Lady if I HAD 3 employer references I'd be EMPLOYED already!
So the third agency now has told me they won't even TOUCH me without 3, minimum 2 previous supervisor / employer references.
I was blunt "If I had those references, i'd be employed"
I can't believe how fucked up the market has become!
I go to Europe for a few years, and I comeback to an alien planet!!!
THIS IS NOT THE AMERICA I GREW UP WITH!!!!!
Hell it's not even the same country I learned my IT trade in either.
Sadly I'm high up enough in IT that my last real job boss, was the DIRECTOR!
the problem for me is that I was canned, anyway I put it. and I was in a very special position that was kind of outside the normal power structure. so I didn't really have a supervisor. That allowed me a massive amount of leeway which pissed off a lot of people b/c I wasn't in their chain of command... that was by design btw. I was SUPPOSED to be able to tell someone NO and not get in trouble.
and I quit/fired from my last job... which doesn't leave a happy taste in one's supervisor's mouth and all.
So my 14 years of wide, varied experience count for dick at this company.
So I really don't know WTF to do now.
I'm writing this to blow off steam, and I'm curious if anyone else has had this issue as well.
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Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)
MADem
(135,425 posts)That peer could write you a recommendation (or you could write one for the peer to sign), stating that you were a free-floating employee who reported to a lot of people and who was terminated by "upper management"--it's not a total lie, now, is it? They could mention some of your better qualities, and hope that overcomes the little termination comment. Who the hell is gonna check, beyond making a phone call or two? If the phone number goes to your old peer, then there ya go--you are relying on him or her to put the best face on it.
Your only real option is to press on, maybe take a job that's a bit below your talent for a year or so, do well, get along with your bosses, and leave on good terms, giving notice, to kick up to a better position.
Good luck, it is not easy.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)I spent 24 years at DOL. Over that time I became very anti employer. Employers these days are a bunch of sociopathic screwballs. They want your time and your experience for dirt wages. Because the public allowed our economy to be globalized based on a pack of lies and distortions, we are in a deep hurt. And you are correct in your vision about America.
When I was an employment specialist I was amazed about all the outrageous and even contradictory demands employers would make. From the time the RR was president in 1980 I could see a real shift in the employment situation. Since 1980 the social contract between workers and employer has been vaporized and the public has been convinced to accept a suicidal economic agenda. I am now extremely anti business because they must be reigned in.
Their demands in the employment process are unacceptable and unreasonable. They are also illegal except we have no policemen.
"Getting government off your back" was trick code to create a situation where employers had totally free reign to rape anyone they wanted. At labor we used to enforce what labor laws existed, but were decimated by huge budget cuts and political intimidation. The public was taught to hate public employees like I was. Unions were put under vicious attack because they could stand in the way of wholesale rape of the working class. And this scenario has gone on for 32 years in earnest since Ronald Reagan. He was a vicious ignorant human being. I felt no remorse for his demise.
The problem is that the public is so confused and under informed that they are clueless about what has been done. Unless there is a strong federal oversight to police business practices the worker will get abused every time. We have a GOP now that has a "Freddie Kruger" attitude toward workers. The more you slash them the better. Democrats are too weak and compromised by big money opponents to effectively resist.
Quite honestly I do not know what to tell you personally. All I can say is that I understand your plight very well. It will take a militant backlash against the conservative movement and big business to restore what we had in the 1950's.
This election will determine whether we begin to going back the right way holding business accountable for fair employment and labor practices, or whether we go further down hill where the "whip master" has all the power.
tech_smythe
(190 posts)Ive been responsible for tens of thousands of dollars of equipment up to a million euro contract, and in all the years i've worked i've NEVER had a credit check performed on myself.
I think so far i've had 2 done, and i KNOW i've had at least 3 background checks done, only ONE of which actually sent me the copy!
This country is going mad, completely insane... maybe I should look into moving to Canada. I think they need IT people there.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)A few years before I retired in 1998 credit checks came onto the scene. When I was an employment specialist employers were making all sorts of outrageous demands. Part of the meme "getting government off your back" was code for giving employers free reign to do whatever they want in the employment process. It is nuts. Employers demand to rule your life but they demand to pay dirt wages. We have reached and era where you have to literally get down on your knees and beg for any kind of job.
The GOP has always resented any control on employers. They take the Ron Paul libertarian view that all discrimination is ok even racial, religious, sexual orientation and disability. The Republican party views jobs to be the same as property and a commodity to be bought and sold on the free market. That the employer should have complete control over that property no matter what. That is why they support ending all labor laws including child labor laws. That is why they believe that wages should be based on the global free market that includes competing against the lowest wages on the planet.
Now they do not run directly on those beliefs but they use generic political speak code to mask and cover the real truth. In DOL most of us who pay attention fully understand a code that the voters are NOT aware of.
