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Presentation
October 22, 2006 by bryan pI believe some famous band one sang “And the beat goes on.” I have no idea who did the song or when. I just like having something to kick start an entry.
Anyway, my last entry was a bit pessimistic, but that was only because I had a bit of an identity crisis. Seeing people from college who graduated with you with jobs/apartments/weddings really makes you put your life in perspective, and I apologize for kind of sounding defeatist in my approach.
Anyway, in a comment posted on my last article, I was told to talk about presentation. Well, my presentation, at least. I understand that it’s vital to look and act your best when speaking to prospective links to a job. That said, I don’t really know what I’m doing wrong.
I had my resume looked at by an entire class of people during my last semester in college, and everyone got it looking rather decent. I’ve been polite, clean, and well dressed for all… two of the interviews that I’ve had. You know, the whole nine yards. Hearty handshakes, appropriately dressed, eye contact and all that. I’ve been keeping up with the contacts that I have, and I’ve been looking for some… unique jobs in locations I had no clue existed. You know, keeping my horizons broadened.
I did have a problem with my hair. It got rather long in the few… months… since college. Of course, since I finally fixed that last week and haven’t really had anyone contact me back, I don’t think that was the issue.
Plans for the next week involve trying to move up in the job/volunteering I have going right now. By “moving up” I mean “finding something a little more lucrative” even if that only means going from working the register to making the schedule. After all, everyone has to start somewhere. -
Irritation
October 16, 2006 by bryan pThe search for the second job has been going… not so well. Very not so well. That’s a horrible sentence, but I like it anyway.
Anyway, I’ve tried everything. Online job searches, applying to jobs in the pennysaver, getting contacts through some people I know, reworking my image to be more “buisness friendly”, ect ect. So far, the only responses I’ve gotten have been for positions that don’t pay and are more “volunteer work” than anything. Which, you know, is nice and all, but it’s not really what I need.
Anyway, in a few minutes I’m going to try it again- go looking for a few jobs on yon internet. Hopefully I’ll find something that can get me out of my extremely part time job. I’m grateful for that job, but if I ever want a life of my own I need a little bit more than what I get there.
I’ll keep you all posted. -
working on it
September 24, 2006 by bryan pSo, things have been picking up with work. I was surprised to hear when they asked me to come in for more hours. Maybe I can finally start making money? Nah. That’s just crazy talk.
Anyway, due to work and allergies I haven’t had too much mind power to write too much, which is good because I still haven’t heard back from the paper saying they’re set up or that I need to write anything.
In the mean time, I’ve been looking into taking more college classes. It turns out I have a connection at a school in southern maine, so I’ve been putsing around their site and seeing if there are any classes I can take online while I work up the money to aford more school.
Anyway, that’s about it for me. The best advice I can give is that you should never house sit for someone who has cats if you’re allergic to cats. Life can be a learning experience. -
Next project!
September 09, 2006 by bryan pOkay, so I now have one job that provides me with a teensy bit of money per week, and another that offers me the potential for a bit of money every now and then. This brings my total job count up to three now, and I think it’s time I got settled on number four.
Keep in mind that two of my jobs are minor writing jobs. Either I I have something to write about/get an assignment or I sit around and do absolutely nothing while I wait for my non-writing job to call me in to work for another three hours a day.
So, I’ve been thinking about what I can do in my spare-spare time. I’m thinking about freelancing. I have a couple of decent-looking websites that seem promising. Of course, my main problem now is that I’m reluctant to start another process of me sending information to faceless mail bots so I can wait for months without hearing back from anyone.
You can’t blame me. After all, four months of working, and all I got in return was a 6 hour a week job, a minor writing job in a paper struggling to become national, and well, writing for this blog… which I know isn’t really a job job, per say, but I like to count it because it is still something I agreed to. I’m just not too eager to head back out there to get blown off by the people who are in charge of the companies that produce my hopes and dreams.
Was that kind of overdramatic? Sorry, if it was. I’ll let you all know how the freelancing thing ends up in a few days. -
Interviewed!
August 07, 2006 by bryan pWell, it only took me around three months, but I finally got an interview today!
In a way, it’s a little depressing since I put out a lot of applications and the only place that really had interest in me was a retail job that’s very part time. On the other hand, I’m psyched. I finally have something to do again! I’ll finally have an income! Just imagine, actual money coming in!
Anyway, the interview went well, and I was told that as soon as they call my references, they’ll let me know when I can start working. Well, that is if the references don’t bash me when they call.
