job-seeker contacts/advice

[GAME05]

I've been at my government job for seven years now and the new people they're bringing on at my level are making more than me. Morale is so low right now that lots of people are looking to leave.

I also have a house which comes with my job which I pay $100/mo for. Despite losing the house when I leave/retire, that ends up being enough of a benefit that I have doubts I'll be able to find an equivalent-paying job elsewhere. Plus I'd have to stay in government work to keep my pension. So I think I'm pretty well stuck.

[wallus]

On 5/21/2022 at 8:41 AM, wallus said:

Hiring for my family's seasonal business is a nightmare right now. We have a lot of open spots and I would prefer to not scrape the bottom of the barrel if at all possible since the workers need to face the general public. If we can't find workers for easy work (not physical whatsoever) at over $20 an hour, things will be closed at our place.

We used to get a ton of teens and retired age people to apply but we have gotten very few so far.

Sigh, rant over.

The right social media post finally got a ton of applications so we should be good now. Hooray!

[GAME05]

I did some job-searching yesterday and the jobs I could get pay roughly what I'm making now (shocker, I know). But the big problem is I pay $100/mo in rent for work housing now, and a new job would be $800/mo with a roommate, so overall a drop in earnings. Although I do consider that a regular 8-5 schedule is way better than the permanent night shift/holidays/weekends work that I'm on and that in itself has some amount of value. I have to sacrifice a lot of social outlets for this job (difficult when you're single and worse with a family) and that has me feeling pretty lonely.

But especially if I hope to retire in 12-ish years, I think I'm pretty well stuck here because I can't afford to sacrifice a penny of income. As bad as morale is here with no opportunities for a raise and new hires making more than veterans, that's largely the reaction a lot of people are having here, that they're pretty well stuck.

Adding to it there's a certain fear that if I changed jobs and the economy got worse, that I would be taking on the higher risk of getting laid off as that "last in, first out" employee. 

[Baldkin]

I absolutely hate recruiters that cold call me.

Does this actually work?

Email me with the job description. Don't call me and ask, "Well, I'm looking at your resume, what are you looking for?"

I've been doing virtually the same job for 10 years. What the heck do you think I'm looking for, you sleezy salesman? 

[nate82]

2 hours ago, Baldkin said:

I absolutely hate recruiters that cold call me.

Does this actually work?

Email me with the job description. Don't call me and ask, "Well, I'm looking at your resume, what are you looking for?"

I've been doing virtually the same job for 10 years. What the heck do you think I'm looking for, you sleezy salesman? 

If you say what are you looking for after saying you read the resume you obviously did not read the resume.  Kind of a rant here sorry but this is a pet peeve of mine.  If you say you read something then you shouldn't be asking what are you looking for.  The resume tells you what the person is doing.  The question should be are you willing to work in a different industry or profession.  Not what are you looking for.  It just makes you sound lazy and that you didn't even look at the resume.

I know the recruiters can't possibly look at every resume but please do not say you looked at it when you didn't.  It comes off as shady and makes you sound lazy and sleazy. 

[NeedMoreFans]

I am a teacher and this past year burned me out more than any year has.  It was absolutely terrible, so I started applying for new jobs.  After several interviews, I was offered a job as an academic advisor at UW.  Three other former teachers from my school work there and all three said they absolutely love it and don't regret their decision.  The problem I'm facing is that the starting salary they are offering me is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than what I will make next school year should I return.  The new job would mean far less stress, a better work/life balance, and potential opportunities for advancement and career growth, but I am having a difficult time with the salary being so much lower.  

[GAME05]

I have the same issue at my job but am pretty well stuck here for two reasons: I can't afford to both retire and take a pay cut; I worry in this recession that if I were to take a new job that I could wind up being a "last in, first out" layoff.

[NeedMoreFans]

That's one of the benefits of being a public employee; they will furlough before they lay people off.  My wife and I are going through our finances to see if it will work.  It will take me a minimum of three/four years for me to get my salary back up to where it is, and the only way to do that is by applying for other jobs that are posted once I get experience under my belt.  

