The Job Search. A Month and a Half and I Just Don't Give a Fuck Anymore

[EpicNonsense]

Unemployed since Auguest 2008. First legit interview tomorrow.

I can’t stand these e-applications these days. Sure, it’s great for companies, but it sucks for us job seekers who aren’t considered “the golden child.” No longer can you go and just hassle management for a job. Now they just hire whoever has the most relevant experience and education. You vs 300 other applicants: good luck.

I’m just hoping to be the only prospect for this current job or I won’t stand a chance, not in this day and age at least.

@Gatopescado

The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard are all hiring. Great benefit package.

Of course, they won’t hire me.

Heh. Thought I was the only one. I bet everyone tells you you can get in too, right?

[Broomstick]

I get that suggestion a lot, too. Well, even when I was 18 they didn’t want me. Now that I’m in my mid-40’s forget it. I just smile and say “thanks for the suggestion” because most folks are trying to be helpful, but while that might work for the younger crowd it’s not an option for me. If it was I’d certainly consider it.

[joebuck20]

@Broomstick

Right. But we are not permitted to bitch about this, even anonymously on an internet forum because that displays “bad attitude” and a half dozen people will come in and scold you and declare “I WOULD NEVER HIRE YOU!”.

People - folks NEED to vent somewhere. It really is horrible out there. If frustrated job-seekers aren’t allowed to vent at all they’re gonna explode. So just lay off the OP (and others) who have a legitimate reason to be worried/afraid/frustrated/pissed off.

If I get my bile and venom spewed here it makes it that much easier for me to plaster on the Happy Face and go out for another round of rejection. But Og forbid anyone display anything less than a happy chirpy emotion anywhere, right?

Exactly. Face it, in this economy it’s going to be extremely difficult to snag your dream job. The reality is you have to take pretty much whatever is available. If you can put on a happy face, deliver a good performance at an interview and then work your ass off once you actually get the job, more power to you.
And I’ve learned from experience that while having a positive attitude is never a bad thing, it really isn’t going to help you all that much. If your job sucks, it sucks. I hated my last job, but I also happened to have the highest productivity on our team, so I can’t say the lack of a positive attitude really hurt me much there.
I do agree with some of the other posters, however, that a month-and-a-half is nothing in this economy. My wife looked for over a year before snagging a part time job a few months ago. And that was mainly because I knew the guy who owned the place.
But just hang in there. Good luck.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Oakminster

Oh puh-lease. the guy comes here singing “Poor Little Me” after a whole month and a half of job searching. That just ain’t gonna cut it. He’s got to toughen the fuck up if he expects to get anywhere. That’s the way the world works.

You have a job. I have a job. We don’t get to tell the OP or anyone else who’s out of work to stop whining.

If Magiver wants to tell the OP to shut the fuck up in month 22 of his own job hunt, that’s a bit different.

[Broomstick]

Yes, oddly enough it seems it’s the people with the jobs most likely to tell the unemployed to quit whining…

Too Many Cats has just woke up to the reality of what it’s like out there looking for work these days. I had a similar reaction - all my working life I’d never been out of work longer than 2 weeks. Now I’ve been struggling 2 years. It sucks.

Forget dream jobs - it’s hard to get ANY job, any at all, right now. Survive first, then worry about climbing up/to where you want to be.

[msmith537]

@Two_Many_Cats

To all you shiny happy people out there, I heartily recommend Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America.

Never a truer word spoke. She suggests that some of our economic woes may have been caused by Wall Street’s refusal to acknowledge negative realities.

I saw Ehrenreich in an interview, but I haven’t read the book.

From my understanding of what it is about, I don’t think we are in disagreement. If I’m not mistaken, she is against the sort of “smile like an idiot and pretend everything is rainbows and sunshine all the time” attitude that prevents people from objectively viewing reality and taking appropriate action.

I’m talking about the same thing. Wallowing in self-pity and using it as an excuse for inactivity is just as bad. You don’t have to grin like an imbecile all the time, but you do need to force yourself to take steps towards reaching your goal (in your case finding a job). It’s ok to acknowlege that the economy sucks and not too many companies are hiring. But you still need to make calls and whatnot every day.

[Ann_Onimous]

Have any of you guys checked into the 2010 US Census? They are hiring nationwide. It’s temporary, but at least it might fill the gap. Here’s the link. The application and I-9 forms are online as well. The pay isn’t too bad, and to me it looks like a fun job.

Best of luck to all of you job hunting. I know it ain’t easy right now.

[BMalion]

@Oakminster

Six weeks and you’re frustrated? Sorry dude, but in this economy, you’ll be lucky to find something in six months. Employment is very much a buyers market these days. For every sucky job out there, there’s probably at least a hundred applicants. For the less-sucky to almost-decent jobs, double that figure.

Yessir, you got that right. I was unemployed for 51 weeks and 2 days. Almost a year. Finally got hired back by my old company and you know what I found? The worst day on the job beats the best day without job.

Really changed my attitude. I’m amazed at how nothing pisses me off or frustrates me these days.

[Chefguy]

Oh man, the misery of job-hunting. For 40 years I was never unemployed; not even for a day. Then I got downsized from a very high-paying job and spent eight months searching. It was frustrating, depressing and soul crushing. Finally, out of frustration, I went to an RV sales company and told them that I’d never sold anything but myself in my life, but would give it my best shot, and they hired me. Two months later I received another job offer, but at least the sales job kept my mind off of my misery. Sales isn’t all that much fun, but it could pay your bills for the time being while you’re searching.

