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Unless the volunteer position is in someone's field of interest I just don't see the purpose of it. I would rather save all my mental energy for job search strategies
Contrary to popular bizarre belief, job hunting takes a only a small chunk of one's time per week. "Looking for a job is a full time job" is a BS line.
Contrary to popular bizarre belief, job hunting takes a only a small chunk of one's time per week. "Looking for a job is a full time job" is a BS line.
A job of search related activities doesn't just involve applying to jobs
The fact is there aren't enough jobs and add in outsourcing, automation, visaed and illegal workers and you see the bigger picture. This is causing many qualified people to be unemployed for years. Many unemployed can't even take "any" jobs because no skill/low skill jobs don't want educated people.
The fact is there aren't enough jobs and add in outsourcing, automation, visaed and illegal workers and you see the bigger picture. This is causing many qualified people to be unemployed for years. Many unemployed can't even take "any" jobs because no skill/low skill jobs don't want educated people.
This is a bit of a problem... You can try to get some part time work somewhere, but they don't want you because they feel you will up and leave. It blows because it's not like they job they are offering is anything hard to learn.
I remember, I graduated during the 2001-2003 recession. Basically had to beg people to consider me because I had a technical degree. I felt like telling people "if you haven't noticed, this recession is affecting all the IT type folk"
Right, you have to go on interviews and make some phone calls. Does all combined activity take 40 hours total per week?
It can.
My last job hunt took 10-60 hours per week. 60 is the outlier, but it involved two different coast to coast round trip flights in one week and several days of interviews.
10 would also be a minimum, consisting of hitting various sources and coming up dry. Call it 2 hours/day.
Unless the volunteer position is in someone's field of interest I just don't see the purpose of it. I would rather save all my mental energy for job search strategies
I did volunteer work and still had time to job search. I volunteered to tutor at my church and with a non profit organization. I also worked every Election.
It's idiotic, but it's not that hard to see why people feel this way.
Just World Fallacy Beliefs: Just look around this forum and you'll find all sorts of empathy-lacking people who honestly believe that everyone who's out of work is: lazy, stupid, uneducated, lacking in skills, etc. You can see the same trends on the national level, particularly among those of certain extreme political leanings. They clearly hate the unemployed and cast judgement upon them based upon absurd stereotypes. Unfortunately, these people are also immune to facts or reason, so it does no good to present them with data that disproves the notion that unemployed people are out of work because of personal failings as well as the fallacy of there being plenty of jobs.
Herd Approval: Adult life is nothing but high school repeated over and over again on a larger scale. You have rumors, bullies, cliques, in-crowds, and pariahs. The only difference is that the childish and selfish behavior is usually subtler than in high school, but it is just as mean-spirited and nasty. So, if you're out of work, you're not "part of the in crowd," so there's clearly something wrong with you. This isn't much different than how people who are not in a relationship have a harder time getting attention from romantic interests than people who are already in a relationship - because if you're not in a relationship, there "must be something wrong with you," while if you are in one already, you're approved by the herd and most be okay. It's a stupid way of thinking, but so many people are only 1 step removed from the tribal mentality, it's not surprising.
Idiotic Expectations: There are just so many idiots out there... I love the ones who want to make sure you've "kept your skills up to date." Umm... yeah... because as a mechanical engineer, I'm going to "keep my skills up to date" by buying a $20,000 per seat CAD program for use at home (while out of work) and design automotive engines in my spare time... I mean, I get it - don't come in to an interview claiming to be up-to-date on something you have touched in 10+ years, but many employers simply have insane expectations from people who are out of work or who wish to change fields. I also love the oblivious morons, such as one from a recent interview who wanted to know why my previous bout of unemployment lasted a while. Well... because of huge layoffs in my industry... the same industry they are in... and because of insane job requirements... such as the ones they also required... It gets tiring talking to people who have been living under a rock for the past 10+ years and who still think the year is 1994 and anyone with a technical degree can get a job just by showing up.
The end result is that we have a permanent underclass of long-term unemployed who have done nothing wrong while connected idiots and cronies who are currently working can hop from job to job with ease since everyone thinks they are great since they are currently working.
It's idiotic, but it's not that hard to see why people feel this way.
Just World Fallacy Beliefs: Just look around this forum and you'll find all sorts of empathy-lacking people who honestly believe that everyone who's out of work is: lazy, stupid, uneducated, lacking in skills, etc. You can see the same trends on the national level, particularly among those of certain extreme political leanings. They clearly hate the unemployed and cast judgement upon them based upon absurd stereotypes. Unfortunately, these people are also immune to facts or reason, so it does no good to present them with data that disproves the notion that unemployed people are out of work because of personal failings as well as the fallacy of there being plenty of jobs.
Herd Approval: Adult life is nothing but high school repeated over and over again on a larger scale. You have rumors, bullies, cliques, in-crowds, and pariahs. The only difference is that the childish and selfish behavior is usually subtler than in high school, but it is just as mean-spirited and nasty. So, if you're out of work, you're not "part of the in crowd," so there's clearly something wrong with you. This isn't much different than how people who are not in a relationship have a harder time getting attention from romantic interests than people who are already in a relationship - because if you're not in a relationship, there "must be something wrong with you," while if you are in one already, you're approved by the herd and most be okay. It's a stupid way of thinking, but so many people are only 1 step removed from the tribal mentality, it's not surprising.
Idiotic Expectations: There are just so many idiots out there... I love the ones who want to make sure you've "kept your skills up to date." Umm... yeah... because as a mechanical engineer, I'm going to "keep my skills up to date" by buying a $20,000 per seat CAD program for use at home (while out of work) and design automotive engines in my spare time... I mean, I get it - don't come in to an interview claiming to be up-to-date on something you have touched in 10+ years, but many employers simply have insane expectations from people who are out of work or who wish to change fields. I also love the oblivious morons, such as one from a recent interview who wanted to know why my previous bout of unemployment lasted a while. Well... because of huge layoffs in my industry... the same industry they are in... and because of insane job requirements... such as the ones they also required... It gets tiring talking to people who have been living under a rock for the past 10+ years and who still think the year is 1994 and anyone with a technical degree can get a job just by showing up.
The end result is that we have a permanent underclass of long-term unemployed who have done nothing wrong while connected idiots and cronies who are currently working can hop from job to job with ease since everyone thinks they are great since they are currently working.
The herd approval is rampant these days. Pretty sad really.
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