When Good Jobs Go Bad

 When Good Jobs Go Bad. 

Or when a bad supervisor takes over the whole of the dept and pushes their Bad Ideas that no one likes onto everyone and then they can't figure out why everyone is leave the dept like a sinking ship.

This is not the first time, and sadly this will not be the last time.

I fully admit to having hoped that the supervisor that is literally driving all the good people away from my department was going to jump ship. I had been hoping. I knew it was almost impossible because they have such a death grip in our department.

This person is a micromanager and is very good and not having anything they say written down so you can not use it to defend yourself. The only thing good about them is that when they really want to have your back, they do in fact have your back. They also support the work from home for now.

But they also pick favorites and when they set their sights on you you are pretty much done for.

I am fairly cirtian that they have been trying to get me into their department for a little while. 

They are also fully aware that I refuse to be in their department.

Right now myself and another are being used as tests for learning the stuff in the other department because the plan is to merge them. This is extremely stressful because I hate and refused to be apart of this particular department.

I have a feeling that they are trying this so that when this idea doesn't work, and it's won't, that oh look! the two of you are already trained so you have new jobs now!

I will go to HR if they try that because I did not and will not ever apply for that job and they technically can not force me to move to it because they couldn't keep my department fully staffed before the pandemic and they have shown that they still can't do it now.

I also think that they are setting the new supervisor up as a fall guy. They did it to all the others with varying degrees of success.

I, perhaps, should have tried for the harder butt kissing department were the supervisor that I like moved to. 

There is another department I wouldn't mind looking into but the hours are horrendous. The person I knew that did work there got out as fast as possible but they had no life at all until they did.

I currently have a very good plan because I am not faking how long this new crap takes me to do. It's overly confusing and doing extra work for another department. If I mess up I mess up because that was the only other reason I wanted nothing to do with it. Outside of the supervisor.

If this person wasn't known for being underhanded and back stabbing I wouldn't worry. As it is I will be pitching a fit about this and all the stupid stuff until it's fixed or I find a new job. 

Uhg.

Suit Shopping for an Interview

I do not recomend doing this two days before your interview. You just really do not want to do it.

But I did.

I started this 3-16-2011... Here I am now and I still have the same suit.

It was a bad suit. I look like a trope for a substitute teacher gone wrong or serial killer.

In the same six years I finally have comfortable interview shoes... I just need to find a better suit.

I think I will take a page out of Japans job hunting ideas and go with black slacks, coat and a white under shirt. I would love to get away with using my black scrub pants but I think they will stand out too much. I'm not saying I won't try it but I probably won't get any flying reviews from it.

Womens clothing is terribal if you are trying to not spend much.

I would rather find a nice suit coat at a second hand store and have it tailored to fit me. This will probably amount to the same over all cost, but the difference is that the coat will fit me perfectly.

If I tailored a new coat it would cost more but last longer.

No one has an assortment of interview outfits unless you are very, very rich or moving within the same dress code. If you are going from uniform to business casual then it is so very hard. I would say that the best bet is to have 2-3 different choices. Which is my ultimate goal.

I also just really don't like my current suit.

An Interview and A Red Flag

So I had an... Interesting interview with a company.

They were a bit odd.

I had instructions to ask the reception worker to call them to let them know I was there and... they kinda gestured to a phone across the way and said to call. No instructions on how to use the phone system. I called the wrong extension twice but fortunately hung up before I reached anyone there. After an explanation the other reception worker called for me.

The agency I work with didn't mention that there would be three people doing the interview, but that happens.

The start was very basic with introductions and such. The odd feeling would come and go depending on questions. They asked in round robin style.

After the first question I knew that I didn't have the knowledge that they were looking for.

Near the middle of their question-asking I realized they hadn't asked me anything about my resume. I only realized because I have a time gap on it that has never been missed or skipped over. Ever.

When it cam time for me to ask them about the job, most of the position questions had been answered. So I asked my little short list of questions to see if I would be able to fit in with them.

They all but refused to answer three of my questions.

I asked about the culture there, how they will measure success in the position and the difference between a good & great employee in the position.

I have never had that type of reaction before. I can't fully explain it, it was just out there.

The culture one is usually answered with a customers first type of response that quickly launches into how they treat their employees. Or company holiday parties or something. I was met by silence then one said that customer centered environment. Another that it was a very racily diverse employment. The last they enjoyed their coworkers.

When I asked how they measure success in the position there was another pause before one gave the response that was simply 'with yearly preformace evaluations'. Which ended that.

Last I asked the difference between a good & great employee in the position. This is usually greeted with comments of the question itself before a response. This was again met with silence and nothing was actually said. More importantly, one of the interviewers was leafing the position and they didn't say any good things about them.

