Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know. I know it's the reality...I'm venting. Not necessarily AT bunny...I'm sick of hearing, "Well, they could leave if they get a better job since they are qualified for a better job..." or things like that. I'm just venting because I'm so damn frustrated with all the judgements and excuses not to hire people.
I'm mad, damnit!
At bunny? No, I don't know her. I don't like what she said but her, personally, no. And if it was just her that said it, I would blow it off but it's not just her that says it...and I know it's the "reality". Their reality...they. Them. I'm pretty fed up with HR all across the country.
I wish they would get a fricken clue but, the reality is, they really do want vacant stares behind those eyes so they can mold and manipulate those people to act like machines. I find it sickening and revolting.
It may be reality, but I sure as hell don't have to like it.
There is truth in that line from Boiler Room we don't hire brokers we train them. My first telecom sales job they only wanted people with no or minimal outside telecom sales so they could mold them the way they see fit and that was when UE was low in 99'
I am skeptical his trip has anything to do with him not getting hired. I suspect it is really whatever happened before that that is causing the problems.
Employment gaps are very common. It just happens some times. I know someone who took a year off work to take care of her sick parents. She was fine, found a new place to teach at no problem. I know a lot of kids who were unemployed for a year after graduating. They graduated at the trough of the recession and couldn't find jobs. This is very excusable. It's tough to get into the job market if you're a null data set.
I myself was unemployed for a year after graduating from college, in this area. I graduated in 2010 with a BS in biochemistry, but I had no internship experience and I didn't really know how to go about finding jobs. I had planned to go to gradschool, but my grades kept me out. I just applied to online ads at first, and kinda lost hope and gave up after getting turned down for seemingly everything. Eventually I pulled myself out of it... got a retail job, then found a temporary position at Duke, and now I have a permanent lab position at UNC, and after a couple more years I will look damn good on paper with the amount of technical experience I have. Should be able to go back to school by then.
Admittedly I filled that empty year up with stuff. I did volunteer work the whole time (because I was concerned about the gap), but I also did some traveling, just because I had the time.
A friend of mine bailed out of California and the mess it has become and sold his house and decided on a mid life adventure. He and his wife sold a lot of his things and put the rest in storage and traveled the world for 18 months. He made arrangements to live in 10 different cities in condos or vacation homes all over the world and lived life as a local and bummed around and played tourist too. It was quite an adventure.
Now he has moved out east in a relatively inexpensive town in North Carolina (Cary) where the economy is strong and has been looking for work. Once the potential employers find out about his mid life adventure of living abroad and not working for 18 months they write him off as some type of lazy flake and deep six his employment application. Sometimes his creative resume gets him an interview but once they find out he has not been working for almost two years and hears about his overseas travel, they look at him like he has two heads.
If you were an employer what would you think of that man's story/situation? (He has a strong background in Accounting, an MBA, CPA and lots of great references, etc.)
I know people who have done this. Usually they rent out their places. One such person has this combo from a southern Ivy. It took him a while, but he found something.
It varies by person and by employer. Some companies will definitely write-off the candidate.
The problem is there are so many people who have recent work experience who are looking for work. I don't know about other professions but in engineering a year and a half out means half of what you know is obsolete.
For those who rail that there is more to life than robotic work, that's absolutely true. There is. However, that is not a selling point in looking for work or pitching yourself to be hired. That's also true.
I'm a female, 50 yrs old, and I did something similar. After my last position was eliminated due to corporate restructuring, I took off to live in Europe for a few months then traveled around the US when I came home. Now, it's a different ballgame.
Here's what I've noticed. The old paradigm will no longer fit. Period. You're now viewed by the corporate cogs differently. Never mind that while I was in Europe I studied photography and also added so many more interesting and well-versed aspects to my resume. I've found that the same Corporate America recruiters who would have interviewed me a few years before my blissful sabbatical have approached me in one of two ways: Most were simply jealous and miserable in their jobs and perhaps with their lives, who knows. Others, with a more creative spirit and "thinking outside of the box" mentality loved what I did ... they asked questions, listened as I explained how I believed this experience will make me a better employee and how it absolutely broadened my horizons and my critical thinking.
I had to learn to discern. I revamped my resume and identified the companies to target. He can stay within his field, whether that's finance or business administration, however he has to gravitate towards more "like-minded" people. It takes longer to find the right job, but it will be worth it in the end. I just accepted a fabulous job with a creative bent, after freelancing for a while. Tell your friend to use his wonderful adventure to his advantage and to try and avoid those stuck in a one-dimensional way of thinking. If he does that, he'll attract the right opportunity.
this question will recieve different categorial answers simply based on our travel experiences. Ask this question to a person like me who has lived and traveled extensively overseas and sees it as a positive aspect in my life, and I'll say, sure, why not hire him? He's seen the world, he's refreshed, he's more educated now, why not? Then you've got the those who don't even own a passport thinking he's crazy for even boarding an overseas flight. And unfortunately, that is a very typical corporate America view on overseas traveling and taking sabaticals. CEOs in the states don't get it yet. But I'm willing to bet that your friend was glad he did it. Anyway, have someone look at his resume, because maybe that's the real problem.
I'm a female, 50 yrs old, and I did something similar. After my last position was eliminated due to corporate restructuring, I took off to live in Europe for a few months then traveled around the US when I came home. Now, it's a different ballgame.
Here's what I've noticed. The old paradigm will no longer fit. Period. You're now viewed by the corporate cogs differently. Never mind that while I was in Europe I studied photography and also added so many more interesting and well-versed aspects to my resume. I've found that the same Corporate America recruiters who would have interviewed me a few years before my blissful sabbatical have approached me in one of two ways: Most were simply jealous and miserable in their jobs and perhaps with their lives, who knows. Others, with a more creative spirit and "thinking outside of the box" mentality loved what I did ... they asked questions, listened as I explained how I believed this experience will make me a better employee and how it absolutely broadened my horizons and my critical thinking.
I had to learn to discern. I revamped my resume and identified the companies to target. He can stay within his field, whether that's finance or business administration, however he has to gravitate towards more "like-minded" people. It takes longer to find the right job, but it will be worth it in the end. I just accepted a fabulous job with a creative bent, after freelancing for a while. Tell your friend to use his wonderful adventure to his advantage and to try and avoid those stuck in a one-dimensional way of thinking. If he does that, he'll attract the right opportunity.
I am not suprised they don't want him. With so many people doing anything they can to land a job, his actions show he was not the most motivated person. I respect him, I took off 2 months to travel around Europe, but that was in 94 when the economy was vastly different. He took a year off in the worst economic time so he as lost some of his skil set over that year he wasn't using it, that's the way I would look at it.
pretty much this.
There was a time it might have been feasible to do something like this. In the middle of the great recession, it's just not a good idea. I'd probably think the guy was not super smart.
It's true that outsourcing has shrunk the majority of us into robots, living for our corporate jobs. I think companies are considering that this fellow may save a bit and then quit and just go traveling again.
On the other hand, they may not believe him and think it's a lame way of explaining a gap in the resume. It is hard to believe that in a poor economy a person would do such a thing. It may be considered that he used poor logic and rash judgment.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