An interresting side note- I was asked a lot of questions during the interview. Like, a lot more than I remember being asked when I got my last part time job. Apparently, they have a sheet filled with questions that they’re required to ask all potential employees. I kind of liked it better than the interview I had for my dishwashing job a few years ago that consisted of several large, scruffy-looking men asking me if I know how to wash dishes.
It pays to have accomplishments, by the way. -
quick update
August 04, 2006 by bryan pJust a quick little update of the things I’ve learned lately- the places I’m applying for are horribly unorganized.
I’m really just looking for any job I can take (I’ll even take retail at this point) so I can afford my writing addiction, but every place that I’ve applied to has either:
1. Not looked at any applications
2. Lost my application
3. Lost my contact information entirely
4. Decided to not hire anyone and then forget to tell the applicants.
Really, this job search is getting irritating. My next step is to utilize a string of contacts that I only know because they are friends of relatives. I’ll let you all know how that one ends up. -
Crazy
July 31, 2006 by bryan pWell, the scores are in, and apparently I’m too crazy to be an employee.
I went back to the company that made me do a 50 page psychological test when I applied. Even though the automated response e-mail said I’d be considered for 90 days after I applied, I wanted to double check since they had already lost my first application.
However, even though it had been less than a week since I applied, they already knew some things. I had scored a “yellow” on the test, meaning they wouldn’t even consider me for an interview.
The lady was very nice about the whole thing, though. She told me to do the entire thing (again) but this time only choose answers of “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree”. Those, apparently, are the two key answers to getting a job. There is no middle ground.
I wasn’t aware that there were only two answers for every question. I didn’t think life was that black and white. Stupid elitist jerks. To lie on a psychological test just doesn’t feel right. -
online application
July 27, 2006 by bryan pI haven’t written in a few days, mainly due to technical difficulties. For some reason, the collegerecruiter webpage wouldn’t load. Heck, quite a few pages wouldn’t load. I’ve been slogging along with limited internet access, but it all seems back to normal now for some reason or another.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I did an online application to work at a company. I walked into the building, asked for an application, and left a few seconds later with a card with a shifty web address on it.
It turns out that the application was approximately 40-50 pages and took the better part of an hour. I went for a job, and ended up getting a psychological test. I know that’s standard, but it’s not the most fun way to spend a friday night.
Recently, I was back in the area of the same company and I asked if they had decided (since no one contacted me back). Someone went off to check, and came back with some irritating info.
They never got anything from me. Ever. Despite the automated e-mail message I got saying that everything worked fine. They were really apologetic about it, but told me I had to redo the entire application.
Ahhh, the information age. -
Belated introduction
July 20, 2006 by bryan pI got a bit ahead of myself in my last update. See, I’m new here on the blog, and I probably should have shown a bit more about my background before I started railing on the problems in the job hunt.
I’m a recent college graduate with a BA in English. I minored in writing, and ultimately that’s what I want to do. I want to be a writer. I want to entertain people, to make them laugh and enjoy life a little more than normal.
Of course, I’m a few steps away from that goal. At the moment, I’m still in the “I need a job, any job to support my writing addiction” phase.
Anyway, that’s enough about me for now. I’ll leave you with something I learned the other day (thankfully not the hard way). Never pay money to get a job. If I’ve learned anything through searching the internet for jobs, it’s that there are a lot of scams out there. Not that I didn’t know the internet was full of scams to begin with, but this is the first time they applied to me. Employers will hire you if they want you. Never give money to make money. Something about that whole deal seems shady. -
Impersonal Internet
July 17, 2006 by bryan pIt’s been two months already since I graduated college. Two whole months of job searching, writing, and getting blown off by potential employers.
I was always under the assumption that if you get a degree in college, employers will throw jobs at you. Heck, that’s half the reason of why I went. Yet, here I am now, sitting in my grandparent’s basement with nothing to do in the forseeable future.
I have applied to more places than I can count. After two months, my wallet has been hurting, so I started to apply for part time jobs as well. You know, a job’s a job. Plus, I really just need something until I can get something published. Hopefully. Maybe.
Getting a job isn’t a simple thing in the modern world.
Everything is completely done with computers. I have walked into over a dozen places, dressed up nicely and asking for any job to be told to go online and apply that way. Basically, getting a job is so impersonal that I never get to the interview phase. Of course, all the websites say I need to wait 90 days before trying to contact anyone.
Anyway, I guess it’s back to the job search with me. Anyone have any cool hobbies I can pick up in my free time?
