There are not enough :rolleyes: in the world to respond to this. Read the post I quoted when I said I was a motorized trike salesman. I was OBVIOUSLY saying that as a metaphor for a person that advises others on how to get around the law.
At the risk of also sounding like an asshole, I would recommend putting more effort into networking than submitting anonymous resumes online. Or just call up companies. The smaller the better. Big companies tend to be slow, methodical and beurocratic. Small companies, you can speak to the head and he can tell you right away if he needs someone. And if he likes you, chances are he’ll just bring you on since he propably doesn’t want to spend a year looking for the ideal candidate.
In my first job out of college, after unsuccessfully sending over 200 resumes and cover letters (no internet yet), I eventually picked up the Yellow Pages and basically called every civil engineering, construction and related business in an hour radius. Fortunatly I landed a job in my home town once I got to the “D” s.
On the assumption that you are indeed a tax lawyer, there are, indeed, more than 2000 people able to do your job. I’m not going to bother arguing with you further on this point because it’s so easily refutable.
[sub]unless you want to nitpick and say “…and are tax lawyers in my jurisdiction?” in which case I say "God damn, anyone can subspecify until they narrow their jobs down to being the only person out of 6 billion on this planet to be able to do it[/sub]
Unless you are Carter Phillips I sincerely doubt that.
So true. I have some fairly specialized skills in email marketing, and in the last 7-8 months I’ve found all of about 4 or 5 openings in that, and two of them disappeared in the middle of the interview process because of hiring freezes/sudden loss of budget. Of course I still apply for other graphic/web design jobs, but these are the jobs that have 300, 400, 500 applicants for each opening; despite the fact that email design and web design have a hell of a lot of overlap in skills, people have pigeonholed me as the “email designer” instead of a “web designer” and won’t consider me even though I could to either or both; and a lot of companies are creating combo-jobs now, making one opening out of what used to be three positions, where I’m a perfect fit except for one skill – which means I don’t have a chance because they’ll wait for someone who does have everything.
I am trying to branch out, but photography equipment is expensive and I have no income – you see the problem there. There are also very few photography jobs – I think I’ve seen three, two of which were part-time freelance gigs, and yes I applied to all three. All creative fields are very hard hit.
And I’ve tried things like programming classes. I suck at programming, IT, hardware, networking. I didn’t choose creative fields by throwing darts at a list, it’s what I’m good at. There are many things I just don’t have an aptitude for. I could take accounting classes, that still won’t ever make me a good accountant. It certainly won’t land me in an accounting job over people with more experience and far better aptitude, and I’d be bored and miserable in accounting (or programming) anyway.
Sigh. Was chatting with guy-from-bus-stop this morning about this stuff, and he suggested that my artistic style (he said he thought a person like me would have a “strong independent streak” and he ain’t wrong 
) would be my saving grace. Unfortunately I could counter him with the tale of the email marketing gig I lost for not being “big corporate” enough. So honestly, no matter what I do, I can’t win. Not before things loosen up quite a bit, and I don’t have any control over that.
Clueless and no sense of humor? The man of my dreams has been FOUND!
Or, possibly, like you saying something condescending and off-topic on a messageboard but refusing to acknowledge that it was either condescending or off-topic… and I say, “Rand, you know what, that was condescending and off-topic, and would you please stop it?”
I will give hog kong the befit of the doubt that it was a joke. However, in another thread, Duke posted that same link in all seriousness even after I gave him several opportunities to say he was just joking, and he then insisted that I meant it literally. Also, Biggirl is still a big fat liar.
That’s in instances where “several” means “one, followed by an explanation so convoluted it makes a toddler’s explanation of how the juice cup wound up on the floor sound legit.” Oh, with a random “if you’re man enough to believe my cockamamie story” thrown in.
I’ll give you this, Rand, you don’t give up grudges easy.
Especially if the job title is Director of Douchosity.
Assistant Administrator of Asshattery
I think you’re as much tax lawyer as motorized trike salesman. And fuck I wish I would have picked Hog Kong, I kinda like it that way.
