Dear Charlie,
I have always relied on Craigslist for everything. It used to be reliable for jobs and apartments but lately it has been one scam after the other. I can’t believe how many posts I have replied to have turned out to be scams! Craigslist was my #1 resource, but it doesn’t work anymore. I read your letter about the endless job hunt, which reminded me of how disappointing Craigslist has been for me personally too. I’m not sure what people will replace it with.
-Unlisted
Dear Unlisted,
Everything you say is true. Craigslist had a go for a while, but it has gone down the tubes because it is poorly organized. Reports of Craigslist disappointing people across the globe have even been featured on the news. It is now being identified (by me) as more of a Craplist. Sites like Facebook and Linkedin are excellent replacements for the Craigslist we used to know. There is no anonymity on those sites, as you can validate who is posting something. Linkedin is great for jobs and has the same concept of confirming & identifying contacts. In terms of universal search engines for your area, Globallistings.org is a good one. Blockwild.com is another decent new site trying to get started. Twitter has also taken off on several platforms. It’s annoying to have to keep up with the ever changing trends of online navigation, but that’s the high tech world we live in. The problem with Craigslist which has essentially warn it down over time, is that it anybody and everybody can post anonymously. This opens the door to endless possibilities as all the freaks, creeps, and perverts come out of the woodwork to take advantage. When you give this kind of freedom to site visitors, you allow anyone to be a user. Anyone can be whoever they want to be or claim to be. There’s no demand for validation. You may have found legitimate and intelligible posts suddenly vanished. Anyone can flag anything and have it removed. This includes competitors or people who are just out to sabotage for any personal reason. Eventually all the genuine and valid posts are weeded out or sabotaged, until we are left with the flakey, trashy, perverted, amateur, and con artists. This is how Craigslist became an Anarchy gone wild. We need a new “list” to take over and learn from Craig’s mistakes. When you don’t do a good job of filtering out garbage, new networking sites will dance on your grave.
Showing posts with label job hunt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job hunt. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Endless Job Hunt
Dear Charlie,
I can’t find a job! I lost my job several months ago and have been out of work since. I’m in marketing but considered being a waitress to make ends meet. Every time I go to an interview, there are about 30 other candidates waiting in line, or even worse, it’s a group meeting. I’m so frustrated. I have been pursuing a job that I really want, but the interview process has continued on for 2 months now. I still don’t know if I’m hired or not. I don’t know what I’m going to do!
-Desperately Seeking Employment
Dear Desperately Seeking Employment,
People may feel that they are all in the same boat here, but the boat is small and running out of room! The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month that the current unemployment rate of household persons is up to 9.9 %! Some states have an unemployment rate as high as 9.6 (Michigan). In NY it’s up to 6.1 and most states fall somewhere in between, but this is serious and not to be taken lightly. Some feel it has become a global crisis, but this is definitely the most talked about issue in America to date. We are far from improvement too. Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote “many outsourced jobs will never return, and median income will likely continue to fall as it did during the last so-called recovery.” CNBC reporter Rick Santelli states; “I'm assuming the economy is going to be mediocre for many years, three to five, meaning 2 percent to 3 percent growth is going to be good. If it gets better than that, I think interest rates will rush up much more aggressively in 2011.” Even teenagers are discovering there are no jobs to be found. Everyone is suffering right now (save for lifestyles of the lavishly unscathed). For working class people, this has become a rather desperate situation on a NATIONAL scale. People report that they’ve applied for hundreds of online jobs without even receiving a response, or “thank you for applying but…” Some have gone to great lengths, like Chris Adams in Sacramento, CA who stands on a street corner in a suit and tie with a sign that says “Hire me”. Another man became homeless after being laid off from an IT position 19 months ago at a major software company. He is able to live off of his frequent flier miles by budgeting $5 a day for food, and looking for hotels with free breakfasts. He must have traveled a lot to rack up those points! Census jobs had more competition than ever this year too, with everyone from the legal field to former medical staff in the running. As you can see, our current unemployment is like a bowl of soup that spilled in the fridge; pouring onto everything and now it's all soiled. How disastrous. An “economy” by Wiki definition is “the end result of a process that involves its technological evolution, history and social organization, as well as its geography, natural resource endowment, and ecology, as main factors.” It takes forever to build and when it crashes, you’ve got a real mess on your hands. Incapacitating unemployment is to follow. As for your personal situation, some employers are MAJORLY taking advantage of job hunters right now.. A friend of mine who was laid off also began pursuing a job which was stretched out for a couple months. After all she went through, she was finally given the “offer” to work the job for 2 weeks FOR FREE, before the company officially decided who was the best candidate! It’s unbelievable. It is not fair nor right, because you are at their mercy. You may decide that your dignity is more important than being a puppet on a string. Good for you! If you are at a breaking point, then I see no harm in straight forward questions; “I’m unclear whether I have been employed by you or not.” A boss that strings you along in an interview is also not going to be any fun to work for. You don’t know whether to continue your job search or end it, so they should be up front with you. I know, I know. You are probably following all the right steps to get hired, but there are quadruple the amount of applicants. One of my friends started making personalized greeting cards to try and charm prospective employers. She still hasn’t gotten any bites yet! People are finding they have to work extremely hard to stand out and get noticed in ways they never did before. People who always had job security before, are now experiencing the loss of financial stability. It’s scary when you are completely rattled by surprise unemployment topped with a national crisis. These cold realities are hard for Americans, but they build character. I think you are doing the absolute right thing by taking a waitress gig (if you can find one!). You do what you have to do when times are tough. That’s just it. I know it’s a shock that you find yourself in this situation, but life is not perfect the way we have been conditioned to believe it is. Our modern society has made life easy for us, but it is not flawless. After all, aren't we just creatures inhabiting a wild planet? This is a time for many Americans to reassess themselves. Maybe your life is leading you in another direction, on a large scale. I don’t think anyone has the answer to fix this problem, because it is bigger than you and me. Just keep trying to get creative and hopefully you will score. Don’t take any crap, but assert yourself politely. You can only do so much, and then you just pray! This too shall pass.
