Cattle Calls, er, I mean "Job" Fairs... (Houston: job market, living)

[Nomadic9460678748]

Help wanted | KXAN.com

Newsflash: Things are not getting better. Sorry, Mr. Ott. Nice attempt at disinformation though. Oh, and LOVE the earring.

Pay special attention to the applicants detailing the sending out of hundreds of resumes and receiving no responses--NONE. Or the ones who receive interviews and then no call-backs. Par for the course. I actually had an employer tell me he thought it was "rude" of me to request that they please call me and inform me of the result of their search. How dare me want to have an idea of where I stand in this market?

The Austin employment market is a joke. Plain and simple. Have fun on your wild goose chase job seekers! You might as well be chasing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Actually, that might be more fun.

[MaryleeII]

Seeing people standing in line at job fairs reminds me of those lines during the Great Depression. My dh went to many job fairs, never resulted in so much as a nibble back. Its simply overwhelming, he stood in line once for 3 hours, only to have a little gal giggle at his resume and say wow, you need to keep this in a safe place, with a resume like that, have you considered looking for a job?

Obviously, she tought it was all made up, but theywere advertising for professional, engineering managers with 20+ years experience or more. so, when one comes through, why giggle? She was probably high on something!

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Nomadic9460678748

Help wanted | KXAN.com

Newsflash: Things are not getting better. Sorry, Mr. Ott. Nice attempt at disinformation though. Oh, and LOVE the earring.

Pay special attention to the applicants detailing the sending out of hundreds of resumes and receiving no responses--NONE. Or the ones who receive interviews and then no call-backs. Par for the course. I actually had an employer tell me he thought it was "rude" of me to request that they please call me and inform me of the result of their search. How dare me want to have an idea of where I stand in this market?

The Austin employment market is a joke. Plain and simple. Have fun on your wild goose chase job seekers! You might as well be chasing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Actually, that might be more fun.

We are looking to hire 5-10 people. We just were at a job fair and found around 11 people that could possibly be a fit. We always call people back or email within a few days of the last contact

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Nomadic9460678748

Help wanted | KXAN.com

Newsflash: Things are not getting better. Sorry, Mr. Ott. Nice attempt at disinformation though. Oh, and LOVE the earring.

Pay special attention to the applicants detailing the sending out of hundreds of resumes and receiving no responses--NONE. Or the ones who receive interviews and then no call-backs. Par for the course. I actually had an employer tell me he thought it was "rude" of me to request that they please call me and inform me of the result of their search. How dare me want to have an idea of where I stand in this market?

The Austin employment market is a joke. Plain and simple. Have fun on your wild goose chase job seekers! You might as well be chasing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Actually, that might be more fun.

Imagine what it's like in Detroit, or Los Angeles, or Portland, or Kansas City.

I think it might be better in DC, where the federal government continues to hire like mad.

[CarnivalGal]

As someone who used to hire for a living, please let me offer some advice. First, have your resume professionally reviewed. It can make all the difference in the world. With so many people competing for jobs, one little snafu on your resume can mean the difference between getting an interview or not. Something you may see as no big deal or someone just being picky may very well be the difference between working and not working. And remember that the person hiring only cares about your professional experience / ability. We really don't care that you enjoy bowling and being involved in your church. Not only do we not care, but we may specifically avoid pursuing anything further because this info only opens us up to being sued for discrimination.

When you do get an interview, wear a suit!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I don't care if you are applying for a job a McDonald's, wear a suit! Austin may be casual, but job interviews aren't. I don't care if it's the most laid-back company on the planet, dressing down for an interview shows a lack of respect to the interviewer and demonstrates a general lackadaisical attitude about getting the position. I often find that tech / computer folks seem to have the hardest time understanding this. I no longer do this line of work, but my husband is the CTO of his company and routinely does not hire people who show up to interviews dressed like they are going to class. You may be the best damn programmer in the country, but you also need to demonstrate that you have a basic understanding of business etiquette, since functioning in a business environment will also be part of your job.