You are the king of misunderstanding posts. Do you still think that the motorized trike salesman post is an “inconsistency” I’ve posted about myself?
Also, I’m not holding a grudge, just remembering who"s an idiot so I can interpret their posts accordingly and give all due credence to their opinions.
I personally do not think there is any need for the Jobcentre.
I’ll explain a few things to you Quartz that you may not be aware of, and its why that 2000 applications is complete twaddle.
Two years ago Blair and his cronies put out a specification for companies to tender for.
The idea was that as usual, the public sector cannot do anything right, such as assist folk into work, and so it should be put out to the market.
It turned out two companies were selected, both Australian, with no presence in the UK, but they happened to be the lowest bidders. In turn these companies then subcontracted to organisations such as BEST and E4L - look up the complaints about them, they are many and varied.
Well, you get what you pay for, and having attended varioous teacher training courses alongside their employees, I can tell you that these staff are extremely limited in scope and ability.
One of the main remits of these Australian companies was to ‘assist the long term sick into work’ - many of these were actually put on long term sick during the previous recession under Thatcher to massage the unemployment figures, but its a process that has been kept bang up to date - why spoil a good massage when it works, so this process of putting perfectly healthy people on the sick because they live in areas of already high unemployment - continues.
Problem is that when you have been on long term sick, even if it is a fabrication, no employer in their right mind would take you on, not when there are other, proven workers.
These agencies have been given unprecedented powers, bearing in mind that they are commercial organisations, they can stop or severely reduce your benefits, and for almost any reason that they wish. There is an almost automatic process of withholding benefit, getting this decision turned down on first appeal, and then getting it reinstated on second appeal, its just a system to fuck people about.
The idea is to make life so difficult that you will just roll over and capitulate.
Problem of course is that there are far more unemployed than posts, the only jobs being created are those jobs that attempt to find work for the unemployed, and those posts that are available require skills that few of the applicants have.
Now this is the part where it directly affects youQuartz
In order to ensure continuity of benefits, ‘jobseekers’ are compelled to go to some nearby local community centre where these ‘jobseeker’ courses are being held. When they are there, the jobseekers must produce evidence of jobseeking - and they are provided with large numbers of newspapers, trade magazines and the like - these are often many months out of date.
What the jobseeker does is fill out application forms, day after day, and these are sent off day after day, all this system does is count the number of applications the jobseeker makes, it does not check to see if these applications are viable, appropriate there are minimal quality checks on these applications.
You will find that what you have is any company advertising for staff will be inundated with pointless and innappropriate job applications, whose authors have absolutely no hope, and often no desire, to fill the post.
Its a system for producing job applications, nothing else.
We could save the taxpayer a fortune if we simply did not have any of this nonsense, the market provides work, if an employer needs staff they can advertise in the local press, there is no need for a set of tax sucking leeches to sit in the middle forcing the unwilling and unsuitable into applications that will never bear fruit.
I’ve often wondered why industry needs government recruiting centres to find staff for them, seems pretty silly, if a job needs doing then the post will be filled sooner or later.
No, but it’s an example of how you’re not getting it. Like I said in the previous thread, you blew your stack because others had perceived an inconsistency. Anybody else would have just said at that point, “Yeah, I was kidding there.” Instead, you insulted several people who brought that up before you deigned to answer. Then you continued throwing insults.
As I was saying…
Are you TRYING to look like a jerk? Do you think throwing insult after insult at people makes anybody take you seriously?
What an utterly wretched plan! Jesus Marimba, it combines the cluelessness of bureaucracy with the heartlessness of capitalism.
I threw (and, in general, throw) insults only as a response to insults thrown at me.
Sure you do.
I wasn’t even in this thread and you felt the need to do it to me.
Also, Duke, you still don’t get it. I was not “kidding” in the motorized trike salesman post. I was using a metaphor.
Then why didn’t you just say that from post #1? Sheesh, man.