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If you know how to erect, maintain, and repair windmills, you'll have more work than you know what to do with up in northern Oregon along the Columbia River. If you are a nurse or physical therapist you'll be able to write your ticket in most of Florida. Diesel mechanics who can work on industrial and transit bus applications are in high demand almost everywhere except parts of the rust belt.
Half of finding a job is knowing where to look, and being willing to move there. That's an unfortunate reality that a lot of people need to start facing.
The jobs you cite are completely unsuitable and thus irrelevant to every unemployed person who has posted at this thread, many of them highly educated -- there are a couple of accountants, a landscape architect, a DBA, a graphic artist, a teacher with a M.Ed., etc.
Your second paragraph avoids Kodaka's question -- where do you find a job when hardlyanyone is hiring?
If "knowing where to look" is so obvious to those in the know such as yourself, please share how to do this step-by-step.
Many here, GypsySoul for example, would appreciate it.
The jobs you cite are completely unsuitable and thus irrelevant to every unemployed person who has posted at this thread, many of them highly educated -- there are a couple of accountants, a landscape architect, a DBA, a graphic artist, a teacher with a M.Ed., etc.
Your second paragraph avoids Kodaka's question -- where do you find a job when hardlyanyone is hiring?
If "knowing where to look" is so obvious to those in the know such as yourself, please share how to do this step-by-step.
Many here, GypsySoul for example, would appreciate it.
Gypsy knows the answer. She needs to move to find employment. And I believe she is preparing to do so based on one of her recent posts.
Some people just flat out are in jobs that no longer exist, and aren't ever going to exist again in this country. They need to realize that and find another career path.
I have given quite a few people job ideas, and have been met with resistence. "I don't want to move." "I don't want to do that type of work." "I don't want to work nights or weekends." People need to wake up to the reality that they might have to do things they don't want to do.
The accountants should be looking at areas with lower unemployment--Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City are two right off the bat. The architects and interior designers need to re-invent themselves and look at fields like urban planning and designing the interiors of buses and trains--which with all the ARRA grant money is actually a pretty big business right now. The point is that you need to take what you know how to do and twist it to fit other jobs that you might not have thought of really fitting into in the past, but when you step back and look, you do have the qualifications to fill.
This is sound advice in a normal market, but I don't think it is realistic in a market where there will be a pool of local candidates with skills on par with yours.
Good luck getting a "headhunter" from out of town to even return a phone call when they have a line of excellent local candidates snaked around the corner with resume in hand.
As far as "networking" goes -- it has always been the best way to find a job, but in this economy again, you make a lot of assumptions. Not everyone has a rolodex of contacts. Even if you have a few contacts, several of them may be unemployed as well, or barely hanging on.
I'm concerned with the trials facing the ordinary "less-connected" individual trying to find a job. I would never assume the average person has a a network they can "tap into" that could connect them to a job in another city.
Why would someone who is unemployed not be a valid networking contact? While I was unemployed I found an HR job for a friend who was unemployed.
I find it hard to beleive in this day and age that everyone doesn't know at least 50 people. I'm not saying they ahve to be your best friends, but people you know and interact with. Relatives, friends, neighbors, the cashier in the 7-11 where you buy your coffee, your hairdresser, former coworkers, etc. And considering that each of them knows 50 people, you've now got a network of 2500 people. That's not an extended network, that's just a basic network.
And FYI--I live in an area with very high unemployment, and there are headhunters here that are working with out of town applicants when they are highly qualified.
The accountants should be looking at areas with lower unemployment--Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City are two right off the bat. The architects and interior designers need to re-invent themselves and look at fields like urban planning and designing the interiors of buses and trains--which with all the ARRA grant money is actually a pretty big business right now. The point is that you need to take what you know how to do and twist it to fit other jobs that you might not have thought of really fitting into in the past, but when you step back and look, you do have the qualifications to fill.
GypsySoul is looking to move, but her field, teaching, from what I have read here (and elsewhere) is "glutted" nearly everywhere. For example one poster, Ivorytickler, is endorsed for both Phys and Chem at the high school level and cannot find a job in Michigan. Another guy has a math endorsement at secondary and can't find one in the major metro DFW.
Let's take the accountants as an example. How would the out-of-work accountants on this thread, if they were willing (and able -- some people are simply not able to relocate for family reasons) to move, manage to get interviews in Salt Lake City or Oklahoma City, if they had no "connections" there?
