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May Be Here More….
May 21, 2007 by andrew sI have not been here for a while. I am sure I have said this before, but when myself and all my friends already have jobs it becomes hard to write stories about looking for jobs.
Well, if you happen to like my entries for whatever reason, good news! One of my friends tells me that he was “not cut out” for his job. I don’t know if that means that he quit or was fired because I never asked, but he is now looking around. And now more recently I have been informed that my office is scaling back employment from about 100 people to closer to 30 sometime before the end of the year. That is all that I have to say for now, will have to see how things go before commenting further. -
Focus Group
March 22, 2007 by andrew sToday we had a goup meeting at work on how the mistakes we make cost the company. Problem was, they kept using jargon and acronyms that I really did not understand in the least. It was a nice powerpoint presentation with pictures, some colorful graphs and such and there were several speakers. But what mistakes were we making and how do I correct them? I have only the slightest fragment of an idea. Something about beer ads and electric toothbrushes, and I think I was doing okay before. At least I hope I was.
Sometimes you have confusing meetings like that where you just don’t really know what is going on. It happens. In fact, not understanding meetings was one topic of still another meeting I attended a few days earlier. That one was a focus group meeting I was randomly invited to, and the message was a little bit clearer.
The focus group meeting was just a few random people asking questions to a high-up boss. We were supposed to ask anything we felt was important to address, or anything we thought our co-workers would like to know (information that would have been helpful to have known BEFORE the meeting). Several questions centered around outsourcing, and the answer was basically not anytime soon, but a possibility down the road. I never really thought we got paid all that much, but apparantly people around the world think we do and will do our job for less. That is how Capitalism “works.” I am not worried right now, so I am not frantically searching the wanted ads yet. But my eye will be cast upon them from time to time. -
One Year
February 18, 2007 by andrew sI have been at my current job for one year now, and I have been thinking a lot lately about where to go from here. And about how hard it is to believe that it has actually been that long.
Is that enough to ake it and run with it? Hard to say. One year is more than enough experience for some, and not nearly enough for others. And does taking what you can get and then putting in your two weeks look good on a resume? They must certainly see it a lot, but that does not necessarily mean they will not care.
Is the time really right for it? It is not that bad of a job, the one I am at now. So where is the harm in staying on for a bit? It is cozy, relatively simple and stress-free and pays decently. There must be something better out there, and obviously I am not going to quit until I find it. Quitting now would be pretty stupid, with no job lined up or anything.
A lot of questions with no easy answers, nor any definitive ones. At least there is time enough to think, plan and look. Perhaps I ought to be thinking about those questions instead of writing about them? -
Are Temp Agencies Right for You?
January 31, 2007 by andrew sMy answer to my own question would depend largely on when one were to have asked me, for I have worked for three different entry level temp agencies. After the first one you would have gotten form me something along the lines of “eh, maybe, they are okay,” a long string of obscenities after the second and finally some positive feedback after number three.
There are some entry level temp agencies out there that don’t seem to care what is going on so long as they keep geting part of your paycheck. Odds are you do not want to work for one like that-they are most unhelpful and frustrating to deal with. This can’t be emphasized enough; take note of how well the agency communicates with you and how well they listen to you. Were they listening when you told them what you were capable of doing and what you feel comfortable doing? The second one I worked for obviously wasn’t, and that ended up hurting both of us. The third one hooked me up with a job that matched my profile almost perfectly, and everything went smooth as could be. On the other end, how well you commuincate with them can also make or break your work. Even if the agency does have the right job for you and is more than willing to put you there, they can’t get you “your” job if they don’t know who you are. Dishonesty could put you in way over your head.
If you can find a good agency and are willing to be open, you should be fine at an enrty level temp agency. They can save you a lot of time, effort and frustration while potentially leading to good things in the future. It may not be a sure thing, but what in the job market is? At least this way you get a paid fair tryout instead of some rediculous one-shot dress rehearsal, right? Shop around for different agencies in your area and give it a shot if no offers are coming your way, entry level temp agencies are great for anyone needing experience. -
Entry Level Job Site
January 30, 2007 by andrew sIt should go without saying that the internet can be a valuable tool in job searching nowadays. Not only can job openings themselves be found and applied for online, but research into the position and the company that would have been difficult and time-consuming decades ago can now be done easily, comfortably and quickly. I personally used quite a few entry level job sites, but the one I used the most-and the one that told me about the job I have now-is careerlink.com.