I can’t find a job! I lost my job several months ago and have been out of work since. I’m in marketing but considered being a waitress to make ends meet. Every time I go to an interview, there are about 30 other candidates waiting in line, or even worse, it’s a group meeting. I’m so frustrated. I have been pursuing a job that I really want, but the interview process has continued on for 2 months now. I still don’t know if I’m hired or not. I don’t know what I’m going to do!
-Desperately Seeking Employment
Dear Desperately Seeking Employment,
People may feel that they are all in the same boat here, but the boat is small and running out of room! The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month that the current unemployment rate of household persons is up to 9.9 %! Some states have an unemployment rate as high as 9.6 (Michigan). In NY it’s up to 6.1 and most states fall somewhere in between, but this is serious and not to be taken lightly. Some feel it has become a global crisis, but this is definitely the most talked about issue in America to date. We are far from improvement too. Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote “many outsourced jobs will never return, and median income will likely continue to fall as it did during the last so-called recovery.” CNBC reporter Rick Santelli states; “I'm assuming the economy is going to be mediocre for many years, three to five, meaning 2 percent to 3 percent growth is going to be good. If it gets better than that, I think interest rates will rush up much more aggressively in 2011.” Even teenagers are discovering there are no jobs to be found. Everyone is suffering right now (save for lifestyles of the lavishly unscathed). For working class people, this has become a rather desperate situation on a NATIONAL scale. People report that they’ve applied for hundreds of online jobs without even receiving a response, or “thank you for applying but…” Some have gone to great lengths, like Chris Adams in Sacramento, CA who stands on a street corner in a suit and tie with a sign that says “Hire me”. Another man became homeless after being laid off from an IT position 19 months ago at a major software company. He is able to live off of his frequent flier miles by budgeting $5 a day for food, and looking for hotels with free breakfasts. He must have traveled a lot to rack up those points! Census jobs had more competition than ever this year too, with everyone from the legal field to former medical staff in the running. As you can see, our current unemployment is like a bowl of soup that spilled in the fridge; pouring onto everything and now it's all soiled. How disastrous. An “economy” by Wiki definition is “the end result of a process that involves its technological evolution, history and social organization, as well as its geography, natural resource endowment, and ecology, as main factors.” It takes forever to build and when it crashes, you’ve got a real mess on your hands. Incapacitating unemployment is to follow. As for your personal situation, some employers are MAJORLY taking advantage of job hunters right now.. A friend of mine who was laid off also began pursuing a job which was stretched out for a couple months. After all she went through, she was finally given the “offer” to work the job for 2 weeks FOR FREE, before the company officially decided who was the best candidate! It’s unbelievable. It is not fair nor right, because you are at their mercy. You may decide that your dignity is more important than being a puppet on a string. Good for you! If you are at a breaking point, then I see no harm in straight forward questions; “I’m unclear whether I have been employed by you or not.” A boss that strings you along in an interview is also not going to be any fun to work for. You don’t know whether to continue your job search or end it, so they should be up front with you. I know, I know. You are probably following all the right steps to get hired, but there are quadruple the amount of applicants. One of my friends started making personalized greeting cards to try and charm prospective employers. She still hasn’t gotten any bites yet! People are finding they have to work extremely hard to stand out and get noticed in ways they never did before. People who always had job security before, are now experiencing the loss of financial stability. It’s scary when you are completely rattled by surprise unemployment topped with a national crisis. These cold realities are hard for Americans, but they build character. I think you are doing the absolute right thing by taking a waitress gig (if you can find one!). You do what you have to do when times are tough. That’s just it. I know it’s a shock that you find yourself in this situation, but life is not perfect the way we have been conditioned to believe it is. Our modern society has made life easy for us, but it is not flawless. After all, aren't we just creatures inhabiting a wild planet? This is a time for many Americans to reassess themselves. Maybe your life is leading you in another direction, on a large scale. I don’t think anyone has the answer to fix this problem, because it is bigger than you and me. Just keep trying to get creative and hopefully you will score. Don’t take any crap, but assert yourself politely. You can only do so much, and then you just pray! This too shall pass.
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