Urban planning and bus/train design? I dispute the notion that urban planning is a growing field, but even assuming arguendo that it is, how does one go about getting a job connected to AARA grant money if they have no "connections" to those hiring for such positions?
Your "breezy" optimism about the ease of getting a job in another city is presumptuous in the extreme, to say the least. I've done it successfully myself, but I did so in a good economy, and it was most certainly not easy, not even remotely so.
GypsySoul is looking to move, but her field, teaching, from what I have read here (and elsewhere) is "glutted" nearly everywhere. For example one poster, Ivorytickler, is endorsed for both Phys and Chem at the high school level and cannot find a job in Michigan. Another guy has a math endorsement at secondary and can't find one in the major metro DFW.
Gypsy has several fields she is qualified in, teaching is only one of them. Forget Michigan, anyone who is a high school science teacher should look at Florida where that is one of the few teching jobs (SpEd and ESL are the others) that there are still openings for. Don't tell me there are no math teaching jobs anywhere in this country. On the middle and high school level for math look in NJ. Yes, you'll be teaching in a crappy inner-city school. But it's a job, and that seems to be the important thing right now.
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Let's take the accountants as an example. How would the out-of-work accountants on this thread, if they were willing (and able -- some people are simply not able to relocate for family reasons) to move, manage to get interviews in Salt Lake City or Oklahoma City, if they had no "connections" there?
"simply not able to relocate for family reasons" is no longer an excuse. When the choice is living in a homeless shelter or relocating, then it's time to relocate. (I say this as someone whose husband WORKS IN ANOTHER STATE 1000 miles away because that's where the work is. So don't even THINK about lecturing me about 'family reasons.") There are plenty of accounting placement firms, Robert Half is one of them, to start a job hunt with.
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Urban planning and bus/train design? I dispute the notion that urban planning is a growing field, but even assuming arguendo that it is, how does one go about getting a job connected to AARA grant money if they have no "connections" to those hiring for such positions?
Hmmm, let's see, where would one find those jobs. Hmmm, maybe a trade publication? LinkedIn? Google is your friend.
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Your "breezy" optimism about the ease of getting a job in another city is presumptuous in the extreme, to say the least. I've done it successfully myself, but I did so in a good economy, and it was most certainly not easy, not even remotely so.
Did I say it was? NO! And I wouldn't say I have "breezy optimism." Just the opposite. I'm saying that people need to think outside of the box and be prepared to make significant changes in their life if they want to find a job.
Why would someone who is unemployed not be a valid networking contact? While I was unemployed I found an HR job for a friend who was unemployed.
They are if (1) they know of a job opening for which you are qualified and (2) they are willing to help you go after it. Both are very speculative.
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Originally Posted by annerk
I find it hard to beleive in this day and age that everyone doesn't know at least 50 people. I'm not saying they ahve to be your best friends, but people you know and interact with. Relatives, friends, neighbors, the cashier in the 7-11 where you buy your coffee, your hairdresser, former coworkers, etc. And considering that each of them knows 50 people, you've now got a network of 2500 people. That's not an extended network, that's just a basic network.
This sounds like something out of a Stephen Covey book. It lacks resemblance to the way most people live their lives, politicians excepted. Some people have a knack for this kind of thing -- the "hail fellow well met" who isn't afraid to ask for anything. I know people who are great at charming others in order to "get something" (in other words, using others) and then they don't want to know you once you are no longer "useful" to them as a contact.
I'm happy that it worked for you, but this just doesn't work that way for most people. And I say this as someone who has, at different times in my life, had access to reasonably wide networks of people and directly helped a number of people from various walks of life get interviews.
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Originally Posted by annerk
And FYI--I live in an area with very high unemployment, and there are headhunters here that are working with out of town applicants when they are highly qualified.
What do you mean by "highly qualified?" That's an amorphous and subjective term.
Gypsy has several fields she is qualified in, teaching is only one of them. Forget Michigan, anyone who is a high school science teacher should look at Florida where that is one of the few teching jobs (SpEd and ESL are the others) that there are still openings for. Don't tell me there are no math teaching jobs anywhere in this country. On the middle and high school level for math look in NJ. Yes, you'll be teaching in a crappy inner-city school. But it's a job, and that seems to be the important thing right now.