I don’t know if the site is national or just for Nebraska, but careerlink.com allows seekers to look for jobs by area, profession, company or by any combination thereof. The nice thing about local job sites as opposed to most national job search engines is that this will allow you to narrow your search to a specific part of the state, rather than needlessly looking through every job in the state, which can be tedious and also frustrating if the jobs you want keeps popping up in the wrong city or town. Careerlink has gone seen some improvements since I last needed it. A major problem I used to have arose while trying to find jobs by company. Rather than just listing them off in convenient text form like they are now, companies were posted by their logos. As you can imagine, this took a long time to load on slower connections. On top of that, there was only a handful listed on each page with no ability to go to a specific page. Not that going to a particular page would have been particularly useful, as the companies were also listed in random order. The whole feature was thus rendered virtually useless. Out of all the changes, the alphabetical listing of companies is by far the best. Take advantage of that and check out this entry level job site today.. -
Entry Level Data Entry Clerk
by andrew sAs an entry level data entry clerk for about a year now, it is time for me to stop asking questions about data entry clerks and start imparting answers, like:
Not Me: So, what is your profession?
Me: Data entry
Not Me: Oh, what does that entail?
Me: Um, data entry
The beauty of “Data Entry;” that is the job title and description. Just like “beer brewer.” The kind of data being entered and the methods change, true, but it really boils down to just those two words. The first question is always the easy one, though.
Things like pay, benefits, content of data, etc. vary widely by company. Data entry is white collar, and it should not be too difficult to find a job in the field that pays over minimum wage (usually quite a bit more) and offers at least some benefits. If the job you are looking at does not fit that last description-you are looking in the wrong place.
Is it difficult? That depends on several factors, mostly your typing skills. Most, if not all places require applicants to hit a certain WPM to get hired at all, then maintain or even improve upon that with experience. Accuracy is also certainly going to be monitored, and in some cases may even be more important than speed. If typing fast and accurately comes easy to you, so should try data entry. If not, there is still hope. Some specific jobs may be off limits, but with practice most people should at least be able to reach the competency level of some company out there. There also a lot of sitting. As in, that is about all Data Entry people do. Not for people who need to be up and about “doing” things. In certain situations, this job could be perfect for either the “people person” or the loner, as some require constant customer interaction and some require little or none.
When going in for an entry level data entry job interview, be prepared to take some tests that measure, as stated above, accuracy and speed. You will be asked to copy data form one source to another, and that data will likely include things like addresses, random numbers and story segments. Also count on one of those tests where you have to determine whether column A matches Colum B (like 123 Main St:123 Main St. or 78969:78696). All tests will be timed. There are probably web sites out there that let you take these test for free, I would recommend trying a few first.
And finally…what about me? My job, specifically, is to read grocery ads from across the country and record data about each individual item that is being advertised in it. Why? Got me. Apparently somebody out there needs to know, or thinks they need to know this information enough to pay for it. I always stop myself before saying “well somebody has to do it” not only because that is a cliché, but because the truth of that statement is suspect. There is no customer contact at my position, which I think is great. Pay is nether bad nor particularly good, and though there is a lenient dress code they tend to be anal about a lot of other things (I once had to move my car because I parked backwards-no joke). There are literally hundreds of rules covering the ad coding itself; dozens of which are downright ridiculous, others are even contradictory. Still, it is not bad as far as jobs go, and I could in good conscience recommend it to most people.
According to Wikipedia, data entry positions are dwindling in numbers. -
Full Time Entry Level Job
January 20, 2007 by andrew sFinding a full time entry level job can be frustrating. Extremely frustrating. The number one reason that I am still at my current job is the horrible memories I have of trying to find a job. Full time entry level job openings are not exactly scarce; the trouble is that people looking for those jobs are far less scarce.
