I don't know if most people out there know it, but for those of us who work weekends, or non traditional hours, the 2 days in a row off is the exception not the rule. Many of the 9 to 5'ers might think, well you just get your two days off in the middle of the week, but that's not the case, for the most part we get a day here and a day there.. I know that's the trade off for the kind of work that I do, and for not having to be somewhere from 9 to 5 every week day, but it wears on you, it grinds you down, and when you land on that magical 2 days off, at least for me, it's as if my body had been completely drained of all energy and with no desire to do much beyond sleep, stare at the wall and surf the net.... and that is my justification for doing next to nothing today... and for feeling like a slacker on the job hunt front... That said I have applied for one job today, and looked at the University of Michigan job site. There were not any new positions that grabbed my attention today, at least not for me.
I checked out the pulm market site, and was not advanced for any of the positions that I was interested in. It's a quandary, there are jobs that I know that I can do, and I have worked retail before (not that I want to spend the rest of my life working retail), but I have never held the position title that they are looking for. I don't want to lie and misrepresent my work history, but their on line system will not let apply for the jobs.
Ok, this is going to be a quick post all around, my goal is to do about 10 a month, and I think I have hit that for January.
On the Road... you know there is some big fest think going on in New Orleans... and I think I might be interested in checking it out..
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
It's a going!
This past week has been pretty light on the job hunt, mostly because I have been working on a application for the Ann Arbor District Library. The question becomes why would I want to work there? Well several reasons, some of them that might seem a little dumb. First I dig the Library it's a big building filled with book, and now they even have dvds and music that you can check out. It's a place where people can gather and where there are community events. The AADL has several branches, 3 of which are fairly close to where I live, and the main branch is with in walking/biking distance (when the weather permits). I have come to see the library as a community recourse, with it's media collections, it's internet access, the library book sales and it's programs, and really I would like to be part of that system and team..... then there is the pay and the whole full time employment with benefits thing as well. I think that's enough about that, I don't want to jinx it...
On the Road. Honestly I would think that the trip though the south at this time of the year would be the lest exciting and eventful for me. Partly because I am chomping at the bit for spring and summer when I could revisit places in the north and northwest that I have been to before. When I last posted I noted that I would be headed west along the gulf coast toward Texas. I hope at this point that I would have just wandered to Mobile, AL and seen the sights. I don't really have a clue what is there, but I would just want to take a look. One place that I would like to check out is Battleship Memorial Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_Memorial_Park) as I like that WWII stuff. I think it's that I see the Second World War as a time where things were mostly on track. I a lot of ways it was the coming together of people in the USA, and it helped lead the way to the world we live in with not only the bad stuff, but also the good.
Gotta run, more later.
On the Road. Honestly I would think that the trip though the south at this time of the year would be the lest exciting and eventful for me. Partly because I am chomping at the bit for spring and summer when I could revisit places in the north and northwest that I have been to before. When I last posted I noted that I would be headed west along the gulf coast toward Texas. I hope at this point that I would have just wandered to Mobile, AL and seen the sights. I don't really have a clue what is there, but I would just want to take a look. One place that I would like to check out is Battleship Memorial Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_Memorial_Park) as I like that WWII stuff. I think it's that I see the Second World War as a time where things were mostly on track. I a lot of ways it was the coming together of people in the USA, and it helped lead the way to the world we live in with not only the bad stuff, but also the good.
Gotta run, more later.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
More Limbo, Sins of the past, Get me out of here!
I have not forgotten about this blog, I have just been busy. I am still looking for work, only not as actively as I was a couple of weeks ago. Part of the slow down has been dealing with the University of Michigan HR issues.... which I did get some movement on this week. I don't know that I really want to get into all the in's and out's in such an open forum, but I do have some thoughts about having been tagged as 'do not rehire' in a system.
First of all, if that is going to be the case, the employee needs to be told so that they don't come back thinking all is well and that they could be rehired. Now if you get fired from some place, that's a pretty strong message that you are not welcome, but if you leave by your own choice, when you are on your way out, you should have an exit interview and you should be informed at that time that at this time you are not considered a viable rehire. It doesn't have to be a big deal, after all you have left on your own.
The other issue is for how long do you consider someone a 'Do Not Rehire'? The basic nature of life is that people change, their skills change and become refined. The example I have been using when talking to people is let's say that you have a 23 or 24 year old, just out of school, and they are on their own for the first time. They have a tendency to show up a little late often, they don't know how to ask for help, or to get along with the other workers, and after a while they self select their way out of the job, move on and everyone is happy that they are leaving..... and then several years later they return looking for work. In the years since they have left, thing have changed, they have become more responsible, they have settled down, and for the last several years they have had a solid work record of showing up on time and having positive interactions with their co-workers... do you give them a chance? How about just a chance to interview? Also let's say they have gone back to school, they have a new set of skills or experiences do you let them apply for those jobs?
These all seem like questions that I would have, and what I was told by the HR rep, were things that I would have to address in a job interview... which is good advice because a couple of hours before I talked to her, I did apply for a position in my old department, doing what I had done at the end of the 1990's.
