Job us

Looking for job or shall I say begging for job? Either way we are putting ourselves in submissive position and therefore every HR personnel, Recruiter or just any Establishment owner become superior and the most important person in our lives ;for that moment anyway.

What they want? What is the game they are playing with us? Two decades ego a simple list of our qualifications and work history would do the job. No pun intended.

How many Job finding centers are open all over Canada with complex programs designed to help you to find job? To help you to created proper cover letter, proper resume, S.M.A.R.T. stories; employer research, job leads and many more so called helping tools? My city of 400 thou population is offering more than 40 such programs. All pay, with a few exemptions ,by government. We, taxpayers, know that government does not have any money to pay for anything. It is OUR money, nobody else's!

The game

You lost your job. You became one of those unemployed and you start looking for employment. At the beginning you trust, that your experiences, your education and your network will gain you a new, even better job in no time.

What awakening! Competition is strong, brutal, and ruthless as are potential employers. If you did not look for job for years, you maybe even find all the requirements difficult to comply with and meeting all of the terms beyond your ability. You need a professional facilitate and assist you in your more and more desperate hunt for career at first and for any job eventually.

In the case that you are computer friendly (and that not always apply for more mature job hunters) and you are comfortable in office work, the help from Job finding help centers should be not even needed.

However, it is! Most of your bosses, supervisors, managers, HR personnel , all those who will do the interviewing in time of hiring would not be able to fulfill all those stipulations asked from you, job applicants. The questionnaires in most cases would be difficult if not impossible for the most part to answer properly to the majority of your prospective bosses.

Examples taken from one actual Questionnaire: (originally created for NASA candidates only this one was given to applicant for 12.65 hourly for 35 hours a week for Customer Service position.)

Have you ever lied to your mother? Yes or No

Here you trapped. If you say Yes, well in normal life there is some difference between lying when you seven years old and you did not eat your vegetables even you told your mom that you did, or you lied about something far more serious. Not in those questionnaires !

So admitting that you lied without chance to give details you considered dishonest possibly fraudulent and by saying NO you lying just here and now, because we all said little ( innocent, white) lies to our parent.

From my own experiences:

Man in his late fifties lost his job as a Keeper in local Golf club which was sold to the developers. This man worked for that club all his adult life. He loved his job and the club was his only world. To make this ugly story short, he was uneducated however very skilled and was given excellent recommendations and credentials from his employer. He never used computer and he never wrote a letter to anybody and yet he was expected to deliver Resume and Cover letter; provide transferable skills; make Cold calls; develop further personal contacts; develop a job search plan ; practice interview answers; prepare Qs to asked of possible employer; make information interviews; learn job description at NOC and NAICS pages; and much more. He was obviously totally lost in this all new world to him and his positivism diminished very fast. He was asked to do his own job search by using all those wonderful computers in computer lab. He was obviously overwhelmed and very discouraged. He was told that this is the way to search, apply and, hopefully, acquire employment in Information era regardless that we moved on into conceptual age in which more human approach would be appreciated. Let us hope that we are on the way to some sanity, good sense, unpretentious and genuine time. When question about laying would specifically ask: Have you lied in your Resume and Cover letter? If you did why and about what?

Such a story applies to many others.: Recently divorced house wives; freshly graduated students; The Newcomers as Immigrants are referred to; and many unfortunate Canadians-born who lost their jobs they hold for many years even decades, and are willing and ready work, learn and become skilled at new occupation-career.

Many job seekers are challenged by their gender, race –ethnicity and age.

Countless of all those are skilled and accomplished workers at their profession who are subjected to all this nonsense, when their Resumes and Cover letters are created by professionals or acquired on the line as templates. Employers know that; everybody knows. So what kind of game are we playing here? Why this legitimate, supported, and encouraged dishonesty? So on paper we all seems to be high level applicants, who are boasting how amazing, knowledgeable, experienced and appreciated and admired we are and were by anybody who ever worked with us.

I counted close to one hundred job search and job finding help relate books, many DVD's concerning the same issue. Internet provides additional countless pages to this matter including Resumes and Cover letters templates and examples and another countless Resumes and CL professionals offering help on line.

Why to find a job or invitation to the interview become such a science, discipline on its own, and full time job? Do we really need to brag and talk big about ourselves when we are looking for low paid jobs? Demands and expectation from employers are high, however just one phone call from social contact and one can be in without possessing any of all those skills required.

Here is just little example for job advertisement posted yesterday:

Title: Office clerk

Salary: minimum wage + 10% for bilingual ; own transportation; own vehicle, willing to travel within province;

Fast-paced environment, Work under pressure, Tight deadlines, Physically Demanding, Repetitive tasks; Criminal record check,

Skills:

Reading text, Document use, Numeracy, Excellent communicator, Excellent team worker, Problem solving and organizing skills, Decision making, Critical thinking, Significant use of memory, Excellent in research; Strong Computer use (Windows, Database software, Spreadsheet software, Excel, Power point) Continuous learning; typing 55-60 wpm

Halve a page of Job description and duties follows.

Education: Completion of University plus some College and other trainings

Experience: 2 years to less than 3 years.

Our Organization is looking for a candidate who high regards work ethics and who has an ability to inspire confidence and positivism; can effectively create fast and beneficial rapport with others and excel in creating encouraging and pleasant atmosphere; who has an ability to implement people skills in every part of job description and can demonstrate effectiveness, efficiency and accountability at all times.

I have had a chance to search and research countless of Job openings and employment opportunities and I found it appalling and distressing.

All those demands are blow out of proportions a big time as all those wonderful Resumes and Cover letters. So we all playing game here to add more frustration and aggravation to job seekers and stressed unemployed. Who is wining here?

I talk with many desperate, distressed, and very worried people who lately send more than one hundred Job applications properly accompanied by professionally created and written resumes and cover letters. No single invitation for an interview. None ! The reason? Wrong name, wrong country of original education, age even skillfully conceived to some point in slashing down time and years of experiences

Give yourself a minute or two and prepare truly honest and truthful resume and totally direct and candid cover letter. Just do not send it! Compare that very private and frank information to job advertizing at the same category. So who is fooling whom? Who started this madness? Employers with their demands or job seekers with their bragging in attempt to beat competition.

God Bless all of you who are looking for job !! Any job is wanted and any job is a good job. If you one of those who were approached even just to be told how very much you were not selected, don't forget to send a Thank you card! That is a must ! What about a Gift basket ? Professionally made of course !!

Good luck to you all         Jey        very very worried