There are a lot of emotions that are associated with job seeking these days: excitement, fear, trepidation, anger. But there is one word out there that can sum up the feelings of a lot of us who are looking for a means to support and feed our families and keep a roof over their heads…
Frustration.
A typical job seeker starts his or her day by getting the morning fishwrap from the front porch and getting some breakfast. The first section that they reach for isn’t the Sports section, it isn’t the Opinion page – it’s the classifieds section because that is where all the job listings are. They pop open the classifieds and immediately go to the job listings to discover that there are only seven (7) ads in that days paper. Not only that, but they are the same seven ads that have been there for the past couple of months that are advertising for Nurses, Used Car Salesmen and Forklift Drivers.
So after choking down a stale blueberry muffing and a half-glass of milk the next plan of attack is the computer. That’s right – the good ‘ol internet where most of the jobs are listed these days. First you take a trip to your e-mail box to see if there are any messages from CareerBuilder or Monster telling you about any new openings. Unfortunately you get the same e-mail that you’ve been getting from HotJobs forever with ads that have nothing to do with your skills, and ads telling you how you can make $500 a day from your home computer. Well since the e-mail was a bust you decide to go to the sites themselves only to find…nothing. Just the same ads that you applied to already and the ads that after reading them you discovered that you didn’t have the minimum qualifications they were looking for.
So you try the other job sites that you found: regionalhelpwanted.com, thingamajob.com, usa-careers.net, usajobs.com and jobbing.com – none of which has anything new for you since you looked yesterday. Then you try your Ace in the Hole, the one site where you have found more ads in the last 30 days then by any of those previous sites and methods combined – Craigslist. You look under today’s headings and you find that there are two new listings today, and three of the four listings that were under yesterday’s date are gone already. You check out the new ads and find that you are only qualified for one of them, and that one is a temporary position at best. You decide that that’s the best you can do for today so you e-mail your cover letter and resume to the address that’s listed in the ad. You’re also working blind here because there is no company name listed, so you have no idea who you are applying to.
Now that you’ve spend the last couple of hours searching all of your job boards and sent a total of one resume, it is time to hit the social networks. You go to TweetMyJobs.com to send your Twitter resume out into the ether again in the hopes that someone will see it, go to the profile you have there and Tweet you about a possible job opening they have for you – preferably one where you will not have to work on commission. You go to Facebook or MySpace and check in with your fellow job seekers there only to find that they are having the same kind of day that you are right now. You leave the conversations with them wishing everyone luck as they wish the same for you.
Then it’s time for the conversation that you have dreaded since the moment you woke up that morning – you need to check in with family and friends to see if they have heard anything on the job front. Now the friends are not so bad, friends usually understand how hard it is out here because they are either going through the same thing themselves or they know someone (like you) who is. After getting past the “what’s new, how ya doin?” phase you get right down to asking if they’ve heard anything about an opening or a response to your resume that they passed on to their boss. The answer is usually the same: “no, haven’t heard anything new yet, sorry.” You really weren’t expecting to hear anything anyway, but it’s still disappointing that you’ve run into another brick wall. You tell your friend that its okay (when its not) and you confirm the plans you made for July 4th, and tell him you’ll talk to him later.
Now comes the hard part…getting into the car and going over to your parents house to hit them up for a job lead – again!!!
When you pull up to the house your father is where he always is – under the hood of the car working on that same carburetor problem that will just “never stay fixed.” He’s standing there with your two older brothers who work for him when you walk up to say “hi.” Except your father doesn’t say “hi.” He never says “hi.” He says the same thing he always says, and it always makes your brothers laugh like they used to do when they got you in trouble for something they did…
Have you gotten a job yet?!?
That’s his way of saying “hi, how are you? Good to see you!” and it always will be. After telling him that you’re still underutilized, which he has never understood – as far as he’s concerned you’re either unemployed or not, he gets that same scowl on his face, shakes his head and then let’s you have it, again…
“Well I don’t understand what the hell’s wrong with you anyway. What, is it that you just don’t want to work, is that it? Do you want to sit on your ass for the rest of your life and take welfare from the government like some bum? You’d better get your head out of your ass boy! It’s time for you to grow up and be a man! Its time for you to pay your own way and get your lazy ass out there and get yourself a real job. None of this sissy stuff of sitting in front of that silly-ass computer all day long. That’s for pussies! Go out and get yourself some real work and be a man for once!”
You were expecting this when you got out of the car, so you fire back with another request for him to ask around to his friends to see if they are hiring.
“I told you before, you’re doing this BY YOURSELF!!! I’M NOT GOING TO HELP YOU GET A JOB WHEN YOU SHOULD BE LEARNING TO STAND UP FOR YOURSELF AND GET IT ON YOUR OWN!!! My friends don’t need a pantywaist like you working for them anyway, they’ll just chew you up and spit you out. Is that what you want?”
Your response is that what you really want is a job. Your father’s response…
“Hey, what do I keep telling you? What do I always say? There are no such things as jobs – only careers – AND YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE THAT, DO YOU?!?!?! All of that time you wasted going to school when you could have been out there WORKING!!! All that education and what did it get you? Nothing! Just a piece of paper for you and an empty bank account for us! I was going to take your mother on a cruise for our anniversary, but I can’t even take her out to dinner now – and it’s all because you wanted to go to college! Heh, fat lot of good that did you!”
By this point you’ve finally had it and just start lashing out at him with anything and everything you’ve got and when it’s all over, you’ve both screamed yourselves hoarse, your brothers are trying to keep you from tearing each other apart, your mother is on the porch crying, and your father is blaming you for that and telling you to get the hell off of his property before he gets his shotgun. One brother is pushing you father back while your other brother is leading you to the car giving you the same old line “he’s only doing it for your own good. He’s just tryin to help ya!”
You drive home angrier than you’ve ever been in your life, slamming the car door when you arrive and slamming the front door behind you. After talking the next hour to calm yourself down and vowing never to speak to your father again you check your e-mail one last time. You actually have a response from that company that you applied to for a position that you knew you could do in your sleep. You open up the e-mail and read the first paragraph…
We have reviewed your credentials and job experience against the requirements of the above mentioned position, and feel that you have many of the qualities we are looking for in this type of position. However, because we’ve had very strong interest in this position, we’ve had to narrow the group of qualified applicants down to a manageable number to take to the next step in the process. Unfortunately, you have not been selected for an interview at this time.
That is all you need to hear, another rejection letter to top off a perfect day!!!
Now the scenario I have just described is an amalgamation of the stories and situations that I have heard about ever since I started this blog. This is not one person’s story, it is a combination of stories that I have heard through various message boards and websites. This is an indication of what is happening out here right now. So for any Human Resources Directors reading this post right now, I invite you to take a really good look at what I have just written. More than that, take a look at the emotion behind it, and you will find that for the most part that emotion is frustration. That is what a lot of job seekers are feeling right now, we feel like we are putting ourselves out there only to be constantly rejected like we were the High School geek asking out the Head Cheerleader. After a while it begins to take it’s toll.
So on behalf of my fellow job seekers who are simply trying to “do the right thing” and take care of our families, I would ask you to show a little more compassion for us and our situation.
In other words, please – give us a break?!?