Fortunately the interview ended shortly after that.

The last question summed up things they didn't say to me that I am taking as this is a bad corporate environment. For each of the questions I got odd, almost angry looks. And who wouldn't take an opportunity to remind a soon to be former employee that you value all their work?

I think I will be very happy if I don't fit their bill. Should I be asked for a second interview I would agree, but I can tell I am not what they are looking for.

Debt, Life and dear god! An update!

Were to start?

The debt has been slowly taken care of. If I was to trust the little blurb in the corner of my bill I will be free of it in 3 years. I did not take out a loan and that would have been a very bad idea. I did merge two credit cards onto one card. This let me set up one monthly automatic payment.

The ordeal was a pain in the butt. The first transfer had to be done one the phone with a live person. Even though two other people told me I could just do it online. Frustrating but then I just did both with the wonderful woman on that call. So it worked out.

The weirdest part was that each separate card had been a min due of $250 - $300 EACH. Or rather I was paying out $500 to $600 each month.

The new one is $225-ish.

Let that sink in a bit. Because I flipped when I got the first bill. I have been able to save so much money. The new problem seems to be I can't save past a particular amount. This is a pain because of the BRAND NEW THING!

Which is I joined a First Time Home Buyer thing. It is total crap but should help me to ACTUALLY buy a house in two years. So there is now $188 a month going to a special account so that the government will give me a grant of $7,500.

Fact: I still don't have enught for closing costs. Which is the real killer in buying a house.

On the job side of life, after five years with my current job I have finally taken steps to look for a new one. I calle dthe temp agency that got me hired here and I will be sendign them my resume to get going again. The woman that answered my call was very nice when I started fumbling to discribe why I was leaving. I wanted to say that the enviroment wasn't what it was and was moving into mor toxic then I would like.

What I said was a jumble of starting and stopping and toxic and many 'it's just'. She said don't worry about it and started looking at my file. She was wonderful.

That is were the blog stands right now. Yeay?

Longest Interview Proses Ever

"Well, long time no update. The main reason for that is I have been going through one of the longest interview proses in my live. It spanned almost two months with three interviews and one test. Everyone was so nice and everything.

And I got the job. :3

I can't tell you how happy I am about this. All the stress of looking and here it is. I have to say I did not find this job on my own. I did work with a hiring agent and she was very helpful. Two actually, both at different companies and both were very nice and helpful.

I can't believe I don't have to keep waiting to hear back on an interview anymore.

I can't tell you how badly I wanted this job. The people I met were wonderful and it just felt right. They have a wonderful training program. The are also closer to my home so I will have a shorter commute. They also have wonderful benefits.

The only problem is that my new school is near my old job. So I will probably end up dorming 1-2 nights a week and then heading strait to work. it's going to be interesting learning all my new classes and job duties at the same time.

Adding the the stress, I have to go shopping and get my new work cloths because I'm going from uniform to work casual. My sister is looking forward to it."


God this is from so long ago. If you ever find yourself apart of an interview proses that takes two or more months you need to think about it and see if there were any warning signs about the company that you might have missed. Don't let desperation blind you to interviewer stupidity.

And if they ALWAYS get your current job title wrong (say calling you a manager instead of a receptionist) then get the hell away from them as soon as possible.

Just saying...

On Crappy People in Charge of Hiring

Wow that title is a tad bitter...

See, I never put much thought into the whole hiring proses beyond getting the job. It just never occurred to me that some people should never be allowed any ware near the hiring proses. Ever.

First thing first, if someone that you are interviewing with doesn't know the difference between a receptionist and a sales manager. Especially after you explain each time that no you are not a sales manager and they still try to convince you that no rally they are the same thing... you need to run and run very far away.

When it comes to job experiance and you know you don't have it say so. Because if you do get sold on a job that you feel or know you can't do, your screwed.

Yes I dealt with this and yes I did take the job. Guess what? they didn't spend any time training me nor did they want to. they wanted some one to start in another building that they didn't need to train. I had my warning flags and I ignored them. Even in my "exit interview" the person that hired me insisted that there was no difference between a receptionist and a sales manager. My only hope is that since an owner of the company was present at it (and completely miserable) I hope that they took a good look what that person did wrong and don't let them be in charge of hiring people.

I really, really can not tell you just how bitter I am about this whole thing. And beyond that, after seeing first hand how they run both the corporate and manufacturing sides I can never recommend or comment on them to people. I just don't feel comfortable about it.

