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edit: I added more details about previous layoffs.
I have no degree. I was making $12/hr as a shipping clerk with Access/Excel skills.
After the layoff notice, I attended weekly job hunting classes for several months. In 2009, I had an offer for $37.5k and a 2nd offer for $50k to work in Access and Excel and drop the shipping.
In 2011, the new employer was sold and another layoff was announced. I studied 2-3 times a week for 3 months to get a SQL certification to enhance the Access skills. I was unemployed for 2 weeks. I got 2 offers for $68k and $75k.
Now, I make over $80k. I went from $12/hr to over $80k in 4 years.
I wasn't even an exception in the job hunting class. The class was geared to people in poverty. There were over 100 participants and most people had no college degree.
They averaged a 40% increase in salary within 4 months. If over 100 people can repeat these results, then it may be a good idea to start attending them also.
I could have spent months posting on the city-data forum and ignoring career advice. Eventually, some people will get tired and do something other than resume blasts.
Last edited by move4ward; 12-31-2013 at 08:01 AM..
I could just sit around and think about the people making a "joke" out of me but in the end I can't give up looking for better opportunities or turning around the mistake I made.
You have to be positive and listen to advice. If you complain about the system constantly, it gets you nowhere. I've learned to fight against the system if it means survival.
Call me crazy but...that's how I view things now.
I took my teacher certification exam and passed with a good grade. I just have to take the test for teaching elementary school. I will apply for certification after that. And I did this based on the advice of my family and people at my church who said I interact well with children.
Two years ago, I was laid off after the company was sold. I was unemployed for 2 weeks, before I started the next job for a $20k raise. I completed the 2nd round of an interview with another employer and still had other people calling me. $20k was enough of a bump. I didn't want to wait, since rent was coming up.
Congrats! We need more stories like this to inspire and combat negativity threads like this one.
For my part, I was laid off Friday, March 8. Totally out of the blue, one of the biggest shocks of my life. I felt every bit of the fear, anger and depression that folks talk about here. This was the second layoff for me in 15 months, after 27 years of solid employment. But that same day I hit the job boards and started sending out resumes. I was getting calls by Monday. Lots of them didn't pan out but after a week or so I started getting phone and in person interviews. Then I got a call - from a corporate HR recruiter - on the job that was at the top of my lists. One list being the job I was most interested in, the other being literally the first job I had sent my resume to on March 8. It took no less than 5 interviews...one with HR by phone...one with the hiring director by phone...a technical interview with a panel of engineers, managers and another director by phone...an hours long in person interview with the hiring director, the HR recruiter, the director from the technical call, and two managers that included what some here call "HR gobbledygook", and finally a brief phone interview with still another director. This took place over the period of about two weeks. At that same time I was interviewing for other positions as well. On April 8, I received two offers. One for the job I just described, and another for an out of state job that had progressed in a similar fashion, culminating with the potential employer flying me in for an in person interview the week before. I accepted the local position, and thus landed a job that not only pays significantly more, but is possibly the best career opportunity I've had, is closer to home than the one that laid me off was, and I like better.
The job I accepted, I found through Indeed, which had scraped it from the company's web site. I had also found my previous position on Indeed, FWIW. The out of state offer started when a recruiter who found my resume on Dice called me. I had not applied for that opening. In the month I was looking, I applied for over 100 jobs.
My new employer did a background check (not a credit check), they called my references, I had to go for a drug screen. I had no issues with HR at either company. Nobody deliberately tried to sabotage my candidacy. The interviews were tough, in fact by the end of that technical panel call I was convinced I was done, they grilled me that hard. I was shocked when the HR recruiter called me the next day to schedule the face to face.
None of it was easy. Very little of it was pleasant. It was worth the effort though.
I'm not trying to brag. I know I was very lucky. I have sympathy for those of you who are reading this who have been struggling to find jobs for months or longer. I know it could have been, or could be, me some day and that's terrifying. Don't give up. Keep trying. Don't look for reasons that don't exist why you're struggling, that's a path to oblivion. The economy isn't great, there's a lot of competition for jobs, some employers are looking for such perfect fits that they can't really fill a job, those things are true. It's probably true that in some cases jobs get posted that won't get filled, for a variety of reasons. But this talk of fake jobs, blacklists, conspiracies, access to the IRS, etc, is nonsense and will only cloud your focus. Don't fall for it. Good luck!
