(no subject)

[athelind]

"Just keep plugging: send out more resumes, call for more jobs, look harder. Don't expect them to get back to you if they don't hire you. Eventually, something will turn up."
-- anyone who's ever offered job-hunting advice.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
-- Albert Einstein

• What's the difference between hunting for a job and shouting into a dark cave?
  At least shouting into a cave will yield echoes.
  
  
• What's the difference between hunting for a job and buying a lottery ticket?
  Your chances of winning are about the same, but at least when you don't win the lottery, it doesn't reflect on your ability.
  
  
• What's the difference between a degree in Basket-Weaving and a degree in Earth Sciences?
  If you majored in basket-weaving, you can always find an outlet for your work in a swap meet.
  

No, I didn't get that job that had me so excited, why do you ask?

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Though you probably don't want to hear this, a general rule of thumb is to assume at least one full month of intensive job search for every $10K you wish to earn.

BTW, have you considered other skills? You'd make a good reporter, to judge by your writing ability. :) And small town papers are often hiring. It's a nice, genteel career - low paid, but a fair amount of respect and lots of variety.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I don't live in a small town.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Big towns also often have lots of small papers!

I lived in Hamilton, but commuted out to Caledonia (pop 9000) when I was a reporter.

[pathia.livejournal.com]

If job hunting follows a poisson distribution, which is what I believe.

After my own experiences with trying to find one, it seems there are long periods of time between job offers, when they come, they come in bunches.

Thus, poisson distribution.

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. Boy do I ever.

What it took for me on April 8th after two solid years of unemployment and bullshit freelance jobs was a total change of attitude. I hadn't realized it but I wasn't quite willing to do whatever it took to find a job. I *LIKED* being unemployed, I liked sleeping in and I liked feeling sorry for myself.

You're right in that doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is insane. So CHANGE what you are doing. Don't just keep plugging away. If your resume isn't working to get callbacks then change your resume - don't lie, but certainly adjust the truth to fit the job. highlight what skills you possess that this particular job wants. Make hiring you a no brainer.

I was just like you are now - at my wit's end, tired of tossing resumes into black holes, and I changed my approach. I rewrote my resume to make anyone who happened to read it go 'whoa'. Punchy, forceful and blatantly egotistical. The job hunt is no place for the modest. I changed my cover letters, I made phone calls, I would not give up until agencies gave me interviews and when i got into the door in person it was time to blow their doors off. "No" is not a word you will understand. Call temp agency HR people every day until they let you in. Do not give up and do not let them say no. Make them have to call the police to get rid of you. Grab and take and kick ass. Screw the other job seekers. Crush them. YOU will have a job by June 1st. Say that over and over. YOU WILL HAVE A JOB BY JUNE 1st. Will it be a perfect, high paying job? maybe not. But you will have one.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world. You have both my sympathy and my empathy. }:/

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear it....
Something will turn up you know....
I did three and a half years being told I was overqualified then got the job I have now through an advert in the Evening Standard (Jobcentres? utter crap). Did 3 contract periods then when they thought I wasn't going to peg out regardless of my size, went permanent.
But I didn't plan it...

[xylen.livejournal.com]

You could try what I've been doing. Find a decent temp agency and tell them you're looking for temp to permanent work. Most of the time they keep your resume on file and you can tell them what kinds of work you prefer. It at least brings in some cash now and then while they do most of the grunt work of finding you a new permanent job.

Job hunt advicey stuff

[paka.livejournal.com]

I know your despair but don't agree with send out more resumes, call for more jobs, look harder. I would reccomend checking your resume and cover letters and rewriting them if need be; I got a lot more interviews, and one crappy job, after I reworked both.

There's the whole hyped networking thing, but I don't know if that's true.

What Colour is Your Parachute? goes the completely opposite track from send out more resumes, call for more jobs, look harder. That and some other job hunting books suggest that you find companies you're interested in and approach them directly.

So far, I've looked up specific companies online, but calling them or using the website to try and submitting resumes to specific people gets into this long tangle where I can't. This might be very worthwhile, but I feel this puts me the same place where I was before applying through classifieds, namely, as though I'd printed out a batch of resumes and flushed them down the toilet. Thus my next step may be physically showing up in businesses with resumes and references, and asking to speak to HR people then. I haven't tried this yet.

There's the agency thing. I haven't been doing that as much as I probably should have as I hate agency jobs (no benefits, poor pay, no future). But I know using agencies works for getting jobs.