[madbad2000]

1 hour ago, NeedMoreFans said:

That's one of the benefits of being a public employee; they will furlough before they lay people off.  My wife and I are going through our finances to see if it will work.  It will take me a minimum of three/four years for me to get my salary back up to where it is, and the only way to do that is by applying for other jobs that are posted once I get experience under my belt.  

Quality of life is a major consideration and one that I just talked about with my wife today.  It is really hard to come up with an economic equivalent, but for us it is one of our biggest factors in choosing a just or location to live.  

[Jimbo]

On 6/6/2022 at 9:50 PM, Jimbo said:

zurch - thank you for the advice.  I can only read the second link.  I'll have to wait until I'm done working this gig. to go out and make the rounds.  The thing is, many places no longer have a receptionist.  I'm not doing anything differently than in year's past, and I had always gotten a 75% success rate.  I'm in a niche field and its always been hard to find people in my profession.  My current place only interviewed two others beside myself and went with someone else.

Well, I just finished my first week at my new place.  Got it through the agency/recruiter that placed me last time.  Nailed with one interview, a Teams meeting from my brother's apartment in JAX.  It was nice to take a 13-day road trip, see my brother, attend a Brewers game in Tampa and have a job waiting for me when I came back.

 

[zurch1818]

Awesome Jimbo! Congrats! Glad to hear you landed something. Hopefully this new place has a great culture that matches what you were looking for and also gives you an opportunity to add value to the company and gives you room to grow.

[jerichoholicninja]

Funny things happen when you live and work in a small community.

I was hired in April. The guy who hired me had offered me a different job at a different place about 7 years ago but I turned it down. I was hoping he wouldn't remember me and that I did that and take it into consideration when making their selection for this job. I don't know if he did or not but it never came up. Since then he's retired. Funny enough, his replacement had rejected me for a job during that job search 7 years ago. The job I'm currently hired for was supposed to be temporary and in my first meeting with my new boss he told he's going to try to get me hired permanently.

[GAME05]

May be an interesting next few weeks. Rumor that a higher-up will demote himself to the position I'm applying for (fine, as he has a positive reputation), but worse that my one friend near here I also golf with may transfer farther away. There --might-- be a position opening there for me, in which case I may well try to transfer over there, myself. More money here with no friends around is probably less valuable than staying at low pay with two friends to golf with, even though I kinda need the money to retire with.

[GAME05]

Just came out of the interview for the promotion. If rumors of the other applicants is true I should have a good shot at the offer.

I've decided that IF I get the offer, I'll accept on the condition that I be able to interview for another park opening which should probably happen soon. Socially, moving would mean two golfing buddies instead of none (since my friend here is likely to move), back to my old church, and a lot more day shifts means I could pursue more athletic/social clubs. Same pay instead of a 30% bump is a hit, but it seems to me that the social improvements would make it worthwhile.

There's a nervousness in being told I can apply but magically not being the best candidate to actually get it, though I'd just have to lean on my supervisor who's been up-front with me about all other things. I've been told there's no policy against it, but realistically I'm sure HR isn't keen on someone accepting one position only to have them try and get out of it a couple weeks later.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm in the process of getting my things together to apply for a job and the job posting says they want "a detailed letter of interest". Not having a clue what that is I googled it and everything I see about letter of interest says that this is for when you aren't applying for a specific job whereas a cover letter should be tailored to the job posting. But in this case, there is a specific job. So...what do I do?

[owbc]

6 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

I'm in the process of getting my things together to apply for a job and the job posting says they want "a detailed letter of interest". Not having a clue what that is I googled it and everything I see about letter of interest says that this is for when you aren't applying for a specific job whereas a cover letter should be tailored to the job posting. But in this case, there is a specific job. So...what do I do?

I would interpret that one as a red flag. Who is going to waste the time with that on an initial application? 

[jerichoholicninja]

3 minutes ago, owbc said:

I would interpret that one as a red flag. Who is going to waste the time with that on an initial application? 

Who wants to waste their time on a cover letter, ever? ?