I think it's easy to become paranoid when you're laid off. I saw it happen with my husband. He lost his job in 2009 and it was clearly related to the recession--he worked for an international company that depended on lots of credit to undertake and complete its projects and when the credit dried up so did his job. Nevertheless, it wasn't any time at all til he started feeling like he was the only one laid off and it was because he sucked. He applied for every job for which he thought he was remotely qualified and got nothing. Those were dark days for all of us.
Then, one day in 2011 he saw a random job on Monster, applied and was hired the next day. Only after working there for a while did he tell me, "you know, I just realized that I was laid off from my last job because of the recession." Duh.
Anyway, it's easy for your thoughts to negatively spiral when you're repeatedly rejected and it looks like everyone else is getting hired and doing well. Do what you can to stop the thinking when you feel it coming on. Take a walk, write down positive things you know to be true about yourself and keep a praise journal--every time you do something you're proud of, or hear something positive about yourself, write it down. When you're feeling crappy, get it out and read it.
I know it's tough, but hang in there and don't give up.
Two years ago, I was laid off after the company was sold. I was unemployed for 2 weeks, before I started the next job for a $20k raise. I completed the 2nd round of an interview with another employer and still had other people calling me. $20k was enough of a bump. I didn't want to wait, since rent was coming up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by move4ward
I have no degree. I was making $12/hr as a shipping clerk with Access/Excel skills.
After the layoff notice, I attended weekly job hunting classes for several months. In 2009, I had an offer for $37.5k and a 2nd offer for $50k to work in Access and Excel and drop the shipping.
In 2011, the new employer was sold and another layoff was announced. I studied 2-3 times a week for 3 months to get a SQL certification to enhance the Access skills. I got 2 offers for $68k and $75k.
Now, I make over $80k. I went from $12/hr to over $80k in 4 years.
I wasn't even an exception in the job hunting class. The class was geared to people in poverty. There were over 100 participants and most people had no college degree.
They averaged a 40% increase in salary within 4 months. If over 100 people can repeat these results, then it may be a good idea to start attending them also.
I could have spent months posting on the city-data forum and ignoring career advice. Eventually, some people will get tired and do something other than resume blasts.
I'm having trouble synching up your stories. Can you be more specific (and hopefully accurate) on the what and where of the job hunting class and the specific certification you achieved (title, SQL type, certifying body and cost)? The details is what helps people, not the generic anecdote.
Yup SQL is a good way to change your resume to fit other opportunities and career paths. This is borderline knowledge that would separate you from the non-technical people. It's a start, but it already opens a lot of doors. whats great about SQL these days is youre not necessarily working in a backroom. You can end up working with traders and ops since theyve been trying to master data processing for years (but couldnt). Life can get pretty good when youre *someone*'s tech-pet. And again, in my 20years in IT, nothing comes close to MSExcel/VBA/SQL in ROI for everyone involved.
and Microsoft and Oracle has been giving the knowledge for free for years (like student lic. and personal versions).
I'm having trouble synching up your stories. Can you be more specific (and hopefully accurate) on the what and where of the job hunting class and the specific certification you achieved (title, SQL type, certifying body and cost)? The details is what helps people, not the generic anecdote.
Quote:
Originally Posted by moveward
After the layoff notice, I attended weekly job hunting classes for several months. In 2009,I had an offer for $37.5k and a 2nd offer for $50k to work in Access and Excel and drop the shipping.
This section is related to a late 2008 layoff. We had 60 days to empty our drawers. I was tired of making $12/hr and problems with making bills.
I started attending FREE weekly life skills classes at church. We would meet twice a week. They talked about insurance, budgeting, retirement, and career development. It was geared to people in poverty. I qualified. For career development, we had resume critiques, practice interviews, watched a short clip every now and then. After a few resume revisions and several practice interviews, I was ready. I removed tons of junk from the resume. My original resume read like a job description. The final resume was focused on accomplishments. I used to send the same resume to every job and do resume blasts of 100 a week. I switched up and focused on a targeted search. I would apply for a handful of positions every week. I started customizing each resume based on the job description.
The biggest takeaway is to get objective feedback on your resume and interview skills from strangers. Friends and family may have no idea how to get a job themselves. They may only found a job through a connection.
