doing what I went to school for. None of my classmates that I'm still in touch with can either, except for the one who moved to Malaysia.

I could almost understand it if there were a glut of experienced people in my line of work out there waiting to be hired, but there aren't. These entry-level jobs that aren't being filled by recent grads simply aren't getting filled at all. They just get posted online or in the paper again, week after week and month after month. It all seems like a tremendous waste of time to me...for the amount of time that companies spend trying to find a 'perfect' candidate, they could easily hire a recent grad, train them to do whatever they need and maybe, just maybe end up with someone who'll want to stay at the company for more than a year instead of a job-hopping mercenary who'll be out of there as soon as he gets a chance.

No, I'm not bitter at all. What gave you that impression?

Sir Auros wrote:I haven't had to deal with the experience thing much, but I think the worst thing about job hunting anywhere is the ****ers who tell you they'll let you know either way and never bother. No ****ing common courtesy anymore.

Word.

If you're only going to get in touch with the successful candidate, fine. Say so. It might annoy people a little bit, but having a recruiter look you in the eye and lie is going to leave a negative impression that lasts a lot longer.

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Wed May 07, 2008 9:15 am

Wait, so this is happening in Canada as well? If so, then crap, I was thinking of applying to some jobs up there.

Clogs · Post by **Clogs** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:42 pm

Like the headhunter says, it's the economy. This was the case in the UK back in the early-mid 80s, when I graduated - the application criteria for just about everything required years of experience for the lowest entry grade i.e. the cheapest. This even applied to temporary jobs. I couldn't even get work in a shop or as a picker/packer for which I had gained experience while an undergraduate. Heh, ended up working for the Unemployment Benefit Office along with numerous other graduates.

I am now in the rebranded Jobcentre Plus and we have jobs no one can fill. Every candidate is unsuitable, even after the vacancies have been reviewed and, potentially, rewritten. There is also a trend towards e-mail or on-line job applications; it's getting silly when some of the lowest jobs (socially) can only be applied for electronically. And, to be truthful, a lot of jobs are placed by agencies seeking potential names for their books rather than real employers.

Post by **Sades** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:22 pm

Saskatchewan is currently looking to boost its influx of workers... there are a lof of jobs, if you don't mind the trades or flipping burgers at Mickey D's, that is- not sure what the job outlook for more trained worjkers is, all I hear about is the 12/hr jobs at places like McDs' or Canadian Tire.

Y'try temping? Or other staffing agencies? I'm not sure if that's what you meant by "headhunters" or not, but from my experiences and the experiences of others I know, it seems quite a few decent employers work through staffing firms.

Sorry to hear about the losses, guys...

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:33 pm

That's what I am, now. I'm a temp and I'm sick of being one. No benefits, no vacation, no 401k, no nothing -- basically, I'm cheap labor bar anything from China. If I somehow manage to retire, it'll be a miracle. Only reason I am doing it is to try and fill these ridiculous experience requirements, which I thought I did when I hit the 3-year mark; however, no such luck. Now, it's 5 to 7 unlike a couple years ago. There are still some 3-year positions but they are way too few and yes, I'm using probably...*pauses for a moment*...damn...at least a dozen different headhunters/agencies.

Other nice, little problem that's rearing it's ugly head and biting me hard in the ass while trying to get a permanent position -- since I'm a temp, I have to hop around to different places. So what do companies interpret that as? That I'm a job-hopper (really, not making it up, they told me this), nevermind it says "Contract" on my positions in my resume in bold, they seem to ignore it. I've been interviewed and was asked, "why did you have so many jobs?" Cue the facepalming pic -- because I'm a ****ing temp, it's the nature of the position. You go where you're needed and wanted. When they're done with you, you're pretty much pitched like the morning trash.

So basically, I need the temp jobs to gain experience to finally get a permanent position; however, the temp jobs are hurting me in obtaining one since I'm now a "job-hopper". Catch 22, anyone?

Sorry, didn't mean to rant and rave and I'm not mad at anyone on this board. I'm just so sick of the bullshit that is job searching.