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Here's a reality check for you - there are more people than there are jobs. Get it?
There are going to be some long-term unemployed people.
But it's good you can come here to spread your voluminous wealth of information to help them out.
There are going to be long term unemployed people. They will stay unemployed longer if they are lazy and make up excuses for everything instead of getting off their ass and trying. Those who keep looking for jobs and take what they can get to survive will still do better than those who just whine.
It is real easy to have a clear head about things when its not happening to you. Life is funny like that EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED and don't think you are out of the woods because RIGHT NOW you are not experiencing the same hardships as others.
With what judgment you mete to others with be meet back to you in the same manner. Be very careful.
OP I don't know if you were referring to me as I'm more of a replier than a post starter but I know I am a negative nelly. A friend of mine has understood that about me though. He agrees with me that my life has clearly been below average. He knows I'm not making excuses. He does say that I shouldn't give up but it's beyond difficult to keep going. I'm too stubborn to quit I guess but at the same time all my hope has been lost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations
A lot of the decisions we make are stupid in hindsight, but at the time, we are going off the best information we have.
You are right though. I know that part of the blame is on me and I hate myself for it everyday. I should have just gotten a job when the economy was good. Instead I took a break from high school then I went to a joke college.
I didn't have anyone there to tell me what would be a better course of action though. Yes like I've said before the crap that I've endured all started with my father. He was always too busy bashing my mom to give me any guidance. My mom was too busy being mentally abused by him. Now she has ADD so she's not much of a help. I'm still paying for it today even though I'm trying to better myself. It's like the universe doesn't recognize that I'm human.
The only advice I've ever been given everytime I mention this is either volunteer/move. So I have to spend most of the little money I get from surveys to get to a place where I'll have to work for free when I don't even know if it's going to pay off? To be fair I'm not taking anything but that's because you have to jump through hoops with even those. It's important to have a steady income but not when you know you're not going to fit in the company. That's a disservice to both you and them. Some people can work at say McDonald's and that's fine for them but I can't think on my feet like a restaurant would require you to do. I have been to Denny's a lot and my god I don't know how they deal with it when it's so busy.
So I get really tired of asking for help because people that want to help me can't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redroses777
No, it is not easy to get a job these days. To pass the personality tests for the crap jobs, you pretty much have to figure out exactly what they want to hear.
For example, you come across a question like this:
1. Do you enjoy large crowds and meeting new people?
a. strongly agree
b. agree
c. disagree
d. strongly disagree
Obviously, if it is for a job in retail or customer service, you want to mark "a" for your answer even if large crowds make you want to hide in your room. Otherwise, you don't get the interview. It isn't easy to figure out what they want to hear. When you are job searching, you are forgetting about "being yourself." Instead, you are "being what the potential employer wants."
Man I'm so sick of them. I don't know why I waste my time on them. Thought I'd try Petsmart application AGAIN a few days ago. I just know they're not going to call me. I failed the math questions which they only give you 10 minutes to do. Then they had the untimed portion. Here's the trick. It says on there that they are NOT looking for the right answers. That leaves me at confusion. I don't want to look like a kiss ass but at the same time are you really supposed to write honest answers so I tried to make it a balance.
I have been thinking about just going into the pet store and demand that they give me a job. I will not take no for an answer because I know I could do it if only they'd give me a chance. The thing that is holding me back from doing that though is everytime I try to fight for what I believe in I get banned/reported. Of course to be fair they were crap internet sites that banned me but I know how it works. If this internship doesn't go through, I need to find a way to email whoever is in charge of employing at the pet store (I'm so much better confronting/expressing myself in written form)
I know for a fact that I've been messed up mentally due to the crappy life I've had but that doesn't mean I wouldn't make a good employee at where I'm applying for. Also you know what would help my mental issues be more manageable? Not therapy, not medicines not working for free but actually making a steady income for myself.
This was a long post but the conclusion is just because someone is negative doesn't mean they're not trying. I'm a multi-tasker. I post in the midst of trying to get somewhere. I am also grateful for what I have because I'm not going through the same crap I was so my life is better but all the things that I have gotten I got with little to no competition. I have never won anything with significant competition and that includes a job. I also know that what I have could easily be taken away. I don't want to be dependent on the government anymore. I'd kiss Section 8 goodbye if it meant they'd give me a decent job.
I am hoping that my friend can help me make up a resume for the internship I have left and then my mentor could look over it but just my luck, she's been on vacation this whole time I've been emailing her so I don't see anything coming out of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MPowering1
Atlanta_BD, I'm glad you shared your experience with this, because it's good for all of us to know what others are doing. I do want to point out that my question was directed toward this post, which I find to be ridiculous:
Implying that those who are saying some should pull themselves up by their bootstraps were handed jobs is ridiculous and I'm still waiting for the response to my question from that poster.
