I got a job - Democratic Underground

underpants

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Fri Jul-31-09 09:56 AM
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I got a job

Longwinded post but FINALLY I got a job

I’ve been out of work for 10 months and let me tell you it is brutal out there.

Last September my former employer dropped me officially 5 days before my year-long “probationary period” was up. No problem I thought (not that I was happy about it), I will hit the ground running and get another job. At first I was doing telephone interviews almost every day. Initial interviews regularly and several “final interviews” basically me versus one, two, or more people. I was encouraged even though I wasn’t getting the job offers.

I told my wife that I would just go out and get a “McJob” of some sort. She said “Why?”….. you have to clear $12 an hour just to ‘get off the couch’. Take your time and make sure you are available for interviews” Okay with me. I did get to spend a lot of time with our daughter (she turned 4 years old on Wednesday), work my tail off to get Obama elected (sometimes going door to door in a suit between job interviews), and trained for & ran a marathon (my third).

Then….. the bottom dropped out.

From Halloween until March there was nothing out there. I used 6 or 8 sources for job searches and used 8 parameters in each to search. Monster, Yahoo, VEC-Va. Employment Commission, two local papers and their on-line (which is different from their hardcopy :shrug: ), craigslist, a local non-profit website, and THREE “headhunters”. Since I have an accounting degree (not a CPA) I looked under- accounting, finance, audit, government (my recent background), not-for-profit, etc.----- Nothing. It was actually hard to find the required two jobs to draw on my unemployment insurance.

I kept a spreadsheet. The final total was 180 jobs I applied for and that was after honing down the search from 8-10 to 3 -4 that I was really qualified for WHEN there were jobs out there.

The funniest story was a call I got from one of my headhunters about a job.
“It is 8 to 5…you will go in a separate entrance…”
“Huh?”
It was for a bookkeeping/accounting job at a “Gentleman’s club” one of a string on the east coast. My wife said “Uh, no. I don’t want Josie’s dad to be working in a strip joint and it won’t look very good on your resume”.
Hell it paid GREAT.
I saw the exact same job two months later on craigslist. I called the headhunter and he confirmed that it was the same job. Now, however, the pay had dropped 40%. It is a hirer's market out there.

At one of my “final interviews” I got out of the H.R. guy that they were getting 6 or 7 times the resumes they usually get. He was swamped on any and all positions. He finally let on that he got over 40 resumes for this one job.

Some of the job descriptions read like my resume. A complete and somewhat unique match, I got a call back on maybe 10% of them-there were/are that many people out there looking for jobs.

I did go to several places walking into the H.R. department but most of them either said "We have nothing available" or "we only do applications on-line". My headhunters all told me that they were having a hard time placing people anywhere THEY may have to lay people off. A few months ago I was cutting the grass and missed a call--by the time I returned it 75 minutes later the temp job at Bank of America was gone. "No one is willing to pull the trigger" several headhunters told me.

Three weeks ago one place called me the day of my first interview to tell me that they have filled the position. :wtf: THEY called me that week to set it up. I spent $10 faxing them their application (because the resume just wasn't enough).

Oh and the online application process :nuke: takes FOR EVER on some websites.

So on March 1 we are getting in the car to go to the marathon at Va. Beach. I check the mailbox. A letter from the VEC "your unemployment benefits have run out". Great now I have to worry about that in the midst of running a marathon with a rehabbed broken leg. On that Monday I got another letter- benefits extended as a result of the "Recovery Act" ("Stimulus Bill").... and yes we spent all the money on food, housing, etc. okay and an overnight trip to run a marathon and take our daughter to the beach.... in March.
Whew!
Later on I actually got a raise. $25 a week.Seriously.
What is this.... FRANCE???

For the last month or more I have hit the "big box stores" websites looking for ANY work-Walmart, Costco, Sears, BJ's, Staples,several bank teller jobs, etc... no calls. Everyone tells me that they know that if I did get a good offer I would be out of there before my nametag hit the ground. Their are right I would have.
Staples first question is multiple choice: "In the last 5 years how much merchandise would you say you have stolen from your employer?" they have 5 ranges- I answered "$0".
Walmart asks basically the same question 5 or 6 times in the midst of their 64 question application survey.

This week is the last week for any money coming in from me. I have held off selling stuff on eBay as a reserve. I cashed in the 401K just as the market's bottom dropped out (lost $500 in one day).

So THEN our computer crashes with a virus. A bad one. So I have to do everything out of the local library. There is a 2 hour limit per day. I basically did a day of searching and the next day emailing resumes.

Yesterday I am in the library (like I am now) and the phone rings. I GOT THE JOB they funny part is that I didn't remember applying for it initially. They had a 10 question email for me to answer and said that they would get back with me in "10 business days" that was 5 weeks before my first interview. It is odd how people call you and you are doing something, they tell you who they are calling from and you have to quickly scan your memory for what position this was and what it entails.... anyway I got the call, ran outside (no cell phones in the library thank you), and they offered me the job. I start next Monday.

My feet barely hit the ground the rest of the day. It is a good job doing good things. In the healthcare industry but in a very precise and greatly needed area.

I GOT A JOB!!!