Posted on 08/31/2009 1:31:52 PM PDT by Kartographer
“Elkhart Indiana is a big part of the problem.”
A 4 county zone dependent upon one of the most Economicly-sensitive Industries known to man, Recreational vehicles.
It’s always been the canary in the mine, the first to collapse.
She’d have to have at least one year’s experience for me to consider her for a mortgage position. If she has that I’d love to talk with her. Security normally doesn’t require any experience at the entry-level, which is typically the unarmed guard. The same goes for restaurant, retail, call center, warehouse, assembly and the like.
Has she looked at what her State Workforce Center has to offer? Green Thumb (a program for older workers)? Dozens of applications or resumes in a two year period is not serious job-seeking. I trained the welfare moms in the second week of my job-seeking workshop to utilize the Yellow Pages and a phone. Look up a category of business that you’d like to work for, then call EVERY ONE OF THEM in the Yellow Pages and ask for the “hiring authority” or “hiring manager” for the kind of work you do(NOT personnel/human resources) If that individual isn’t hiring, ask them if they know ANYONE who is. When done, move on to your second favorite industry. Rinse and repeat. The students that were serious about looking for work were normally employed by the end of that week. That’s a 20th Century tactic that would still work today. Another secret: ALWAYS send a “Thank You” note the same day as the interview (on the way home is ideal). The note will arrive within 1-3 days and your resume/application will go back to the top of the stack for consideration. Works like a charm if you’re at all qualified for the position. NOT AN E-MAIL, a HAND WRITTEN card or note.
I’ve got a friend who’s been out of work for eight months. He and his wife have four kids at home and a mortgage. They’re probably going to lose the house.
This “recovery” thing is a load of crap. There’s an awful lot of misery out there, and now the MSM is talking about a new bull market this fall in stocks!
The Obama propaganda machine continues to function.
Second is to continue to network with your colleagues. I know that sounds difficult when money is short, but one must make that face to face connection. It means going to seminars in your field, even if out of work. It means going to dinners sponsored by organizations in your field. An example: A local CHMM group meetings are all open to non-members in the field. They do a monthly meeting and have a networking dinner/lunch once a month.
Unemployment benefits prolong unemployement.
It seems like 2001 or so was worse if the online boards are any indicator. I remember Monster and others being essentially dead then.
This in a nutshell defines the current recession sliding toward depression. Duration of employment is long and getting longer. Early last year I said we were already in a recession, and one of the factors leading me there was an article on iTulip that discussed duration of employment. Actual numbers of the unemployed were still reasonably low, but people were not being hired off the unemployment rolls. There were few jobs.
Now we are seeing a deepending recession with few jobs and far higher unemployment numbers, and still the duration of unemployment is lengthening considerably. We have a long way to go yet. Unlike the magnitude of unemployment, which is a lagging indicator, duration of unemployment is a leading indicator and it is still lengthening. The recession is getting worse folks.
Perhaps the Obamunists can offer her some compassionate end of life counseling, and explain how the environmental regulations sending all the work overseas are preserving the planet for her soon to be jobless descendants...
There is a lot of misery out there. A woman came up to me while I was shopping in Home Depot last week - said she could lay tile, weed, do drywall, and clean house. Her card said "licensed subcontractor" ... Offered to work for $10 an hour. I called her today and she had a painting job that takes her through next week... You're right - it's hard out there...
Disturbing thread. There’s a lot of pain out there, and it’s increasing. Obama’s counterproductive stimulus throwaways have only guaranteed that the misery will be deeper and last longer—and could be made exponentially worse through hyperinflation, should that occur.
When I get to nuts and bolts, they tell me the job isn’t actually open yet, but when it does, they want to have a pile of resumes to send in..
It's worse than that. I've been using tech recruiter sites like Dice, Monster, etc., off and on for more than ten years. Most of the listings are duplicates created by recruiting firms (usually Indian firms, but many US firms). One legitimate opening might have ten or twenty duplicates from bogus recruiters trying to leech a percentage of the fee. You have to do a lot of filtering on these boards to ever find the real recruiting firm that actually has direct contact with the hiring firm. You can read about this endlessly on the Dice discussion forum. Americans in the tech field are SOL, unless you go directly to the company's HR department, which is still a tough gatekeeper to get through.
A less hectic path to employment might be to apply directly to the "employment" or "careers" page of real live companies.
I was unemployed/self-employed for a year and a half, from April 2005 through July 2007, during which time I sent out more than 100 tailored resumes and cover letters per week. I probably averaged three to five phone interviews a week, and maybe one in-person interview every two weeks. I applied locally for every technical, retail, construction, tile, heavy equipment, etc. job that popped up. I finally got a job 700 miles from home and have been here two years.
When I didn't have a job, trying to get one was my job for about 12 to 18 hours a day. Do that for a while and you will learn much about the economy, recruiters, the job market, and about yourself.
“Man looks in the abyss, there’s nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.”
Karen Inbody was inside her Bank Street home when she heard the commotion outside.
“Barack Obama’s out there,” she heard someone say.
What?
She looked out her window and saw the massive bus and a sea of black suits and knew something was up.
Waiting in line with the rest of the crowd, she was silent. She couldn’t think of anything to say — heck, she could barely believe he was there.
“I’ve lived on this street most of my life,” Inbody said. “And there’s never been anything like that going on.”
Inbody shook his hand, said hi, then listened as he talked to others. She hadn’t paid much attention to the election up until then, but the rarity of the experience wasn’t lost on her.
“When anybody of that nature comes to Elkhart, to a little bitty street like this, it’s just quite a privilege,” she said.
From her picture, she does not project a good professional image.... at all. Her long bushy hair, overweight, clothes etc- won’t help her job prospects, especially at age 58 competing with people 30 years younger for entry or mid level jobs.
She needs a makeover appropriate for her age, and read the book “Dress for Success” (female version) plus some classes to keep up skills and to network.
>>Job ads are often pro forma fakes. Just done to meet the requirement that the position was “advertised”. The actual candidates of interest have already been selected from another source.<<
Yep. We’ve done that on my teams at multiple companies for which I have worked.
Another type of ad which is common is the ad that is put in to see what the salary response will be. It is basically for budgeting and the position doesn’t actually exist.
Not sure how many of them are out there, but at times it has been very common.
My son tried to get a job for over a year. Finally, after 3 apps with Wal-mart he got two interviews and they hired him. About 6 weeks ago. But, he says the turnover in his dept is 80%.
I have been on the other side of it, too qualified/underqualified and no one would hire me. Took a really long time. That may be what this woman is experiencing.
Thats when I was job hunting, 2001. Then again in 2003. They were tough years.
I remember very well too. I was looking to get out of the public tv station I was in with my completed computer repair and certs to go with it. There wasn’t much of anything.
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