However if anyone ever asks me if I think they should work there I will say no. And while I would love to ask who they are interviewing with I can't. I know that would put me in a bad position and I never want to deal with thous people or their company again.

So a short check list:
-  is a job/company/training solution sounds too good to be true.
- they tell you one amount for pay in the interview and tell you another in the offer.
- want you in another office building right away were no one else that would be training you works at.
- tell you that they "don't remember saying that" every time you talk to them about things from the interviews.
- they take 2 months for 3 interviews to narrow it to 2 people.
-the interviewer says "there is no difference between a receptionist and a sales manager".

Then the job is probably not the one you want to be with and you should run like hell. I wish I had run like hell and not taken that job. But it's done and over with. I feel so much better now that I have that out of my system.

On the job hunt

So, the job I loved turned out to be a bad decision on my part. I had a few warning signs during the hiring process that I looked past. I also looked past the lack of a training program that they had raved about.

They let me go.

All I really know is that I can never in good faith recommend this company for anyone looking for a job. God help the next person that works there.

Searching for a New Job While Working

This is extremely painful and hard.

Recently I have been able to interview with some wonderful companies. With winter over things have seemed to have picked up in the job hunting department. However, all the interviews I have been to have been through a hiring agent. My own searches have led to nothing so this isn't too bad.

Another bit of good news is I have finally gotten a review at work. The bad news is that they are aware of my job search. I made it clear to them that I have no intention of of up&leaving with out being able to train my replacement and that I want to help find my replacement when the time is right. They seemed to appreciate this. I am very lucky that I can actually talk to my manager and let him know what is going on in my search.

The search itself is driving me crazy.

The wait hurts the most, especially when it's for a job I would love. Aside from one day, I have made sure my job search has not interfered with my current job and the work I do. It is a very hard balance to keep. I have been considering what I am going to do with my job search for the summer because It is the bussy seasion for my company and I don't want to have trobel working and timing things.

le sigh.

Other then that, if you have been searching on your own with no luck you should really try a hiring agency. They can do wonders.

Dressing for the Job

This is a very true and very harsh topic and unfortunately no matter what people say jobs do judge you on your appearance. This is why some people can still land a job just by looking 'cute'. Even if they don't have some or most of the requirements because of how they look they can get almost any job if they really need to.

They also don't realize this.

If you don't dress just right for your interview then you won't land the job. Too fancy and you won't get it. Not fancy enough and you won't get it. I think that if you look like your are ready to work for the company rather then 'dressing for an interview' that you would have more luck. I did that for my current job and I got it. My bosses also complained that I haven't straitened my hair since. I think I should start doing that again.

And if you think your male boss/coworkers are not looking at your appearance think again. I can't tell you how many times my boss 'teased' me about my white socks. I wore them with black shoes and pants. I finally told him that if it bothered him that much he could buy them for me. That shut him up but I did end up getting them.

It did shock me at how much the guys in the office talked about fashion. Well... more whined but still, it was interesting. Their conversation on pink was highly amusing.

Dressing for an interview can get even more frustrating if you can't seem to get called for an interview. This can cause people to get depressed. Because why get the nice outfit that will go out of style before you can ware it?

I think that if you think of it as treating yourself to a new outfit that will come in handy, then you can start getting into a positive point of view. Personally I would try for this 2-3 times a year because fashions and personal tastes do change. Plus, it won't hurt your budget as much unlike if you grab them all at once.

Baby steps, but you have to start someplace.

Using Indeed.com in Your Job Search

Indeed.com is a wonderful site.

As a search engein it combs through a great many job posting sites and lets you know when they posted. They can show you hiring & salary trends and let you aearch in other cities. Plus you can have new postings sent to you automaticaly. You can also see who made the posting if you want to avoid hiring agents.

But! They are not an actual job posting site, more like a third party search site. They just direct you to the site which has the posting for the position that you are looking for. So you will have to register with the other sites that you are sent to.

Yet with how nicely it will streamline your search I feel it's totally worth registering with other sites.

One Year Older

Yesterday was my birthday and I am now 29. Woop-dee-do. This weekend I am dragging my parents to a few store that I have been wanting to check out and then for Dim Sum. The tasty-ness will be mine! Mwahahaha!

On the college front I am waiting for my acceptance letter before I can go any further. I did find out there is part time dorms. If I can get into it I won't have to pay as much nor have to commute home at 10pm. Which in my opinion is totally worth the money. Woot.

The job hunt is going slow. I'm staying in touch with my agents. One let me know about an opening that was almost twice as far away as my current job. I politely declined it and thanked her for thinking of me. I hope no bridges were burned.