"simply not able to relocate for family reasons" is no longer an excuse. When the choice is living in a homeless shelter or relocating, then it's time to relocate. (I say this as someone whose husband WORKS IN ANOTHER STATE 1000 miles away because that's where the work is. So don't even THINK about lecturing me about 'family reasons.") There are plenty of accounting placement firms, Robert Half is one of them, to start a job hunt with.
Hmmm, let's see, where would one find those jobs. Hmmm, maybe a trade publication? LinkedIn? Google is your friend.
Did I say it was? NO! And I wouldn't say I have "breezy optimism." Just the opposite. I'm saying that people need to think outside of the box and be prepared to make significant changes in their life if they want to find a job.
Looks like I touched a nerve.
In regard to family reasons I wasn't talking about being separated from your spouse--I was talking about being separated from your children or a sick/disabled parent. You may think your situation is a "hardship" but it is a cakewalk compared to people who are contemplating having to leave a small child or sick parent -- who are hearing from Annerk they just need to "grow up and face economic reality or live in a homeless shelter."
It looks like your only strategy for finding accounting jobs and stimulus jobs are answering ads on the internet and cold calling big recruitment firms.
The one point I will concede is the one on relocating for teaching jobs. I don't know whether these two posters have looked in other locations. I'd be interested in knowing if any unemployed teachers have done national searches and come up empty handed. I believe there is a huge supply/demand imbalance nearly everywhere though.
They are if (1) they know of a job opening for which you are qualified and (2) they are willing to help you go after it. Both are very speculative.
I don't see it as speculative. Maybe you've just got the wrong friends. I believe in "paying it forward" and helping people out without an expectation of anything in return.
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This sounds like something out of a Stephen Covey book. It lacks resemblance to the way most people live their lives, politicians excepted. Some people have a knack for this kind of thing -- the "hail fellow well met" who isn't afraid to ask for anything. I know people who are great at charming others in order to "get something" (in other words, using others) and then they don't want to know you once you are no longer "useful" to them as a contact.
See my first reponse.
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I'm happy that it worked for you, but this just doesn't work that way for most people. And I say this as someone who has, at different times in my life, had access to reasonably wide networks of people and directly helped a number of people from various walks of life get interviews.
You meana that it worked for my friend. Oddly enough I got my job through an ad in a very small local newspaper. I've never gotten a job through a newspaper ad before in my life.
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What do you mean by "highly qualified?" That's an amorphous and subjective term.
In other words a person with two years of accounting experience shouldn't be expecting a headhunter to find them a job as an accounting manager in chanrge of a staff of 50. But for those with years of experience, particularly on a management level, working with a headhunter is going to be the best way to land a job, unless you can work your network.
No, no nerve. It's not such a bad thing sometimes. But it is our reality, and it's one that other people need to realize that they might ahve to face.
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In regard to family reasons I wasn't talking about being separated from your spouse--I was talking about being separated from your children or a sick/disabled parent. You may think your situation is a "hardship" but it is a cakewalk compared to people who are contemplating having to leave a small child or sick parent -- who are hearing from Annerk they just need to "grow up and face economic reality or live in a homeless shelter."
Oh please. How about the people in the military that have to leave children and parents when they are deployed. With very, very few hardship situations excepted, I think people need to pull up their big boy pants and do what they need to do to find work.
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It looks like your only strategy for finding accounting jobs and stimulus jobs are answering ads on the internet and cold calling big recruitment firms.
No, like I said, people need to evaluate their skills and education to think outside the box and reinvent themselves.
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The one point I will concede is the one on relocating for teaching jobs. I don't know whether these two posters have looked in other locations. I'd be interested in knowing if any unemployed teachers have done national searches and come up empty handed. I believe there is a huge supply/demand imbalance nearly everywhere though.
And that is any different from any other type of job how?
I don't see it as speculative. Maybe you've just got the wrong friends. I believe in "paying it forward" and helping people out without an expectation of anything in return.
What is "speculative" is the fact that most people cannot count on people (1) knowing about a relevant opening and (2) being willing to help you go after it. That's reality.
I also believe in "paying it forward" without expectation of anything in return, and have done so numerous times, but by the very terms you yourself have defined (and which I share, by the way), you have relinquished control over whether the people you have helped will be willing help you in the future, should you turn to them. Therefore, citing "networking" as a means to finding a job is "speculative."
I'm happy that you have found a large circle of friends, well-connected in the job market, who freely reciprocate your compassion and generosity. Not all people have friends who are so well placed.
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