Open letter to HRNasty

Hey there,

Love the site, thanks for the insight. Despite the smarmy tone, it really is useful an helpful to know what's going on the the HR mind.

I doubt you have time, but I invite you to check out my blog. I have a masters degree and over ten years experience working in schools and nonprofits but haven't been able to land a job in the two years since graduating from grad school. Not all rejections are the candidates fault. In this economy, you can be a 100% match to a job and still come up the wrong one of a dozen.


HOWEVER, I do wonder if you could help out: in my job hunt, now over 1200 applications and 100 interviews, I've come across some shitty HR processes. 

Applications that require to be printed out and filled in by hand. 

Poorly formatted Applications in Word that require me to adjust the formatting. (What do you think I am, an HR specialist?) 

I have specific special spot in my large intestine for Taleo. The job hunt process is frustrating, but I really wonder what the purpose is of these sites. As a rule of thumb, if an organization uses Taleo, it's not worth applying for.

BUT EVEN MORE SPECIFICALLY, can you call out the Seattle YMCA for having the shittiest HR process in the entire Pacific Northwest? 

It features at two points not one, not two, but THREE scroll bars! 

Three scroll bars on one page! 

Your browser's scroll bar, their page's scroll bar, and another scroll bar in the cut n paste section for your résumé and cover letter, which they then automatically reformat to fit. 

It reminds me of the websites I used to design in the 90s with FrontPage -which is why I'm not in the web design business. 

Seriously, it would be hilarious if this weren't the HR process for a very large social service agency where I've been trying to get a job. (The site also features a skills section, saying in fine print that it's optional, putting applicants in the awkward position of having to guess if HR really wants to know my skill sin accounting, ten key, branding and marketing, when I'm applying to be a camp counselor)

To add further insult to injury, empirical evidence suggests that hiring managers totally skip their own HR process, and use either internal candidates or resumes sent directly to them.

Oh yeah, today I got an email from the Y thanking me for applying to a position recently, I was not selected for an interview. I replied that I had applied to 12 different positions with them in the last month, could they tell me specifically which one was rejecting me? Cause I had an interview three weeks ago and assumed I didn't get it, cause they never called me back. But the interview scheduled for next week, are you backing out of that?

Needless the say, as expected the email bounced back to me as an invalid address.

So yeah, just a chronic job hunters rant of the day. Thanks again for your site. Keep up the good work.

WWF...

Soon this will be me: stuck in a tight spot and wondering for so long how to get out of it, I turn to stone.

Did I subconsciously sabotage myself today?

I've been doing some reflection on my interview today. Unfortunately nothing about the interview itself, but my action afterwards.

After all, if anyone in the office saw me grab a handful of rubbers on the way out of the door, they'd surely ask, "who was that strange, suit dressed man who took a handful of condoms on the wait out the door today?"

Since its a sensitive facility working with  vulnerable, at-risk youth it wouldn't be surprising if they asked around, and it wouldn't take long before te question was answered. "Oh, that must of been the guy who interviewed for the Vulnerable Child Case Manager job. Gee, what would he possibly want with a handful of condoms?"

Those are some awfully small ifs. The realm of possibility here is very high.

So did I do it?

"Why not?"

Cause its unprofessional and could ruin your chances with this job.

So why? Not that free condoms are hard to find (in fact, they are. At least for me. About as hard as it is finding women who want to use them properly with me.)

Knowing it would jeopardize my job chances, why did I do it?

Was I subconsciously sabotaging my opportunity here?

That's the crux of my question.

Many times during my job hunt when I've sought advice, advisors ask something along those lines: Am I doing something subconsciously wrong?

Am I a sociopath?

It kinda pisses me off, cause its suggesting that I AM TO BLAME. That I'm not trying hard enough. That I'd sacrifice my relationship and my sanity just.... Cause. Cause some people are leeches and I must be leeching off the system.

Needless to say, that's not the case. But I still wonder why I grab a couple condoms on the way out today. Maybe cause I wanted to blog about it.

Review of today's interview

Today I interviewed at a small social service organization for a "wraparound facilitator", a term I hand heard of until earlier this week and initially thought it referred to a new special at Quiznos.

Three women conducted the interview, the lead, a small African American woman who had in every appearance burned out on the job already, and another woman who appeared to be transgender (which made me think of a Rule of Life I had recently read: "under no circumstances whatever should you ask a woman if she's pregnant." You should also never ask a woman if she's transgender either cause ultimately, so what?)

I appreciated the thoroughness of their questions and the time devoted to the interview. At first it started like another 6 question meet and great and in 15 minutes I'd be out the door like a cheap whore. But they actually went deeper, asked interesting things about different scenarios and situations and listened intently (well, Lead did. They other two seemed a little spaced out. They're in the social service field, so I understand their spaceyness). The interview last nearly an hour. The worst part, though, when I asked the timeline for hiring.
"3 weeks", said Lead.
Ugh.

I can't wait three weeks. I told myself earlier: I have 5 interviews in the next 3 days, and if I don't land one of them I'm pulling the nuclear option, whatever that is, something about foreclosing on my house and moving back home to live with my mom.
Ugh.

Ps- I'm usually flawless in my delivery and behavior. Well, maybe not "flawless", but damn close. I'm sure to do everything you're supposed to -show up early, suit and tie, be engaging and excited about the job, ask good questions, etc etc- and nothing you're not supposed to do (pick my nose, show up drunk, hit on the interviewers). This time though, as I leave the three interviewers in the conference room and shut the door behind me, there in the lobby sits a bowl of condoms. I think, "well, if I don't get a job soon I'm going to have to start pimping my ass out at truck stops" so I grab a couple. After all, I can't pay my mortgage and don't think condoms are covered by food stamps. Think they saw me? Think this ruined my chances with the job?

