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Ripped from another site this poster nails the current job market. I've had applicants whose first question out of their mouth had to do with time off and paid vacation days. Pretty amazing stuff.
Quote:
I just got back from a local job fair. A lot of attendees. My guess is that the job fair probably saw 5000+ people in the 5 hours it was open. Large enough that there was off-site parking and shuttle buses.
While it was good that there were a good number of companies actively hiring, the bad news is that potential employees appear to be regressing in intelligence.
Mental notes of attendees at the event: -Bluetooth devices in ear while talking to employers -Shirts that look like they were sitting in the footwell of a car rolled up in a ball 15 minutes prior -Ties that were poorly tied while being extremely ugly -Poorly trimmed facial hair (mostly men) -Wearing a "Polo" style shirt. Not a big deal considering... -Wearing a t-shirt, sometimes with a large design. Pales in comparison to... -Wearing a tank top -With (poorly done) ink exposed (of your three [possibly illegitimate] children) -Flip flops -Excessive jewelry -Chewing gum -etc.
I was only there for about 35 minutes, and I was actively trying to promote myself, and this was all noticed without effort. While I do feel bad that there exists an unemployment issue in my state, I can easily understand why a significant portion of the population will have a hard time finding gainful employment. It seems that the sense of entitlement that certain generations carry in large percentages is not waning in the light of our current economic situation.
Above and beyond that, there were a significant number of people there with no copies of a resume, no idea (seemingly) of why they were there, and a number of people who were there only for the pens and other recruitment paraphernalia.
I would recommend that people talking to employers at a job fair not have the first question be, "May I have one of those _____?"
I have to agree. I went to a job fair back in February hoping to put myself in front of one company that I was really, really interested in working for. Unfortunately they were a "noshow."
I was rather appalled by about half of the people there. Literally the dregs of society. People that would have been unemployable even in a 2% unemployment economy. I couldn't believe how many people tried to bring their kids in to the job fair. (Guess what, if you can't arrange childcare for two hours for the job fair, you're probably going to have a ton of childcare issues if someone hires you.)
About half the people wearing anything but professional business attire (suit and tie for men, suit or suit dress for women) and at least 10% weren't even dressed appropriately to apply for a job as a mechanic.
One of the things that I was told years ago was to "dress like you are an executive." This is especially the case at a job fair. Dress and carry yourself with the confidence of Donald Trump.
Maybe some of those folks have had blue collar type jobs or construction jobs and they aren't looking for a position that requires them to wear a suit anyway. Would a construction site manager hire a construction guy wearing a suit?
Maybe some of those folks have had blue collar type jobs or construction jobs and they aren't looking for a position that requires them to wear a suit anyway. Would a construction site manager hire a construction guy wearing a suit?
They were advertising a list of the companies that would be attending. None of them would be hiring construction or mechanical people. Some of the people at the job fair I went to weren't just underdressed, they were flat out slobs. Where I work most of the employees are skilled blue collar workers. They aren't xpected to come in and apply in a suit, but if they did, nobody would hold it against them. But coming in looking like a slob is another thing. Generally they come in wearing a polo or camp style shirt and clean, nice jeans or chino's when they apply.
I wish I were competing against some of these people when looking for a job. If this is such a big deal, then when I dress up for every interview (which I do) it should count for something.
However, these days, you can't even figure on 'dressing nice' scoring you points. I have been interviewed by people who had on slobby clothes, despite their office positions.
I hate people who wear their bluetooth head sets inside. I mean truly hate. It's not a fashion accessory, it's not a status symbol, it's a device used for driving safety. I am going to create a belt/suspenders that is shaped like a seat belt (shoulder strap and all) since we are now using car safety items for fashion.
I haven't been to a job fair in nearly 10 years but does anyone think that this is more common in job fairs, than in one-on-one interviews?
I always present myself with professionalism at interviews and would never show up without my resume, references, in a suit, polished and prepared for answering and asking questions. But I also avoid job fairs.
Perhaps, people that attend them think its more informal than a regular interview. Just my thoughts. But I'd hate to be lumped in together as a job seeker with those who showed up wearing T-shirts and flip-flops.
The job fair I went to was very specific. Come in professional business attire. no children admitting. Bring at least 25 resumes. Yadda yadda.
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