Online Recruiters

Job Recruiters SUCK!

I'm job hunting in hopes of finding a job close to home and pays fairly well based on my level and years of experience. So I'm doing everything I need to do to get noticed; updating my resume, registering on job search sites, asking friends if they hear of any openings to let me know, etc.  Shortly afterward, job recruiters are blowing up my phone and email box with job opportunities that I would be a "great" fit for. So I follow up. They quiz me on my job knowledge and experience, ask for some personal info, agree to their right to represent form, and tell me not to speak with any other job recruiter about the same position because I would be qualified for multiples submissions.

All well and good, but the outcome has really soured me on job recruiters. I question their integrity and commitment of their job of finding me a job. In my view, they are the "used car salesman" of the recruiting business. I've grown sick of them getting my hopes up of landing a job only to get disappointed.

Lately, I'm getting spammed with emails about job opportunities in other cities and states. My first question is "Did they not read the address line of my resume?" Apparently not. Do they honestly expect me to be able to just pick up and move to another city or state for a job that's short-term and/or has no chance of becoming permanent? I've replied to those email asking if they would offer relocation assistance; of course, they said no. In cases where the job is in another city in the same state, it's far enough away from home that I will be spending a lot of time and burning a lot of gas (and $$$!) just commuting to and from work! I feel like I would need to take out a 2nd mortgage just to keep gas in the car so I can get to and from work! Not to mention the daily wear and tear I would put on my car. God forbid if my car broke down along the commute!

Another thing I hate about job recruiter is that they don't tell you up front how much the job pays and when I ask, they give me a figure that's insulting. Some recruiters have told me "Well, you got to pay the bills right?". I'm not some high school kid needing pocket money for the mall. What you're offering me won't begin to cover my bills! I would be just like a lot of people where are working and receive government assistance because their jobs don't pay enough to cover their needs. I want to be paid what I'm worth! Given my years of work experience and education, that's well more than minimum wage. I'm not so desperate that I will undervalue myself and accept anything that comes along for the sake of being employed: I'm way to old for that now. I want to be paid what I'm worth that will afford me a comfortable lifestyle. I'm not asking for a king's ransom but I'm not taking an underpaying job that will keep me constantly struggling to keep the bills paid and will not afford me to do things like actually take a vacation away from home or pursue some of my interests. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Ten Things Only Bad Recruiters Say

Seemingly, recruiters are becoming more like pests. They find me resume on LinkedIn, Monster or CareerBuilder, then spam my email box and blow up my phone with their "great opportunities", getting my hopes up. So I jump through their hoops in order to at least get an interview. One of two things happen at this point but the same result. I’m scheduled an interview which I follow through (not to mention them calling and emailing me to make sure I make the appointment) after which I hear nothing from anyone, or I simply don’t hear anything from the recruiter after speaking with him or her. I tend to think if I might have said something to cause them to rethink my qualifications for that “great opportunity”. Now I think they’re jerking me around. One recruiter called me about a job he had available and would call me once a week with excuses about having trouble getting in touch with the hiring manager of the client company. He would tell me that the hiring manager was traveling or on vacation. This went on for over a month! Eventually, I stopped answering his calls I was so disgusted with him.

I understand the game here. Recruiting companies work with employers to fill positions as cheaply as possible and they make money for every person they bring in who gets hired on. But to have the same result from so may recruiters tells me there's either a problem with me or them; and I don't think it's me! Some of them seem to have an attitude that they're doing me a favor calling and emailing me about a job that I  would still have to interview and may or may not get.  And when I'm not selected, they're attitude is "don't call us, we'll call you",

OK. I'll get off my soapbox now. I think I got everything off my chest.

Making Changes In My Life

Making Changes

Job Changes

I'm looking to change my current job situation. My main reason are that (1) I am commuting 82 miles to work each day and (2) the job what not what it was advertised to be.

My first point is that the job is just too far away physically from my home. I and driving at least 165 miles per day driving between work and home. That's about a half tank of gas a day which is about $120 in gas per week! I feel like the gas station is my second home! I know I can't keep this up for much longer.