Welcome to October

It's hard to say exactly how desperate I am. Here it is now October, and I have myself a deadline to get a job by September 1st. And before that July, and before that June, and before that...

I want to post on Facebook my desperation, but its against culturally accepted social norms to display desperation and neediness. A couple months ago a friend -a distant but long time friend who also works in the social services field- posted that he was in immediate need of $300 an would do any work over the weekend for it. I think he got something, but still I was humbling to read that. I'm not in desperate need of $300, I'm in desperate need of full time employment, and $1000.

Getting worse before getting better

That little koan has been reverberating through me for a little while now.

Which sucks.

A year ago I was offered a 20hr/wk job that paid $11/hr working in an after school program a half-hour drive from where I live. It would have required me to give up weekday reffing (which some months pays more than $220 a week), and was an entry-level education position offered to someone with over ten years experience in public education.

My potential supervisor could've been one of my students.

I passed it up, thinking 'something better will come along'.

Last month, I was offered a 12 hour/week job that paid $12/hr working in an after school program an hour-drive from home.

Uff.

A year ago July I passed up an offer to work in ground-zero social service agency, a very large, very infamous drop-in center for the most destitute homeless population in the very large city that I live in. The office I was interviewed in looked over the spot where a few months early, a 20 year old woman had been randomly and tragically shot dead. The offer was for $26,000 a year to work an entry-level job in the trenches. My rationale was that I had already worked in the trenches, and my last job paid me $28,000, so with a Master's degree I should get more, right?

Tonight I interviewed for a residential care facility for mentally ill children. The interviewer -who was a cool woman by all means- told me flat  out the realities of the position. "Our policy for self-inflicted harm is to not intervene until it's life threatening. So I've sat for hours with clients cutting themselves like this (motions perpendicularly with the wrists = non-life threatening cutting) instead of (motions parallel to the wrist = life-threatening), with blood rushing out of their arms while talking to them about developing coping strategies and problem solving. Is this something you can handle?"

I worked in the trenches with "at-risk" youth 15 years ago and one reason I got a graduate degree was so I didn't have to do that sort of work any more.

I don't want the job.

How much worse is it going to get?

No news is no news

Oh hey there, blog, how you doing?

Long time no see. No, I haven't forgotten you. I know you're still here, like the homeless vets at the freeway entrance asking for money and other social malaise. I've just been awkwardly and cowardly turning my head in the other direction.

It's not that I haven't had anything to write, it's just that this blog is a dumping ground of depressing updates, which are depressing cause they aren't really updates, like "I got a job!" Or "good things are happening to my personal situation and I should be happy!"

Let us recap the summer;

June: Officially pass the two year mark of being unemployed. The date was almost as depressing as passing the 1000 application mark a few weeks before.

June: Also broke up with girlfriend after 7 years. I'd like to think unemployment was only part of it; that most couples real up eventually and we had other issues. The reality is we will never know. 

(I'd also like to say that we just "changed status to roommates, that we're better friends than boyfriend/girlfriends, that we still love each other, etc etc, but this a blog about my unemployment, not my relationship, so enough of that talk.)

July: July was most noted for a particular job I'd interviewed for and had high hopes for, but rejected me after an especially long, drawn out and teasing delay. That really hurt. Almost as bad as the two year mark for unemployment, or the 1000 application date.

I also had a birthday, just reminded me that I'm even older and being unemployed, less successful than I've ever been in my life. 

I'm supposed to be in my grinding years, saving away for retirement, raising kids (which I don't have cause I'm unemployed) or at least saving money so I can help my parents when they grow old, which is coming up quickly.

It was a hard birthday.

August: We had to put our dog down. That was far worse than the 1000th application, the two year anniversary of unemployment, or the good job that rejected me. It was one of the hardest moments of my life, but still nothing like losing a loved one.

August, Part II: Visited family to deal with some family shit that's somewhat unique, fairly complicated and extremely stressful. It's worthy of a blog if its own and let me just summarize by saying that on tip of everything else, it really sucks.

August, Part III: On the other side if the family, some shit erupted there too which is also complicated, stressful, and on tip of everything else really, really shitty. Goddam fucking family.

September: That's leaves us with today, which is now mid-September so I can say I've been unemployed 2 years and three months. And counting.

So that's why I haven't written.

Hope you're well!

Love,

WWF...

It's now July

It's been a while since I posted. Plenty has been going on.

Shortly after my last post in early June, my girlfriend and I split up after seven years together. 

We say it was mutual, we say we're still friends, we say we just down-graded to roommates, and for the most part that's true. But I can't help but wonder how two years of unemployment wore on our relationship. I can't say it caused the breakup, but definitely played a part in it.

She's moved to the back room and gave notice at her work too. She'll be there until November, after which we're hoping she goes on a long voyage to Africa to save the bonobos.

Around the same time I sought out in desperation an old friend and poured out my situation. We got to talking, and what came out of the conversation was a plan for his tiny nonprofit organization (on which I happen to be on the board). I've been working hard on that since, developing a proposal -including a fundraising plan- to the rest of the board in two weeks. It'll be a lot of work, but honestly I have nothing better to do.

I can't remember how many interviews I had in the last month (of, thanks notes, I had four!) but one of those interviews I had in May -you may recall one of them was an especially painful rejection- one of them came through. A part-time, temp, on-call position with the YMCA that might be 30 hours a month.

It pays $10 hour. I can't remember the last time I made $10 an hour, aside from being a camp counselor last summer.

