Well, I've refined my resume and sent it off to a few promising companies. I've also found a few online services that I may be able to apply to in order to earn a few extra bucks. We've decided to live in housing graciously offered to us by my sister. Now it is the waiting game. This is the worst part about job hunting, you have no way to actually measure your progress. That and HR managers have no obligation to send you a "no thank you" letter just to make sure you aren't holding out hopes that you will get hired. The only closure you get is that your resume and application will be held on file for only 30 days. The other problem is that I still won't be in manhattan for almost another month. No employer wants to really consider having to wait for a month for their new employee. If I could telecommute that would be an entirely different story, I would start today. But it seems that Rural Kansas is sadly dry on the whole telecommuting businesses.
Since I am on the topic of finding jobs, and will be for the next month or so (probably), I applied to the local Target in manhattan. Immediately after I finished the application I knew I wasn't ever going to be considered for the job. I think I may have mentally noted this last time I was on the job hunt, but I don't know if I ever expressed it in a public fashion. I have filled out some of these big company applications before and I've noticed that they are horribly flawed. At the same time I've noticed the flawed nature of the applications, I have also realized why the service in some of these large companies is typically so terrible. First, these companies don't want actual people working for them. If you answer the questionnaire honestly and admit that you have any sort of "flaw" in their eyes, or that you don't match up with their ideal paradigm, then you probably will not even be considered. Second, they don't want people, they want tax credits, so if you've been unemployed for six months, or been on welfare, then they will definitely hire you, till they lose the tax credit, then it is out the door for you again.
Now I am not implying that if you have been on welfare that you are a terrible worker. Frankly, I feel sorry for you if you have had to be on welfare. I am sick of the fact that our economy is so broken that it is absolutely requisite to have some form of public welfare just to keep people alive. I'm sorry for the fact that it sometimes happens that a person will be hired on just to benefit a company through a tax break rather than because of their actual talent. That sounds frustrating. But back to the application.
Because the company's interests, and limitations are the way they are, this is generally what happens. They hire on two types of people, people willing to lie on the questionnaire, and people who are stuck in the revolving door of unemployment/employment. In other words, they hire people of unknown quality and people who are perpetually being frustrated. Don't get me wrong, I hate making generalizations, and these companies do occasionally actually get a gem of a worker who is happy and helpful at the workplace. But why then have an application process anyway?
It seems like it would be more efficient to just keep a running queue of interviewees during the whole shift as long as there is an opening. In fact, I feel that the open positions would be filled faster and more effectively that way. It would also seriously limit the ability of the corporation to simply keep the revolving door of unemployment swinging, because it would take much more of the company's time to screen for that, rather than the potential employees time. On top of all of this, it would bring back the much needed human element to the job market world. I am sick of interacting with computers, sifting through scams, and getting roadblocked--and having my time stolen--by automatic filtering applications, in order to get a job.
I still don't know how to articulate this rant well. But that pretty much sums it up. On a more lighthearted note. I do find some job postings to be absolutely hilarious. I found one the other day for a porn film on craigslist, I wasn't aware that such industries would be so open and forward as posting their "now hiring" on something as public as craigslist. And I also found another one which is incredibly sketchy today, some businessman asking for a female college student to come to his office a couple hours each week to give him a massage... no experience required, just a headshot. That one probably should be flagged for probably being deceiving. It doesn't really sound like a back massage the way he put it. Of all the ridiculous things on the internet.
Till next week,
Floyd.
No comments:
Post a Comment