I’ll need it. I called today to set up a time for the phone interview (next Monday,) and while the lady was searching in her files for my resume, she casually mentioned it was hard to find, since she had over 300 applicants to look through.
:eek: 300?! Fuck me, I’ll just give up now. 
300? Damn. The last time I was job hunting, when I was invited for an in-person interview, usually in a far-flung city, I always asked about how many other people they were interviewing. If there were a lot, I passed. I’m not going to drop $500 to $1,000 to fly to another city, rent a car, get a hotel room, and so on, if I’m one of ten candidates they’re interviewing in person.
Anyhow … I’m losing hope, not just for finding a job in the area, but also anywhere in the country. Why? I was fired from a planning job five and a half years ago. Basically, I was hired to replace a “wunderplanner” that had previously worked for the agency for several years. The agency expected that I’d be able to pick up right where they left off, complete with the institutional knowledge that only comes with working at a place for years, from day one. There was mutual frustration, and a pretty bad personality conflict between me and an abrasive supervisor. By the time I was getting up to speed, they asked me to resign.
I had a phone interview yesterday with a small but growing community in Indiana. Things were going well, until I was asked about a one-year gap in my resume. I told them about that job, told them I was asked to resign, and offered the explanation described in the previous paragraph, only without mentioning the personality conflict. From there, it went downhill; their tone was less upbeat, and they tried to wrap things soon afterward. I was told they they’d make a decision who to being in for a live interview before the end of the day, and that if I was chosen I should expect a phone call before 5:00.
Me: “Well, hopefully I’ll be hearing from you soon.”
Them: "Yup. Bye. " [click]
They never called.
I saw the on-line bio of the person that previously held that municipality’s planning director position. I think I am more qualified and experienced, but with a firing followed by a layoff, employers probably see more red flags than a Soviet May Day parade after they talk to me.
With the current state of the job market, employers probably have their choice of planners to chose from, the majority of which probably don’t have a black mark of a firing on their permanent record.
Tell me the truth. It’s hopeless, isn’t it? I feel like I’m never going to find a job as a planner again, except maybe for some far-off-the-beaten-path shitsburg that pays half the market wage.
300 applicants would probably mean maybe 30-40 phone interviews, if that, so you’ve beaten 90% of the others already. Hang in there.
Had an interview Monday with the Much Longer Hours co. and their “part-time” position would have entailed around one third full-time plus overtime. I said it would be manageable, but really couldn’t sound enthusiastic about it as I’d said in my application and in the brief phone call that I’m still putting time with my kid ahead of everything else. Only available during school hours.
Oh well, I figured they’d no intention of hiring me anyway - especially when one of the interviewers said “Oh, you’ll have no problem finding work!”
Then the next day I get a call from the other interviewer saying I’d made the final two and it was incredibly close, but they’d just (at 6.30pm!!! I was cooking dinner after homework, games and cuddles with the kid) decided to go with the other applicant.
I thanked her for her time and said I thought she’d made the correct choice.
Phew!
Right-ho, that’s the joke jobs out of the way, yeah? Now I can interview (tomorrow) for a real job, where the hours and situation are actually what they’ve advertised, yeah?
may i join?
bad news got laid off. good news i’m getting a house mate for a bit, and got a good severance package.
figured out the unemployment thing.
so i’ve spent last week and this week clearing out room for him.
one cat sick. and a newby trying to settle in. gotta love the unexpected vet bills.
getting ready for the temp agency rounds, and following up on places i applied before i was laid off.
Welcome. Sorry to hear about the bad news.
Good luck with the follow-ups, rocking chair.
Cross fingers everyone - today’s interview was the one that mattered. A feel good job that would utilise the skills I have and give me room to grow. Of all the jobs I’ve applied for, it’s actually got me excited at the thought of going in there and getting started. I won’t say any more in case of jinxes.
Best of luck to us all.
Sending lucky thoughts your way!
rc, damn, we’re always sorry to gain a new member here. Hope your search goes well!
Yay for me! I got an email from another company that wants to schedule a phone interview.
Well, since I didn’t get the last job I had after the phone interview, I can only assume I wasn’t that good. So any tips? I gave as many specific examples as I could for their questions of “do you have any experience doing <blank>?,” but for some, I didn’t have any. And I probably didn’t ask enough questions of them, so what’s a good set of questions to ask for an engineering position?