Because the voting public has been misled, lied to and maneuvered for so long they vote for policies that are actually economic poison to their well being. Ronald Reagan really started all this madness. He told employers that it is ok to even kill your employees it is a cost of doing business. That is why he was so keen on ending all labor enforcement.
Quite frankly it makes me crazy sometimes when I hear people bashing unions and government intervention in their life and talking a viciously anti worker agenda when they are broke.
Lionessa
(3,894 posts)And I wisely let my biz slide into nothingness rather than pay tons of money for advertising and such that wouldn't work since my profession has to do with real estate, and commercial real estate service at that, during that whole time and the two years since, I can't get a job. There are so many people applying for every job, and with no one but me to verify I have any skills, it's nuts.
I'm thinking of trying a temp service where perhaps they can just test me and send me out based on skills alone? I don't know. I'm also thinking of leaving the country to find a job, though I'm not sure anywhere else is any better.
tech_smythe
(190 posts)especially out of the country I imagine bc of the assorted laws
you'd have to learn a completely new set of rules
Lionessa
(3,894 posts)reason, today was particularly depressing partially because every job I see that I can get, I can't live on, ie minimum wage, everything I'm qualified for I can't even get a foot in the door and it's looked this way now for years. I still have equipment and have an idea of how to move forward, but I've totally lost my edge, I'm just downtrodden I can't seem to pull off entrepreneur anymore to rustle up those first projects that might boost it forward.
Anyway, I'm right there with you tonight.
tech_smythe
(190 posts)homes, land? why do you need equipment?
OT questions I know
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)...I'm fighting a quack doctor who screwed me out of a job over my physical.
Bastards.
Hang in there!
PEACE!
tech_smythe
(190 posts)I wonder what his angle is
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)If you say that I know nothing about your profession, I'll tell you that you're right.
If my suggestions are half assed, go ahead and say so. Have you thought of freelancing or starting your own IT business to get some money coming in? Is that even feasable for what you do?
You have my hopes and a prayer that you find what you want.
PEACE!
tech_smythe
(190 posts)mostly it was teaching and t/s for old people.
i enjoyed the work, but it IS a lot of work.
I pour a lot into each teaching session, and even at 40/hr it's not enough.
I was making 10 hours a week for a while, but it was too much stress, as odd as that sounds.
The patience required also requires at least 2 hours of rest after each session.
Teaching a class of 20 was much easier.
I'd much rather go back into teaching young techs to be honest.
that means going back to school and getting a teaching degree, and I don't know if I've got it in me to go back to school anymore.
but your prayer for my sanity is greatly appreciated.
I hope you get the job. Your's is saint's work that I could never do.
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)...we're all in a heck of a lot of trouble!
Good luck.
PEACE!
LiberalFighter
(50,929 posts)why that doesn't count for something and the 3 supervisor references isn't modified?
What happens if one has only been in the job market for 14 years? How does one have more than 1 reference?
tech_smythe
(190 posts)but your point is very valid.
if I only worked at one company for the last 14 years, i'd really only have one reference.
it's 5 kinds of fucked up for sure.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)I worked as a reporter at five newspapers over a period of 25 years. Four of them are no longer in existence (I swear it wasn't my fault 
) At the fifth paper, everyone I worked with has retired or passed away. Can't get references from any of them.
But it hardly matters now. Since newspapers are laying off people, not hiring, I've given up any hope of working as a reporter again.
After my last reporting job, in 1997, I did some non-writing-related jobs, and then seven years writing semi-technical material for an energy web site. That job no longer exists. Haven't worked in 3.5 years except for a bit of freelance work.
Tech_smythe, maybe you can avoid agencies and go directly to the companies you want to work for. I'm told indeed.com is a good resource for IT jobs. Good luck!
Nikia
(11,411 posts)Maybe, you can use those people for references regardless of their position in the organization. I left on rather bad terms with my former employer although I officially quit. I was able to secure three good references from other people who I worked with though. I was also able to track down my supervisors from the other two previous companies that I worked at even though they are no longer with those companies. One of the agencies that I am working with did interview all of my references that I gave and confirmed that they were good, which makes me happy.
Unfortunately, having left on bad terms makes me somewhat unconfident during the interview. I don't want to make it sound like I can't get along with people or that I can't handle stress or change. Saying negative things about former employees is always a no, no. I have been trying to think what I learned from the situation that I could have changed myself, but those things sound negative too, like I have bad interpersonal skills and have a hard time making good decisions. I don't know how you have handle those questions when you interview.
I am hoping that I get good news this week though from a job that I recently interviewed for recently. The position would pay less than I previously made, have a less prestigious job title, require a significant commute, and have less than ideal hours. Despite that, I probably will take it because it has been hard for me to be out of work these past two months. I need to rebuild my confidence after what has happened and show a positive work history.
I wish you luck in your job search. I know that it is tough out there.
