Dear Corporate America I am not resting on my laurels Sincerely Jobseeker January 21, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, recruiting, Viewpoint, volunteering
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There has been much discussion these past year about how companies and others are looking at job seekers.
They call them lazy, unqualified, deadbeats, entitled and others.
I guess they easily forget tit was they who put a high number of highly qualified people on the streets in the name of profits ans shareholder equity. Now instead of being part of the solution to help the economy they have become a larger part of the problem. They are also assisted by the recruiting industry.
Can you blame the qualified people who have been out of work for so long to give up hope on landing a position with the treatment they have received and unduly at that. Shame on you people! Your attitude and actions should be considered unethical and immoral to say the least. But this seems to be the attitude that prevails in America today.
A vast number of qualified people to keep their skills up to date have taken on volunteer work, consulting, contract and short term employment. They do this to survive and even at that it is a struggle.
But now you are even using that as an excuse not to hire someone. The practice started at the end of 2010 that is you are not employed you need not apply was the most absurd shoot yourself in the foot move that I have ever seen. Then you have the audacity to state that you cannot find qualified candidates to fill your open positions while you treat your employees like slave labor. You are your own worst enemy.
The economy is starting to turn and you will need to replace a number of positions that you vacated. It would serve you right to not be able to attract or retain top talent. It would serve you right for the people working for you now to not increase their productivity one iota. This is what you are facing for your sins.
I know a number of highly qualified seekers who speak with me frequently on their frustrations and how they have been demoralized by you people. IS compassion dead in the business world? It sure appears that way.
I have to encourage these people to persevere and to stay focused in their endeavors. I have to try to make sense of what is going on in order to give them some gleam of hope. I myself am finding it harder to fathom these actions that I speak of and can only chalk it up to poor leadership, which also seem prevalent today. I understand in business when things start to turn down that is is a good time to get rid of deadwood in the first RIF. What I have a hard time fathoming is the actions being taken against people who are qualified that were parts of the preceding RIF’s. I just can’t understand the reasoning behind this abomination. Were you thinking that your company was the only one that suffered the recession in your industry? I wish someone would explain to me the valid reasoning behind these insane practices so that I might be better equipped to explain it to my clients.
SO what I would like Corporate America to understand that the qualified people are not sitting at home on their ass watching soap operas and eating bon-bons. They are out there volunteering, consulting, contracting and working temp in order to keep there skills fresh. They are patiently waiting for the opportunity to help your company recover and move forward. You are over looking one of the hardest working forces waiting for this energy to be unleashed by you. And you have the audacity to look down on such a valuable asset. I question where you learned how to run a business and further questions your leadership skills.
This blog will invoke anger as it is intended to. But I wish you to carefully consider is that anger really at me as a scapegoat or yourself for the actions you have brought about on others. Do these unconscionable actions excuses to help you sleep better at night? To be able to get up in the morning and face yourself in the mirror knowing there are seekers and their families suffering, being torn to the brink of destruction, due your decisions and actions?
I am running out of excuses for your actions. I used up all the business reasons and they no longer fly. So what is your solution or are you going to continue being the problem?
Job Hunt desires and humor! January 13, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, humor, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, rage, stress, Viewpoint
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Do you ever get the urge to step outside and scream at the top of your lungs, I am somebody dammit and I am qualified for the jobs I submit too.
I know that I do.
The other idea that just popped into my head was to have in large 16 or 18 point bold Ariel font at the top of my resume the following.
For human consumption only! Not responsible for making scanning software ignorant!
or the other idea,
To be read by an intelligent caring human being preferably a hiring manager.
But that would be an oxymoron then wouldn’t it.
I would like to get a large gathering of HR professionals, I use that term very loosely, and give them all a behavioral and psychological test/interview. Provide them with with all the assessment test to take. When all was completed I would match their results up to a industry standard job posting and fire everyone of them that didn’t match exactly.
Then I would post their postions and if they applied would send them a form letter saying that although we were impressed with your quailifcation we found much better qualified candidates.
Just what are the qualifications for an HR position?
Heartless?
Unable to see potential from reading a resume? Is reading still a requirement?
Reading Comprehension? Replaced by scanning software!
Pigeon Holing?
Rationalization?
I think that one day soon I will search for HR positions to see what the requirements are.
Will it require them to have every combination of alphabet after their name?
Will it require being a recent college grad willing to work for dirt but have 15 years of experience?
Will it say that most of you who apply while qualified will be told your over or that there are better qualified than you?
Career Coaches are another target pet peeve of mine!