Oh yeah, my birthday is in a couple days, which coincides with a small previously arranged fundraiser for this nonprofit. I'm in the awkward position of asking my friends to come to this fundraiser, which is also my birthday, and breaking to them the news of my breakup, cause my ex-girlfriend/roommate will be there.

And our dog is getting very old. She won't make it through the summer.

Here's me and my dog.

Tough Day, part 700

I had a tough day.
Remember the five interviews I had in one week at the beginning of May? The last one finally got back to me.
To review for those of you new to the saga: I applied for the job on April 4th.
I had a screening phone interview on April 10th, and then another weird second phone screening on the 26th, which was nearly identical to the first.
Interview was on May 6th, and I gotta say I 'nailed it' (though obviously, I didn't).
It was for a mid-sized social service agency.
The hiring manager said it'd be a slow process, but they would make a decision "in a week or two".
Thus began the long game of tag, which included his ten day vacation, his supervisor chiming in, and twice saying "we'll make a decision by Friday".

They told me today they "went with another candidate".

I'm all over the place here. I hate them for dragging me on more than not hiring me. I hate them for their impersonal, callous approach; their inability to even give me a call, talk to me personally, or even be straight with me a month ago. I would appreciate something like "we interviewed  5 people for 3 positions; you're our 5th choice" or something like that.

Is that so wrong?

So, those are some thoughts.  But it's been a tough day after a long, difficult week.

This is totally off topic.

How to get feedback?

I have a situation I'd like your help with.

Yesterday I got word that I didn't get one of the jobs I'd interview for recently (3 down, 2 to go).  Here's the email:

Thank you for your email.  We will be doing the second panel of interviews this week.  … I am sorry to say we are moving forward with other candidates at this time.  Thank you very much for your time and interest in the positions.  We wish you the best in your job search.  Please consider us again for future opportunities.

I'm very used to getting these rejections, but is it just me, or is it just wrong to include that second sentence, especially BEFORE telling me that they're "moving forward with other candidates..."

Mind you, this is the HR person who rubbed me pretty wrong by insisting to use a speaker phone in the initial screening interview, so I don't have a high opinion of her already.

So, question 1: is it worth me giving her unsolicited professional feedback?

Before I decide to do that, though, I'd thought I'd seek out feedback about the IV. I wanted to talk to Anne the ED; I told HR that, and she replied:

Anne has a very busy schedule.  If you have particular questions please send them to me and we will respond via email.

I thought I could just skip her and so I called the office today asking to speak to the ED. The receptionist said, "Anne is out of town. the HR person can answer any of your questions about the hiring process".

So, I'm a little frustrated. I'd like feedback, both general and specific, ideally a brief casual conversation about my performance. For the level of position, candidates deserve feedback.

So, what's a polite yet accurate questions that would yield direct, constructive feedback?

Some of the interview questions I've gotten

These are from yesterday's panel interview at the small social service agency. They gave me 20 minutes to prepare, which I really appreciated. Still, a couple threw me off...

1. What interests you most about our mission and work?

2. What specifically interests you about the job? (note: is that redundant?)

3. This position requires a high level of project management skill. Please walk us through some examples of your project management experience. Also, tell us about your project management strengts. tell us about some challenges or difficulties you have faced in project management.

4. As part of your responsibilities in project management, you will need to balance long-term, medium-term and immediate-term projects, including projects that require input from other internal and external parties. What would your approach be to prioritizing these projects and getting them completed in a timely manner?

5. Give us an example of a time that you worked multiple stakeholders with whom you had very little leverage with. How did you build and manage these partnerships towards positive outcomes?

6. Tell us about a time when you were able to successfully propose a strategy or plan to your team or someone in a leadership position?

7. How would you work with a group that had competing agendas? For example, in our work, we see opposing agendas played out between community colleges whose end goal is for a student to complete a certificate of degree while the community-based agency working with the low-income individual wants to see them find a living wage job, regardless if they complete training.

8. Tell us about your public speaking experience. What were the topics you spoke about or presented on? How large was the audience? Describe your approach or strategy when presenting complex ideas? What are some of the presentation techniques you use? What is your experience in designing trainings?

9. How would you describe your facilitation style? Give us an example.

10. Describe a situation where there was a disagreement with your approach to a problem. How did you resolve it?

11. What is the best management advice o lessons or have learned about recently? How have you incorporated the advice or lessons into your work?

12. This organization has a reputation and takes great price in being an innovator.... Please tell us about yoru experience in innovation and in particular about managing the "tensions" inherent in innovation.

13. Please tell us about the ways in which you have contributed to the improvement of a system or process in a previous role/ What approach or strategy did you use to assess and implement the improvements?
I think I collapsed from exhaustion by the time I got to this question.

They also asked two bonus question not previewed beforehand:

X14. What is your experience working with diverse populations?

X15. What have not asked you that we should have?

QUESTIONS FROM LAST WEEK'S INTERVIEW

1. What interests you in this position?

2. What are some common barriers homeless youth and young adults may experience?

3. Describe your knowledge of Young Adult housing resources in the county.

4. What experience do you have working directly with service providers on behalf of clients? How do you manage the needs and realities of clients with the needs and realities of the service providers?

5. Please give an example of an ethical dilemma you've experienced and how you handled the situation.

6. Please describe your familiarity with [this program] and the people it will impact?

7. This is a new program nd will require a lot of flexibility. Please give an example of your experience in a work environment that changed policies and processes quickly or routinely.