Thanks again for your post. It's interesting your experience is completely different than mine or anyone I know who has looked for jobs during the past five plus years. I think other factors may come into play, of course, but that's probably a whole other discussion.
They're saying that because people are actually like that. I know my ex was/is. He told me about how I should get a job but he knows nothing about my life because for one you know how he got his job? His parents. Though he's on the top 5 list of the dumbest people to ever walk the earth, I'm sure there are many others like him.
No, it is not easy to get a job these days. To pass the personality tests for the crap jobs, you pretty much have to figure out exactly what they want to hear.
For example, you come across a question like this:
1. Do you enjoy large crowds and meeting new people?
a. strongly agree
b. agree
c. disagree
d. strongly disagree
Obviously, if it is for a job in retail or customer service, you want to mark "a" for your answer even if large crowds make you want to hide in your room. Otherwise, you don't get the interview. It isn't easy to figure out what they want to hear. When you are job searching, you are forgetting about "being yourself." Instead, you are "being what the potential employer wants."
Annoying thing is, they tell you to "answer honestly" because it's important to find a correct match. Well, the job seekers match is to get the job, so we won't be listening to that line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by parried
Even if you answer the test correctly, you still don't get a call. I know. I've tried.
I knew someone who answered for one of the questions "do you typically show up to work or appointments late" and he responded "4+ or more times", rather than 3, 2, 1, or 0. Another person said that was his mistake, while someone else said it wouldn't have mattered. They probably had you pegged at the resume anyways.
Annoying thing is, they tell you to "answer honestly" because it's important to find a correct match. Well, the job seekers match is to get the job, so we won't be listening to that line.
I knew someone who answered for one of the questions "do you typically show up to work or appointments late" and he responded "4+ or more times", rather than 3, 2, 1, or 0. Another person said that was his mistake, while someone else said it wouldn't have mattered. They probably had you pegged at the resume anyways.
Questions about being late are a no brainer. However many of the questions on there aren't as clear cut hence my dilemma. Ex "are you an outgoing person" That could be interpreted either way for me even in a retail job. Obviously you want to help the customer and that would involve talking but on the other hand they may be asking about whether you chat with co-workers when you should be doing your work.
Maybe I am over-thinking it because I do that a lot but if I am why do they have to give me these questions that make me interpret it in all kinds of ways? I miss the days of paper applications more and more.
For those who given suggestions on what ails the unemployed, have you shown consideration from those who responded?
For example, one person couldn't find work in a local area, but can't move since she has 2 kids and it was the middle of a school year. Another couldn't move without having a job lined up first, but faced fierce discrimination being an out-of-state applicant.
The sheer number of applicants vying for such limited positions does mean that odds are there that many of us would be frustrated and possibly long term unemployed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by timberline742
What makes it think you answered it "correctly"?
There probably wouldn't be a way to know for sure, but sometimes, you feel like you did a good job, and can at least attest to that. Folks have self evaluated themselves after taking tests, interviewing in person and over the phone, and honestly say they did a good job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD
I can't provide any links but I can only speak from personal experience that since being laid off in 2009 during the recession, all that jobs I have had since 2010 have been through people that I know either being in management or having inside connections to jobs. Most of the interviews I have had have also been through inside connections. Within the last near five years, I have only gotten two interviews out of the hundreds of jobs that I have applied for cold.
Applying for jobs directly in response to postings has yielded little no interviews, much less a job for me, even applying for menial jobs.
This is what sucks about modern day job hunting... unfortunately, others report about the same odds for interviews and getting the job. Back around 2 decades ago, you would apply to say 50 to 100 jobs, get 4 to 10 interviews, and probably one to 4 of them would result in an offer. Nowadays, the percentages are much lower.
Last edited by ackmondual; 07-24-2014 at 11:32 PM..
Here's the difference. Since I have already been through those hardships I've learned that when things are going well, it's important to prepare yourself in the event that they take a turn for the worse. So my decision to have a nest egg, keep myself out of debt, etc... keeps me from getting back into the situation again if I lose my job.
If it's so easy to get a job as you people on this forum say, go try filling out an application online for mcdonald's and completing the rigid personality test of 100 questions and when you are done just wait. The phone never rings. You never get so much as a phone call. No interview. It's like you never even applied to begin with. Tell me who is at fault for this, the unemployed themselves, or could it be a seriously broken hiring system that is designed to keep people out and not to actually hire people?
I know what you guys really think.
You've been "contributing" (I use the word loosely) to this forum for a long time now and you've been given more excellent advice and guidance than Carter has little liver pills but in every instance you've had an excuse as to why "that doesn't/hasn't worked" and everything falls back to your mantra of the fault being with the "seriously broken hiring system ...". If anyone has a forum pattern, it most definitely is you. A pattern of inability to follow through with anything.
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