How to find a job by committee consensus! A group of self appointed career coaches gathered for a week of drunken debauchery and decided these are the things that you need to do to find a job. Of course we have jobs so we don’t nor care if they work.
Research was done recently on LinkedIn profiles to find the most used and abused word and phrases and the total was 50. I read all 50 and found that every single one of them are what you are told to use to stand out by career coaches and so called HR experts.
By doing this they have rendered these words and phrases a meaningless to hiring managers.
It did not surprise me that when I checked I my resume and profile not one single word or phrase did I find.
To differentiate is to not fall inline like a lemming with everyone else. However scanning software is not AI (artificial intelligence) and can’t tell that you are qualified and differentiating. Apparently neither can HR nor career coaches.
Let us not forget the battle over resume length! The trenches are dug and the battle wages on. It appears to be evenly matched and no winner any time soon.
I think the one page reasoning is that there comprehension time isn’t long enough to get to page 2. How did they ever get through college?
Maybe the reason is because the 2-3,000 resume they claim to receive for 1 post is lighter than if you has some 2,3 or 4 page resumes in the pile. There job doesn’t require heavy lifting.
I once sent a professional profile instead of a resume. I received a call from an HR type who couldn’t comprehend what the profile was saying and asked for a 1 page resume. Chronological of course! I said for a mid level manager position a 1 page resume would be insufficient. His reply was that is what I was told to ask for. I said then I rescind my application because I cannot work for a company like yours. Then I had to explain rescind.
I apologize if I sound like I am complaining it is just that I tired of having to deal with a system that is terribly broken and the people in the system will do nothing to fix it. There latest committee fix to the problem was to change their name from Human Resource to Human Capital to make themselves feel less hated. Well it didn’t work you still look like incompetent Bozoos from the outside looking in.
Something to share with friends and family January 8, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, job hunting, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, reality, stress, Viewpoint
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I was in a lengthy conversation yesterday with a friend who is unemployed. It started with a comment her mother made. It made me think in a way how true that statement was.
So you should share this post with your friends and family.
Friends and family have all the best intentions when trying to help you. The problem is they really don’t know how. Family especially, they either fall silent or they nag about you not working yet.
What they do not understand is that you are already under self induced stress and that their nagging doesn’t help. It just makes matters that much worse.
What are the effects?
You are already feeling bad enough about not working when they place more stress on you it kicks up your negativity meter up 20 points or more. The longer you are out the worse things gets, self doubt starts creeping in to undermine your efforts to find that great position you want . The effects it has on your job search become detrimental to you. You look for negative aspects in every job post . This will keep you from applying to jobs that you are qualified for but because you are missing one or two points your negativity will tell you don’t bother. This could be a missed opportunity. When you get a phone screen it is in your voice no matter how much you try to sound upbeat you do not come across as genuine. You are on edge from being stressed and frustrated and ready to explode at the person on the other end of the phone when they ask you stupid questions. This negativity will carry through in a face to face interview.
They need to realize the news isn’t helping either with their conflicting articles and reports. Some of it is based on business trying to get consumers to spend money they do not have. I see a lot of it as pure hype to get consumers to hold up the economy from further collapse. Business will not make sacrifices they want the consumer to make them.
The fear factor that is going on in business today especially in the hiring process. Managers and HR are afraid to make a decision for fear of hiring the wrong person. If they do hire they are not hiring the best they are hiring the safest. Friends and Family need to realize this that it really isn’t you it is the system that is broken right now.
US based companies that are laying off here and hiring in foreign markets are not helping the US economy because it is presenting false hope for home. How does this happen. Because their business in foreign markets is improving while here they are diminishing their profits are rising. They appear to economist to be on the rebound so the economist wrongly apply that to the home market. They are giving false hope that the home markets are on the rebound and that jobs will soon follow. If you look at the stories form people with enough guts to tell the truth, they are saying that the rate of new jobs is not enough to get us back to prerecession rates by 2016. So it doesn’t look hopeful for job seekers.
So what can friends and family do for you? They can get a really good understanding of what it is you are looking for. That position that you would love to go to everyday. Then they need to go to their networks and say hey I have a friend who is a great ______________ and they are looking for an opportunity to contribute to a company. Then they need to give you encouragement. To boost your ego not tear it down. They need to offer to help you research companies. They need to talk to their networks to find good recruiters that may know of unadvertised jobs.
Yes they need to give encouragement. Tell you what a great job you are doing staying focused and going for that dream job. Keeping you positive is their job, not adding stress to an already stressful situation. The more they can help stay focused and upbeat the faster you will find that position and land it.
If you are wondering what my friends mother said, she said, You are not successful because we are in your life. For all the reasons I mentioned above she is right.