Quote:
Originally Posted by moveward
In 2011, the new employer was sold and another layoff was announced. I studied 2-3 times a week for 3 months to get a SQL certification to enhance the Access skills. I got 2 offers for $68k and $75k.
There were rumors of the company being sold and the employees being laid off. I went back through my old study material from the life skills class. I started studying for the Oracle SQL Expert certification immediately. After 2 months, the sale was announced and we were given 60 days to split. I finished the certification in another month. I was already NOT to do a resume blast. I did another targeted resume submission. Within 4 weeks, I got 1-2 calls every week. I had a job lined up 2 weeks after my layoff.
I took the $75k off. After a raise, I was bumped to over $80k. I work a 40-45 hour week and the job is pretty easy.
That's how I went from $12/hr to over $80k/yr after 2 layoffs in a horrible recession.
That practice of posting jobs that don't exist, first internally, then externally, goes way, way back, pre-dating the internet and job boards. I used to work for a very well-known company that many people wanted to work for back in the early 90s. I was a very lowly-paid contractor with no benefits, so I kept applying for better full-time positions I was completely qualified for. They would post these on an internal physical bulletin board, then they'd go to the local newspaper. I could never understand why, as an internal candidate who matched the requirements to a "T," I couldn't even get an interview. I even went over to the department and asked about the openings. I expressed my frustrations to a coworker who had been there for many years, and he told me that the openings had never existed. They were either created for someone (most likely some VP's kid who was about to graduate from college,) and so company policy dictated that they had to advertise the opening internally, decide that no one else was qualified, then advertise it externally and decide that no one was qualified.
In the meantime, when the opening went to the paper, HR would receive hundreds, if not thousands of resumes in response to the fake opening, none of which would ever get looked at. I think they're still doing it, since there's nothing illegal about it, but the internet has undoubtedly multiplied their responses many times over. At least people aren't wasting their postage anymore.
This section is related to a late 2008 layoff. We had 60 days to empty our drawers. I was tired of making $12/hr and problems with making bills.
...
The biggest takeaway is to get objective feedback on your resume and interview skills from strangers. Friends and family may have no idea how to get a job themselves. They may only found a job through a connection.
...
There were rumors of the company being sold and the employees being laid off. I went back through my old study material from the life skills class. I started studying for the Oracle SQL Expert certification immediately. After 2 months, the sale was announced and we were given 60 days to split. I finished the certification in another month. I was already NOT to do a resume blast. I did another targeted resume submission. Within 4 weeks, I got 1-2 calls every week. I had a job lined up 2 weeks after my layoff.
...
I work a 40-45 hour week and the job is pretty easy.
That's how I went from $12/hr to over $80k/yr after 2 layoffs in a horrible recession.
Very impressive, inspiring and uplifting! Thanks for sharing.
That practice of posting jobs that don't exist, first internally, then externally, goes way, way back, pre-dating the internet and job boards. I used to work for a very well-known company that many people wanted to work for back in the early 90s. I was a very lowly-paid contractor with no benefits, so I kept applying for better full-time positions I was completely qualified for. They would post these on an internal physical bulletin board, then they'd go to the local newspaper. I could never understand why, as an internal candidate who matched the requirements to a "T," I couldn't even get an interview. I even went over to the department and asked about the openings. I expressed my frustrations to a coworker who had been there for many years, and he told me that the openings had never existed. They were either created for someone (most likely some VP's kid who was about to graduate from college,) and so company policy dictated that they had to advertise the opening internally, decide that no one else was qualified, then advertise it externally and decide that no one was qualified.
In the meantime, when the opening went to the paper, HR would receive hundreds, if not thousands of resumes in response to the fake opening, none of which would ever get looked at. I think they're still doing it, since there's nothing illegal about it, but the internet has undoubtedly multiplied their responses many times over. At least people aren't wasting their postage anymore.
It has been discussed many times that H1B visa processing requires that they advertise the position, making it available to American candidates. It wouldnt surprise me if corps dealing with *preferred vendors* aka recruiters also require them to make the position 'available' to other recruiters (pay attention to the *preferred vendor* part)
Its also possible job ads are part of promotions process, again, making the position 'available' to others
Another reason is job postings maybe used for budget planning.
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