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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Sunday, October 04, 2009 - 12:26 pm
As some of you may know I have not worked in about 18 months and hubby lost his job 5 months ago. The stress is overwhelming. I have a BA and many years of experience in Customer Service, Retail Management, Call Center and Fraud Investigation. From what I have been told, I interview well and have thought that the last few interviews I had went well and was surprised not to receive offers. I request feedback and rarely get it. I once spoke with someone re a job with the county gov and was told, no the interview went well, nothing wrong just chose someone else. Other responses have been ignored or HR babble. I was given the bums rush last week after taking an online assessment along with several other people at the assessment. Obviously the answers I gave did not match what they wanted for the position. (No wrong answers my fat fanny!) Later that night I applied for another position that required almost the same dang assessment. I suppose I won't here back from them. OK, fine, a person will not be a match for everything but I am perplexed as to why I cannot find a Customer Service job. I was told a couple years ago that I had too much experience (babble for too old?) for the CS position that particular company was offering. They wanted me for a supervisory position and then was ignored when I called back at their request. Most annoying. A couple days after the bums rush I got an email saying, thanks but no thanks going with someone who was a better match... Ok, not surprised, then got another email seconds later saying same thing. I was double eliminated, lol. Until recently I really didn't need to work so was enjoying the time off. Things have changed and I need to find a job asap. I don't know why I am not getting offers from interviews or why I am not asked for an interview from sending resumes. I realize that to some degree it is a numbers game, but I send lots of resumes online and rarely get a response. I am certain I am capable of almost any CS job. I am open to suggestions and advice on securing a job.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 3:52 pm
No ideas or insight from anyone?!
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 3:55 pm
All I can say is it is dry out there now. No way do I see the economy making a change. Don't think you are missing anything. It is just a BAD and HARD time to find a job.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 4:00 pm
i am sorry i don't have any. we are sort of in the same boat. i went back to work at starbucks to get their incredible benefits.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 4:19 pm
Most people applying today through regular channels end up getting rejected – a lot. Sometimes to cover themselves, the people hiring just go through the motions of interviewing a number of people and then hire the person they had in mind for the position in the first place. I don't like the idea of networking (it kind of smacks of a person getting a job because of connections rather than ability) but in some situations it works. Do you have any former colleagues or know anyone in your field that you could connect with?
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 5:41 pm
When I was researching for a class I teach, I read that 90% of all jobs are gained through PEOPLE and connections - the ability to get the interview and have someone there who can put in a good word - rather than just responding to ads in papers or online postings. I'd definitely start networking!
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Sadiesmom
Member
03-13-2002
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 7:03 pm
Connections are important, I received a job offer from a woman I worked for less than a year, but kept in touch with Christmas cards and newletters for 20 years. She offered me a job after reading in my newsletter I was laid off. I got a chance to interview from people who had worked for me in previous jobs, but decided that I did not need to work any more, I had saved enough to get along. The thing to do is reconnect with any and every business contact you have ever had. it is embarrassing to say you need a job, but if someone came to you, you would probably help them. The next thing to consider is to leave out anything about our age from your resume. I did not detail all the jobs I had in the past, I stopped at 20 years. Dye your hair if you have ot, there is age discrimination out there and it is harder for older women than older men to get jobs. I was told by one person (after they had to offer me the job because no one else had the specific experience they wanted - years of experience with three different databases) that she and the other guys did not want to hire me because it would be like giving directions to their mother. I was working before this person was even born.... It worked out well and she said I was more like a friend than her mother and she could ask me how to talk to her mother about her boyfriend, ha ha.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Monday, October 05, 2009 - 8:07 pm
I agree that connections are very important. But, you can't take it personally after an interview if you don't get the job. A lot of times, it's an intangible and yes, you could give all the right answers, but the people hiring may feel that someone else will fit in better. Sometimes if you have 2 applicants, it's really hard to explain why you would chose one over the other. In many cases where I work, it came down to how they thought the person would mesh with other employees. Having been at both ends, here are a couple of pointers from my experience as an interviewer... 1) do some research on the company prior to going into the interview. That is extremely important. I've been on both sides of the interview. When interviewing someone, I tended to look more favorably if the applicant had done their research and knew a bit about the company. If at all possible, google the name of the person interviewing you to see if there's anything there that might be interesting to bring up to during the interview. For example, one person I interviewed had googled me and found where I had contributed to an article in a publication. While he didn't get the job for other reasons, I remember him. On the other side, I was an applicant for a position and did not do my homework about a large multi-national company. They asked a question, where I believe they were trying to find out my knowledge of their business and I did not answer it well because I did not a basic understanding of their business. If I had questioned the HR person a bit more about the position, I probably could have done some quick effective research. I made it to the 2nd round of interviews, but did not get the job. Of the entire interview, I think not knowing more about the company was the problem. 2) Leave any company benefit questions out of the interview. You can always find out about those later if the job is offered, so keep those questions for HR. It's very tempting to want to know about the benefits. But, when we would interview people as a group and the applicant would bring up benefits, there was always someone in our company that took exception to it. 3) Be sure to have a few questions for the interviewer. Ask about the position, the company culture, how long people have been there, basically, interview the interviewer. This allows the interviewer to understand better how working with you would be. The worst interviews were the ones where the applicant would just answer the questions and didn't have anything else to say. In my opinion, a good interview should feel more like an educated discussion rather than a one-sided Q&A session. I'm sure there are more suggestions out there, but these are what I remember interviewing applicants. You probably know most of these anyway, but I thought I would just put them out here. Others may have more suggestions. Good luck!
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Tuesday, October 06, 2009 - 9:32 pm
Thanks everyone. I have done these things. I may take the years such as 2000-2006 off my resume and say 6 years instead. I sincerely believe being over 40 is a problem. If I actually get an interview, the weight could be an issue as well but they'd have to meet me to know that. I really don't have a network. I've pretty much lost contact with my retail people and most of them had left the co and have no idea where they could possibly be these days. I use a couple of PP people for references but they don't or last I checked didn't have any resource contacts where I live now. From what I understand they are facing some more layoffs as well despite the company wanting to hire 200 reps.
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Sadiesmom
Member
03-13-2002
| Tuesday, October 06, 2009 - 10:56 pm
I can understand losing touch with people, In my business, I had to socialize all the time to make sure I had contacts when I needed my next job, retirement left a big hole in my calendar. If you are short of past co-workers, start using friends and relatives. My sister-in-law found me a chance at a job in another field working for her. If it is really anything for a buck time, look into the census website. I had a friend whose husband lost his job as a shoe maker when the rent went up on the store. He got a job for the census and was promoted to a permanent job working for the government.
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