8. Do you have experience working with [these computer programs']? What databases have you worked with?

9. We believe employees and volunteers should work in and contribute to an environment that fosters respect and teamwork. Please describe a time when working as part of a team you experienced either a positive or negative outcome. How did it influence you in your work?

10. This organization acknowledges the pervasiveness of racism in American society, institutions, and communities. We are committed to making our services, agencies, and communities free of divisive and dehumanizing ravages of racism. As part of that commitment, we are aggressively addressing this issue with the recent development of a new diversity/inclusion training. This training is delivered to new employees as part of orientation.... blah blah....

1. A. Could you please tell us about an experience you have had with co-workers from a racial background different from yoru won? Why did you choose to share this experience?
2. What situation best describes your work with clients from racially diverse populations?

They asked a few more, but I'm tired of transcribing...

Mid-May Update

"Hard to believe it's already...."

That clique always makes me cringe, but oh-so true, especially when unemployed.
"It's already fucking MID MAY?!?!?"
Ugh.

I had five interviews last week. Here they are, from least to most exciting:

1: An entry-level job going door-to-door promoting renewable energy. A valiant cause and something along the line of my Master's studies, but... with a base pay of $11/hr and significant driving required around the area, I had to turn down the actual job offer. I think I just applied for an ego-boost, as I knew they'd offer me the job.

2: An entry-level job at a large social service agency that I'm trying to work for. They admit this is a foot in the door, and though only part-time, the base pay isn't bad. Actually, I don't know what the base-pay is, but I'll take it. The job is overnights staff at group homes for "underserved youth", and the interview (actually a second interview at one of the homes) was the product of months-long harassment assertion with these folks for me to work, volunteer or do anything with them. Slowly...

3: A mid-level job with another large social service agency helping people. The interview was also a second interview (after a weird double screening phone interview that was a month earlier), and was for two positions AND a couple temp positions. I really feel like a shoe-in for this one, and if I don't get it I'm going to beat down the door and ask why!  Fun fact: as we waited for the third interviewer to arrive, the main interviewer -my potential boss- asked me about my graduate school program! I tried hard to bite my tongue and say good things about it, but he kept on asking follow-up questions. Awkward!

Oh yeah, the job pays... not horribly (which I define as around $11/hr) but pretty poorly, especially considering my graduate fees.

AND, one last bit: it's a new program in a stretched social service agency and they've taken months to move forward on this, so I'd be surprised if I hear from them within two weeks.

4: A program director for a tiny non-profit organization, that calls itself an organization of organizations. I thought this was my strongest interview, though I got hung up on the term "capacity building". I really don't know how to assess the interview: the position is a little vague, and the office tiny.

I also asked my new favorite interview question: "What, if any, reservations might you have about me filling this position?". They received the question awesomely, and said "you have great experience..." and the reservations were some of the computer programs, adding "I don't think that is a big issue, they can be learned quickly".

5. Screening interview last week (side note: interviewers: it's VERY BAD FORM to conduct phone interviews on speaker phone, especially when the interviewee says "are you on a speaker phone? Cause it's really hard hearing you..."); in-person panel interview yesterday. Small social service agency, but I believe one of the few jobs that would actually pay me what most people think someone with a Master's degree and 15 years of experience ought to make. So I'm trying not to be too excited.

Again, though, this interview had its moments. They're so weird! They made me write an interview afterwards introducing myself to staff... PLEASE LORD INTERVIEWERS WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? CAUSE I PROMISE I'LL SAY IT...

Sometimes I wish I were just  windmill.

Top Six LinkedIn FAILS

I originally wrote this for one of my other blogs, but feel it's relevant here too!

According to LinkedIn, I can now call myself a graphic designer!

I don’t just mean LinkedIn fails, I mean how LinkedIn fails us, as a society.

I’ve been frustrated with LinkedIn.

I’d like to berate LinkedIn for some less-than-stellar interactions I’ve had. (Case in point: here are my search results for “Steve Lewis Seattle”. Yes, it’s a common name, so why do the results include “Kelly Fetters” and “Kim McCoy”? It also doesn’t recognize “strategize” as a word, which is really weird since that word is so trendy).

But I’ll just admit that’s probably more due to my lack of tech savvy than LinkedIn’s technical flaws.

No, LinkedIn’s technical flaws -real or imaginary- are the least of its problems.

LinkedIn wants to be the go-to site of the professional world, and that’s a huge problem.

I recently graduated with a Master of Public Administration from a prestigious university; the first question from all four career advisors about my job hunt was “How’s your LinkedIn profile”?

My program had seminars devoted to LinkedIn and improving your profile. It’s fair to say that all four of those advisors were dependent on LinkedIn. Over-dependent, even.

When I say that LinkedIn fails, I don’t mean in the trendy way, “these are the top five biggest LinkedIn failures”. My critique of LinkedIn is deeper: LinkedIn’s failures aren’t with its platform; LinkedIn fails US, as a society.

Here’s how: LinkedIn likes to think of itself as “Facebook for Adults”, but its practices and policies are far more juvenile than Facebook. Even worse, it re-introduces practices that we as a society deemed long ago as bad. Very, very bad.

6. The Fluff Factor

LinkedIn’s current model promotes over-promotion and self-aggrandizement, which are somewhere between horrible and lousy traits in an employee. LinkedIn is essentially all the flaws of the job search process distilled down to one very lousy website. LinkedIn unnecessarily narrows based on criteria that are likely utterly unimportant or possibly detrimental for a job.

5. In LinkedIn, everyone is tech-savvy.

As I stated above, I’m not the most technically sophisticated guy. Tech has nothing to do with the jobs I’ve had or the jobs I’m looking for. But that doesn’t matter to LinkedIn: I have to come across as a tech-whizz or else I’m unqualified for the job. 

4. LinkedIn’s promotional tactics don’t match its air of maturity and professionalism.

LinkedIn recently prompted me to endorse my connections. Regardless of whether or not my endorsements are valid (I really don’t know how some of my classmates are at graphic design or fundraising), I found the exercise both ingenious and shallow. Ingenious for starting a efficient social media trend; shallow for being hollow, juvenile attempts at self-promotion.

Juvenile is fine for Facebook (which doesn’t pretend it’s anything but FB), but obviously not if you’re trying to be “adult” and “professional”.

3. LinkedIn’s paid-membership model is disingenuous.

I can imagine reasons for having different levels of membership, but the basic free level pretty much sucks.

For example, I can see a few of the people who viewed by profile recently, but not all -unless I’m a paid member!

I can contact some people out of my network, but not all, unless I’m a paid member!

Actually, I’m not sure what I can do for free, everything clogs up in the hope that I’ll upgrade to a paid member.

In fact, there’s a whole realm of services you can do on FB for free that you can only do on LinkedIn if you’re a paid member, which puts me in the very awkward position of defending Facebook: at least it doesn’t force you to pay for basic services.

The words that come to mind are “disingenuous” and “trickery”. Again, not qualities usually attributed to “professional” and “adult”.

I’ll throw another word with much trepidation: Elitist. It forces you to join a club merely based on your ability to pay.

2. LinkedIn fails the non-profit sector.

Part of me wonders if it’s not just a conflict of natures: I’m a bleeding-heart community type of guy dedicated to making the world a better place, usually done through non-profits.

LinkedIn, conversely, was developed by for-profit business types for for-profit business types, the type for whom ‘trickery’ and ‘elitism’ are just part of business.

It puts me in the uncomfortable position of thinking that these are purposefully designed class divisions, false and unjust social classifications that I’m pretty good at avoiding, except when I’m on LinkedIn.

It all wouldn’t be a problem if LinkedIn were uniquely for and by the for-profit community; unfortunately, as I stated earlier, I’m in the non-profit/public sector, and LinkedIn is the #1 tool promoted by the career development center at my graduate school. Here are the results for Catholic Community Services, a large nation social-service organization. (For those who don’t want to be bothered with opening a link, the answer is ONE, the branch in New South Wales, Australia). 

I’ve found Catholic Community Services to be the best of example of what’s endemic with non-profit social service/public sector agencies and employers: none of them are on LinkedIn (or have a very minimal presence). And why should they be? LinkedIn’s business model and promotional tactics are antithesis of the public sector. Which leaves aspiring do-gooder public servants in an awkward limbo.

1. LinkedIn: Back to the headshot.

Remember the days when a job resume included a professional headshot and your marital status?

Neither do I, because that became professionally unacceptable decades ago.

Luckily, LinkedIn is here to wrong that right! Professional headshots are all but mandatory.

At the very least, it puts employer into that awkward position that they might be construed as judging potential employers by their looks; while potential employees (especially the overlooked and rejected ones) thinking they didn’t get the job because of their looks.

Or, just to state the obvious, “looks” can include race, color, age and/or “sexiness”.
IN CONCLUSION: 

LinkedIn is social networking at its worst: disingenuous, money-grubbing and perfect for the discriminating employers.

That’s probably why so few of my non-profit friends and social service organizations are on here. 

We’re not in it for the money, we don’t trick people, and we’re actively working against discrimination.

I just wish it wasn’t the current tool of choice for career counselors in the non-profit and public sector.

Maybe if LinkedIn went back to its roots, focused on delivering a quality service, stopped Myspace-cerca-2006 promotional tactics, and not only acknowledged that not everyone is in it for the money, but offered services for nonprofit organizations (like have a category for “organizations”, not just “companies”), it would be worth call itself “Facebook for adults”. 

Until then, I’m going to stick with Facebook for all my networking and job hunting needs, as at least I know what I’m getting into. 

The Three Worst Job Application Sites!

I thought I’d rant about different websites and their job application “tools”. I think if anything applying to 1000 jobs has made me an expert on the subject. The best kind of site is one that just asks for a resume and cover letter be emailed, and then emails back politely and effortless acknowledging reception of resume and cover letter.

Insert joke about government ineffectiveness here

WORST: since I aim mostly in the public sector, I’ve applied a buttload via Neogov, a job posting/resume collecting site for local, state, municipal agencies. The process isn’t too horrid (I wish they would letyou rename your profile though). The worst part: checking “job status”, the statuses (statii?) never change! I’ve applied to 135 jobs with Neogov. The most recent (7 applications yesterday), the oldest and one hundred of them have the same status: application received. Even jobs that were courteous enough to tell me I was rejected have the status as “application received”. The other 30 or so say something else: in review, checking references, approved, etc. Those statuses don’t change much either. What’s the point of having a status page if none of those statuses mean anything? Why bother? If an application’s been rejected, say :rejected”. On file for future consideration. “We’re just teasing you.” “Don’t give up hope”. “ha ha ha, you still think you’re in consideration”.

Really, Neogov, get with it and fix your half-asses service.

RUNNER UP: I realized that I can disclose #2 worst career submission site without revealing my location. The site: YMCA of a large metropolitan area. I’ve checked the Y site for small areas, and they don’t have this problem (just submit application email). This very large Y, though… whoa! It’s a marvel straight out of FrontPage 1998! It even features a scroll bar within a scroll bar! It’s four pages of navigating nightmares, requiring cut and pasting resume and cover letter into an embedded word processing window that’s neither Word nor anything other word processing site, requiring the whole resume/cover letter to be completely reformatted (I just applied yesterday, and not only that, but my resume was completely centered, with no way to un-center the alignment!

"Y" can't you have a better job application site?

Question for HR people: when you get a resume submitted on a crappy site like this, and it’s obvious your platform fucked up the formatting and that the applicant really did a good job with his/her resume, just got frustrated trying to reformat it to your platform, do you dismiss it outright? Or wade through the fucked up formatting because you realize your platform sucks and you don’t want to unfairly disqualify applicants?

Anyway, the Y’s site also ends with a really horrible skills spreadsheet, the purpose of which is really mysterious. If I’m applying for a camp counselor job, do you really want to know my ten-key and excel experience? Cause I have that, too, but… I just want to be a camp counselor.

And Y, you can’t say it’s cause you’re a large non-profit. I’ve applied to LOTS of nonprofit organization, bigger, smaller, and roughly the same size as you, and your submission site is THE WORST, hands down. Please update. I really like the Y and want to work there, and luckily the staff I’ve met are far more competent than your site.

Oh, and they also ask TWICE: “Have you ever molested a child?” I appreciate them asking that outright. Awkward, but… yeah, better to just get that out of the way.

A CLOSE THIRD: Taleo. Taleo is a ‘service’ used by nonprofit and for profit companies. It’s awkward because like Neogov, it’s used by many, many different companies. But whereas Neogov is centralized –in that all applications are on the one site- Taleo is sort of customized per company. I say sort of because I’m not quite sure. Say I see a job on a New Company; I click to apply and it says “registered with Taleo? Sign in here!” If I say “yes!” because I’ve applied via Taleo before but not to this company, it’ll say “sorry! You haven’t registered with Taleo before. Please fill out this form…”. If I click on “no!” it says “please fill out this form”; when I’m done filling out the form, it says “our records indicate you’ve registered previously with Taleo, please sign in…”

Tally-ho to any site using Taleo

This has happened to me repeatedly, a frustrating circle of signing in, filling out forms, and having to do it over, until I’m say “fuck it! I don’t care if you get my application or not”.

I swear, at time 80% of my frustration and the most aggravating part of being unemployed is dealing with sites like Taleo and others. Their purpose is unclear or redundant -simple scanning software can pick up my data, like name and address. Why have me fill it in separately? Instead of just having people submit cover letters and resumes, you require through to jump through flaming cyber hoops with all sorts of fancy bells and whistles. If your company uses Taleo, you should really get into the 21^st century.

Cause all this is obviously having detrimental effects on your HR process and organizational operations: you haven’t hired me! 

April Update

This post has nothing to do with elephants.

I haven't posted in a long while, but that doesn't mean anything's changed.
Same old, same old.
At the least, they've gotten worse, as the longer unemployed, the more stressed things get.
I had an interview for a part-time job that was an hour away, paid $19/hr. They asked me back for a second interview, too. Gladly, they didn't offer me the job. It would've been difficult to accept: I'm desperate for a job and will take anything offered (really, I will), but the job hunt wouldn't be over, I'd be looking for something better and leave for the first better offer to come about.

I also had a never breakdown a couple weeks ago. April is bad month in general; historically, it sucks (Columbine, Waco, OKC, Hitler's birthday, etc); this year was just as bad. I think it's because of the weather.
Seriously.
April's been pretty bad for me personally in the past as well, and I dreaded it coming this year. Something about nearing 2 years unemployed, verging on 1000 applications, and $60,000 in grad school debt that I haven't paid off. Luckily, I survived.
So far.

I also decided to try embarking on my own nonprofit. I don't want to do it; the chances for success are very low, work required is very high, but I have a decent idea to pursue. Luckily, because I'm writing this blog anonymously, I don't get to disclose the activity. Just wish me well.

And there was an local NPR story about a site that collects stories from people who changed careers.

2 +2 = 0

Greetings from my hometown, far away from where I live.
I came out here to visit family for a week. Hadn't seen them in a while. It's pretty quiet out here, but the entire time I'm thinking, "do I have to move back here?"

The rat race, y'know, is just a rat race.

I made the mistake this morning of going over my job-hunt chart. Nothing will ruin your morning that going over 950 job applications and the 80 or so interviews you've had!

I had four interviews in the two days before I left. One was low-paying and part-time with troubled kids; they had the courtesy of telling me I didn't get the job (I emailed back asking for pointers, haven't heard yet). Another was equally low-paying, but full-time helping people; I didn't get a good vibe from the boss. He said he'd make a decision that day, and hasn't contacted me since. I assume a no. One was decent paying, but organizing (re: 60 hours a week); they wanted to schedule an in-person interview, but have had trouble picking a date, probably since they're working so much. The last one was also a phone interview, probably well paying and not 60 hour weeks; it was a little unsettling this morning to find the job posted again. For some reason I doubt they liked me. Can't say why... I wish they'd just tell me why.

THIS IS WHY I BLOG
Cause I can't tell anyone about this. No one will listen, no one wants to hear. I don't want sympathy.
Ok, I do want sympathy, but social norms say that I shouldn't seek it.
What good will it do?
Maybe a personal connection to the unemployment crisis? So people know that people THEY KNOW are suffering, and what exactly that suffering is?
Or how ridiculous it is that a guy who JUST WANTS TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE and is willing to accept minimum wage doing so can't even get a fucking job.
Ugh.
I think I'll go for a run.

February in review

Job applied to (in February): 37
Interviews: 3 (including second interview)
Rejections: 2
Feedback after rejection: 1
Feedback highlight: "Competition was very tight, so consider it an honor to have gotten an interview. We admire your passion and background. However, other candidates had spent decades analyzing data..."

It's another Monday in another month of unemployment.
I don't know what to do.
I really don't know what to do.

"I had a bad day. Ain't gonna make it"

A week ago -hell, more than that, 10 days ago- I got called for an interview to take place tomorrow.
Then on Friday they gave me details and an assignment.
It's a good job, in my field of study.
It's a state job and an honor to be considered.
And it's in Capitol City, at least an hour away without traffic. (The logistics of working an hour away is a bridge to be crossed later).
The assignment was analyzing a very long and complicated excel file, and would conclude with a five me presentation on the file.

I consulted a friend with a PhD about the file and got a plan of attack.
No problem.

But my car's in the shop, and getting a car to go down there proved to be more difficult than expected.

So I had a breakdown. A pretty bad one, tears and all, contemplating the future and envisioning myself following the footsteps of my uncle and leading a pseudo-survivalist existence on the mountainous edge of civilization, spending the rest of my life dodging student loans and government agents attempting to collect on student loans.

(In all reality, I'd probably just end up living in my mom's basement in the closest town to the mountainous edge of civilization, except my mom doesn't have a basement. We'd be full-on roommates, which is pretty unsettling in itself.)

So I bailed. I emailed the job this evening.

It pains me to say this, but I've had a series of set-backs today and regrettably will not be able to make the interview tomorrow morning. I'm very sorry, thank you for giving me the opportunity.

Do you know what a government job means? Do you know how well it pays? Do you know how hard it was to write this.

It was a bad day.

Job Interview Hints 101

original found here

The inherent racism/classism in our social service field, Part 1

I had a second interview for a job. It’d be a good job finding housing for homeless people. I’d do well. I think the interview went well. We had a nice chat. They seem like good people. They mentioned flexibility and creativity quite a bit. I like the organization’s mission.

Those are the pluses.

Not only is the office 23 miles away, but the job requires considerable amount of driving. I’d probably have to get a new car.


And it pays $16.38 an hour.

I’ve been wanting to opine about money for a while. There’s an unspoken rule in US society (as in many Western nations) that you don’t talk about income. It’s taboo.

I don’t think this is a good rule.

As a result, “low-paying” is a relative term instead of a concrete term. One person’s low-wage is another’s dream wage.

ANECDOTE #1: A few months ago, I posted on Facebook the question I got in an interview: “What’s your expected salary”. I really didn’t know how to reply to this and asked for people’s advice. One friend of mine said flatly: “$65k a year minimum plus benefits”.

Holy fucking shit, I’ve never made half that amount in my life.

ANECDOTE #2: I used to serve on the board of a non-profit that worked with low-income people. Once at a meeting, the Executive Director said he was seeking to hire a part-time staffer, .75FTE, paying $30,000 a year. Incredulously, the Board president (who, unbelievably, worked in the social-service sector) scoffed, “Who in Seattle would take a job that only pays $30,000 a year!” Three of us chimed in: “I’ve never made that much money in my life”.

Our unspoken social rules of never discussing income among your/our peers has turned concrete realities into abstract hypotheticals. “If you don’t make enough money, how will you save for retirement? How will you pay for your kids? What about a new car, and vacation cruises?”

No, that’s not what I’m talking about. Let me crunch some numbers for you:

I’m considering a job paying $16.50/hr. (I’ll leave the rant of the social costs/benefits of this position -and all social service positions- for another time. right now, let me just indulge in some self-pity).
At forty hours a week comes to: $660, or $2640/mo or $31,680 a year, all that before taxes.

My last position was in the school district, non-teacher. My hourly rate was $22, but only for nine and a half months of the year, so my annual income was usually under $30k (I think once, when I was reffing at the school as well I made over that).

But I didn’t have debt. Then I went to graduate school. I don’t even want to talk about that debt.

“No one goes into public service expecting to get rich” is the line that’s often batted about, and I agree, I never planned on getting rich. I would, however, like to pay my bills in a timely fashion.
I would like to not foreclose on my house.

I have fantasies of switching places with my girlfriend/current bread winner (making over $40k a year) so she can stay home and.. gee, I don’t know, have some kids or something. But crunching the numbers with the status quo is hard enough to stomach, let alone throwing a kid into the mix, or that my girlfriend likes financial stability, which above job scenario doesn’t include.

And did I mention needing a new car? (I love my current ride specifically because I don’t drive it regularly. It’s a 30 year old VW van! A 50 mile daily commute would kill it quickly.) There’s no math including a car that doesn’t drastically reduce the income. “Good mileage” would be lucky to be 25mpg... two gallons a day is $7 less daily income, which comes out to $1650 a year in the above scenario.

(Anecdote #3: last summer I had a p/t job with a well-known and not-well liked youth service organization. They paid $10 as “guess camp counselor” around the area. They wanted me to drive 30 miles one-way to work for an hour; They struggled to get me three hours a day of work, each site 10-20 miles from the other. I could only get mileage if I went into the office first, which was 13 miles in the opposite direction. The math came out to break even with fuel costs. Luckily, I found something better.)

Do I crunch the numbers with my potential income and expensive? Or is that just too depressing?

$2600 (let’s pretend briefly that there are no taxes)
-$1500 mortgage (currently, gf pays half; I’m in debt to her and remember above fantasy)
-$100 utilities (low-ball; electric, sewer, water, garbage)
-$200 groceries
-$50 cellphone (these are high-ball figures, just to make the math easier)
-$50 internet
-$50 car insurance
-$150 gas for commuting alone

Which leaves about $500 a month after expenses, no even getting to paying off student loans.

It ain’t a pretty picture.

ANECDOTE #4: A year ago I interned at an environmental organization. I did a good job and had a good report with the boss. A few months later, they were hiring. I asked if I should apply. “Too junior for you”, he said. Safe to guess that the position started at $40k, standard pay for an entry level environmental job

To be continued...

Another interview, and another

I had two interviews last week on the same day.

One actually went better than most. It'd be a good job. Pay is horrible, but hey, it's a job and since I'm looking to work for free, any pay is better than nothing.

But that interview was on Thursday, the small department of a very large social services agency. The time between applying and the interview was less than a week, a nearly phenomenal turn-around time. But that was Thursday and today is Monday evening. Guessing they interviewed four people maximum... how long does it take to decide? Maybe you give it the weekend to think it over? Maybe a day to check references? Maybe... yeah, not feeling so good about it right now.

(The other job later last Thursday, the usual dud. And the job I interviewed for last week, they MAILED me a rejection letter. I hate mailed rejection letters).

Two weeks ago I talked to yet another small department of a large social service agency about volunteering for them. (Actually, I first contacted them January 18th. It's now February 11th.) Even working for free isn't easy to do.

So yeah, nothing new to report, but there's never been anything new to report. This has got to be the boringest blog ever.

An interview, blah blah

This photo is actually relevant to the interview I had.

Yesterday I had my first interview in nearly a month. (Though, in all fairness, I had a sorta-interview with a friend of a friend's place last week. It was an impossible job, that had several misfitting aspects of it. We agreed I wasn't a good fit).

Yesterday's interview was for an... community organization in my hometown. (I don't really want to move back to my hometown, but the thought has come up for reasons I may get into some point later). I'd applied their on a whim and -Holy Cow!- they contacted me pretty soon after for an interview.

I was over-qualified and the pay was on the low-end (but good for the field). But phone interviews -like most interviews- are... weird? Lackluster? Disheartening? Leave much to be desired?

I know I was nervous at first and answered question awkwardly, but I tried engaging her, the interviewer. I'd like to think I was successful in that regard (engaging). I doubt very much I'll go to round two.

SHE ASKED A FEW QUESTIONS that threw me off.  First, "Tell me about yourself". Um, a bit too general. Where do you want me to start? With my birth? Cause that's fascinating. (Aside from the miracle of life, there are other interesting aspects of my birth -mostly, the location- that makes an interesting story, people drop their jaws, and it's almost relative to the position.)

But I didn't start with my birth. I also didn't start with my 18th birthday, or specifically three months later when I flew across the ocean to spend the better part of two years tramping around Asia.

Maybe I should have. Instead I just tried giving a narrative of my "career".

WHICH SEGUED TO AN AWKWARD, LEADING QUESTION, one I fear: "You've done a lot of different things. Why is that? Have you tried changing careers?"

I thought it wasn't far. My professional narrative is clear that Career Path 1 resulted in side projects of Career Path 2, which lead perfectly to my graduate degree. (Shit, woman, if you want to piss an interviewee off, you know how to do it!) I tried underscoring that point. I don't know if I succeeded.

I never know if I've ever succeeded with the minor details of interviewing (like, the part that doesn't land the job).

Which reminds me: I've wanted something for this whole job hunt experience: someone to call up interviewers (after my interviewer, after I've been rejected) and do some QC on my interview. That's really what I want a career counselor to do: forget the theoretical, what about people's actual opinions of my actual interviews?

I'd love to do tit-for-tat with someone in this regard. I'd love this blog to get read enough that I could pose that offer to my readers and the line "if you want to do this, leave a message in the comments" didn't come across as awkward.

You mean I'm not alone?

I have mixed feelings about Gawker's piece on being unemployed.

Yes, I know, lots of people are unemployed. I could be worse off! But... but... I'm sure I speak for EVERYONE who submitted to that project that we're hardly consoled knowing that.

It's a national tragedy. I just want to help people. Shit, come on.

Here's a photo cause people like photos.

This is what 900 resumes looks like

One application off today (a horrible online process for a position I'm waaay over qualified for and I doubt pays over $12/hr), three applications yesterday (slight alterations of the same one; again, not too hopeful) and six other earlier this week and I think I can say I've applied to over 900 positions.

By now, I'm just applying for applying's sake.

And I think that number should bring me more shame than it is.

How did I jump to 900? Why, the way all statistics are done: with subtle manipulation!

Well, sorta.

Though I graduated in June, 2009, according to my handy-dandy job hunt spreadsheet (on which I keep pretty thorough details), my job hunt started in earnest in April. I applied to 11 jobs that month, one of which resulted in an interview (which they never got back to me, and to where I recently applied to another position. Odd.)

My first interview was actually in February, which I think might be an error on my spreadsheet.

Number of applications/interviews per month until I get tired of counting:

2011
Feb:  7/1
Mar:  5/0
Apr:  11/1
May:  6/1
Jun:    27/3* (one place I applied 6/11, but it wasn't until 3/12 that they got back to me for an interview.)
Jul:    42/0 (this is when my girlfriend told me to kick it into high gear)
Aug:  100/5 (this is when I start carpet-bombing, applying to any/every position for which I vaguely qualify)
Sep:  106/7

Ok, you get the point.

Important note: I'd like to think that I'm "90% qualified" for the vast majority of the jobs I apply to. Of the 900 jobs, I'd like to think less than 150 are complete throw-aways.

I also tailor every resume and cover letter to the job (except those throw-aways I mentioned).

If I were better at graphics, I'd design some whitty graphs. Until then, just trust me.

Can I start drinking yet?