*sigh* I give up >.<

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When I call a job placement agency, they tell me they don't specialize in things I want to do (such as Content Management, Web Site Maintenance (Editing), Editing, Product Research, etc. etc. etc. basically anything to do with research and writing)! I'm really getting pissed off at this point. I have a 10-hour-a-week job that expires in August, and I really really, really, really, really! Want to get a job before then. What am I doing wrong?

(I'm going to go through job agencies because I'm sick and tired of getting these rejection letters, which depress me and contribute to my overall feeling of total and complete, absolute being a failure, and contributes to my larger feeling of total worthlessness, panicky feeling that I'm never going to find a job, etc.)

WOW it sounds like My life.

You would not Belive the things they (the job placement office)
tried to dispatch me to.

Jobs I could never be able to do in
100 years.

Be flexible. Look for jobs that have related skills to the ones you desire, long term. Keeping your dreams alive is important; so is staying solvent.


M.

“I’ve already sent a copy of my resume to human resources. May I send you a copy also?”

That’s the money statement.

So poke around, see if you can find the name and phone number of the person actually hiring. And the reason you put it this way is that you’re not asking them to go around human resources. You’re merely asking them to receive a supplemental copy.

Hello Mutanatia,

I'm very sorry about your situation. Just because you get rejected for a few jobs does not make you a failure - let alone during a recession!

You need to remember that employers send out dozens of rejection letters for every job offer they make. It's so common they just send out form letters.

Keep your chin up - lots of people are going through what you're going through!

LittleTigger, I know what you're saying. Sometimes agencies get so desperate to place people they send out anyone to do anything. Maybe try different agencies from now on?

AardvarkGoodSwimmer, excellent advice!

To build on it, I'd say feel free to network with hiring managers and people who may know them even before you see any advertised jobs, much less apply for them. There's a substantial hidden job market out there; many times managers like to get referrals rather than wade through hundreds if not thousands of resumes. A hiring manager can always still tell you "Send that to HR" - in the meantime many hiring managers want to bypass HR and you want to be able to do so whenever possible.

Makuranososhi, that's very good advice. Especially given that research and writing do not seem to be high on the list of tasks that companies necessarily need to pay people good U.S. salaries to do. Those things can be, and are, outsourced.

Cheers,

Be flexible. Unless someone else is supporting you, you may have to take any job you can get. You can get something useful out of ANY job. But you can't look at it as if it's a ball-and-chain on your leg.

Let me tell you a story - maybe you can get something out of it.

I worked on special assignment with a HR person a couple of years ago. We posted an advert for a position that had a relatively specific set of skills we wanted the applicant to possess. It wasn't entry level, but it wasn't designed for someone who had worked in the field more than two or three years.

We got 400+ applications. Our main HR dept weeded out those who were blatantly unqualified - we had some people who'd been taking photos at Sears or working retail apply for the job. No experience at all in the field. Amazing. Anyway, that took care of about 100 off the top. The company used an automated resume system - it scanned for specific words. If they were there, the resume packet was sent to us. If not, it never got out of central HR.

Once the packets got to us, if there was no cover letter, the packet went in the "shred" stack. If there were grammar or spelling errors, "shred". Application form not filled out completely, legibly, and correctly? Did not supply all requested documents? "Shred."

We then basically went through each resume with a highlighter looking for mention of each of the specific skills we had advertised for. That cut the stack down by about 2/3rds - if the skills (or something pretty readily transferable) weren't ~all~ listed there, the resume went in the "shred" stack. We had a few stacks by then - "really good fit" "kind of good" "passable" and we stacked resumes where we thought they fit. Then we looked only at the "really good fit" stack.

We looked at how closely the applicants' past experience matched what they would be doing for us if hired. We didn't have much time to train whoever was selected - we needed to see something in their materials that indicated they could hit the ground running and do the job with minimal training. That narrowed it down to a couple dozen resumes. Then we looked at their actual application form again and their salary history. If they'd been earning significantly more and didn't have a good reason explained in their cover letter to justify taking the steep drop in pay that would go along with our job, "shred." Hoped from job to job to job (six months here, three months there) over a multi-year period, "shred".

Then we ranked them in order of how likely we thought they'd be to fit in to our environment. We started calling references to ask about them. You'd be surprised at some of the things we were told - by law we could pretty much ask only if they'd be rehired, except for those who had signed a wavier for a personal reference. People who we were told liked to party, who thought outside the box (nice, but not for this job), people who had any trouble at all fitting in with other people, were very emotional, were not punctual, had family problems that spilled over into work, "shred".

We then interviewed the 8 who remained. A couple obviously were not a good match for the environment - very brusk, businesslike, no-nonsense - I sat on one interview panel and the person being interviewed never smiled once. They were going to be in a position that, part of the time, involved supporting students. We were not looking to hire a Marine Corps drill instructor.

The remainder were interviewed a few times and shown around, to give them a chance to see if they wanted to work in our environment. A few self-selected out of the pool. We found out that one could not commit to a multi-year placement (military spouse, they were due to move in a year) and we needed a multi-year placement so we didn't have to jump through all these resumes again!

At that point I was pulled away to another project, but I believe the person they initially made the offer to accepted and then called a few days later having gotten a better offer, and we then hired the second choice. They were with us for quite some time.

So, the moral of this story is: don't send out blanket resumes. Tailor them to each position. Custom write each cover letter. Pay close attention to the job advertisement. Give the screener enough of what they asked for so that they don't have to shred your file. And for goodness sake, don't use someone as a reference who will discuss your personal life in sordid detail! Professional references are much more important than personal references - unless you have no professional references. Have SOME kind of reference, and be sure they are discreet if you have an unusual lifestyle.

And be aware that there may be 400+ other people applying for the same job. Maybe not, but maybe so. Put enough effort into your application packet (never handwritten resume! never fill out the application materials in pencil, never send in an application with mark-outs or obvious erasures) so that it looks like it's really important to you. Provide every shred of information/documents that are requested - and offer to provide additional material, if it's available. (Don't send your thesis or novel in unless they ask for it!)

Good luck.

That's right. I hear a lot of people who get down on themselves because they can't find what they want, or some employer turned them down, but you have to take the economy into account. In the mean time, Muta, you're likely to end up in a less than ideal position. Believe me, so many people have to these days.