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I'm just talking about someone who graduated high school that can't get any of the simple jobs everybody says is always hiring, supposedly. It seems employers are hoping you will just fill out the application and disappear. Why though? If they're supposedly hiring.
Because even those jobs are filled through employee referrals or other types of referrals.
I went without a job for nearly 2 years not that long ago.......and never imagined in my wildest dreams that it could happen. I believe 2 of the biggest factors were my age and my experience. It wasn't a lack of experience, it was too much experience.
After 20 years in construction and construction management and 10 more years in property management, I figured, how tough can it be? I know how to sell myself, I know how to manage people, have a wide variety of skills.........I left a horrible job only to be caught out in the cold and nearly homeless,
When you resort to applying to the big box stores, you realize that you never even get to talk to a hiring manager. They don't get a say in who they hire. Most of those stores hire from a profile sheet and that's rarely done on a local level. So even though you're applying for a job in ST. Louis, that 300 question profile sheet you filled out is being looked at by the corporate office, maybe 2000 miles away. In most scenarios like that, the human element is taken out of hiring.
Many companies, where you can actually speak to someone, will tell you that having extensive experience can often be a deterrent. They don't want people with set habits and ideas that aren't their own. This mostly applies for people over 40 and I guess it makes sense from their stand point. Why hire an older worker who might have a great track record only to have them buck the system.....or worse, maybe shoot for an established employees job? Younger people will work for less pay, put up with more bull and are generally more malleable.
Of course it also depends on your location. If you're in a high unemployment area. as somebody else pointed out, the competition is fierce and you're lucky to even get your resume looked at, let alone get an interview. I'd always been one of those people who said, "No matter what, I'll always have a job to provide for my family no matter what I have to do. Well, I'll tell you what, that 2 year drought sure changed my tune. I sent out hundreds of resumes and applied to countless places in person and in those 2 years had maybe 6 interviews and one promising job that got wiped out by hurricane flooding.
I won't ever again judge somebody who says they can't find a job. Unless you're in a highly specialized field, it's not easy out there and unless you've actually experienced the job market lately, you really can't have a constructive opinion.....it's way worse than you can imagine.
Yes it is bad. I am experiencing a triple whammy. I am a military spouse and have just moved for the 3rd time in 8 years. I am an RDH and this career field does not travel well. I have to retake my boards and two other classes to get my license in my current state. This would cost me about 6K, which we don't have. AND I'm older. Sad that 36 is older but it's true. So I've been applying for Administrative Assistant positions. Jobs that I can do with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back and it's as if my resume is released into a black hole. I have a bit more hope now that I'm in a much more populated area but it's still a struggle it seems. All the admin positions I see want Bachelor's degrees. BACHELOR'S degrees. To push papers and answer the phone. Blows my mind. The only thing I can say is keep pushing.
Yes it is bad. I am experiencing a triple whammy. I am a military spouse and have just moved for the 3rd time in 8 years. I am an RDH and this career field does not travel well. I have to retake my boards and two other classes to get my license in my current state. This would cost me about 6K, which we don't have. AND I'm older. Sad that 36 is older but it's true. So I've been applying for Administrative Assistant positions. Jobs that I can do with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back and it's as if my resume is released into a black hole. I have a bit more hope now that I'm in a much more populated area but it's still a struggle it seems. All the admin positions I see want Bachelor's degrees. BACHELOR'S degrees. To push papers and answer the phone. Blows my mind. The only thing I can say is keep pushing.
Don't get too discouraged, most of those jobs are filled from within which doesn't give outsiders a fair chance. So the best thing to do is to try and connect with friends and family and see who they know so they can u can be possibly linked to a unposted job
Yes it is bad. I am experiencing a triple whammy. I am a military spouse and have just moved for the 3rd time in 8 years. I am an RDH and this career field does not travel well. I have to retake my boards and two other classes to get my license in my current state. This would cost me about 6K, which we don't have. AND I'm older. Sad that 36 is older but it's true. So I've been applying for Administrative Assistant positions. Jobs that I can do with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back and it's as if my resume is released into a black hole. I have a bit more hope now that I'm in a much more populated area but it's still a struggle it seems. All the admin positions I see want Bachelor's degrees. BACHELOR'S degrees. To push papers and answer the phone. Blows my mind. The only thing I can say is keep pushing.
The admin assistant positions that require a bachelors degree will pay better in general. Administrate assistant encompasses so many different jobs. Some pay $12/hour to literally answer phones while others pay 50K to start with an opportunity for upward mobility. You can't just group them all together. I have a friend who has the title of Administrative Assistant, and she has a Masters degree.
Plenty of people who are in Healthcare Tech actually have bachelor degrees, some from really good schools, as well as their Healthcare associates, which they obtained afterwards.
If you're older or have a college degree you probably won't get hired.
+1 I live in a really small rural mill town, where perhaps only 8-10% of the local workforce has a college degree. These business owners here won't hire people who are above them socioeconomically or who are smarter or better educated. They will hire "older" workers, because the younger ones tend to be trashy people who don't show for work and the older workers are the ones with the work ethic. Mills here hire (or rehire) lots of losers with known drug and alcohol abuse and/or criminal records but won't hire college grads. Apparently there is some sort of tax credit for employing certain types of miscreants and addicts.
But if you have a college degree here, they won't hire you for entry level or labor positions, for certain. I have tried. You even have to catch the retail stores at some changeover point, like when all the college students leave to go back to school, in order to be considered for retail.
No, I understand that many Admin positions have more involved tasks and will pay better, those aren't necessarily the ones I'm talking about. Sorry to generalize. But if I have 5 years of experience doing a similar position why then do I need to pursue a 4 year degree for it? That's what gets me. And frankly I've seen the jobs that pay $12 an hour preferring a bachelor's. That is crazy to me. As to networking, I'm getting there. We just moved to this area so it's going to take me a bit to network since we know no one here. I'm planning to attend some job fairs in the next couple of weeks, so I'm hoping to get make some contacts. I'm just tired of having to start over every time we move. It's the typical military spouse complaint. I'm trying to be positive! :-)
But if I have 5 years of experience doing a similar position why then do I need to pursue a 4 year degree for it? That's what gets me. And frankly I've seen the jobs that pay $12 an hour preferring a bachelor's. That is crazy to me.
Unfortunately, everything is an open competition. Degrees rarely say that you are able to do a job, but they serve to screen out resumes. So, if somebody can hire somebody who has the same experience as you but with a bachelors, then they'll go that route likely.
I have a couple of friends who have bachelors degrees and do Sonography, and I'd say they have an edge over those who don't.
Employers have an extreme advantage right now, so you want to give yourself every advantage you can.
Believe it or not, many people complete Masters degrees these days for just that reason alone ... for the chance that it might send their resume to the 'interview' pile.
They are hiring, but only the number of people they need, not every person that applies. You could be very well qualified for a job but when 100+ people apply for a handful of openings there is a good chance that there are others better qualified. It can take a long time with so much competition.
This x 2.
Competition is very keen. At a place I worked at a couple years ago, four or five hundred people would come in and apply every time a single opening was advertised in the local paper. And most of the time, the position ended up getting filled by someone one of the employees knew and referred.
Go hang out with the day laborers
They don't even care about a criminal record and its good experience.
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