This post is in answer to Bobscoot’s last comment. I decided it was soooo long I would make it a post all it’s own.
To start with…thanks to everyone for your comments. I feel like I have a new bunch of friends, even though I have never met any of you.
I think the problems I am coming across finding a job is the result of a few things.
First…I have been off work for two years...no one wants to take a chance...they think your working skills have gone stale or your just plain lazy. They don’t consider school to count as work.
Second…I worked at the same place for 33 years…that tells my age.
Third…The jobs I’m applying for, I have no experience and no Degree…I’m fresh outta school and I only have a Vocational Certification. The competition is real tough…they have degrees and experience. IL is still pretty high on the unemployment list…even though they say it’s improved, no one who was laid off from my previous employer has found full time work. I take that back…One person found full time work.
Fourth…The few printing jobs I find, I’m competing with other printing estimators, who may be younger and fresh outta work or has experience with the software that company is using. The software the last company I worked at was so ancient, I would have to be retrained to use anything newer. I found this out in the few interviews I did get. Plus…a lot of companies are doing away with estimators and putting that position on the sales staff. In theory, it’s a win win for the company. More sales staff, more sales. They find that by hiring a new sales person, the work is spread out enough that the sales people can do their own estimates plus the company has a larger sales staff. Since sales people are paid by commission…some companies only have to pay them when payment is collected for the job. My old company pays the sales staff a weekly draw based on past sales. They total their yearly sales commission and divide by 52 to get a weekly salary. If they don’t have that much in sales at the end of the year (because sales may go down) next year’s salary goes down and they start deducting from the commission till the over payment is repaid. The employer wins!
Fifth…All the companies looking for help only want to deal with internet resumes. They don’t start interviewing face to face till they have gone through the thousands of resumes they’ve received and whittled it down to a chosen few. I’m just a piece of paper amongst a thousand other pieces of paper.
It seems that the only way to get a job is to know someone who works someplace where they are looking for help. That won’t stop me from trying. Sooner or later it will happen. I’m hoping for sooner.
I’ll have to try Doo-Wop and TJ Lubinsky before I take the rental car back. Do you happen to know where it is on the dial?
Biker Babe:
ReplyDeleteWOW, a whole post for 'lil 'ol me !
I don't know where to start. Our labour laws are different up here in BC. You can be paid on a commission basis BUT you are still subject to minimum wage laws, so even if you earned NO commission, you would still get paid something.
For me "Life experience" counts for more than "theoretical" classroom experience. Things don't always work like that in the real world. The younger you are the less you actually know about life skills nor are they "street-smart" . You are a seasoned employee and are more likely to not use the company as a mere stepping stone if it is in a good working environment where people are respectful of each other.
Perhaps your job search should be a two-stepped approach. Get your foot in the door so they can see what you can bring to the table. I find that a lot of companies are not that organized. Maybe you could be a Sales Co-ordinator, funnel the estimates and jobs out to the Sales department and keeping track that quotes go out as required and track orders. You could check the estimates and job cost the orders received, sort of supplying input to the payroll department re: commissions to be paid.
Also you could lower your wage for perhaps for a week Trial Period because sometimes, as you experienced on the first placement, the company may not be a good fit for you due to "personalities". It works both ways.
It would appear that you are still compiling your Resume in the old way, specifying dates etc. Go for the newer, more dynamic style of strengths and weaknesses, or by job functions and leave out dates. Your list of companies is, just a short list, by achievements.
Sorry, I am trying to gather my thoughts but it may look like I'm just rambling . . .
I have Sirius Satellite radio as in Canada I need the "geo-synchronous orbit" rather than XM which uses satellites "over the Equator". XM has bad reception at the higher latitudes as I need an angle of 30° towards the equator to get a signal, and often the signal is blocked due to our mountains. Sirius has 3 satellites, of which 2 are always over Canada, at any given time, and I just have to point 60° over Manitoba. If you are in IL then maybe the higher angle would be better for you. Also Sirius purchased XM a few years ago, so really they are basically the same company.
Sirius Channel 5 is for 50's music and they have regular Doo-Wop hours hosted by TJ Lubinsky, who organizes lots of old groups on PBS. You may be able to find a schedule on their website.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast