Job Hunting - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

On The Hunt For A Job – A Note to Employers

Yes I am a member of the “unemployed” and I have been hunting for a job for about a month now. This writing is not so much about my search or the jobs that I have looked at but rather the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that I have found.

Searching: Let's face it these days the numbers of employers who buy an ad in a newspaper to advertise a job are few and far between! The majority of employers posts their jobs on their web sites and these are picked up by Job Search engines who repost them.

Job Search engines can be a great asset, but they can also be a major pain! Some of them require that you “sign up” for updates before they will let you “see” the job. Others want you to look at offers such as degree programs, now I understand this – they don't do this for free, they have to make their money somewhere and it has to come from advertisers. My argument comes from the fact that unless you are VERY careful you find yourself filling out your information for the advertisers because you “think” it's part of the JOB application! And this is just NOT right! Another downfall of these Job Search Engines is the fact that many do not keep good track of when jobs are filled so you find a lot of messages when you click on the job that it is gone............more wasting time!

Applications...........Oh here I go, MAJOR RANT on this one! I have a resume, it is a pretty good resume if I say so myself! Now mind you I did NOT do it all by myself, I had a friend who helps people write resumes for a Living who helped me write mine. Lol, my first one she said it was GREAT for the 1980's but we were in a different century now so I needed to make some MAJOR changes! Okay she was right, it is a LOT better now that she worked on it!

1. Auto Fill: The site has an upload for my resume and it auto fills several blanks in the application...........HELLO! If it can read my name, address, phone, etc..........why I am STILL having to fill out Education and Work History?
2. Resume Upload: Okay, I uploaded it..........then you direct me to a page where I retype EVERYTHING on it..........See above, Auto Fill is AVAILABLE!
3. ReCAPCHA: Oh don't even get me started! :( Insert almost every word I could say that if my mother heard me I would get SLAPPED! I am 52 years old with trifocals but I can still SEE, I have had some sites that I typed the “words” if 20 times and many of them I KNEW they were right but it still says I was WRONG! I understand security but this is ridiculous! Hey come on! If a computer “applies” for the job...........your going to notice it when IT comes in for the interview!
4. Applications: Some sites have a very nice application that you can fill out right there! WhooHoo! Now let's talk about the REST of them!
   a) There are those who have applications that you can fill out BUT who ever has done the “fillable” form has set it for the type to FILL! Which means some of your entry's are in BIG BOLD print and others are in teeny tiny print and it just looks BAD! Some are set right but then they want you to SIGN the application...........which means you have to print it out, sign it, then scan it, to send!
   I really love the ones that direct it needs to be TYPED or PRINT...........but they don't make it Fillable! Hello! Who in this day and age owns a type writer? Very FEW! Your option? YOU have to make it Fillable FOR them! Ugh!
   I REALLY loved one job opening that the ONLY place you could get the application was on line BUT you had to make the form fillable yourself and then they REQIURED that you MAIL it in! I am betting they have a typewriter in their office! Lol
5. Response: Now I am in their court, I really do LIKE it when I get a response back from the Job Search engine or the Employer that they have RECEIVED my application! AWESOME! But I can tell you the “Employer” response is few and far between! Now I am not saying that Monster or Career Builder or any of the other sites are not getting my resume to the potential employer but it would be really NICE to know for sure!
6. Salary: Yes I get it, I do understand why many employers do not advertise a salary but here is the Flip Side of that............if you spend the time to advertise a job with no salary, you look through applications, select several to interview, call them in............how much time have you wasted when they say “I can't do the job for that”? I had one that I applied for – 40 to 60 hour work week, travel, sales – they called me and in the conversation I found that they wanted all of this for $25K a year and I pay my own expenses!............Uh, no thanks!
   
   
   
   Well my hunt is still on along with all of the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!  
   
   
   Please feel free to share your Job Hunting Experiences with me here..........we can laugh together!