I’ve been looking for work for about three months now, and while Calgary is having a fantastic boom, and everyone is looking to hire people, in spite of my wonderful qualifications, for some reason they’re not looking to hire ME. I keep running into dead-ends in my job search which are getting quite frustrating. I don’t want all that much; I want a job in the north half of town so I don’t spend two hours a day on the bus or stuck in traffic, and I want to work in accounting. I’m starting to feel like I’m asking for the moon here, but I know that’s not the case; I guess I just have to be patient, but I want a good job two months ago. Maybe fate doesn’t want me to work; it’s kinda feeling like that right now, as I run into glitch after glitch. I have to go mow the lawn now. At least I have yard work to keep me busy. Maybe I should mow other people’s lawns, too. That would bring in a little money.
I’m at that frustrating point where I’m getting a reasonable amount of interviews, but not being hired. Mostly, I think it is because I don’t have much EXPERIENCE–how can I get experience if you won’t hire me?
Once in a while, I interview for a position where I fear I’m overqualified, and they don’t hire me for fear I’ll run away in 3 months to a better position.
I keep thinking I ought to apply for a local minimum wage type position, but I hate to do that. Firstly, because I’d hate my job. Secondly, because then it becomes harder to say “sure, I can interview at 9:30 am tomorrow”(True story. Granted it was 15 minutes away from my apartment–but I’m darn glad I drove over yesterday afternoon to check it out). Thirdly, because I’m afraid I’d really get pissed if no one wanted to hire me for min. wage work. Fourthly, because I can’t decide which place I should apply for min. wage work.
I just started a part time job that’ll help contribute to the household bills, but really, it’s not quite enough at 17 hours per week. I’m still looking for a second job, and bureaucracy makes it all the tougher; I really wish that getting a library job near me wasn’t so difficult. ::sigh::
Hubby still hasn’t found a decent job since he got downsized in 2001. He’s managed to find a succession of crap/temp/sub jobs, but nothing that’s terribly good for the self-esteem. Right now he’s working full-time (as a janitor) but looking to get out because the PTB are pretty much making it financially impossible for him to stay. Pretty sad when you have a full-time job and you’re still pretty much living off your wife.
I’m starting to remember why I always take crappy jobs - because I panic at the lack of response and lack of money and take the first thing that comes along.
No ice cream for me no pity for you ! Keep your head up and don’t prostitute yourself to the first john (job) that smiles at you . The money thing , well , if you must take a job , keep looking until you find one you like. If there is one thing I’ve learned it’s always easier to find one when you already have one than when you don’t.
I haven’t started an active job search yet, but I plan to in the next couple of months. I’m concerned because I’ve been poking at online job sites, and despite my education and newfound experience, the only jobs I can really apply for are entry-level gigs that pay less than what I’m making now. I’d like to move up, not down, thanks.
I do see the occasional opening that I’d be perfect for, then I get depressed because it’s too early to apply and it’ll probably be gone in a week.
featherlou, are you making the rounds of the agencies? Best jobs I got in Cowgary were through agencies. A lot of companies recruit by hiring a temp and keeping her if they like her.
Sometimes you need to step back to go ahead. The best-paid job I ever had resulted from a temp assignment with the worst pay I’d had in years. They kept me and my salary doubled in two years. So if you see a job that looks like a good job in a good company with opportunities for advancement, I’d go for it.
This is one of my frustrating glitches - temp agency online applications and testing (and other company online applications) are not compatible with macs. We have macs. I’m going to my husband’s job after work to use his pc there to get registered with a couple of agencies. I hadn’t anticipated this - macs are not job-search friendly.
I need to pay off remaining fees from last year before I can register for my fourth (and last) year of school, on top of needing to raise money for next year’s courses. And I’ve sent out my resume a billion times and gone out to all the interviews, but so far, nobody’s hired yet.
A good friend recommended a Career Fair for me to attend last Monday. I put on the pinstripe, braved the pouring rain the $6 toll and the $30 parking fee and went. Got there to find it was a Diversity Job Fair. I put on a smile and a good attitude & did my best to make it work anyway. Almost all the recruiters were OK with me talking about my skillsets, what I can offer and letting me submit a resume. One did shake my hand and say while looking me straight in the eye, “Keep your resume. You can apply on-line if you think you have skills we can use.” :rolleyes:
Surprise of the day: a federal agency indicated they’d like me to apply. I explained that I’m only in slightly better than cubicle shape; I can’t run 20 miles with a mouthful of water & spit it out into a bowl at the end w/o losing a drop like all those Special Agents can. Still, I have a varied background and everybody can use back-office people somehow. (I actually can run 5 miles; just not for any decent time.)
A recruiter wants me in his office tomorrow. He wanted me to break down my salary needs into an hourly rate (ie what can we bill you at while not giving you any benefits). I told him I’m looking at fulltime only and I’ll be in Manhattan again tomorrow. knock on wood
Another annoyance of job searching:
Dear Mom and Dad:
I know you only worry about me because you love me, but I am neither on the brink of starvation nor the brink of homelessness (although I do need to decide soon whether or not to renew my lease). Yes, getting a job, any job would be nice. But when you nag, it pisses me off, and does not make me more likely to go out and find a job.
Oh no! Macs = bad. Microsoft took over the world, dontcha know?
Some temp agencies used to let people practice their MS Office skills in their training rooms so you could try asking them. A few agencies used to offer benefits when you’d worked for them a while, which is nice. I don’t know if The Personnel Departmet’s still there but I liked them. I see there’s an Accountemps there - they specialize in accounting people. You might also want to check the City of Calgary - seems to me they were always hiring people. I did a temp assignment for them - they seemed to be nice folks.
Holy moly! The online Yellow Pages has 210 listings for Calgary employment agencies! They won’t all be looking for accounting types but zowie - that’s a heckuva lot of agencies. Good luck. You might wear yourself out just applying to them!
I’ve been looking for a job since last Thursday and I think I can get my old job back, but the manager won’t be back in town till this Thursday. I’m pretty confident I have the job though. This is just a part-time job while I go to school full-time though.