During my own searches I jut poke around and if something really catches my eye I'll toss out a resume to it. Providing I remember. I haven't been spending too much time in front of my computer at home, which is a good thing.

On the future front, I realized while driving into work that if I was going to be out of work while looking for a job in NYC then why don't I take a few months and look in San Fransisco first? My friend and my sister both think I should move back there because it would be good for me. Cash would be tight but it could turn out ok. Even if I wasn't in the city itself but in the general Bay Area it would still be good.This will definitely require further planning.

So, the waiting and planning game is getting old. One day I'll be free to a different waiting game but for now this works.

Advice for Job Hunting on Craigslist.org

Because everyone wants to avoid the spam & scams that plague Craigslist.org

So, first things first. To get directly to your city on Craigslist, in your address bar type Your-city-name before dot-craigslist-dot-org. Like this: newyork.craigslist.org  which will take you to the New York City page.

Next thing you want to keep in mind is to keep a look out for scams. Easier said then done right? Not so.

1) Look for names. If the add asks you to put it to the attention to a specific person the chances are it's a real ad. The same for if there is an e-mail or mailing address that they ask you to respond to.

2) Read the ad and follow any directions it might have. It the add says to send it attention 'specific person' or to add a specific job number, do it. Put it in the subject of your e-mail and in your cover letter. This shows them that you can follow basic instructions and thus shouldn't get you weeded out of the running.

3) Avoid ads that offer to pay way higher then the going rate in your area. If in your area your job lands you $10 and the post is offering $20? Chances are it is not legit.

4) Watch out for duplicate ads. Sometimes the scams will use the same format for the same position and post many times. Some sneaky hiring agents do the same thing. After a while you will notice that some look exactly like ones from the last time you looked and while the location might change chances are they are a scam. Also, Craigslist has a 30 day rule which is basically that you can't post the same ad with in 30 days of your last post. A handy little thing to keep in mind.

5) Watch their grammar in both the subject and the body of the ad. Most are gimmicks to get you to apply, they are pretty obvious but some might sneak past your watch. There are some people who are legitimately bad at making postings. These are usually done by people that are not used to looking to fill an opening, by people who don't really use the internet or just someone having a bad day.

It's not a long list but if you keep these things in mind when job hunting on craigslist they could make you search a little bit easier. I use all of these methods in my own searches and I use them as I discovered them. I have gotten more call backs using this list then I have just replying at random.

Remember When E-mailing Your Resume

Just a quick post but when you are replying to a job posting via e-mail make sure to attach your resume to it. Sending a second e-mail, the same as the first but with the resume attached is a good back up plan. Personally I have not heard back from anyone were I forgot to send my resume with my first e-mail.

Also, I have tried using the BCC options in responding to the craigslist ads that were for the same or similar position title. I did get some responses but it was a pain to figure out what went with what. Also when they did respond most were scams and the others didn't mention craigslist at all. When I tested it to myself it looked kind of obvious that I had e-mailed the same thing to several people. The BCC tag is a bit of a tip-off. Personally I don't know if I will try that method again.

Another Job Search Method

So in my current search I had decided to only reply to postings that supply a separate e-mail in their add.

As you can image this has dramatically reduced the amount of e-mails I am sending. With this I'm hopeing this will also reduce the amount of scam adds that I respond to. Or the amount of sneaky hiring agencies that try and trick you into applying with them and you never hear from them again.

I have not tried faxing to companies because I do not have a fax machine. The ones that ask you to call are also not high only list because I would have to call them during work and I am not comfortable with that. But if you are go right ahead and try it.

The advantage to this is most News Paper Ads will have e-mails in them. While it is hard to tell how long the ads have been there, or if the position has been filled but the ad is still running, they are still worth a look.

Because you just never know what you might find.

To Job Hunt or to Wait

So I never got a call back from a job I would have loved and flourished in. It was extreamly dissapointing but at the same time it was almost a relief.

Almost.

I belive I will be starting in a new college in May so I am going to have to do a lot of running around to get that set up. Trying to do that while learning a new office, names, ect? I think it could have not ended so well and at this point I will never know. They also did not send a ding letter which is just annoying since they made it seem like I was their first choice. But in this day and age no one gets told that they were not chosen.

I know I don't want to hope that the person they chose doesn't work out so that they might call me. While part of me secretly hopes I will get called regardless, in this economy everyone needs the jobs they can get. I am not desperately searching for a job so I don't feel that I should be bitter about not getting chosen.

I just keep hoping that when I do finish college that I will get off my butt, go to NYC and find a job.

Waiting for a Call Back

This is probably the worst part about job hunting. Will they call me back? What should I do if they don't call me back?

