Page: 1 2

Recession (17)

BigOldHector's profile

BigOldHector

Posted by BigOldHector on Fri 17 Sep 10, 2:26 PM to BigOldHector's blog.

HOOOOOOOO-BLOODY-RAAAAAAY! AT LAST!

After constantly banging my head against a brick wall since last year, I've finally got a job to go to!

This is by far the longest time I have spent out of work in a 35-year professional career, with absolutely not a sniff of ANYTHING! And I mean absolutely nothing, not even so much as a temporary oasis of low-pay drudgery to tick over until a proper opportunity came along.

In the present climate, I know there must be quite a few of you out there in the same boat. So I hope I can at least offer a few words of encouragement because, believe me, I've just been through all of the same crap you are probably experiencing.

The "phantom jobs" where you apply for an advertised "urgent" position, or even get headhunted for the same, only to find after building up your hopes for days or weeks that the "vacancy" is only a cv-collecting exercise for something tentative that may never happen.

Not getting interviews, or your cv even reaching the right people, for real and potentially well-paying positions that you know ideally suit your experience and qualifications, just because some ignoramus in HR who doesn't even know what your job title means is filtering-out perfectly applicable cv's on stupid spurious criteria of their own invention.

Employers being reluctant to consider you even for low skill, low wage, stop-gap jobs because they think you are "overqualified" and "won't want to do it" (for chrissake, after more than a year without an income there's not much paying a full-time wage I'd exactly have considered beneath my dignity!).

There is still no evidence of anything resembling an economic upturn. If anything, every indication is that things may be getting worse. And I know its just purely luck of the draw that I've been successful this time around. A few openings arose in my field, and for once out of several concurrent applications my cv finally ended up in front of one person actually qualified to compare it to the required skillset of my specialisation. The interview, the first I've managed to get in all the time I've been looking, seemed to be merely a formality.

So anyone else who is still in the same frustrating position where I was,

Remember, it is not you that's the problem. You are still as good as you were in your last job. But in all fields its a buyers' market out there right now, with far more candidates than vacancies. When you are overlooked for interviews, it isn't because other candidates are better or in any way more employable than you, they just happen to better fit whatever narrow and often arbitrary and inappropriate profile happens to be applied on that occasion.

And so long as you keep plugging away and putting yourself to the front of the queue no matter how futile it seems, eventually something *must* go your way even if only by random chance.

Good luck, and don't give up!

Replies

17 Sep 10, 3:10 PM MissP UK(EN), 8 yrs	Congratulation! www.thedivinemissp.co.uk
17 Sep 10, 3:27 PM MizzScarlett UK, 4 yrs	Well done!
17 Sep 10, 3:37 PM beachdom UK(KT), 2 yrs	Plinth_For_Her_Feet wrote: Recession HOOOOOOOO-BLOODY-RAAAAAAY! AT LAST! After constantly banging my head against a brick wall since last year, I've finally got a job to go to! This is by far the longest time I have spent out of work in a 35-year professional career, with absolutely not a sniff of ANYTHING! And I mean absolutely nothing, not even so much as a temporary oasis of low-pay drudgery to tick over until a proper opportunity came along. In the present climate, I know there must be quite a few of you out there in the same boat. So I hope I can at least offer a few words of encouragement because, believe me, I've just been through all of the same crap you are probably experiencing. The "phantom jobs" where you apply for an advertised "urgent" position, or even get headhunted for the same, only to find after building up your hopes for days or weeks that the "vacancy" is only a cv-collecting exercise for something tentative that may never happen. Not getting interviews, or your cv even reaching the right people, for real and potentially well-paying positions that you know ideally suit your experience and qualifications, just because some ignoramus in HR who doesn't even know what your job title means is filtering-out perfectly applicable cv's on stupid spurious criteria of their own invention. Employers being reluctant to consider you even for low skill, low wage, stop-gap jobs because they think you are "overqualified" and "won't want to do it" (for chrissake, after more than a year without an income there's not much paying a full-time wage I'd exactly have considered beneath my dignity!). There is still no evidence of anything resembling an economic upturn. If anything, every indication is that things may be getting worse. And I know its just purely luck of the draw that I've been successful this time around. A few openings arose in my field, and for once out of several concurrent applications my cv finally ended up in front of one person actually qualified to compare it to the required skillset of my specialisation. The interview, the first I've managed to get in all the time I've been looking, seemed to be merely a formality. So anyone else who is still in the same frustrating position where I was, Remember, it is not you that's the problem. You are still as good as you were in your last job. But in all fields its a buyers' market out there right now, with far more candidates than vacancies. When you are overlooked for interviews, it isn't because other candidates are better or in any way more employable than you, they just happen to better fit whatever narrow and often arbitrary and inappropriate profile happens to be applied on that occasion. And so long as you keep plugging away and putting yourself to the front of the queue no matter how futile it seems, eventually something *must* go your way even if only by random chance. Good luck, and don't give up! Spain is suffering unemployment like they did in the 1930"s and you know what happend then !
17 Sep 10, 3:41 PM JennyM UK, 4 yrs	Very pleased to hear this news - well done! x
17 Sep 10, 3:48 PM Incandescence UK, 3 yrs	Well done ..... now, just make sure you don't sleep in on your first day ya so gorra luv this Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. ~William Shakespeare, King Lear, 1605 Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. ~Confucius, Analects
17 Sep 10, 3:59 PM BigOldHector UK(DE), 10 yrs	beachdom wrote: Spain is suffering unemployment like they did in the 1930"s and you know what happend then ! Ah, but this is apathetic Britain we're talking about here. And I hope we don't need a fascist dictatorship to start generating jobs again. Tories are enough of a hard limit! I AM THE GOD OF HELL-FIRE!.....but its my lunch break right now
17 Sep 10, 4:00 PM BigOldHector UK(DE), 10 yrs	lima_pink_tigress wrote: Well done ..... now, just make sure you don't sleep in on your first day Yeah, that's going to be a tough one! I AM THE GOD OF HELL-FIRE!.....but its my lunch break right now
17 Sep 10, 4:36 PM EtaCarinae CA, 5 yrs	Congratulations PFHF ! I don't need a psychiatrist. I'm Catholic. (Dorothy Kilkagen)
17 Sep 10, 5:43 PM Butterscotch UK(RM), 3 yrs	congratulations and well said
17 Sep 10, 7:08 PM beachdom UK(KT), 2 yrs	Plinth_For_Her_Feet wrote: beachdom wrote: Spain is suffering unemployment like they did in the 1930"s and you know what happend then ! Ah, but this is apathetic Britain we're talking about here. And I hope we don't need a fascist dictatorship to start generating jobs again. Tories are enough of a hard limit! yes indeed

Next page