Job Hunt

[Holbeird]

So I figured since I'm up late and frustrated I'd vent a little here. I got a job offer with Vonage (the VoIP company) and was working there a couple weeks. I left a job that I had been at a little while and that was stable because I was offered a position that payed nearly double, and better hours and such. After a couple of weeks, a few things went wrong with the vonage account. (i actually worked for a separate company that was given a contract with vonage to hire blank amount of people for the job) Apparently the job over hired because they cut hours back to 2 hours a week! Not only did they cut the hours back to 10 hours a week, but they wanted me to do 2 hours a day 5 days a week. The money wasn't worth the long drive up there so I quit, figuring that since all 4 jobs I've had I've been a manager at, there was no way I'd be jobless for long. That was a little over a month ago! I can't find a job! I live in charlotte, NC and the jobs here def aren't scare! It doesn't have to do with my personality or appearance. I go to all of my job interviews and even apply to jobs in a suit and tie. I always make great impressions but every job I've applied to recently either tell me I'm not qualified enough, or I'm OVER qualified! I'd understand if I was trying to get paid more because I was overqualified but I'm willing to take anything right about now! I even applied to run the counter at burger king or McDonald's! I can't get anything. I've managed at a Party City type store, a Pet store, and two hotels. My wife and I had both applied for a job at the same time, that I was way more qualified for, and she had very few qualifications for and she got a call back but I didn't!

I'm not sure what it is but whatever it is, it's really getting to me. My wife and I are very low on cash currently due to me being out of work for a little over a month! I had savings which are now gone (looks like I'm gonna wait longer for that male pastel and male spider!) and on top of that being gone, now we're behind on bills. My cell phone got cut off the other day cause I'm behind and I've broken down to putting my Laptop up for sale on craigslist, and I'm considering selling my two baby Red Tails to make a little extra cash.

We've got a friend who's looking for a place for 3 or so months, and we're gonna let her move into our spare bedroom to help pay the bills. I know I'm ranting but it's just very frustrating. At this point I'm willing to take anything! lol

OK, thanks for listening, don't really expect any replies, I just needed to rant!


P.S. If anyone works in Charlotte, NC or the surrounding areas and you or your company is hiring! Help me out! lol

[tmlowe5704]

sell your soul to some freak

[jknudson]

I hope things start looking up for you! Keep going out there on the job hunt, it will pay off eventually! Keep your head up.

-Jason

[dr del]

Hi,

Apply for a job in senior management waaaay up the food chain from where you would normally aim and at the interview stress the wonderfull advantages you could bring to the company with a proven hands on technical ability with the current and near future architecture/platforms and the cost benefits of a thusly targeted corporate spend. Also tell them you will naturally work for less to reflect your experience defecit in this area.

Pray like heck and if you get the job save as much money as you can from the vastly overpaid salaries these people get during the trial period / as long as you can stand it.

Worst case scenario:

You dont get any of the jobs and have wasted the interview time and stationary in applying.

Best case scenario:

You discover that the job is well within your capabilities and your new employer agrees.


An ok scenario:

You get a great wage for a short time before parting ways with the company and will impress the ravening heck out of the next place you apply for the next job down the food chain with.

Hey it was only an idea.

Offer to work the first week for free if you feel that is an acceptable thing. Most companies like the idea of a free trial as much as the next schmo.

Hope you get something soon and that it makes your heart sing.



dr del

[Holbeird]

I haven't tried the working for free but I have applied way out of my range, as well as way below, and at my range! Hell i've applied and even went to interviews that you needed a 4 year degree and years of experience lol

[ctrlfreq]

Unfortunately, one of the first things potential employers look at is whether you are still employed. Many resumes are left in the circular file over that small detail, regardless of the rest of the information on it.

Also, depending on what you do, your resume should likely be drastically restructured. My resume when I was looking for a job in 1999 was 3 pages long, and while I had updated it with current information for my 2006 job search, it didn't get me a single call in 3 weeks. Eventually I found myself speaking with a technical recruiter who gave me the low-down on how recruiters and HR people are locating candidates in the stacks of literally thousands of resumes they receive.

Instead of reading and filing them by skillset and experience, they throw them all into a folder on a server, and use a google-style search engine to locate resumes. This means that more verbose = more callbacks. My current resume is 11 pages long. Literally, as soon as I replaced my 3 page version with it's 11 page counterpart, I started getting 3-4 calls daily. Now, a year later, and without being updated since February of last year, I still get 2-3 calls and 15-20 emails a week about positions.

[Nate]

why not try college? You're never too old.

"bills to pay" isn't a good excuse either. They have loans and grants for college students to help out with that sort of thing.

Sure you'll get in debt, but....IMO...it's worth it.

[Holbeird]

Haha well I guess my excuse with college is the one you said isn't good.

If I currently had a job that was paying the bills then I would be pursuing college, and I still want to eventually. Just right now with me being married and having all of these bills to pay, my priorities is making sure I can provide for my wife. I dunno.

About me having a job, I currently kind of have one. My friend has a home business and I manage her computers so I have a job on my resume I've had for 3 years that I'm still currently at, on an On call position.

My resume is currently 3 pages long, I was under the impression that the longer it got the less they'd want to look at it, I suppose I can go in and re-vamp it some, adding to it and such.

Thanks for the help

[Nate]

Does your wife not work?

Challenge yourself. My first college wasn't extremely hard. I was in school full time and worked 40+ hours a week at Walgreens in the photo lab.

You could try college full time and work part time (if your wife works..it would certainly help), or you could try part time college and full time job. You have options...look into them

[Snakeman]

i know what you mean. i had a job interview last tuesday at Ralph's and i havent gotten a call that they actually hired me. i've applied to so many places and no one else seems to be calling me. it's frustrating not having a job.

good luck!!