Having a promising interview only to hear nothing ever again hurts. It always has and it always will. You could almost feel led on by a good interview. Personally I think I might prefer to hear at the interview if I wasn't going to be considered. On the plus side I would know not to hold my breath and stress out about all the little "if's".

Actually, if I knew flat out that I wouldn't be considered I would feel better in the long run. I wish more companies would do that instead of leading you on.

I will never understand why an interviewer feels the need to make vague promises to someone who doesn't fit the bill and would be wasting their time giving them every bit of information about the company that only employees really should know. Mainly Vacation, pay and in-depth explanations of benifits. thease tend to be trigger words that make people think they are getting hired.

Also, being told that you are the first one that they have interviewd so far. Not as vcalming as they might think.

Stress? Me? Never...

Check in with your Hiring Agents

I called my two new local hiring agents.

One is going to send me a test to do and the other hasn't mentionedany tests. Interestingly they both told me to call and check in with them every week. I find this interesting because that must be a lot of calls coming in to them and I didn't want to add to that. But I was going off old information.

Back in the day when I last used an agency, I was told not to call in more then once every two weeks and that they would call me. And they did call me. With this new economy I thought the rules would be the same. I am actually really happy to see that they are not the same.

With luck they might find me something after I have started my college classes. To add to that I hope it is close to the college. Then again I would not turn up my nose at something near my house.

Fate is such a fickle mistress.

Job Hunt Update

So Monday morning I got a call from a company. They were all happy and nice and then when I asked what city they were in they told me they were in New York City.

Ok. . .

I had stopped applying to jobs in New York City about a month ago. From what few responses I did get no one was looking to hire remotely for my qualifications. I figured until I was ready to move out there that there was no reason to waste peoples time. So I politely and nervously explained this to the person and they were all 'when will you be in the city?'

I answered this poorly and said I didn't know. So if this wasn't them looking for just an interview I royally screwed up. Live and learn is a painful way to go.

The good news is that I now know what a possible wait time could be in New York City for a response. I never expected it to take that long. How ever it did re-enforce the belief that no one actually pays attention to cover letters.

I need to look up the email I sent them so I can try and send a thank you letter to them.

A little advice from family

So over the New Years holiday my cousin and her husband took me out to lunch. They then asked me a bunch of questions about my job and if I would be moving to the city. This turned a good chunk of lunch into me letting everything out. It felt very good and I got a good deal of information from them.

The first was that even if I took a week in the city I would probably not be able to find a job in that time frame. Let alone be hired that fast. Even if I went through a hiring agency it would still take time. She also finally gave me the name of the hiring company that she knows and deals with. She said to call this one woman there and to drop her name. Because it's always who you know to get your foot in the door. This is the place that she sent her sister to as well.

But when she said I would probably have to live in the city for a month and need to have a few thousand dollars saved up is what made me worry.

That started a conversation about my current financial standing. And my mom.

She recomended going to the library and checking out some books by Suzy Orman. Her website http://www.suzeorman.com is amazing. I have only poked around the resorce tool section so far but I will definatly check out her book from the library.

Then my cousin told me I needed to find a nice way of telling my mom to get the hell away from my finances. She was even more adamant about this after hearing the full story about why there had been a race to move out with my sister. This led into the whole college situation and ended with me really needing to sit my mom down for a talk. Which I am totally not looking forward to.

So, while not the best thing to talk about over the holidays it did give me a great out look for the coming year.

Cranky Hiring Agents in New York City pt2

Last night I spoke with a third New York City hiring agent. She called while I was stuck in traffic but I figured what the hey?

She was very eager to actually talk with me. But I could hear her sails deflating when I explained the whole 'not living in the city right now' thing to her. She did try and wiggle out of the conversation as soon as she heard that but when pressed answered my questions.

When I ask about the possablity of jobs with out an inperson meeting she shot it right down.

She also had no intention of possably saying something that could be held over her. A clear sign to me that someone had done that to her before. She did say that an interview for a job the same week i meet with her could happen but it depended on how many opening came her way. I told her I wasn't looking for a guarantee but just to see how I might schedule my time needed to be there. She was a little startled but went with it.

 This was all I was looking for.

So, now I know that hiring agents in New York City, and possibly in general, do not read cover letters. They are just looking for people they can use to get a better turn over for their commission. Which is fine, but I am amazed that they would waste so much time talking with people they could have quickly eliminated as candidates. I also found that they have no idea were my city is and possibly never hear/read the news.

But! It gave me a very good out look of the time line needed to set interviews for a trip. It also confirmed the fact that I am a dime a dozen. A degree would give me the edge I need for the job market so I can make some headway.