Why don't I just move closer to my job site? A couple of reasons. First, my current job is a contract position, which could end at any point in time. At this time, there is no indication that I will transition to a direct-hire position. To me that's not a good reason to relocate. The thing that scares me the most is to relocate and then find out afterward that my contract has ended and will not be renewed. That would totally suck! Also, moving is expensive! Finding another place to live, packing, renting a moving van,hiring a moving company, it all cost money! Money I don't have. And it's something you don't do on a whim. Also, I'm not the spring chicken I once was! Carrying boxes, carrying pieces of furniture, and loading / unloading trucks takes a LOT out of me now and I feel EVERY bit of it! 

Secondly, my current job was not the job that was advertised. My experience for the most part has been in Computer Desktop Support (Break/Fix), which the current job was advertised as such. After I was offered the job and came on board, I found out that the job is actually PCI Compliance and had nothing to do with Desktop Support. Another notch in my IT tool belt? Of course, but it was not the job for which I had interviewed. So I'm making the best of the situation by learning PCI Compliance and, in my view, making myself more valuable.

Most of all, I'm not happy with my job. It's just a means to keep the bills paid. The people I work with aren't very friendly (at least towards me). The manager at the time I was hired on (who has moved on to a job with another company) did not train me on the job or at least get me acclimated with the job, so I feel like I'm stumbling along, getting bits and pieces here and there. I've been on jobs where there the training is like a baptism by fire, but to get hired on to a job that turns out to be different than what you interviewed for and not to receive any training whatsoever?  I feel so unprepared and getting no guidance or direction from anyone. I'm am dealing with it for now while looking for another job.

Changes in Where I Worship

This is a very hard but necessary change. I have been attending the same church since living in Louisville. I understand there is politics in everything (Church is not immune), but I have been feeling like I have been stifled for a very long time despite efforts of  being an active member in the church. I have created a website for the church when none existed, I helped run the soundboard at a time when no adult was doing it, and I also sing in the choir. In all these area, I feel like I am not getting any support or guidance. Speaking of guidance, my spiritual walk is no different that when I start a new job. My experience has been a "baptism by fire"; no real guidance, just being thrown out there to figure things out for myself and only told what not to do after I've done it. I've learn a lot from my old church but being a church steeped in Louisville history. there are traditions from the past that are still practiced today. That would be a good thing except that there is no allowance for some of the more modern church practices. My biggest complaint would be that there doesn't seem to be any leadership / organization within the church. The auxiliaries seem to be doing there own thing without the knowledge or approval of the Pastor which has resulted in conflicts among themselves, which is very disheartening.

For the first time yesterday, I attended another church service. Checking out the congregation, I was amazed that a sizable number of them are young and middle-aged adults! Secondly, the children's choir was very good! Thirdly, I was amazed that the entire service lasted for a little over an hour! Service at my old church lasted around 3.5 hours! No chance of me falling asleep during service!

Not everything is without its drawbacks! Since this church has 3 services, you can't help but feel like you're moving through the drive-thru of a a fast food restaurant. Even though the sermon was very powerful and exciting, there's really no time to meditate on the speaker's words and relate the sermon to what is going on in my life, so I'm saying that there's really no time to get in to the Spirit. For the same reason, there is no hooping going on. Even though there is an acknowledgement of visitors, there was no opportunity to speak; again, mainly because of time restraints.It's more like you're herded in, get a word, then herded out.

Not ready to pull my membership just yet! After all , this is just one visit to one church. There are a few other churches in Louisville I have been interested in visiting so I'm officially church-hopping for now. 

Learning Guitar

Wannabe Guitar Hero

I'm Not Prince or Eric Clapton!

I picked up the guitar when I was around 10 years old but didn't keep up with it. Now that I'm a half century old, I want to pick it back up and stay with it until I'm at least decent at playing it. I took lessons at the local music stor for a year. My instructor taught me some guitar riffs from sons like Daytripper and Smoke On The Water, but I want to maintain and expand what I learned.

The key is to practice at least 30 minutes per day. Trouble is life has a way of interfering with it. I tried to set a time each day to practice but things seem to want to mandate my attention, especially the time between returning home from work and bedtime. Guess I need to buckle down and not let anything deter me from practicing.the guitar.

I'm currently focusing on learning rhythm guitar. There ar some R&B songs that I can practice and learn. There are also some gospel songs I want to learn. But it all boils down to practice practice practice!