It is stressful for everyone involved but positive is the attitude that must be adopted to succeed and to avoid the negatives at all costs.
News we could loose!(Humor title) January 6, 2011
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, mentor, reality, research, Viewpoint
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I am being a little sarcastic with the headline. Why? Because it is news we do not really want to hear but must face.
The news we have been hearing through 2010 is continuing into 2011. I guess it boils down to who you want to listen to and who do you want to believe. I mean it is confusing when the media you are reading has 2 articles on the same page that conflict each other.
US companies showing a rebound in stocks. Sounds great for the ole U S of A gives you hope. Then 2 articles down they tell you that while US based companies are hiring like crazy off shore they continue to layoff here at home.
The industry that is hiring is the medical field so you should apply there. They do not tell you that you need school and more than that exact experience. A few articles down there is talk of drug companies having major layoffs as well as hospitals.
So you can see my point for the title and the sarcasm.
So with all the conflicting data and articles out there what is a seeker to do.
Stay focused, do your research, pick your target companies and stay on top of what they are doing. Set up google alerts on them to notify you when they get mentioned. Use this information when you are networking your way into the company.
Use LinkedIn to help you get noticed and stay up on the latest trends in your field. How? By groups and professional organization groups, read and engage in the discussions. Check the company for jobs and for people who you may want to network with.
Loose the news and stay focused on what is important you landing!
2011 Better year or more frustration?? December 30, 2010
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, job hunting, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, rage, stress, Viewpoint
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I don’t know about you but I am fed up with the conflicting articles about the economy and unemployment figures.
My take on the economy is that the people hyping the economy are paid by big business so as not to bite the hand that feeds them they will say things are looking great so that you will spend money to boost the economy that isn’t great. The economy as I see it is in shambles still and will remain that way for 5- 6 years at the minimum. The economy is in an oscillation and will remain that way due to all the false hope presented by the economist.
The other thing driving this false notion id the fact that US based companies are doing well offshore, they are hiring in other countries while continually laying off here at home. Their stocks are going up because they are being profitable on the books. This is great for the company but has no effect on our economy. It certainly isn’t producing jobs here.
What lesson can you learn from this? You can start broadening your job search to offshore or stay here and perish.
If you are still thinking about using job boards in 2011 then I pity you and hope that you can somehow manage to keep food on the table and a roof over your head in the coming year. I see job boards as becoming passe in 2011 as they are for companies and recruiters and really do not serve our interest as seekers. The information they provide seekers is the same tripe I feel that is keeping you from landing that position.
That brings me to all the career expert, coaches and trainers that have been like the job boards been putting out the same BS and tripe all through 2010. I think they are desperate as they are loosing business because we seekers can no longer afford them or have found out it has been monies wasted. I feel that we know our industry and markets far better than they do. We understand the hurdles and barriers to entry better than they do. We have also learned that job boards are ineffective for the most part when finding a new career. I want to see or hear something new or innovative from these people in 2011 something that is truly useful to us seekers. It is time for the broken record of 2010 to end. Get on the fad wagon of industry and get innovative!
So that leads me to companies and the hiring practices of 2010. Hey hiring managers get a clue will ya! Do you have any idea really of what you need for the present or the future? Do you remember or have you heard of manpower studies? This would help you tremendously in figuring it out. I know from experience that it really works. But to let some of the burden off of you guys I know that your job is made more difficult by those above you who haven’t a clue or are afraid to make a decision for fear of looking like an idiot. Well I have news for them they look like an idiot either way so make a decision and stick to it.
And since I am on a roll here with my frustrations lets not forget the seekers for 2011.
I have been working with fellow professionals fro the last 2 years trying to help them make sense of all this and to get them to get their heads together and start thinking like a professional again. For some it has taken for others it is hopeless. I am trying hard to help one friend as she is fully aware and gets the whole picture and like me we just can’t seek to get our foot in the right door to present ourselves. A company that hires us will never regret it as the ROI is much higher than what are loaded labor costs would be. But for other seekers I am tired of providing information and suggestions to these people just to be ignored or they do not utilize the tools given to them. I am also tired of hearing that their industry has disappeared but they are still sitting here looking instead of looking where the industry might be hiring. The usual excuse is that “well I have family here”. Yes and it is called transportation for a reason. Last I knew, correct me if I am wrong here, phone and roads work both ways. What a revelation!!! You can travel by car, bus, train, or plane to visit. You have telephone. cell phone, Skype, Facebook and other means for staying in touch. So the I have family here excuse is just that an excuse to take a risk and move on. It is out of fear of the unknown. Change your attitude and look at it as an adventure not a disaster waiting to happen. Look at it as a way to meet and make new friends to explore a new area to get back to enjoying work instead of being miserable at home. Do what I did. I say down with my children awhile ago and told them , look I love yo all dearly but I have to go where the work is and we can visit each other. Guess what they understood and accepted the fact that this is the new reality in this country. So for 2011 get rid of the excuses about family and schools and such and support your family by landing a good job where ever and start fresh. The alternative is to stay put and loose everything. The choice is yours think about it.
