So, hows the job scene where you are?

[Meresgi]

You know, I know this is a common statement and all but...


The reality is most of the time it should read:

"Everyone wants experienced people but the places that offer the experience don't pay anywhere near what I'm worth."

That may be true sometimes, but I know where I am right now NO ONE will take you if you don't have experience. And i'm not talking like 1yr on the job. They are only willing to take people if they have major projects under their belt (I'm in media art and animation field). To internship most of the places up here are just rehiring old interns because they already know the job and they can use them lol. I'm totally willing to start from the ground up, but when you arnt even allowed in the basement level, much less ground level, its a pain in the ass.

[Intense]

I have luckily been employed the past 4 years at the same place. I work in the public sector.

From what I understand, were facing anywhere from a 5(which is the most likely from what I hear) to 20 percent employment cut. Either way I am safe as I have the seniority and can also bump other people from different agencies with my same job title to 'save myself.' There is a name for that process but for the life of me I can't remember it right now.

The unemployment rate is about 20% for the county I live in and is set to remain at those levels for another couple of years.

I have intentions to move to NYC at the end of the year and I'm very worried bout being able to land a job (or at least have a concrete lead) PRIOR to moving.

I work in the legal field which translates everywhere and big cities even moreso but that still worries me and I told myself I wouldn't go unless I had a job to go to.

[Plow]

That may be true sometimes, but I know where I am right now NO ONE will take you if you don't have experience. And i'm not talking like 1yr on the job. They are only willing to take people if they have major projects under their belt (I'm in media art and animation field). To internship most of the places up here are just rehiring old interns because they already know the job and they can use them lol. I'm totally willing to start from the ground up, but when you arnt even allowed in the basement level, much less ground level, its a pain in the ass.

Yeah, the whole lack of a "mail room" start method these days, but there's also more of a freelance/consulting market, too.

I'm definitely not arguing that the market isn't shitty right now heh, but most of the people that are getting the jobs are the ones that are setting themselves up, or at least looking at any opportunities regardless of location and starting pay.


Also, you're in a field that boomed a while back, so tons of people followed the "opportunity," and as it recedes you're left standing in a huge group of people with your skillset but a fairly limited need for the work.

[Takedown3]

start a blog

make posts with mundane daily events about life, video games, porn, food, daily routine

populate said blog with text ads, banners, and amazon widgets

buy a couple hundred "biz" cards with your blog details

tell all your friends, family, facebookers, co-workers, people on the street

optional: buy really cheap local run of network/category traffic, you would be surprised how much you can buy a month for a couple hundy's

within a couple of months your blog will have a following, should be making more then you spend on traffic and hopefully enough to pay your rent/mortgage

it's not a real job but it's enough to keep the dogs at bay

[Melchiah]

I work for the Alabama Highway Department in a career-level position. However, getting promoted is nigh impossible here. I've been in the top 5 on the promotional register for the next position above mine, in every county I applied in, which I am absolutely over-qualified for. I'm a Junior level engineering student, and a high school sophomore could do my current job. Shit sucks. I lost a promotion to a 40-something year old woman with a high school education. Guess I need tits or something.

[Corrderio]

I'm starting to feel like giving up on a job, even entry level jobs are hard to find around me.

[Zanz L. Barre The 3rd]

Here in Cali and some retail, etc. is hiring, took my mom two years to find a good job though (from 2007 to 2009).

[volcanicweather]

I work for the Alabama Highway Department in a career-level position. However, getting promoted is nigh impossible here. I've been in the top 5 on the promotional register for the next position above mine, in every county I applied in, which I am absolutely over-qualified for. I'm a Junior level engineering student, and a high school sophomore could do my current job. Shit sucks. I lost a promotion to a 40-something year old woman with a high school education. Guess I need tits or something.

