Category: Job Search

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Change is in the air

Change

As of this morning I’ve got a new job.

Without going into all the details, I’m returning to the work-a-day world. This job is something I think I can get into, and it’s a foot in the door to a new industry.

The initial pay is a bit on the low side, but it’s a foot in the door.

I’m looking at it as my package of vacuum packed potatoes. If you haven’t seen The Martian you’re not going to have any idea what I’m talking about. So rent the movie or read the book.

Many changes are forthcoming not all of them easy, but then again when are big changes ever easy?

I’m going to be very busy over the next month or two, so blogs may be sporadic because there is a whole lot to do.

Frustrating Job Search

What I can say, is that the Job search sites and most of the headhunters that will contact you or that you’ll contact are pretty much useless. It turns out that the best way into a new position is still who you know, or who’s willing to give you a “heads-up” that positions within their company are available.

Who knows, I may end up writing a book about the insanity of the job search in America.  At the very least, as I have time I’ll likely post a series of blogs about my experience. Perhaps my experiences will save someone else some of the pain.

As always, your milage will vary.

Talk about taking it right down to the freakin wire! Less than 2k left in any of the accounts that translates to about 2 months or less. Of course, now all the calculations about burn rates go right the heck out the window. 

Moving

For the first time in 20 years or so I’m going to be working hourly. But I’ll have corporate insurance and various benefits. 

I’m also moving.

There is no way that a commute is possible.

So I’m going to be in a rental of some sort that will cost at least half of what the mortgage on this house is.

Yes, I’m keeping the house too, the other half needs to remain in this area.  I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to pull this rabbit out of the hat but I’m creative, driven, and I could afford to lose a few pounds too.

LATraffic

The distance is only twenty miles further than I used to commute, but the freeway conditions make that completely out of the question. If it’s not construction, it’s accidents, or car chases. So I need to find living arrangements.

On the plus side, I’ll be able to work overtime, and still have time to make some new friends. 

The overtime means my base take home pay will probably be more than the amount a 40 hour work week would provide, and the new friends means that I’ll be socially stimulated which I desperately need.

People

There’s another upside, I won’t be spending a ton of money on gas, and auto maintenance monthly. As I think about it, it might be nice to have access to things like choices when it comes to internet and I won’t have to necessarily pay premium prices for repairs like plumbers and such.

I do pretty much ok alone, but I’ve become very lonely in recent years, and a loner in the process.  I look forward to a little more social interaction. Living where I’ve been living has been likened to living where Jesus lost his other sandal. It might be nice to live somewhere that I don’t have to pack summer and winter clothing for a day’s outing.

SSherpasadly, I still haven’t made it out of the Republic of Kalifornia. But at this point I’ll take what I can get.

The funniest part of all of this is that I was only in one interview for this position. That was a refreshing change. I’ve sat through interminable interviews with companies and (One was six full hours with various groups. Talk about fear of commitment!) even though I felt I’d answered their questions and been a good little boy, I didn’t get the position.

SanDiego Skyline JohnBahu 1280x642 downsized

As was said in House of Cards, “It’s so refreshing to work with someone who’ll throw a saddle on a gift horse rather than look it in the mouth.” 

I mean when I was talking with these other companies, I was talking about working really cheap!

So sunny San Diego, here I come.

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More unintended consequences

I ran across an article talking about a bill that would require folks buying prepaid mobile devices A.K.A. “Burner phones” to register.

Burnerphone

As was pointed out in the article, “Burners” are used legitimately by reporters, investigators, and inside sources, for whom maintaining their anonymity is sometimes a matter of life and death.

Granted there are some criminal elements that use “Burners” for criminal activity. That’s what this proposed legislation is aimed at stopping. 

As I was reading the article a few things went through my mind.

Congress

These lawmakers are trying to demand that everyone purchasing and activating a phone be identified, and registered.

But, these same lawmakers will fight tooth and nail against a voter ID law, on the grounds that the poor can’t afford to have identification.

Yet, the primary market for cheap contract free “Burner” phones is the poor, and often the poorest of the poor, who use these phones as lifelines and methods for finding work. 

Homeless People and their Dogs Unconditional Love 3

Homeless people will sometimes have a “Burner” because they scraped together enough money to buy one, and until they use up its minutes the phone works. If they’re looking for work the phone is important even if they have no permanent address.

