Starting to doubt my move here, help! (Houston, Austin: school, gated)

[Quattro72]

Originally Posted by RadiantBaby

This city is inclusive because many are born here, grow up here and never leave. I agree that this city sees outsiders as odd ducks and doesn't do well with different ways of thinking.

San Antonio is not a great city for the well-educated and those who demand better than hourly jobs. For a city of our size, it shocks me when people rave about getting a $15-18/hr job.

Nailed it and don't stop preaching it.

[rynetwo]

Originally Posted by Quattro72

Totally agreed with you. Mediocrity is the biggest killer here in town, and so is fast food chains. LOL!

Originally Posted by Quattro72

And a corporation opening a call center here is not considered "corporate expansion." They are opening here because a lot of people don't mind getting those low-paying jobs. Until the majority pushes back and demands higher pay, the low wages that companies are paying here will never change.

Originally Posted by Quattro72

Nailed it and don't stop preaching it.

You sound miserable here and yet you stay.

[austindoxie1972]

Originally Posted by WVREDLEG

The people beating you out of jobs are better candidates than you--they don't need to be a veteran or know someone. You can delude yourself and buy into your cheerleader's sympathy all you want, but that is not going to change you from a loser to a winner in the job market.

I've known MANY people who have received letters / emails from federal agencies, saying "you were qualified but are not a veteran and so were disqualified." It's a pretty openly-admitted practice in the federal space.

[L210]

Originally Posted by austindoxie1972

I've known MANY people who have received letters / emails from federal agencies, saying "you were qualified but are not a veteran and so were disqualified." It's a pretty openly-admitted practice in the federal space.

I've never gotten an email like that, but veterans' preference is a real and open practice. I've scored very high on civil service exams, but could not compete with veterans getting 5-10 extra points on their test. People think that, because I am a black woman with a graduate degree, I should be able to get a federal job easily. That's not the way it works. The federal government uses a point system, and I don't get extra points for being black or a woman. I'm not complaining about veterans' preference. I've mostly just given up on fed jobs and apply to city, county, and state jobs.

Edit: I do remember seeing an email saying that I was qualified, but too many veterans applied for me to be further considered.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by WVREDLEG

Trust me, veterans and their spouses are not you or your cheerleader's problem.

My kid has a worthless baccalaureate degree and got a job with the State of Texas. It is a difficult job. It is a thankless job. It took her 9 months to lock it down. When she applied to a few jobs, she was discouraged by the lack of responses, then within a 2 week period, she was receiving interview calls and juggling multiple offers--9 months out of school, nothing but a feel good internship and restaurant server experience.

2 years later and she is topped out in scale for her position. Only longevity increases unless she becomes a supervisor or moves to Austin and takes a different job. She gets recruited by other government agencies all the time--she has developed the right kind of reputation.

She is neither a native Texan or connected to anyone in state government. She didn't graduate from a Texas university. She is not military or a military spouse. She IS a military brat, and her military dad (me) taught her the value of discipline, patience, and personal character.

The people beating you out of jobs are better candidates than you--they don't need to be a veteran or know someone. You can delude yourself and buy into your cheerleader's sympathy all you want, but that is not going to change you from a loser to a winner in the job market.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but I will say that you are being a bit defensive probably because you are veteran yourself.

This type of behavior is not limited to veterans though. It can be among college alumni too if the owner or management has a strong preference for hiring from where he/she went to school. (Very common among A&M and UT graduates).

In most cases, I will take a boss from the private sector instead of a veteran. I still stand by my opinion that some make terrible managers that are out of touch from being in the military sector for so many years.

[TXEX06]

Originally Posted by rynetwo

You sound miserable here and yet you stay.

I've been saying the same thing for years now. My comments always seemed to get deleted though for "personal attacks."

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by Quattro72

And a corporation opening a call center here is not considered "corporate expansion." They are opening here because a lot of people don't mind getting those low-paying jobs. Until the majority pushes back and demands higher pay, the low wages that companies are paying here will never change.

Would you like me to repost or are you just ignoring what I posted?

[poopycat]

Originally Posted by Azure110

I will get flamed for this but I will say it anyways.....

One way to get into many of the higher paying jobs here in San Antonio to be ex-military as they get the preference over others (including college graduates) during hiring process. Of course that is not true for all employers but many do practice this kind of hiring in San Antonio.

Many employers seem to think ex-military make great managers. Not something I agree with based on personal experience (for the private sector).

I couldn't agree more. I see that at my company. In talent reviews, the first comment about someone the leaders like is that they are military. If you have a military background, that's all that matters. You will get the job. Doesn't matter if you have actual EXPERIENCE for the role you're up for.

I respect the military vets and we owe them a great deal as a country. But that doesn't mean they should get jobs they aren't qualified for.

[WVREDLEG]

Originally Posted by austindoxie1972

I've known MANY people who have received letters / emails from federal agencies, saying "you were qualified but are not a veteran and so were disqualified." It's a pretty openly-admitted practice in the federal space.

The "federal space" is huge. There are tons of jobs that many veterans simply do not qualify to compete on experience or educational experience. It is a myth that being a veteran is the sole discriminator in a competitive federal job.

Only one-third of the VA workforce is veterans. Within the past year, media exposed the VA's trick of reserving veterans' preference to thousands of janitorial jobs to fluff their image, while reserving better-paying positions for internal-only hires.

Statistics vary, but around 35% of the federal government workforce is composed of veterans. Hiring rates are similar. One can make any conclusion from those statistics, but what is clear is 65% or so of the jobs are hired out to non-veterans.

Also, there are qualifications for a veteran to receive preference--and many competitive commissioned officers receive no preference.

As a 90% disabled combat veteran, I've had dozens of my applications rejected in the federal job market. With 26 years of experience, multiple degrees, and responsibility for multi-million dollar budgets, I am either over-qualified or lack experience for that particular position. And everyone can pretend differently, but announcing yourself as disabled (to receive preference) creates bias too.

As someone with previous hiring authority in the "federal space" (DoD), very few veterans had the qualifications for some of the positions I had to fill, and I could not find a VEOA eligible to fill some. Other times there were positions that no civilian would ever walk into because of the specialized skills that only some veterans would have in the first place.

Again, don't blame veterans for beating others out of a job.

[WVREDLEG]

Originally Posted by Azure110

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but I will say that you are being a bit defensive probably because you are veteran yourself.

This type of behavior is not limited to veterans though. It can be among college alumni too if the owner or management has a strong preference for hiring from where he/she went to school. (Very common among A&M and UT graduates).

In most cases, I will take a boss from the private sector instead of a veteran. I still stand by my opinion that some make terrible managers that are out of touch from being in the military sector for so many years.

Did you pay attention? My example was about my non-veteran, non-military kid. You have an axe to grind. I am not being defensive, I am arguing a position of self-determination and diligence in acquiring a job, hence my reference to my kid.

You keep throwing out these myths that are promulgated by sore losers.

It is always someone else preventing "ME", a well-educated, attractive, fit, groomed specimen with perfect qualifications from getting the job "I" want. These people, while loathing their miserable situation, are passed by ambitious, articulate go-getters every day in the job market.