6000 apps for 300 jobs?

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by luv_it_here

Well, part of your problem is looking for a job on Craigslist!! In Phx, Craigslist is great for picking up cheap furniture, or cheap women, but I'd say 95% of the jobs posted on CL in Phx are total scams, or tiny companies without enough reputation behind them to effective advertise their open positions. And . . . those types of companies tend to have crappy pay, and a hard time keeping employees. Stick with a major company, and a profession you know, and you shouldn't have any problem landing a job with a decent income!

Dude, did I say I was looking for a job on CL? It was a reference point but still, don't think Monster, Career Builder or any other common job site is any different for Phoenix area, then again, you are in South Dakota, right?
How would you know?
Again, I didn't mean to smacktalk or come of as a whiner but the fact is IT job market here in Phoenix is not that good unless you have years of some special skill that employers are looking for, making you a person in demand.

I am currently making way more than what most (cheapass) companies in this area offer bit it came at a price of constant job hunt and 3 months of unemployment. Staffing companies such as Robert Half, Modis, Kforce, Apex and countless others dominate the job sites and try to find cheap candidates, you got about 10%-20% of the total posting that are direct hire from a company. They don't last too long much like a great bargain of furniture or electronic item for sale on CL, why? Cause they get snatches faster than you can double-click on the 'Apply' button.

Ok, I am going to stop here as it is turning into a pointless, ugly whining...

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

Dude, did I say I was looking for a job on CL? It was a reference point but still, don't think Monster, Career Builder or any other common job site is any different for Phoenix area, then again, you are in South Dakota, right?
How would you know?
Again, I didn't mean to smacktalk or come of as a whiner but the fact is IT job market here in Phoenix is not that good unless you have years of some special skill that employers are looking for, making you a person in demand.

I am currently making way more than what most (cheapass) companies in this area offer bit it came at a price of constant job hunt and 3 months of unemployment. Staffing companies such as Robert Half, Modis, Kforce, Apex and countless others dominate the job sites and try to find cheap candidates, you got about 10%-20% of the total posting that are direct hire from a company. They don't last too long much like a great bargain of furniture or electronic item for sale on CL, why? Cause they get snatches faster than you can double-click on the 'Apply' button.

Ok, I am going to stop here as it is turning into a pointless, ugly whining...

To put it the most honestly blunt, phoenix job market sucks donkey !@#$ right now...maybe not in the future but right now, yes it does.

[Afterburn]

Originally Posted by dc1225

W hotel Scottsdale article....are you kidding me? 6000 apps for 300 jobs? LOL...yeah job market is awesome in phx!


W Hotel raises wow factor in Scottsdale

W hotel is the new Walmart in Scottsdale!

Hahahaha! And those 6000 applicants probably all work at other hotels around the Valley and want to get in on a good thing - W Hotel has a good reputation, as it's owned by Starwood, so the bennies are probably really good (huge company).

IMO, I think the job market here is in the dumps. Today's Career Builder (the "BIG" Sunday job want ads) is 7 pages - the first page is all articles, so really there is only 6 pages. Up until a few years ago, this section of the Sunday paper was actually TWO full sections with about 30 pages total. That's what I use as my barometer for the job market here - the 'want ads'. Sure, you can check Monster or Jobster or any of those on-line ad sources --- I'd say 2/3 of the 'ads' posted for the Phoenix area on Monster or Jobster are head hunters looking for fees from you to help you find a job that probably doesn't exist. No one I know here who is working is even looking, not even for lateral-transfer jobs, so I'd say job vacancies are at a minimum right now. From what I hear, the only people making job moves are those who network in their field or "have a friend who works there" - the hiring company doesn't even have to pay for advertising or pay a job agency - they just put the word out to existing employees.

Prior to our move here in '94, my husband interviewed at 10 companies in 2 weeks, and was offered a position with 6 of them. How times have changed.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by dc1225

To put it the most honestly blunt, phoenix job market sucks donkey !@#$ right now...maybe not in the future but right now, yes it does.

Looking at California's 7.3% unemployment rate..............Az's of ca. 6% is plausible. Now; if we had the illegals from Mexico, etc. still here..........assuming they were legal------------most likely our rate would be pushing 8%.

[Tailofdogma]

I've been looking for a job since we moved here a month ago, and while there seem to be an abundance of openings, there really only seem to be two classes of job. 1.) Call center or simply customer service job paying around 11 bucks an hour, or 2.) Well paying job that requires many years of rather specific experience.

Which makes it awesome, since I have a degree and the customer service people don't want to hire me figuring (mostly correctly) that I'd split the moment something better came along. The other jobs won;t hire me because I do not have their specific experience.

I least I'm averaging over an interview a week.

[joninaz]

We have many thousands of bars, restaurants, resorts, etc in the area. If someone is going to tend bar, learn the hotel biz, wait tables, etc. it's smart to work for an industry leader. And since these gigs are usually tip-supplemented, it's also smart to work for places with higher avg. sales per customer. A 15% tip on a $200 bar tab is nicer than a 15% tip on a $20 tab.

Similarly, if you're young in spirit and work is just a job, not a career, then landing a gig at a "sexy and hip" hotel is better than flipping bacon at Dennys. Heck, I'd be a part time cabana boy, but I ain't that youthfully svelt these days!

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by Afterburn

Hahahaha! And those 6000 applicants probably all work at other hotels around the Valley and want to get in on a good thing - W Hotel has a good reputation, as it's owned by Starwood, so the bennies are probably really good (huge company).

IMO, I think the job market here is in the dumps. Today's Career Builder (the "BIG" Sunday job want ads) is 7 pages - the first page is all articles, so really there is only 6 pages. Up until a few years ago, this section of the Sunday paper was actually TWO full sections with about 30 pages total. That's what I use as my barometer for the job market here - the 'want ads'. Sure, you can check Monster or Jobster or any of those on-line ad sources --- I'd say 2/3 of the 'ads' posted for the Phoenix area on Monster or Jobster are head hunters looking for fees from you to help you find a job that probably doesn't exist. No one I know here who is working is even looking, not even for lateral-transfer jobs, so I'd say job vacancies are at a minimum right now. From what I hear, the only people making job moves are those who network in their field or "have a friend who works there" - the hiring company doesn't even have to pay for advertising or pay a job agency - they just put the word out to existing employees.

Prior to our move here in '94, my husband interviewed at 10 companies in 2 weeks, and was offered a position with 6 of them. How times have changed.

yeah i don't see that happening anytime soon or ever for that matter

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by dc1225

yeah i don't see that happening anytime soon or ever for that matter

Depends on the industry. Real estate, finance are in the dumps; technology, bio-tech, international business, healthcare, medical research, alternative energies, education, and engineering (to name a few fields) are areas that are hiring like crazy in Phoenix. Most require degrees in the field and unfortunately, like with my company, experience doesn't replace degrees except in a few rare cases. Simply stated, technology has leaped beyond what "experienced" people have learned 20 years ago; especially for the sciences and with international companies.