But if you force registration, doesn’t that exclude all of the homeless population, further disenfranchising them and forcing them further to the fringes of our society? 

Abused Woman

Then there are abused women for whom a “Burner” may be their only option, if they’re trying to escape their abuser. 

How about runaway children who might realize that a “Burner” would allow them to reach out and call their parents? They likely wouldn’t have a method to “Register” either.

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Bills like this, aimed at preventing the use of phones for trafficking, anti-terrorism, the drug war, or general criminality, tend to cause as much collateral damage as the very things the Bill is supposed to prevent.

The Representatives who come up with these ideas either never knew or have forgotten what it’s like to be on the lower end of the economic ladder.

They’re like the person I encountered on New Years Eve. They’ve led such charmed lives where nothing really bad happened to them that they can’t even conceive of a situation where they might not have easy access to their ID, or cash, or communication, or travel.

Try bankruptcy, or having your house burn down with your ID, wallet, cash and credit cards inside, for a taste of what it’s like to have nothing and to be excluded from the system. For giggles, leave you house some day without your wallet, that will give you a taste.

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These are the spoiled brats that scream bloody murder when they can’t use their cell phones after a natural disaster. When the power goes out they’re mad because they can’t buy gasoline for their generators, and their frozen dinners have thawed. God forbid they’ve planned for anything, or know how to siphon gas out of their cars.

Remember the chaos of the great Orange County blackout? The folks in Orange County were so horribly inconvenienced they thought their lives had ended. Meanwhile the homeless folks were laughing their asses off because they know what it’s like to live daily without “Essential Services”. Hell afterward there were hearings to blame the cell phone providers for not providing service during an “Emergency”. 

The Martian

In SCUBA there’s a saying. “No matter what else is happening, ask yourself, ‘am I breathing?’ If the answer is yes, then you can set about fixing whatever else is fucked up.”

The movie The Martian was an awesome exploration of that concept. “I’m alive, now how do I stay that way?”

offthegrid

I guess since I’ve been looking at falling off the grid due to unemployment, and being a planner, perhaps these issues are more relevant to me.

Even now, my big pack downstairs is loaded with my tent and supplies in case of natural disaster, or me deciding it’s just time to walk away from a society that no longer has a place for me. And yes, there’s a “Burner” phone stashed in the pack too.

Welder 011

It’s because of my experiences that I’ve come to believe we don’t need or want a bunch of lawyers, or wealthy people in government.

We need common people because they’re far more likely to bring practicality to government.  It’s why I’m a believer in term limits, campaign spending caps, and grass roots politics.

I’d rather have a welder in congress representing me than some asshole lawyer.

At least the welder, is more likely to have his constituents in mind while he’s sitting in congress. I’ll bet someone like that is also a lot more likely to be in his seat every day congress is in session because that’s his job.

If any of this is ringing a bell with you, take the time to call these elitist politicians out on their stupid ideas. Write to them and tell them they’re idiots and explain politely why you think so.

jackiespeier

I know I’m writing Jackie Speier (D-CA) to tell her my thoughts.

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In San Diego …

I slugged my way down to San Diego, for a 30 minute Job interview. The trip took 3 1/4 hours. It’s only 120 miles. Sigh!

The interview went pretty well, I’m hoping that I’ll see some kind of an offer that I can take. I keep running the numbers, and it’s gonna be tight. This is only doable if they’re willing to pay me starting at the absolute upper end of the pay scale.

Perhaps there will be enough to keep all my finances from collapsing and if that’s the case I’m going to count my blessings. There will be damn little to spare.

Prometheus david8

Long term this could be a break, allowing me to enter a growth field using my technology skills. I keep thinking of David in Prometheus “Big things have small beginnings.”

Of course any company hiring me would probably not end in such a disaster as the Prometheus mission.

I’m chilling it at a Starbucks, waiting for the traffic to abate… 

YEAH RIGHT! Like that ever happens anymore in Southern California.

I’ve decided that should I be offered a position, I’m moving down here. I can’t abide 2 and 3 hour commutes anymore. I have zero desire to piss my life away sitting on a damn freeway.

So that’s what’s happening, for those of you wanting an update.