So if I have everyone mad at me at this point I have accomplished my goal for the end of 2010 it was a bad year anyway. I am looking forward to a better and brighter new year. If you understood the points that I tried to make come join me if not I am leaving you on my dust try not to choke to death!
Hope and Faith the two strongest emotional allies we have. December 19, 2010
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, mentor, reality, Viewpoint
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Hope I feel is the strongest emotional ally we have in our arsenal for the unemployed. It is what makes us wake up each morning to face a new day. It what makes up tolerate the rejections and the lack of any response to our resumes and cover letters. It is the driving force that makes us keep going.
It is also the emotion that keeps us from crossing that threshold into the murk and mire of despair and insanity.
Hope! For some of us it is all that we have left. It is what makes us wish for a miracle each day. It is what makes us say today is the day I get an interview or an offer. Today is the day that somebody sees the value that I can bring their company. Yes Hope is the power ally that we cherish and guard. It is more powerful than love and friendship which seems to allude us or escapes us the longer we are unemployed. Not from our doing but from those we thought we could depend on for support. Those that can no longer understand that it has nothing to do with us. This situation isn’t our doing. Yes Hope our ally that we use to hold our families together in these tumultuous times.
Hope the emotion we call upon to give understanding to those we want to support us but don not know how.
Along with hope is the second strongest emotion that is faith. I am not talking the faith in a deity of your choice. I have given up on that type of faith years ago. Call it the Catholic curse but there isn’t a theologian around who can convince me otherwise but that is me. I am talking the faith we have in ourselves. The faith that we have the stamina, the perseverance, the courage to get through this. The faith that we are far better than the perception of the person reading our resume and cover letter. The faith we have in ourselves to triumph over the evil that has cloaked the job market.
The faith that the total disrespect that is shown us will not diminish who we are our the value we are worth. The faith to hold our heads high because we know we are better than the treatment we get from every source, even those we thought would support us.
The faith that the knowledge and the skills we have acquired while working can not and will not be taken away from us. They are ours and ours alone and they hold value to those that want to rent them in the form of employment.
Yes Hope and Faith are the two strongest allies that we have they are the driving force that keeps us going. We will defend our right to have them and to use them to keep us who we are.
The rest of the world may shun us but our hope and our faith will make us rise above it like a Phoenix from the ashes. You can not keep us down, you cannot belittle us nor diminish us. We have two strong allies on our side Hope and Faith.
New College Grads What are they to do? December 11, 2010
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, careers, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, jobs careers job hunting, rage, reality, stress, Viewpoint
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We have been taught all our live that to get a good job you need a good education. So after we graduate high school we go right off to college. The jobs they have held during high school and college are not even related to what they are studying. It is just the jobs they can get to make some cash.
Now they have hustled to earn that degree and graduate hopefully in the top of their class only to be told now that they need the experience to get the job.
Oh to be stuck in the Catch 22 syndrome I can’t get the experience without the job and I can’t get the job with out the experience.
I tell my clients and my children who are in college to get the summer internships to get the experience. I suggest that if the college or University has a coop program that they take that extra year to get the experience. This way they are in a better position than those that didn’t because they will have both the education and the experience.
I guess those that came up with this policy have forgotten what it was like when they started. I guess they have forgotten that they want the latest techniques and subject knowledge which you get from school. They forget that as they move people up they need the new people to train to become part of their succession program. Or have they abandon that train of thought?
I guess that I am too logical and forward thinking to get a grasp on the idea of not hiring new grads because they lack experience. I guess in my head it comes across as ignorance and incompetence. A lack of ethics and morales. I feel that I should compel a list of these companies so I know where to tell my clients not to apply to because it would not be conducive to their future plans. That their future will more likely be stifled by the mind set controlling these companies and that their future will more than likely be in jeopardy.
To date I have not had one person who could provide a good rational or business explanation to this practice. Why is that? What does that tell you?
IT tell me that it is based on some irrational thought process and what does that tell me. Red Flags!
Got a new attitude! December 8, 2010
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, Job Search, jobs careers job hunting, rage, reality, stress, Viewpoint
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I have come to the realization of why I have not landed a job in two years. Well there are the minor side issues credit score is so low I have my own number, I have been out of the industry for awhile because I can’t speak any Chinese dialect, They think that I am too old etc.