So whenever someone’s dream job comes open, the first thing they want to know is how they can beat back the flood of other applicants to become the fabled chosen one. You go through all the advice, do everything in the “do” list and nothing on the “don’t” list and wear all the right clothes. And, at least as far as you know, there is always that one jerk that one-ups you for the spot. Maybe he went to school with the interviewer. Maybe she was the person’s daughter. Or maybe they did one little extra thing, just one miniscule thing the interviewer may not have even consciously aware of that made the difference in the final verdict. Yeah, I know it does not matter to you now. You wanted to be “that jerk” this time and start making money in the job market instead of losing it, right? Maybe your angry mind is right and the reasons for your not getting the job were unethical. But more likely, it was that someone else just did a little something extra. Keep on going, do not worry, you will be that jerk someday, too. -
Entry Level Positions In Omaha
by andrew sLike most cities, there are quite a lot of entry level positions in Omaha. The largest industries here, according to the Wikipedia article on the city, are banking, insurance, telecommunications, construction, architecture and transportation, but there are many others to choose from. I can think of four people I know, myself included, who have entry level jobs in Omaha in transportation, data entry, computer programming and one I’m not sure how to classify, and these are our stories.
Train Dispatcher: As frightening as it may sound, making sure fast, multi-ton hulks of steel-some of which have the capacity to explode-don’t crash is something that requires no experience. At least they test applicant’s knowledge of the industry and they train well. Pays well, too, from what my friend tells me. He also informs me that unpredictable hours are a nuisance, but I am not sure if that was only during training or all the time.
Fraud investigation: The company another friend works for gets a lot of fraud claims, and needs a lot of people to look into them. Honestly, I’m not sure what the methods are or what exactly he does when confronted with an actual case, but it seems his jobs basically is to investigate claims made by customers against other customers and actively seek out instances of fraud.
Programmer, telecommunications: When people think of the telecommunications industry (big part of the local economy), they think naturally of the telephone operators. But like all industries, more than one group of people is required to keep it operating. My friend’s company needs programmers to maintain their machines. I can’t seem the think of what they are called now, but those recordings where you call “customer service” and get “Hell-O, WELCOME to … for imMEDiate assistance…pressONE-now!” Don’t know if there is anything out of the ordinary with his job, mostly he just talks about fixing bugs, writing programs and complaining about client services.
Data Entry: What I do. See another post to come later for more detailed info. On opposite day, I have the most interesting job between the four of us.
None of like to discuss work much, so sorry I really can’t go into a whole lot of detail about each job, but I could certainly find out more for anyone needing to know. -
Overtime
September 23, 2006 by andrew sCan this really be happening? I have my doubts, but it seems that next week could be a first at work. A glorious, joyous first.
For the first time since I have been there after having started in February, there is no mandatory overtime scheduled for next week. None. Zero. Last week, there was only two compared to the usual 4-8, and we were blown away. But this upcoming week, wow. I don’t think you get it yet. I am told that this has not happened in years due to severe understaffing. Every time there is a meeting, mandatory OT is a major topic whether it was supposed to be a topic for that meeting or not. Every time all that the mangers can say is “we’re working on it.” For years, or so I am told. And now after five or six training classes, of which I was in the second, staffing is at where it is supposed to be. ….YEAH!
That could change at any time. A dreaded memo, “oh, by the way, we miscalculated this or that last week and you know what, OT this week.” They were looking for voluntary OT, 120 hours total of which I volunteered one, and they may not get it. Still, things may finally be looking up for my free time.
And on another note, I moved in to a new apartment and have no internet yet. I am posting today from my parents’ house, but it will likely be a bit longer for me to get around to setting up internet at my place. Sorry. -
Overqualified?
August 26, 2006 by andrew sSeveral of my friends have had difficulty landing entry-level, money-on-the-side jobs at restaurants or retail stores, or even higher positions at banks or firms. They have the education, often the experience, and certainly the aptitude to succeed, yet are rejected seemingly out of hand from these low-level positions.
The only solution presented was dishonesty, in the form of one’s mother, who suggested omitting the college education from the resume, or omitting the resume altogether and declining to mention anything beyond a two-year degree on the employment application. Those in the upwardly mobile world of college education aren’t likely to stick around at an entry-level retail job, will bail at the first opportunity, and the employers know it. It’s not prudent to sink energy and training into employees who are doing little more than biding their time. If one party isn’t willing to commit, neither will the other.
The mere mention of someday hoping to attend graduate school blackballed another candidate, whose Stanford education served as more of a detriment than a badge of pride. There is such a thing as overqualified, and it prevented these semi-students from landing a paycheck.
That’s why internships or temping can be so useful, as they allow students and otherwise commitment-fearing employees to gain valuable experience and cash without having to bail after a brief spell of work.
