The Still Frustrated Job Seekers' Rants Forum

John in Catonsville, Maryland said: This morning, I received two emails from two different recruiters at the same agency for a position close to me. I'm sitting here wondering which one I should respond to....... if either one.....

easy, the woman. you may not get anywhere with either one of them, but at least you won't have to look at a dude during the interview.

Alice3 in Dunwoody, Georgia said: End ~ Its never a good thing to play along with them that you have kids when you dont. Im sure you already know this. This is where the question of well what have you been doing comes from which is really none of their business but none the less they ask. Some places actually want an older person that doesnt have kids cause they dont like when you have to call out due to kid is sick what ever. Problem is to find that place !

from my experience with applying for these part time office jobs at smaller co. i think that playing the single mom card might work in my favor actually, it certainly sounds more noble than unemployed loser whom nobody wants plus it is fairly inconceivable to most people that anyone could be involantarily w/o a job for over 3 yrs, judging by the surprised looks i get, it's like they don't believe me. i can bet they think i had a job that i was fired from and removed from my resume or something like that.
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I really could not lie about having a job that i really don't, a volunteer job i might make out to be more than it is but to completely fabricate a job and title that takes balls I don't have...

so now this morning I emailed the guy my resume, he'd said "talk to you later" after I send it, meaning calling me to set up interview
i gotta go out and enjoy the Sun instead of waiting here nervously for a call that might not come;
he asked me if I had a resume! I think he thought i was a young mom with little work experience, who else would apply for a part time clerical job paying $10-12/hr?

I would take $10 - $12 right now if I could get it. Thats better than $7.25 doing retail, which I HATE. I had 2 out of state temp agencys call. Told them to send the resume. See if I get an interview. No, not just sitting here waiting on that one. Send send send.

Nick in Linden, New Jersey said: easy, the woman. you may not get anywhere with either one of them, but at least you won't have to look at a dude during the interview.

Both names are from India, heck if I know male from female Indian names........
I chose one, responded. Don't expect a response though. For computer support, typically pay about $12- 15 on the high end, my stated rate was higher.

Interview time.

I prayed, which is rare.

I put a pic of my mom and my gf's bangle into my suit pocket.

I haven't gotten nervous for interviews for some time. Today, I am nervous. It's a two-hour interview.

Very best of luck Parafree very best. Hope you get it. Come back and let us know how it went.

You might have to "bend" there a little John....

Yes, I do have to bend. I also need a living wage, so it won't be too much....

Oh I know, I know. Its a very very hard thing thats for sure. I had a job I was makeing $13 and I was happy with that. I actually had money left over which is ever so nice to have. This time around that money will be saved, not spent. This is to never happen again thats for sure with no safety net that is. They take too long to get back to you. Im a perfect fit for this one job n wish I would hear!!

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: Interview time.

I prayed, which is rare.

I put a pic of my mom and my gf's bangle into my suit pocket.

I haven't gotten nervous for interviews for some time. Today, I am nervous. It's a two-hour interview.

Hope you get it! I completely understand about nerves I was not nervous at all Tuesday until I stepped into the room and my voice actually shook a bit. "The employeds" just don't get how badly we NEED a job, it's nerve-wracking.

I'm already back. The interview lasted about as long as it took to fill out the app - about 20 minutes.

I have zero confidence in getting a call back on this one.

The interviewer was a smug robot. At the end of the interview, when he asked if I had any questions, I asked how many people were going to be interviewed. Answer was, "Don't know." Well, how many do you think you're going to interview? "I'm interviewing for four days." Are you going to do second interviews? "Yes." Well, I think I'm qualified, would do a good job and I would like to come in for a second interview.

The interview was read directly from a list:

Tell me about yourself. Tell me about how you handed a difficult situation at work. Tell me about a time when you had someone not pulling their weight. Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty. Tell me about a time when you felt you were in over your head (or something like that). Tell me about a time when you had difficulty with a co-worker. Tell me about a time when you had an irate customer, etc. All read straight from a list. He asked me what I did at my last job. That was about the only normal question. Oh and what have you been doing?

I'm sorry, these are open ended, soulless BS questions. I walked out a little pissed initially, but then thought to myself that this was a practice interview for Tuesday's interview. It's still uber demoralizing to go through this, know how many you're up against and to walk out feeling like this. Whatever. There's always tomorrow.