My realization is that I scare the hell out of them!!!!! Yes it is true I scare the hell out them. You ask why?
Why is because I have a high IQ and common sense which is a deadly combination. I have far superior leadership skills than they do. I can actual solve problems even outside my normal job. I mean that if I was a hiring manager reading my resume and realized that I could outperform you in my sleep I would be quaking in my boots too.
So I have come to the realization that there are not any companies left in America with great leadership and common sense and intelligence that could use such a great talent as myself.
I mean here I am a guy who knows how to handle risk and to mitigate it so it doesn’t totally destroy us if it doesn’t work. Risk now there is a term that needs to be Politically corrected so that we sugar coat to a point where it no longer sounds bad and frightening. Maybe then Corporate America will get their head out of their ass and move forward with some intelligence and common sense. But alas PC is the enemy of Common sense and intelligence. Alas there may be no hope for me to find a niche to work in.
But damn the ignorant masses I know who I am and what I am capable of. I know that I have great value to offer and what that value is worth. Trust me it is worth far more than the ROI the company will get that hires me. I have always out paced my loaded labor costs with the amount of profit realization that I have provided to companies.
However I find myself having to deal with inept HR Capital that have lost the ability to read into a resume the talent that is truly there. It has gone and replaced with the buzzword count to gauge the worthiness of a candidate. Gone are the days of embracing free thinking and innovative thought and being replaced with meek yes men and women who won’t rock the boat.
Yes alas there is no longer an atmosphere conducive for me to shine in. To make others look greater than they are. To make monies for a companies by attacking issues that others ignore or look over for lack of drive or initiative.
In finding a company where the CEO has not adopted the sports mentality of it is more about the money and the contract than the love of the game. I think it is time to renew my passport and see if I can find a country in Europe where my talents are appreciated as they are no longer appreciated here in America.
My new attitude is screw them they do not deserve me. Let them wallow in mediocrity. Let them continue to just get by until utter failure hits them in the face. They deserve it. My only regret is for the people it will effect because they do not deserve what they will get.
Here is a closing story my oldest son told me today. He works for the phone company. The detail officer told him that he just had to arrest a guy for beating on an HR person who told him that the company doesn’t hire the unemployed.
Now I am not sure that the HR person deserved it, It could of been a case of shooting the messenger but in a way they did because they are part of the problem not the solution. But the guy should have also the CEO and opened a can of whoop ass on him too. Maybe it would have been a wake up call. I mean think about it it would have shown that the guy was resourceful in finding him and takes initiative by kicking his ass. If I had a company I would hire that guy for those 2 reasons alone.
Let me know if you have a new attitude or what you think of the story.
Holiday Attitude feelings December 6, 2010
Posted by jvmullin in Job Searching, Job Searching.Tags: attitude, career search, job hunting, Job Search, job seeking, rage, stress, Viewpoint
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I have one wish for the unemployed underemployed and soon to be unemployed this holiday season.
I wish you HOPE for the future for you, your families and for America which as lost its way.
While I have been trying very hard to keep my attitude in check. After 2 years of unemployment and my benefits having Oct 1st. I find my attitude has turned to one a bitterness. I am sure that I am not alone. I am thankful and grateful for my oldest son who is paying my rent for Nov. and December. Then he is not going to be able to help after that as he has his own financial problems. I am applying for anything and everything but don’t seem to be getting any takes on any of it. Is it the fact that I have 2 degrees and that I am a professional that scares them off? IS it the fact that I am 59 years old? I still have plenty of good years to contribute as my view is that I am 2 twenty year olds. I have a vast array of experience and have performed very well in each, yet I cannot find a job anywhere. As my youngest would say WTF!
As I sit here trying to contemplate what my future will be after December, I can’t help feeling like I am stranded on the Island of Misfit Toys. I feel like I do not belong anywhere any more. Like the toys on the Island all I have left is Hope that some hiring manager will like me and want to have me. Like the misfit toys I would be so grateful I that I would be the most exceptional employee they have. But alas I have no Rudolph, Abominable, Yukon Jack or Cornelius to tell Santa to rescue me. So I guess I remain on the Island with the rest of the Misfits. The only thing that is a real analogy here is that we Misfits know that we are not Misfits but are very good.
I wish you all the best holidays that you can muster up. Remember this, it is not about material things but about each other and the love and support that you can give each other. This my friends is worth more than all the gold in the world.
Peace Love and Hope!
Job seeking from a hunters perspective Blog 