It's a job with our city's rec department. I'm somewhat familiar with the department and who my supervisor and some of my co-workers would be so I'm not really concerned about any issues working with the department. This is probably just some lazy HR mistake. But since this is going to the HR person I want to give them what they want. Not that I know what that is.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

16 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

I'm in the process of getting my things together to apply for a job and the job posting says they want "a detailed letter of interest". Not having a clue what that is I googled it and everything I see about letter of interest says that this is for when you aren't applying for a specific job whereas a cover letter should be tailored to the job posting. But in this case, there is a specific job. So...what do I do?

I think that is just an odd way of saying Cover Letter.

[owbc]

Oh, I guess government jobs are a different world. Yeah gotta check all the boxes on those applications or it will lead to an auto-rejection. Even if the cover letter just says "see my resume" haha. 

I was on a couple of hiring committees when I had a university job. I've never seen a process that was so perfectly designed to reject all of the candidates that would actually do the job well. 

[LouisEly]

5 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

I'm in the process of getting my things together to apply for a job and the job posting says they want "a detailed letter of interest". Not having a clue what that is I googled it and everything I see about letter of interest says that this is for when you aren't applying for a specific job whereas a cover letter should be tailored to the job posting. But in this case, there is a specific job. So...what do I do?

I'm hearing from a number of places that people are applying with no interest (so they can keep collecting unemployment), don't show up for the interview, etc.  Have to go through dozens of applicants to find someone legitimately interested.  My guess is it's to weed those out who aren't really interested.

[GAME05]

Ugh, had my first row with a co-worker who would be my barely-subordinate if I get the job. Bit of a power thing and an argument which was pretty well going to end up happening one day or another. But I'm not the controlling type who needs to learn to let things go, rather more easy-going and prefer control to happen at the lowest levels possible, so I'm aware that the downside to that is I can get pushed around, so it's probably good this happened.

[GAME05]

I didn't get the promotion. Kinda thought I would. Though I guess considering I only wanted the position for the money and didn't really want the stress, maybe it's for the best.

Also didn't get my bonus pay because the new policy is if you just have an interest in the promotion, that disqualifies you from the bonus, which is asinine.

They made one person run an entire park for six months because it saved them money. It's no wonder everyone in the Division is looking to leave.

[Jimbo]

I'm on a nine-month contract-to-hire.  I have a pretty good feeling they will keep me on when the contract is up.  However, this means no benefits (PTO, holiday pay, insurance, etc.).  It's starting to become a bit frustrating when everyone else is hired directly and using their benefits.  I am off all week, so that means my 6 January paycheck will be a fat $0.00.  So my question is, if I file for UE, is it on the agency, would they pass it along, and would it tick off the company I am at?  Or shall I suck it up and stay on everyone's good graces?

 

[nate82]

On 12/27/2022 at 11:48 PM, Jimbo said:

I'm on a nine-month contract-to-hire.  I have a pretty good feeling they will keep me on when the contract is up.  However, this means no benefits (PTO, holiday pay, insurance, etc.).  It's starting to become a bit frustrating when everyone else is hired directly and using their benefits.  I am off all week, so that means my 6 January paycheck will be a fat $0.00.  So my question is, if I file for UE, is it on the agency, would they pass it along, and would it tick off the company I am at?  Or shall I suck it up and stay on everyone's good graces?

 

Unemployment is based on who is paying you.  So if your paychecks are coming from the agency then the unemployment claim goes against the agency and not the company you are working at.  Technically you are working for the agency and not the company you are working at. 

You would need to look at how the agency handles unemployment claims.  They may fight it because you didn't ask them if there are any temporary jobs available for the holidays for you to work at. 

[jerichoholicninja]

I got a message through Indeed from an employer asking me to apply for their job. I had actually considered applying for it earlier but decided against because it was just out of range of how far I was willing to travel but if they were interested in me I figured I'd put my name out there and see what happens. Within an hour of applying I got another notification that I was not chosen for the job. I'm not mad I just had to laugh. My resume is visible and they clearly saw it and were interested in me so I have no idea what they were thinking.