Sorry to hear bout it

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: Tell me about yourself. Tell me about how you handed a difficult situation at work. Tell me about a time when you had someone not pulling their weight. Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty. Tell me about a time when you felt you were in over your head (or something like that). Tell me about a time when you had difficulty with a co-worker. Tell me about a time when you had an irate customer, etc. All read straight from a list. He asked me what I did at my last job. That was about the only normal question. Oh and what have you been doing?

I'm sorry, these are open ended, soulless BS questions. I walked out a little pissed initially, but then thought to myself that this was a practice interview for Tuesday's interview. It's still uber demoralizing to go through this, know how many you're up against and to walk out feeling like this. Whatever. There's always tomorrow.

I just feel like crossing my eyes and picking my nose when they start that.

Just awful what they put you through it really is.

I'm still pissed, but I need to get it out of my system before tomorrow's interview. I'll just have to write it off. And there won't be a thank you email. I've sent one 90% of the time, but it's not warranted this time. Now, watch them email me back. That's how messed up and bizarre today's job hunt is.

Sorry about the interview, sadly this is part if the experience. Anyone who doesnt get to experience this doesnt know what theyre missinh.

I would send a thank you note anyways, regardless of how it went. There just arent enough positions to take any chances.

Bluetea in Texas said: I just feel like crossing my eyes and picking my nose when they start that.

So your the nose picker in our little group.

Anonymously in in Orange, California said: Sorry about the interview, sadly this is part if the experience. Anyone who doesnt get to experience this doesnt know what theyre missinh.

I would send a thank you note anyways, regardless of how it went. There just arent enough positions to take any chances.

I'm just going to pass on this one. This interview wasn't the worst one I've experienced. It wasn't close to being the worst one I've experienced. I just walk out either bewildered or upset after every single one. I've been on around 20 during this gap. If I get a call/email back for an interview 5% of the time, then I should be about due to get hired if that number is consistent as to getting hired from an interview.

You know I just would like to say Parafreegal, I admire you for sticking to your guns and not for the most part tell any lies.

Earlier I believe you were telling someone you don't think you could have a friend vouch for you in saying that you worked for him during this gap. It's admirable.

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said: You know I just would like to say Parafreegal, I admire you for sticking to your guns and not for the most part tell any lies.

Earlier I believe you were telling someone you don't think you could have a friend vouch for you in saying that you worked for him during this gap. It's admirable.

It would be very difficult for me to resort to such.

This particular employer would conduct a criminal background search as well as a credit check prior to hiring anyone. Oh, and they'd also do at least a second interview. I'd have to think the latter would disqualify quite a few folks. As far as I know, my credit is at least good, if not stellar. But I don't know. And I don't think it matters because I don't think I passed the interview.

Does anyone find the "I found a job" thread to be total horse hockey? Seriously.

Again, never once have I ever gotten a call/email from a submission I made through Indeed. Never. They've all been through CL, Monster or Lawbulletin.

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: Does anyone find the "I found a job" thread to be total horse hockey? Seriously.

Again, never once have I ever gotten a call/email from a submission I made through Indeed. Never. They've all been through CL, Monster or Lawbulletin.

Someone at Indeed writing the "I found a job"...drinking cola, eating chips, going back and forth betw porn and this site and making serious dinero.

(I picture the person working in the basement of Indeed HQ and looking similar to Chevy Chase.)

I can only read the first four pages of it. If I click last, I get that "error" screen. It could be that I'm banned from that thread for posting something similar to what I posted here. The posts just don't seem legitimate. I see a bunch of 1-2 line posts indicating they got a job thanks to Indeed. This doesn't jibe with my experience or the experience of many others here.

These job sites go round and round to nowhere.

Hey, yesterday I'd try to post on that I found a job thread and couldn't.

I was going to post that our Nick found work. Couldn't.

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: Does anyone find the "I found a job" thread to be total horse hockey? Seriously.

Again, never once have I ever gotten a call/email from a submission I made through Indeed. Never. They've all been through CL, Monster or Lawbulletin.

At first I thought you were talking about getting a job @ Indeed.com itself. Fat chance of that happening unless you were college buds with whoever started this site. Then I reread it and realized it was getting a job through this site. I use this site for 90% of my online job leads. I'm in a very specialized medical area and if there's a new job come open in my field this site will have it. The job I'm at now was advertised here but only after I found out about it through friends and had already submitted my application.

Oh great, so i just find out that the job that I called about monday, advertised in the local paper, the one i was sposed to hear back from by today, that same job was posted HERE as a NEW job AND this posting was from monster.com 4 days ago.

Obviously am annoyed at this since I thought as it was a tiny operation he'd only advertise in the paper and besides me who reads the paper anymore so I might have a shot but now that it's on indeed AND monster I may as well forget it.

