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 work in Human Resources and spend a good percent of my time in recruiting and staffing. (As well as training) and have become very frustrated in the lack of skills most job candidates have selling themselves.
The long term unemployed job candidates are usually unemployed for a reason, they can't sell themselves! Here is a question I ask nearly every unemployed candidate and almost everyone gives a very poor answer:
"I see you are not working right now, what are you doing to stay busy every day while you look for a job, outside of job hunting?"
Most people will say they are watching lots of television, playing with the computer, and bumming around town. Or they will insist that they are spending 12 hours a day looking for work. WRONG ANSWER! What they should say is they are totally devoted to their chosen career and they are doing everything possible to learn new skills so they will be more productive once they go back to work.
Agree or disagree?
It's funny that you mention that. I was laid off in late 2009 and worked p/t in the census and three different school districts as a sub teacher. Didnt take unemployment.There were to many P/T jobs to list on the application for a avionics tech job. That's one of the first things they asked. They couldnt see any activity for 10 months but I told them about all the p/t gigs I was doing and they were impressed and I got the job that paid over 3X what I was getting.
Doesn't take a genius to know that you answer that question with some nice-sounding bull****. Even if you have been sitting around wanking in your underwear, you tell 'em you're learning Chinese, and taking adult education classes in your specialty.
"I see you are not working right now, what are you doing to stay busy every day while you look for a job, outside of job hunting?"
Most people will say they are watching lots of television, playing with the computer, and bumming around town. Or they will insist that they are spending 12 hours a day looking for work. WRONG ANSWER! What they should say is they are totally devoted to their chosen career and they are doing everything possible to learn new skills so they will be more productive once they go back to work.
Agree or disagree?
I disagree, my experience is 100% science related, there aren't really any new skills I can learn without actually being in a lab and doing them. That being said with 12 years of experience in my field I think I'm covered!
Job hunting in itself is a full time job. While I was unemployed for five months I spent hours each day looking for work. Also during that time my MIL had major surgery so she needed lots of help. I also spent a portion of my day helping to take care of her, get groceries done for her, etc. By the time I found a new job she was much more recovered from her surgery so it didn't interfere with my work and I still came to see her on weekends to see if she needed anything. Would you tell someone that was unproductive to take care of family? And that they should have told their MIL "sorry your sick, but I need to work on my job skills?"
I think you are being unfair, I can understand someone saying "I don't do anything just watch TV" might make you raise an eyebrow, but job searching, volunteering, and just keeping busy in general are admiral things to be doing while unemployed IMO.
Really? These are the kind of skills you can't find? Well then...you clearly need to be terminated from your role as you clearly do not know how to search for people with some of the most elementary level skills in the entire world. You could find people with those skills at a middle school. Yet you can't seem to find these skills in adults? Clearly, you have no talent in extracting qualified resumes from the stack on your desk. Personally, I would consider a career-change if I were you.
Is this the skills gap they're complaining about? They are claiming that people don't have Microsoft Office skills or typing skills? LOL, how ridiculous this is. I was thinking maybe something like I can't find somebody who can calculate the standard deviation in a set of data or someone who can't calculate the derivative in order to determine maximum profits. But we're talkin' about Microsoft Office?!?! Typing skills?!?! You have to be s****ing me.
I'm in my 40's, an excellent typist, and I never knew how to use Microsoft Office until my current job. In the legal field WordPerfect is still commonly used. I've taken a couple of years off here and there because of my kids, but I was able to easily find a job through contacts I've made over the years. When I recently decided to go back to work, I applied at the local school district, which required that I give three business references (no personal references allowed). I've only had three employers in over 20 years, so that was easy. Two of the three references contacted me when they received the email from the school district and offered me a job. The one I took never worried whether I knew Word (the subject didn't even come up), but I've been learning. It isn't that hard to learn on the job.
I do have a question for the HR person. What would you think of someone like me who just quit her job to stay home with the kids? Would that be a good enough reason for a job gap, or would you not hire me because I wasn't trying to brush up on my skills?
I'm in my 40's, an excellent typist, and I never knew how to use Microsoft Office until my current job. In the legal field WordPerfect is still commonly used. I've taken a couple of years off here and there because of my kids, but I was able to easily find a job through contacts I've made over the years. When I recently decided to go back to work, I applied at the local school district, which required that I give three business references (no personal references allowed). I've only had three employers in over 20 years, so that was easy. Two of the three references contacted me when they received the email from the school district and offered me a job. The one I took never worried whether I knew Word (the subject didn't even come up), but I've been learning. It isn't that hard to learn on the job.
I do have a question for the HR person. What would you think of someone like me who just quit her job to stay home with the kids? Would that be a good enough reason for a job gap, or would you not hire me because I wasn't trying to brush up on my skills?
I don't know of any intelligent job seeker who would actually say those things to a person in a hiring position. That's ridiculous.
So as long as we parrot the correct statement back to you, you will be satisfied, regardless of what we're actually doing? These are the magic words?
Right words or not, I'll only get the chance to speak with you if I've actually gotten an interview. What is your ratio of number people who apply for a position vs. number of people who interview? I'm sure there are MANY qualified candidates who never make it to the interview stage, simply because there are too many of them to actually interview.
EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID !!!!! BUMMING AROUND?? wtf is that
I do have a question for the HR person. What would you think of someone like me who just quit her job to stay home with the kids? Would that be a good enough reason for a job gap, or would you not hire me because I wasn't trying to brush up on my skills?
Everyone knows the answer to this. THE HR PERSON WOULD THROW YOUR RESUME IN THE TRASH.
You would have to lie on your resume and cover your gap. Doesn't matter how and what you put there. Just cover it up. And you never say "I left my job to stay with the kids." It's a perfectly good reason in real life, but in "HR life" telling the truth will not get you hired in today's job market? They screen people out, not in these days. You have to please the HR Gods.
I'm in my 40's, an excellent typist, and I never knew how to use Microsoft Office until my current job. In the legal field WordPerfect is still commonly used. I've taken a couple of years off here and there because of my kids, but I was able to easily find a job through contacts I've made over the years. When I recently decided to go back to work, I applied at the local school district, which required that I give three business references (no personal references allowed). I've only had three employers in over 20 years, so that was easy. Two of the three references contacted me when they received the email from the school district and offered me a job. The one I took never worried whether I knew Word (the subject didn't even come up), but I've been learning. It isn't that hard to learn on the job.
I do have a question for the HR person. What would you think of someone like me who just quit her job to stay home with the kids? Would that be a good enough reason for a job gap, or would you not hire me because I wasn't trying to brush up on my skills?
I'm not an HR person but I participate in hiring decisions and have in the past been a hiring manager.
Being a stay-at-home parent is a perfectly acceptable reason for a gap. BUT...
You need to be able to assure a potential employer that you have day care covered--including sick child care.
You need to be able to show that you've kept current with your skills.
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.
BUMMING AROUND?? wtf is that
You have to please the HR Gods.