 

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The peril of incessant resume editing

Job Search Magnify

Placement agents will often ask that you make “minor” alterations to your resume for presentation to a client, “Don’t say Oracle, say SQL,” and inevitably there’s a time constraint giving you the impression that you’re not going to be submitted for a particular position if you don’t make their suggested changes instantly.

Evaluate these requests carefully, especially if you’re applying to multiple positions through multiple resources.  On the one hand, the suggestions may yield a stronger resume. On the other hand, the suggestions may be the placement agent picking nits, due to their personal biases.

Job Search Apps

After four solid years of looking for permanent employment, I can’t honestly tell you if making changes under the gun will land you a job, it sure hasn’t in my case.

What I can tell you, is that making changes on the fly can introduce some of the darndest typos in your resume.

In various attempts to comply with placement services “requests” I’ve found myself editing my 900-word resume on my phone, sitting in a parking lot, in my car. “This is an immediate opening; I can’t submit your resume without these changes…“

“Planned” and “Planed” look an awful lot alike on a phone’s screen. Spellcheck isn’t going to catch the difference either. Punctuation? Ha!  Worse yet, you make the edits then rush headlong into another interview, forgetting you made them.

If you’re using a cloud service your edits are propagated to all your devices and any errors, introduced may linger in your resume for quite some time. Who re-reads every single word of their resume each time they send it out? You “know” you’ve worked hard on getting it just right and you don’t recall making any changes…

JobSearchSite Cartoon

So you merrily select “Upload” on whatever job placement site you’re using and move on to the next flagged position.

Wanted: detail oriented person for high paying position…

Yep, they’re going to really believe how detail oriented you are because you planed the project, cutting costs by 20%. While shaving costs, may in fact be a good thing, you probably meant you planned the project.

I recently noticed that I’d at some point, (fairly recently, I hope,) made exactly that mistake. I did it literally on the first line describing my former duties. I even think I know when I did it.

I was having to reword several descriptions because the placement guy wanted a bit more “punch”. I was distracted, sitting in a coffee shop, doing the edits on my iPad between interviews, and probably accepted the first suggested word choice. I know better!

Nonetheless, I finished the edits, and emailed the update to the placement agent. The agent, in my humble opinion should not only have caught the error, but told me about it and corrected the word prior to sending my resume to his client.

Guess what? He didn’t notice the problem at all.

Which brings me back to the original point.

Minor edits being demanded by placement agencies may land you in more trouble than simply allowing your resume to stand on its own merit.

I’ve been considering placing my resume under source code control for a while. Maybe today is the day! I’ll put my resumes under Git, just like all my other code projects. It’s easy and allows me to compare changes and even roll changes back. 

Sounds like a winner. 

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Ya know… I just want to find a JOB

I don’t think that doing so should require that I sell my soul to the company store! That  comparison is a bit of a stretch but it’s the closest I can come to expressing what I feel.

I was applying to a retail position. When they asked me for the last four of my Social Security Number to CREATE an account, my security senses were heightened.

As I read the terms and conditions governing my use of the 3rd party site handling the application I came to a FULL DAMN STOP! 

I’m linking to a full PDF of the terms to which I was expected to agree.

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I had a couple of problems with the terms.

This is a retail position. I don’t see why I should be required to forfeit my right to privacy to apply for the position.

I strongly disagree with the premise that it’s alright for my information to be extorted from me, while trying to get back to having gainful employment.

I believe It’s wrong that the company, PeopleAnswers not only is making money from the employer but they are collecting data, reprocessing that data and then using it without my express permission or my ability to delete or control that information, so that they make additional money. 

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They go so far as to absolve themselves of any and all responsibility for the information that they create. They continue by telling you that you’re not allowed to take any legal action against them.

EXCUSE ME?

They create a situation where you aren’t able to apply for, or potentially keep, a job except by agreeing to vacate your right to privacy. You have no right to know what they’re doing with your information, who or where that information is going and no legal recourse for any damage done to you by the release of that collected information. 

This is WHY I’m opposed to online job application services / tests / and all that goes with them.

I’d suggest a boycott of these sites, the problem is that those of us who value our privacy are in the minority.

So where does that leave job seekers?

Screwed that’s where. Between a rock and a hard place. Give up your privacy, or be homeless.

I’d write a letter to my representatives at the state, and federal level, but I think that I’d be better served taking that sheet of paper, crumbling it up and wiping my ass.

I’m going to try walking into the business and see if I can fill out an application.