Now here is a perfect example of how this site advertises jobs as "new" when they've been posted for days. So when you find something here you have to apply immediately. In the height of the recession employers were so inundated with resumes applying a week after a job was posted was no biggie but now since the # of candidates has drastically gone down, I think they decide whom to call in to interview the week the job is posted and just ignore any later resumes. I generally have been getting call backs a day or 2 after applying or not at all, rarely now a week or later.

Most of the jobs i've been interviewing for in the past 2 yrs. have had about 25 applicants. I know people posting here go on and on about the hundreds of others they are competing against but that is not the case for me and I wonder if they know they are competing against 100+ others or they assume this just because they are not having any luck. Often 24 apply and 4 are called in to interview and then it's all the more shocking not to hear back from interviewer, not like they have 20 interviewees to contact...

endoftheworld in West Hartford, Connecticut said: Oh great, so i just find out that the job that I called about monday, advertised in the local paper, the one i was sposed to hear back from by today, that same job was posted HERE as a NEW job AND this posting was from monster.com 4 days ago.

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I did a phone interview on a fri a few weeks ago. Sales Mgr scheduled a face to face the next fri. Company almost 3 hrs away.

The Monday after my phone interview the job was posted AGAIN. I didn't go to the interview, didn't even bother calling.

Sounds like you are seeing some opportunities lately.

"Only mature, sophisticated candidates with impeccable appearance and superior verbal and written communication skills who are upbeat and have high energy need apply"

OMG, among the the other "must be proficient in MS Office" bs and other misc. crap such as literally must of had this exact same job (assist. in optometrist office), I find the above a bit over the top.
Sad to say I am seeing more and more ads like this.
This job pays $13/hr. and likely not benefitted, plus you have to work eve and saturdays.
Yep real motivated to keep on lookin...

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said: "sounds like you are seeing some opportunities "

Um not really or was that meant to be sarcastic? I applied to 1 part time job this week, nothing last week or weeks before. Everything posted this week so far are jobs I have applied to prior, same co/same job or same co./slightly different job (like office assistant vs. office clerk)

Also got a bizarre rejection email about a scheduling coordinator job i'd applied to a couple weeks before:

"We appreciate your interest in our Outpatient Billing position; however, we are unable to offer encouragement of employment with our facility at this time."

Then they give the bs about keeping my resume on file should a more suitable job open and THEY will contact me (yeah right)

Sometimes these people write in this bizarre flowery speech am not sure English is their native language or it's not a computer generated message tho this one sposedly came from the Director of the of Facility but with title only, no name so i'd sent my cover letter to the same since she preferred to remain anon.

No, I wasn't trying to be funny.

Besides tonight I'm in my nicey mood.

endoftheworld in West Hartford, Connecticut said: "Only mature, sophisticated candidates with impeccable appearance and superior verbal and written communication skills who are upbeat and have high energy need apply"

OMG, among the the other "must be proficient in MS Office" bs and other misc. crap such as literally must of had this exact same job (assist. in optometrist office), I find the above a bit over the top.
Sad to say I am seeing more and more ads like this.
This job pays $13/hr. and likely not benefitted, plus you have to work eve and saturdays.
Yep real motivated to keep on lookin...

What they don't say is that you will also be doing the work of the 3 people that they laid off during the last downsize. Been there. Buh bye!

Getting rid of 1,000 jobs is a different conversation than getting rid of 1,000 people. Big difference.

Finally got some positive news, an actual offer........but it relies on a background and credit check. Im terrified my extremely poor credit gonna bite me on this one. I dont know if theres a way to plead my case, in the event of a poor response. Anyone else deal with this?

endoftheworld in West Hartford, Connecticut said: Oh great, so i just find out that the job that I called about monday, advertised in the local paper, the one i was sposed to hear back from by today, that same job was posted HERE as a NEW job AND this posting was from monster.com 4 days ago.

Obviously am annoyed at this since I thought as it was a tiny operation he'd only advertise in the paper and besides me who reads the paper anymore so I might have a shot but now that it's on indeed AND monster I may as well forget it.

Now here is a perfect example of how this site advertises jobs as "new" when they've been posted for days. So when you find something here you have to apply immediately. In the height of the recession employers were so inundated with resumes applying a week after a job was posted was no biggie but now since the # of candidates has drastically gone down, I think they decide whom to call in to interview the week the job is posted and just ignore any later resumes. I generally have been getting call backs a day or 2 after applying or not at all, rarely now a week or later.