Finally, Google your email address and see what comes up. People change their name on things like Facebook so potential employers can't see or think that because they have a really common name that it's impossible to find anything on them. Wrong. Googling your email often brings up things posted on message boards, Yelp, etc., etc. Best bet is to set-up a separate email JUST for resumes / potential employers.

I know things are hard right now, but I think a lot of people make it even harder on themselves by not following simple rules of job-hunting 101. Good luck!

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by mm57553

When you do get an interview, wear a suit!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I don't care if you are applying for a job a McDonald's, wear a suit! Austin may be casual, but job interviews aren't. I don't care if it's the most laid-back company on the planet, dressing down for an interview shows a lack of respect to the interviewer and demonstrates a general lackadaisical attitude about getting the position. I often find that tech / computer folks seem to have the hardest time understanding this. I no longer do this line of work, but my husband is the CTO of his company and routinely does not hire people who show up to interviews dressed like they are going to class. You may be the best damn programmer in the country, but you also need to demonstrate that you have a basic understanding of business etiquette, since functioning in a business environment will also be part of your job.

I was working at a job fair where a software developer got into a yelling match with the organizer of the job fair. The organizer was unhappy with how the software developer was dressed and was threatening to evict the developer from the fair and the developer was yelling that attire shouldn't matter. Total circus.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by Topaz

I was working at a job fair where a software developer got into a yelling match with the organizer of the job fair. The organizer was unhappy with how the software developer was dressed and was threatening to evict the developer from the fair and the developer was yelling that attire shouldn't matter. Total circus.

Yowza! Was this is Austin and just out of curiosity what was the guy wearing?

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Yowza! Was this is Austin and just out of curiosity what was the guy wearing?

It was in Houston and the developer was female. She was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a backpack. The job fair organizer wanted the participants to follow the guideline: "professional business attire."

I think eventually the job fair organizer won the argument and didn't let the developer in. The developer stormed off yelling insults over her shoulder.

[DenverBrian]

I was involved in a job fair in GA last year to staff about 80 positions; about 3,500 people applied. There was simply no way we were going to be able to contact 3,420 people to tell them TBNT (Thanks But No Thanks).

Some of the biggest turnoffs and impediments to people getting an interview are:

1) Attire. We must have had hundreds of women show up for jobs in spandex and tube tops; over half of them were severely overweight for what they were trying to wear. We had hundreds of guys show up in t-shirts and/or ripped jeans. We also had dozens show up in suits that appeared to be decades old. If an applicant isn't thoughtful about how they appear, knowing that the odds are low to begin with, how thoughtful would they be on the actual job?

2) Writing. Applicants needed to fill out an app during the job fair. I have never seen such a collection of poor grammar, poor spelling, inability to answer basic questions, and illegible writing. If you know your writing is difficult to read, then print in block letters. You have to do the things within your control to increase the odds in this terrible job market.

3) Lack of focus. I encountered dozens of applicants who simply said, "I'll take anything." In nearly 100% of cases, applicants who say this will end up with nothing. Employers have to match skills with available jobs. Those available jobs are well communicated to applicants ahead of most job fairs. It's an applicant's responsibility to tailor/customize a resume and application to target the 1-3 jobs that he/she believes is the best fit for the company, and then to sell the company on their unique set of skills. "I'll take anything" is essentially interpreted as "I'm too lazy to actually know what you have available."

If "cattle call" job fairs cause you distress, then don't go to them. Use your network to find out about targeted jobs that take advantage of your specific skill set. "What Color is Your Parachute" is an excellent book to help you figure this out. It takes great work and many "no"s to get you to a great job...and since 2008, the task is an order of magnitude more difficult. Still, hundreds of thousands of people change jobs every year, successfully.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Finally, Google your email address and see what comes up. People change their name on things like Facebook so potential employers can't see or think that because they have a really common name that it's impossible to find anything on them. Wrong. Googling your email often brings up things posted on message boards, Yelp, etc., etc. Best bet is to set-up a separate email JUST for resumes / potential employers.

First time I ever googled a potential hire, his Facebook profile photo was him taking a hit from a bong. I google all potential hires now. Always. Also all the good looking ones. There's lots of awesome party girl pics out there.