Job Hunting
Ahhh job hunting.
You just have to love trying to look for work at the beginning of December. I had a very encouraging and candid chat with a recruiter who advised me that very few people are hiring right now. It's year end both literally and from an accounting perspective and most serious employers want to wait until they have their projections for next year and have the holidays out of the way and are in a new tax year for the sake of training and the paperwork. January 15 seems to be E-day when all the Employers want to do all the hiring they've put off and jobs are suddenly plentiful again. I hope she's right. So, yes I'll probably still be an unemployed bum until the new year but with a little luck will have a decent job before the end of January.
Right this second though I'm whining and pissy about the whole process. Working in an office is no big deal. Finding work in an office when you look like me - and all your competiton is under 30, actually looks straight - and has all the stereo-typical cuteness of youth - at the single most difficult time of year to find work - well let's just say I'm starting to get cranky. I have had a ton of great (stellar even) interviews only to end up still unemployed. I think it's great that younger people can find work in this town. Of course most of them have very little experience and often work for far less than the job is worth. Add the high end wardrobe, manicures, hair and make-up one has the resources to enjoy when one has no kids or spouse to provide for, and it's an imbalanced competition at best.
On the up-side, most of those short sighted idiots who passed people like me over to hire receptionist Barbie or office assistant Ken dolls have been advertising for the same position again and again. It's rather vindicating to see the proof of what happens when you hire based on looks rather than skill.
Vancouver has a pretty crappy work ethic and employers are just as bad as employees for encouraging it. Job-hopping is a way of life here and the employers perpetuate it as often as the employees. Employers complain about wanting someone to stay long term but they still hire the same types again and again. They seem to think they'll get lucky eventually and find that person willing to stay forever. When will they do the math and realize it's far cheaper to hire someone older with related experience for a 5-20 year career than to constantly be hiring and training pretty face after pretty face until maybe at some point in the future one of them might want to stay forever.
Can you tell I'm getting just a little tired of sitting through a job interview while the prospective boss cries on my shoulder about how they want someone long term - only to have him hire a clone of the job hopping airhead he's frantically trying to replace.
I'm still in a good position in that I can afford to work for much less than most people in this area. If I "dumb down" my resume I could have a lower paying job within 2-3 days. I'm not going to take that route just for the sake of being employed right this second, but knowing that I can if I have to takes most of the stress out of job hunting. Also knowing that I have a much broader range of skills than most people and can easily drop into several catagories of work takes off the rest of the stress.
But it still sucks to lose a job prospect just because I don't fit the stereotype.
You just have to love trying to look for work at the beginning of December. I had a very encouraging and candid chat with a recruiter who advised me that very few people are hiring right now. It's year end both literally and from an accounting perspective and most serious employers want to wait until they have their projections for next year and have the holidays out of the way and are in a new tax year for the sake of training and the paperwork. January 15 seems to be E-day when all the Employers want to do all the hiring they've put off and jobs are suddenly plentiful again. I hope she's right. So, yes I'll probably still be an unemployed bum until the new year but with a little luck will have a decent job before the end of January.
Right this second though I'm whining and pissy about the whole process. Working in an office is no big deal. Finding work in an office when you look like me - and all your competiton is under 30, actually looks straight - and has all the stereo-typical cuteness of youth - at the single most difficult time of year to find work - well let's just say I'm starting to get cranky. I have had a ton of great (stellar even) interviews only to end up still unemployed. I think it's great that younger people can find work in this town. Of course most of them have very little experience and often work for far less than the job is worth. Add the high end wardrobe, manicures, hair and make-up one has the resources to enjoy when one has no kids or spouse to provide for, and it's an imbalanced competition at best.
On the up-side, most of those short sighted idiots who passed people like me over to hire receptionist Barbie or office assistant Ken dolls have been advertising for the same position again and again. It's rather vindicating to see the proof of what happens when you hire based on looks rather than skill.
Vancouver has a pretty crappy work ethic and employers are just as bad as employees for encouraging it. Job-hopping is a way of life here and the employers perpetuate it as often as the employees. Employers complain about wanting someone to stay long term but they still hire the same types again and again. They seem to think they'll get lucky eventually and find that person willing to stay forever. When will they do the math and realize it's far cheaper to hire someone older with related experience for a 5-20 year career than to constantly be hiring and training pretty face after pretty face until maybe at some point in the future one of them might want to stay forever.
Can you tell I'm getting just a little tired of sitting through a job interview while the prospective boss cries on my shoulder about how they want someone long term - only to have him hire a clone of the job hopping airhead he's frantically trying to replace.
I'm still in a good position in that I can afford to work for much less than most people in this area. If I "dumb down" my resume I could have a lower paying job within 2-3 days. I'm not going to take that route just for the sake of being employed right this second, but knowing that I can if I have to takes most of the stress out of job hunting. Also knowing that I have a much broader range of skills than most people and can easily drop into several catagories of work takes off the rest of the stress.
But it still sucks to lose a job prospect just because I don't fit the stereotype.