Most of the jobs i've been interviewing for in the past 2 yrs. have had about 25 applicants. I know people posting here go on and on about the hundreds of others they are competing against but that is not the case for me and I wonder if they know they are competing against 100+ others or they assume this just because they are not having any luck. Often 24 apply and 4 are called in to interview and then it's all the more shocking not to hear back from interviewer, not like they have 20 interviewees to contact...

Indeed does capture jobs posted to other job sites. Sometimes, it even reposts old jobs. You have to try to see when a job was posted once you leave Indeed and go to the other site.

Once again, from resumes submitted to ads I've seen on Indeed, I've not ever received a single response. Ever. Monster and CL are better.

endoftheworld in West Hartford, Connecticut said: "Only mature, sophisticated candidates with impeccable appearance and superior verbal and written communication skills who are upbeat and have high energy need apply"

OMG, among the the other "must be proficient in MS Office" bs and other misc. crap such as literally must of had this exact same job (assist. in optometrist office), I find the above a bit over the top.
Sad to say I am seeing more and more ads like this.
This job pays $13/hr. and likely not benefitted, plus you have to work eve and saturdays.
Yep real motivated to keep on lookin...

Not worth submitting. I sometimes think obnoxious ads like that one are fake.

endoftheworld in West Hartford, Connecticut said: Um not really or was that meant to be sarcastic? I applied to 1 part time job this week, nothing last week or weeks before. Everything posted this week so far are jobs I have applied to prior, same co/same job or same co./slightly different job (like office assistant vs. office clerk)

Also got a bizarre rejection email about a scheduling coordinator job i'd applied to a couple weeks before:

"We appreciate your interest in our Outpatient Billing position; however, we are unable to offer encouragement of employment with our facility at this time."

1. Any rejections I get are deleted or thrown into the trash straight away. The language is irrelevant. I've only ever gotten one personalized email back after a rejection. That was because that guy wanted to hire me while his idiot colleague did not.

2. I'm lucky to apply to five jobs per week. I apply to good fits/matches. I know the likelihood of a call back is minimal even if I'm a perfect fit.

3. You indicated in another post that the number of applicants is decreasing lately. I would disagree based on my experience.

Endoftheworld...

1) I submit maybe five resumes per week. That's all that I can find to which I can reasonably apply. I'm lucky if even one is a perfect fit. It's simply a waste of time to apply to everything.

2) Ignore the language in all rejections emails/letters. It's boiler plate and meaningless.

3) There aren't fewer applicants for jobs nowadays in my experience. Au contraire.

Was on the news last night. Read ~ www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/transportation/billboard-with-dummy-on-noose-startles-drivers/nQDQG/

As they cut more tiers from unemployment this is makeing a bad situation worse. There are far far too many people all applying for the same job. THIS is why they are so picky about who they take. Picky to the point of being absurd.

I saw that on this morning's news. As the article says, those who are condemning the sign the most are the folks who are the most clueless (paraphrased)

Cant believe they are blowing it off as a "publicity" stunt! I could see takeing it down because people would get in an accident looking at that dummy swinging there like that. Looks like its a real person at first sight. Looks like they dont get the point of it though.

Parafreegal in Chicago, Illinois said: Endoftheworld...

3) There aren't fewer applicants for jobs nowadays in my experience. Au contraire.

well i only know about the jobs which i am called in to interview for, mostly smaller private co. tho some bigger national ones. The jobs themselves are entry level/some experience tho i've not found any job listed where NO Experience Necessary Will Train is in the ad. In 2009 I interviewed as a receptionist for a dr. in private practice, she was shocked to find she'd had over 75 applicants for this $11/hr job but since 2010 the number of candidates seems much more manageable. Am sure in the lower part of the county where the majority of the jobs are and certainly the ones with decent salaries there is more competition but I am not willing to drive more than 40 min. so I don't apply down there. I live in what would be called a 'bedroom' community. Lots of people live here but few actually work here and most don't seem to mind longer commutes because their lives revolve around their jobs whereas mine is fitness and recreation and i'm not willing to put in 10-11 hr. days 8,9 hr.s work and 2 hr. r/t commute.
The top 3 fields are Medical, Education and Retail, used to be Manufacturing but not so much anymore and the hourly wage for some manufacturing jobs i've looked at is like $12/hr, you'd make better $ being a nurses aid.

If you actually live in or near a major metropolitain area am sure the competition is greater than someplace where the jobs just aren't or if they are they are highly specialized.