You won't even want to work there when you graduate anyways, so WHO cares

[Meresgi]

So I might be getting fired from the Census for not doing ENOUGH work per hour of work. I do 6.5 hrs a day in this welfare desolate area of my town. I'm lucky to maybe talk to 2-3 ppl during the whole day and most refuse outright to do it. So the higher ups are telling me they are concerned with me putting in so many hours and not getting enough done. I told them it's impossible to measure this sort of thing because you might get every house with a nice person filling out the form for you, or you might get 10 slammed doors in the face.

[Saga]

just graduated (had ceremony on Monday), had a job lined up since March, gonna be a resident director at a college.

edit: also published a book before i graduated. i had a pretty good last year in school.

[Meresgi]

just graduated (had ceremony on Monday), had a job lined up since March, gonna be a resident director at a college.

edit: also published a book before i graduated. i had a pretty good last year in school.

Nice, guessing you graduated with a Masters? In what?

[Conformity]

Nashville sucks as there are not a lot of people hiring and the major corps here are very incestuous regarding their hiring practices.

[Saga]

Nice, guessing you graduated with a Masters? In what?

not my Masters -- BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing. I was lucky enough to have been an RA for a couple years at school giving me a couple career options to pursue. residence life was the one that panned out (or at least gave me the option to have a regular pay check).

[Meresgi]

Forced to resign from my job today. Because my boss believes that she can accurately grade my subjective job having never done it herself nor having ever had a management position in her entire lifetime of work. Man they hire great people for the census.

[Hiryo]

Forced to resign from my job today. Because my boss believes that she can accurately grade my subjective job having never done it herself nor having ever had a management position in her entire lifetime of work. Man they hire great people for the census.

wowwwwwwww.
Even though some jobs have quotas and the like, there should be a such thing as a forecast or some metrics set up to show which areas give more and give less. Instead of firing you because your product(getting preople to do the census) isnt selling(door slammed in your face) in one area should mean to focus on a better one, not just kill the job.

Sorry to hear that though Meresgi

[Meresgi]

wowwwwwwww.
Even though some jobs have quotas and the like, there should be a such thing as a forecast or some metrics set up to show which areas give more and give less. Instead of firing you because your product(getting preople to do the census) isnt selling(door slammed in your face) in one area should mean to focus on a better one, not just kill the job.

Sorry to hear that though Meresgi

Yeah, had I had a manager with actual management skills and experience they would have just assigned me another area to canvas. Watched how I did with that area and THEN determined if it was me or the previous area that effected my performance. Or at least sent someone out with me to show them how desolate it is. Actually that was the plan yesterday, I was told I was going to have someone ride with me to see how I do, but they just decided to shitcan me instead.

[miokomioko]

Sucks complete ass.

[Isawa]

Nashville sucks as there are not a lot of people hiring and the major corps here are very incestuous regarding their hiring practices.

^ this

There was jobs for flood clean-up, but those filled up fast. Shit sucks.

[Penthesilea]

What's normal protocol for follow up on an interview? I just had an interview yesterday at UPenn for a research position, and I want to write a follow up letter/email but I don't know if that's proper this soon?

Thing is I'm not sure who I ought to be writing to, as I spent most (2:45min) of my three hours there with the post-docs discussing the research and only 15 minutes with the actual lab owner/senior PhD. Do I write the hard copy to him and just send emails to the others?

[Saga]

What's normal protocol for follow up on an interview? I just had an interview yesterday at UPenn for a research position, and I want to write a follow up letter/email but I don't know if that's proper this soon?

Thing is I'm not sure who I ought to be writing to, as I spent most (2:45min) of my three hours there with the post-docs discussing the research and only 15 minutes with the actual lab owner/senior PhD. Do I write the hard copy to him and just send emails to the others?

The experience I've had with getting my job at a college involved e-mailing thank you notes and follow ups to everybody I met. I e-mailed everybody from the vice president to the students that I met with thanking them for meeting with me, if they have any other questions, etc etc, hope to hear positive news from them soon, so on and so forth. E-mail every person you met. It's time consuming, a little annoying, and I can almost guarantee you almost no one else will e-mail a thank you/follow up to anyone but the department head or whatever.