Job search
October 25th 2008 01:03
I usually write about work–oriented matters like jobs on my WorkReport blog, but of course these days a good number of people look for jobs on the Net rather than in the newspaper, so it’s perfectly applicable to talk about them here instead. In fact, when I was looking for a job back in late 2006, early 2007, I spent a good deal of time on a site called Seek, which was actually helpful in providing job descriptions and ways of applying. The local newspaper, the Otago Daily Times, also provided a job-seeker service, long before it got its act together and starting putting the paper online in a way that was actually readable. (For at least a couple of years it basically had nothing more than the paper’s layout as it was prepared for the printers available.)
I haven’t had to go looking for a job since I was employed by Delta in Dunedin for four months (started as a temp and got kept on, and then was offered a job the day after my wife and I decided to go to England for a holiday!). When I came back from England I already had a different job to go to, which was a relief.
I must say that looking for jobs, whether it’s via the newspaper or online, is still a pain. I applied for so many jobs during my last period of unemployment and got so few interviews (about two, I think!) that it became quite discouraging. This, in spite of the fact that older people are now being regarded more favourably in the job market, and in spite of having had some forty years experience of working. Some people still look at someone older and think they can’t possibly keep up with the new technology.
Incidentally, I’ve just looked at one online job site, who say that signing up is free: Try it now free! There is no obligation - you can cancel at any time for a full refund! Huh? How is there a refund when it’s free in the first place. Plainly it’s not!
Yesterday, my boss showed me an article he’d snipped from one of the smaller town papers on preparing CVs. Talk about contradictory. Firstly there was a kind of interview section in which some CEO said he’d put out the message that he’d only read one-page CVs, and anyone who sent him anything longer wouldn’t get noticed at all. Then in another column it talked about how, the longer you’d been working, the more pages your CV might take up – up to ten, in fact. (Which seems to me excessive, and likely to get ignored as well.)
I don’t think there’s any easy way to get a job; a lot of it is circumstance. For instance when I’d just put my name down with one job-seeking firm, I got offered a short-term job as I was about to walk out the door. Yet, I’d already been turned down for several jobs I’d applied for through another personnel firm. Luck of the draw!
I haven’t had to go looking for a job since I was employed by Delta in Dunedin for four months (started as a temp and got kept on, and then was offered a job the day after my wife and I decided to go to England for a holiday!). When I came back from England I already had a different job to go to, which was a relief.
I must say that looking for jobs, whether it’s via the newspaper or online, is still a pain. I applied for so many jobs during my last period of unemployment and got so few interviews (about two, I think!) that it became quite discouraging. This, in spite of the fact that older people are now being regarded more favourably in the job market, and in spite of having had some forty years experience of working. Some people still look at someone older and think they can’t possibly keep up with the new technology.
Incidentally, I’ve just looked at one online job site, who say that signing up is free: Try it now free! There is no obligation - you can cancel at any time for a full refund! Huh? How is there a refund when it’s free in the first place. Plainly it’s not!
Yesterday, my boss showed me an article he’d snipped from one of the smaller town papers on preparing CVs. Talk about contradictory. Firstly there was a kind of interview section in which some CEO said he’d put out the message that he’d only read one-page CVs, and anyone who sent him anything longer wouldn’t get noticed at all. Then in another column it talked about how, the longer you’d been working, the more pages your CV might take up – up to ten, in fact. (Which seems to me excessive, and likely to get ignored as well.)
I don’t think there’s any easy way to get a job; a lot of it is circumstance. For instance when I’d just put my name down with one job-seeking firm, I got offered a short-term job as I was about to walk out the door. Yet, I’d already been turned down for several jobs I’d applied for through another personnel firm. Luck of the draw!
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