I also intentionally try to apply to lower paying jobs i think others might not want at least other single people but so far that strategy does not seem to work either.

Another sweltering day here today gots to get out before it gets too hot!

endoftheworld in East Hartford, Connecticut said: well i only know about the jobs which i am called in to interview for, mostly smaller private co. tho some bigger national ones. The jobs themselves are entry level/some experience tho i've not found any job listed where NO Experience Necessary Will Train is in the ad. In 2009 I interviewed as a receptionist for a dr. in private practice, she was shocked to find she'd had over 75 applicants for this $11/hr job but since 2010 the number of candidates seems much more manageable. Am sure in the lower part of the county where the majority of the jobs are and certainly the ones with decent salaries there is more competition but I am not willing to drive more than 40 min. so I don't apply down there. I live in what would be called a 'bedroom' community. Lots of people live here but few actually work here and most don't seem to mind longer commutes because their lives revolve around their jobs whereas mine is fitness and recreation and i'm not willing to put in 10-11 hr. days 8,9 hr.s work and 2 hr. r/t commute.
The top 3 fields are Medical, Education and Retail, used to be Manufacturing but not so much anymore and the hourly wage for some manufacturing jobs i've looked at is like $12/hr, you'd make better $ being a nurses aid.

If you actually live in or near a major metropolitain area am sure the competition is greater than someplace where the jobs just aren't or if they are they are highly specialized.

I also intentionally try to apply to lower paying jobs i think others might not want at least other single people but so far that strategy does not seem to work either.

Another sweltering day here today gots to get out before it gets too hot!

Please. My sister works for the school district and they almost NEVER advertise on job boards. They had one position open for a part time evening receptionist with benefits. They had over 1,500 applicants.

Alice3 in Dunwoody, Georgia said: Was on the news last night. Read ~ www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/transportation/billboard-with-dummy-on-noose-startles-drivers/nQDQG/

I'm actually at the end of my rope too.

Unemployment chks end soon and I don't want to dig to much more into savings.

What crap job do I take? That's the question for me.

It's unbelievable if you think about it. Millions of freaking jobs on the internet and 90 percent of them I'm not qualified for and/or they suck. Millions.

millions. freaking millions. freaking millions of total nonsense on the internet.

i've seen nothing today. that's my rant for today. nothing.

millions of nothing upon nothing of nothing.

This is the reason they do a phone interview. They had to come up with a process of elimination because they are overwhelmed with resumes. Now they are even stipulating how far away you are. They google your zip and it tells them if you are in their opionion too far away. Ive been told that as well by them that each day they recieve hundreds of applications. Even the ones that are part time get swamped. Too many people out of work and not enough jobs to go around.

What kind of work do you do Joe? Its the worst nightmare Ive ever had in my entire life thats for sure. Ive been unemployed before but never ever saw it like this. I am 2 going into 3 months with absolutley no money coming in. This is what keeps me awake at night that my friends are getting tired of all the "loans" to pay the electric etc. A crappy job is better than nothing. I cant even get that right now. Its all very disheartening to say the least.

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said: I'm actually at the end of my rope too.

Unemployment chks end soon and I don't want to dig to much more into savings.

What crap job do I take? That's the question for me.

It's unbelievable if you think about it. Millions of freaking jobs on the internet and 90 percent of them I'm not qualified for and/or they suck. Millions.

And that is about where I've been for years now. Lots of jobs I could do, if given the chance. All sorts of weeding techniques out there. "Must have experience in the latest version of the software". Adding degree qualifications where none are needed. You will leave as soon as the economy picks up (yup, because you pay only $10/hr, no benefits, treat employees worse than dirt).

Of the friends I have, one in particular used to suggest things which were typically totally not appropriate for me. He could finally tell that I had little interest in his pontificating about such things.

Sure, walk into any company I might want to apply to and promptly get told to go online and look for open positions. Should they take my resume, it Might get put on file for a bit.

Hi John ~ did your parents come and visit?

Yup. They came, we went to the museum and my folks loved it. We had lunch and came back here. At lunch my mother starting giving a raft of sh** about the carpet on my front porch and that I should take it up. We got back to my house and the raft of %&$* continued (about the interior mess) for a bit until my folks decided to beat the rush hour traffic up to my uncles house.

Oh geee sorry. That doesnt sound like it went too well. A part of what people dont understand in addition to several other things is that ... something else is on my mind besides the mat by the door!!!!! Something else alot more important! You probably dont even notice it. Things arent exactly like they should be because I CANT FIND A JOB!!!! Alot more important. Yep, sure is but they dont get it.