[FallenAngel]

Most of my professional career has been spent in business to business technology marketing. I’ve won awards for my marketing campaigns, and every company I worked for saw a marked increase in sales and market share as a result of my efforts and the efforts of my co-workers on their behalf. I got cut from a job in late September/early October 2001, right as all the chickens from the .com collapse were really hitting.

For the next 26 months until I found another professional job I consulted, drove cab and did a little off the books work to bring in ANY money at all. It wasn’t nearly enough, and I’m only now finishing off undoing all the damage that period inflicted.

Over the course of those two years I put out more than 3,000 resumes, each one with an individual cover message specifically tailored to the position in question. I got maybe a dozen interviews total.

When I came in for my first unemployment review I had a dossier of several hundred positions I’d applied for, all done up in a spreadsheet noting initial contact dates, follow up dates and times, current status and/or final result. The unemployment officer said in her 15 years on the job she’d never seen anyone so diligently trying to find work.

I think, given the above, I understand to some degree your frustration. The gods know I went through swirling bouts of rage, depression, feelings of worthlessness, etc., despite the fact I knew I was damn good at my profession.

The thing is, you have to ignore all that crap and keep on doing it until it pays off. There may only be one fish in the water, and you may have to cast 3,000 times to get it to nibble, but if you don’t keep casting, you don’t get to eat.

Best of luck to you, and keep on.

[Two_Many_Cats]

@even_sven

Try the informational interview thing. Figure out the emails of people working in positions you’d like to work in and try to spend some time with them. It works.

How do I figure out e-mails? From the replies I get to applications online? Do I just go in and ask a receptionist to set up an “informational interview”? I don’t believe I’ve come across this method. Could you explain? Thanks.

[Oakminster]

@Broomstick

Or perhaps you just don’t understand that quite a few people who, suddenly running smack into today’s job hunting reality, have a moment of panic and it’s not cool to kick them when they’re down?

I’m not kicking anybody while they’re down. The OP asked for advice, and I offered the best advice I have to give. Apparently it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and obviously not what you want to hear. That does not make it bad advice.

[Kimmy_Gibbler]

@Oakminster

I’m not kicking anybody while they’re down. The OP asked for advice, and I offered the best advice I have to give. Apparently it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and obviously not what you want to hear. That does not make it bad advice.

No, to come up with that judgment, we rely on your so-called advice’s abrasive vacuity.

[Two_Many_Cats]

@Oakminster

I’m not kicking anybody while they’re down. The OP asked for advice, and I offered the best advice I have to give. Apparently it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and obviously not what you want to hear. That does not make it bad advice.

What advice? I’ve reread the responses, and the only thing you said was I would be lucky if I found a job in six months, and then you went off on some unprovoked rant about me not being tough enough for the world. Shall I wait six months, and then start punching beef carcasses or something?

[Oakminster]

@Two_Many_Cats

What advice? I’ve reread the responses, and the only thing you said was I would be lucky if I found a job in six months, and then you went off on some unprovoked rant about me not being tough enough for the world. Shall I wait six months, and then start punching beef carcasses or something?

No, you need to realize that a month and half of job searching is nothing in this economy, and you’re going to have to compete with everybody else that is looking for a job. Not giving a fuck after such a short time, and other responses you’ve posted indicate a negative attitude, and that is likely to make it even harder to find work. You need to quit singing “poor little me”, and keep trying to find a job. Do not expect pity or sympathy from an employer. They get to pick from dozens, if not hundreds of applicants for any job at the moment. If you want to win, you have to be the best candidate in the eyes of the person doing the hiring. Feeling sorry for yourself ain’t gonna make that happen. You’ve got to project a positive attitude, confidence, and competence. And toughen the fuck up.

[Oakminster]

@Kimmy_Gibbler

No, to come up with that judgment, we rely on your so-called advice’s abrasive vacuity.

I trust you know where to find the pit. If you want to continue this discussion, start a thread there.

[Broomstick]

@Juliana

Have any of you guys checked into the 2010 US Census?

Yes.

I worked for them last year. It was a good job in that I enjoyed it (well, for work) and the pay was more than a living wage. I’m hoping to work for them again.

I second the suggestion to apply to them.

[KellyCriterion]

I start a new job on Monday.

I started applying back in late October, with a 3 week break during November while I was away. In all, I applied for nearly 50 jobs. I got four interviews. I got one job (one rejection, two I’m still waiting to hear back from).

Just keep at it. But as others are suggesting… you need to deal with whatever issues you have that is causing you to apply for the same type of job that you know you hate.

[Two_Many_Cats]

@Broomstick

Yes.

I worked for them last year. It was a good job in that I enjoyed it (well, for work) and the pay was more than a living wage. I’m hoping to work for them again.

I second the suggestion to apply to them.

Yep, done that. Waiting for the call.

[Broomstick]

And before anyone suggests we start aggressively calling the Census to ask if they’ll take us back… when my prior assignment ended they made it VERY clear that we were NOT to do that! They will call us, we are not to call them.

Some of the people on my last crew had worked for two prior 10-year censuses and one had had assignments during the middle of a decade… they confirmed that that is, in fact, the way the Bureau works. They keep your name and if they want you they’ll contact you. The Bureau is VERY big on following the rules, and disobeying them will work against you, even in minor things.