I don’t know nothing 'bout no engineering – but think through the information you need in order to evaluate whether the job is something you want, and whether it’s something that you could do, in terms of job skills you have and resources available to you. Write these down, and spend some time grouping them into some semblence of order. The person calling should provide most of this info in his or her spiel, but if he or she doesn’t, those are questions to ask. They indicate that you know enough about the job to know what you need in order to do it.
Not sure what you mean by “I gave as many specific examples as I could,” but, respectfully, my advice is don’t over-sell and end up talking too much. Give your one or two best examples for each question. If you want them to know that you have lots of experience in a particular area, you can preface by saying something like “I have very extensive experience with . Two of many examples I could give you are [A] and **.”
The flip side (no experience) is harder. Before the interview, try to think of which areas they are likely to ask about where your experience is not strong, and decide what your answers will be. IMO, the best way to approach this is to admit a lack of direct experience (you pretty much have to admit it if you don’t have it), but then point out an application or function you did that is similar, or qualities you have that will make that function easy for you to learn or assume. So:
“Do you have any experience doing [blank]?”
“Not [blank], no, but I have worked with [similar program/situation/problem] and [ . . . embroider a bit on your similar experience].” OR:
“Do you have any experience doing [blank]?”
“No, but I’m and fast learner and I’m eager to expand my skill-set, so I know I could pick it up quickly and I’d like the opportunity to do so.”
Good luck!
I was supposed to get a phone call for my interview at 2 PM…it’s now 3 PM (and yes, she said 2 PM eastern time.) I know she was also meant to call me, because she asked for the best number to reach me at.
Should I have called her? Should I call her now? 
Hang tough – she got caught up in something else, probably.
twicks, who’s supposed to hear “by the end of the day Monday” if she got the temp job or not …
OK, I’m off. Well, not literally. My flight doesn’t leave for another 6 hours, but after I finish a few last posts I’m shutting down the computer, finishing packing and stuff.
Send lucky thoughts my way.
Yes, call, but be prepared for them to tell you it’s your mistake, and they’ve been waiting for you to call.
Called, no answer, left a message saying maybe I missed her cal, or I was mistaken and was supposed to call her, and asked for her to call me back so we can re-schedule.
Hopefully I didn’t hose myself out of a job. I still have (in theory) an interview at 10:30 tomorrow morning, though. But I’m less hopeful about that one.
Don’t actually say you were mistaken. Say something like, "It was my understanding you were to call me but perhaps there was a misunderstanding between you. Also, if you couldn’t have missed the call because you were there, don’t say you might have. Instead, say someting like you want to verify that she has the correct number, because you haven’t received any calls.
Oh well, for next time maybe.
well, poo!
i had applied on line for a job. i was unable to attach my resume to it, so i went in person to drop it off.
the person at the desk was the manager. we spoke for a bit. he was very interested in me and said he would check on line to see my appl. i told him that i tend not to do well on the multi-question personality thingies. he said he didn’t think it would be a problem. said he would get back to me.
today, i went on my temp agency rounds. kelly looking good. got an appt. at pa careerlink. careersusa seems to have disappeared. name is off the building, brown kraft paper on the windows.
i stopped by to follow up with the manager. he told me the online appl. came back red. it doesn’t give a reason, they just colour code them red, yellow, or green. he told me he would hire me on the spot, but can’t over ride the colour.
what is the deal with these icky personality test things. i’m betting this is why i got hired by b. daltons (no test) over borders (test).
red and yellow (along with orange and purple) are not my favourite colours. i’ve always liked blue, green, black, and grey. how on earth do i get that appl. to go with my fav. colour?
I took a skills test this morning that a company had emailed to me, and considered not even sending it back in when time was up, I thought I did so badly. But then a few minutes ago, the person who sent me the test called me and said they want me to come in for an interview on Friday.
Anybody else find this kind of thing an emotional roller coaster, and exhausting?
VERY! I have had four recruiters from four different companies calling me over the last two weeks for the same (single) position. That’s all well and good but so far nothing is happening.
Guess the lesson I’m supposed to be getting out of this is patience. But I still haven’t learned it. Not in the least.