The jobless speak out: Employers are becoming detached from applicants and the unemployed

[ck4829]

In all the applications and interviews I went on know one actually said it out loud but I did notice over time that when filling out applications the questions being asked became geared towards them trying to find out how long I was unemployed.

When you are looking for employment it's really is hard to tell what the problem is when applying for a position. If I had to guess it would be a couple of factors. More competition and employers being overwhelmed with the amount of applicants. There is no standard way to apply for a job; it depends on the company. Some employers will say, "You need to submit an application online from our website and it will go through HR" and when looking online, some employers will say "Please see the store manager in your location for open positions." If you are lucky, you will actually get a human being to see who you are and possibly have a conversation with them.

My other favorite is the company that tells you are overqualified. Can someone please explain what this term means when you are looking for employment? Especially, with this economy and job market. Sure, I may be overqualified, but wouldn't that be my call? These employers don't have a clue what my financial status is, so how could they judge that way?

http://downbutnotoutletters.tumblr.com/post/8998822388/i-am-a-firm-believer-keeping-health-insurance-if-at

I still have not found any work. Giving up is not an option. I still have bills to pay and need money to live. The only reason I have been able to survive for this long is due to great money management skills and pure luck. It’s frustrating because I miss working; I WANT to work, but no one is willing to give me the opportunity to prove myself.

http://downbutnotoutletters.tumblr.com/post/8475992847/i-miss-working-i-want-to-work-but-no-one-is-willing

I was employed as a copywriter for an advertising agency in 2008-2009. In early March of 2009 I represented the only remaining creative employee at the company. Earlier that year all three graphic designers and our web designer had been let go. I was also “let go” in middle March.

It’s hard to determine whether my lack of job inspired employers to look in the other direction. More often than not I never received an interview and only few inquired as to what I had been doing with my time prior to applying for an open position.

http://downbutnotoutletters.tumblr.com/post/8383463596/care-enough-to-inquire-care-enough-to-assist-however

For jobs in my field; I get to phase two of the interview process, but feel once I submit my birthday or graduation date, I’m invisible. I’m 51 and unmarketable. 
I don’t regret spending quality time with my Dad, just leaving my job to do it. It’s amazing how just a few years ago I could pick who I wanted to work for, and name my price … now I can’t even get a minimum wage job. What happened? 
Unemployment isn’t enough to keep your head above water. I’m renting a room … when unemployment is out, what next?

http://downbutnotoutletters.tumblr.com/post/7583313658/once-i-submit-my-birthday-or-graduation-date-im

And no, politicians and the media, another round of tax cuts will not solve this. Try something else.

[Brickbat]

1. "Overqualified" means "you're probably going to leave this job as soon as the economy improves and

you can find something better, and we'd hate to have to go through the hiring process again when we can find someone dumber or more desperate than you to stay put once they're in this job."

[SteveM]

3. "you're going to leave this job:" Yeah. So would the "interviewer."

[MedicalAdmin]

4. The only thing more expensive than...

... putting time and money into training an employee and having them leave, is not training them and having them stay.

I imaging that the same applies for not hiring the most qualified person for the job possible. MBA style short term thinking is putting the final nail in the coffin of the USA.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

5. Bingo... the key to gaining maximum profit from your assets (employees) is trapping employees.

When an employee is "overqualified" you can't give them shit because they'll up and leave. Even moreso once the economy turns around. You're not the only game in town that can use their services and they have skills to move elswhere (or move up the corporate ladder).

The key is getting an employee with the minimum skillsets needed to do the job just barely adequetely. Then you can get away with screwing them more because they are, in essence, stuck. Nothing sucks more than training employees only to have to waste money training new employees just a few months later because your McDonald's fry cook finally found a logistics programming job.

I have a friend who flips/rents properties (mostly sectino * gov't assisted housing) and he has oodles of workers who work for about $9/hour in cash doing everything from refinishing & tiling floors to remodelling kitchens and rewiring houses. We're talking refinishing entire bathrooms in little more than 1 day. Most of his workers have criminal or some other adverse pasts, are very poor with handling money, post-workers compensation, can't drive, drink too much, ... whatever. But they can follow instructions (monkey see monkey do). He chooses people like this on purpose (actually turning down experienced applicants) because he knows once he hires someone they'll be "stuck" with him. Reliable & cheap hard workers (albeit barely satisfactory quality) and all he has to do is pay them a tad more than minimum wage.

[emulatorloo]

2. Rec, thanks for compiling this

[undeterred]

6. I've had two face-to-face interviews after which

I never heard another word from the employer. No ding letter. Not even an email.