ClickASnap.cpm review

I was going to say something nice about them but they they did an update that is pushing AI and pre-made templates so that everything looks like everyone else's.

To say I was super disappointed would be an understatement.

The AI is the most disappointing part.

The offering everyone the same templates thing is expected to a point. One would assume one could make their own template and have it be privet. Unfortunate doesn't look like that.

And then there is the other change that they did which no longer lets you have an account with just them, but forces you to link it with another account or with your tiktok. Which gets all the red flags.

Just scrolling down the template page without logging in and it's just full of useless ugly crap. Almost like people were purposely filling it just to make it look bad. I have to wonder if that might have been done on purpose.

Normally I don't write reviews of things that are bad but this did such a flip from when I first found it. I am super happy that life things didn't give me enough time to get invested in it. This app did such a huge switch it's like a whole new and different app.

It also only lets you store projects on the cloud. And when you go to uninstall it? There is a little easily missed tick box that you have to click if you do not want them to keep your data. Very skeevy of them.

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.

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.

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.

More on School

A lot of crazy in the past few weeks. Most notiably is the crazy surounding my school of choice and their semantis fail.

See, if someone told you that they were sending out information to you early then wouldn't you expect it to come... Early? Yeah, I did feel a little bad about calling the person again but it turns out that 'oh no, we only send them at the designated time and never sooner." and "Oh, we need your medical papers ASAP. Preferably yesterday."

Fun fact, they only accept students three times a year.

Another fun fact, because of this and Mr. Fail Boat finacial guy, I probably will not be able to start until the fall. I had wanted to start in May.

He was totally useless to talk to also. "Here you need to fill this thing out" then "oh no, I never said that. You are too old for that."

No wonder people are so confused when they get out of school, they are not used to things making sense. I just need to keep telling myself that after three years of this I will have my degree. Just three more years.

Revelations in the Planning Department

If I wanted to move to California I would have to do the same planning that I have done for New York City. The only difference is I would have to factor rent into my math. i have no idea who would rent a room to me for a few months. Let alone how to go about it.

And I have no intention of wrecking a friendship just to have a place to stay. She did that once for me before and I bailed. I will not do that to her again. Plus the more I think about this the more it feels like a bad idea.

Actually, I'm starting to talk myself out of the idea as I type this.

Maybe I should hold off on planning anything until I hear from the college. I wish the college would just tell me if I was accepted or not. Especially since they had me ask the government for money already. The school is supposed to be really good so I really would like to attend their bachelors program. Uhg.

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.

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.

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.

Cranky Hiring Agents in New York City

I know they can be a wonderful way of finding employment, but if you are not living in the city they will not be able to do much for you. And if they did contact you then they probably did not read your cover letter that says you don't like in the area. Also you need a think skin when dealing with them.


But let me start again.

I sent out some responces to Craigslist postings. Most have resulted in scam e-mails telling me to go to a website that they linked to so you can get your credit scores or take an IQ test. Aside from the e-mail links showing a diffrent site when you hover the mouse over them, the e-mail addresses they were sent from will not accept responces. I have accepted this challenge and pass them by.

However, silly me thought that the real companies would actually take a moment to look at my cover letter. In which I state that I do not live near the city and can't meet for an interview without some planing. I figured that they would read this in consideration or that they would delete the e-mail. I had no idea they would actually call me and expect me to see them the same day for an interview for their hiring agency with out reading the cover letter.

I have had contact with two agents so far. The gentleman hemmed and hawed a little and complained that i wasn't living in the city. The conversation lasted maybe five minuets and had many little red flags waving at me. I sent him a polite e-mail saying I understand this, would understand that nothing would come my way and that at some point later in time when I will be out there I will pop him a message to see if he'd like to talk again. I knew it wasn't going to work out and gave him the best out possable.

For some odd reasion he responded. This is his entire e-mail:

And though it is not easy you are not unique to us

I will do my best

I have more of an obstacle with the time of year versus your location

I have mixed feeling about this. I am boggled by the lack of grammar skills and that he bothered to send a separate e-mail response, possibly by blackberry. I am pissed because it seems like an slap in the face but most of all I just can't grasp that he would waist the time to send this pointless e-mail to state what we spoke about.

The woman... I have changed my oppinion of her.

She used one - two word sentences in e-mails from her black berry. Red Flag one.
When she requested I call her, then tell me on the line 'e-mail' then quickly rattled off that she was on the line with three other calls and to e-mail her when to meet. Red Flag two.

I took this all as a sign that I should look elsewhere.


I sent the same e-mail to her as the other gentlemen (actually, i e-mailed her first and then used it for him.) thinking that was it and that she would probably be relived. Imagine my shock when I find an e-mail from her asking me to let her know when I'm in the city next.


Now, I'm probably looking into this with rose colored glasses, yet it's still a nicer response then the other guy. I will be dropping her a line when I get a chance to be in the city.

Interpretation has a lot to do with it. Both side of a conversation could be hearing different things. The guy could be telling me not to waste my time contacting him again or he could be trying to  explain why it could take a long time to get back to me. Like wise the woman could be trying to keep connected or she could just be sending it to be polite. In the digital age I just can't be sure.


So... I'm going to hope for the best.