When I last left off with my daydream Year on the Road trip, I was in South Carolina. It's a state that has been in the news a lot this week because of the primary that are looming. I have been a tourist in places where elections are about to be held, it was in Sweden of course, and I didn't mind it to much... but I really don't think that I would want to be in South Carolina for this political season, at least not for to long. I think at this point I would start to head west.... but first I would kind of retrace my steps and head to Tallahasee, and from there head west along the coast of the gulf towards Texas. I don't have any places along the way that I would want to see, visit or stop for, and I think I would just take a look at what I saw signs for and what caught my eye.
First of all, if that is going to be the case, the employee needs to be told so that they don't come back thinking all is well and that they could be rehired. Now if you get fired from some place, that's a pretty strong message that you are not welcome, but if you leave by your own choice, when you are on your way out, you should have an exit interview and you should be informed at that time that at this time you are not considered a viable rehire. It doesn't have to be a big deal, after all you have left on your own.
The other issue is for how long do you consider someone a 'Do Not Rehire'? The basic nature of life is that people change, their skills change and become refined. The example I have been using when talking to people is let's say that you have a 23 or 24 year old, just out of school, and they are on their own for the first time. They have a tendency to show up a little late often, they don't know how to ask for help, or to get along with the other workers, and after a while they self select their way out of the job, move on and everyone is happy that they are leaving..... and then several years later they return looking for work. In the years since they have left, thing have changed, they have become more responsible, they have settled down, and for the last several years they have had a solid work record of showing up on time and having positive interactions with their co-workers... do you give them a chance? How about just a chance to interview? Also let's say they have gone back to school, they have a new set of skills or experiences do you let them apply for those jobs?
These all seem like questions that I would have, and what I was told by the HR rep, were things that I would have to address in a job interview... which is good advice because a couple of hours before I talked to her, I did apply for a position in my old department, doing what I had done at the end of the 1990's.
When I last left off with my daydream Year on the Road trip, I was in South Carolina. It's a state that has been in the news a lot this week because of the primary that are looming. I have been a tourist in places where elections are about to be held, it was in Sweden of course, and I didn't mind it to much... but I really don't think that I would want to be in South Carolina for this political season, at least not for to long. I think at this point I would start to head west.... but first I would kind of retrace my steps and head to Tallahasee, and from there head west along the coast of the gulf towards Texas. I don't have any places along the way that I would want to see, visit or stop for, and I think I would just take a look at what I saw signs for and what caught my eye.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Work and Politics
Today was the primary in Michigan.... no I didn't go out and vote. There is a simple reason and it's that because of the state having moved their primary up the Democratic Party isn't going to seat the Michigan Delegates, and the Republicans are only going to have half of their delegates seated... the whole point of moving the primary was to focus attention on Michigan and our Economic problems... this includes the dire job situation in here... There is a lot of talk about bringing manufacturing jobs back to the state, and really I just don't see it. What we need to focus on is bringing High Tech jobs here and educating the people of Michigan to fill those jobs. If we are going to invest in manufacturing it needs to be more than just the auto industry. To me the auto industry's biggest failing has been in being the auto industry and not the transportation industry. The facts are these, people need to get around, and with the cost of gas, the movements towards greener living and towards healthier living that that there are other ways to get around, and we need to seriously look at them. Trains, trams, bike lanes, sidewalks, better mass transit all over would not only leave us a richer, healthier and in someways a happier nation, investment in these things would also provide jobs. Not only in the manufacturing of the products needed to create a mass transit culture, but the services that would go along with it...... if only more people would think more of the community than of their wants and needs... at any rate, I hear all the talk about bringing manufacturing back to the state, and honestly? i don't see it. It's as if Michigan is a boyfriend who has been dumped and can't move on, it's time to let go, it's time to find someone else and it's time start over.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Job Hunt Limbo
It's a monday morning and I feel like I am in limbo in this job search. Really living in Ann Arbor, the best game in town is working at the University of Michigan ... and as I wrote last week I am flagged as 'Do Not Rehire' at the moment. IKEA (my former employer) is a total no-go as well, I have applied for I don't know how many jobs there and am could not even getting the courtesy of a 'we are not interested' response when I was still an employee.... this of course goes against the HR policy as stated in their Co-worker handbook... and now I still get nothing. I did not get the paper yesterday, so I didn't look and see if there was anything of interest there. I have given a quick look at the on line job sources and am not seeing much of note.... maybe I should have gotten a education in the computing field as that seems to have a lot of openings.
The other part of my limbo is that I am working, in fact I have 6 hours today at one of my jobs, but it's not the kind of work that is anything more than filling slots in the schedule and the pay is helping to keep me afloat, but right now I am coming close, but just missing my target earnings for each week.
Ok, onto the fun part of this blog. On the Road, I last left off with the idea of being in Atlanta, and honestly, just as I feel a little bit in limbo about the job hunt, I also feel a bit in limbo about where to go from Atlanta. I figure that after a weekend, I would be ready to wander on down the road. .. I think that Charleston [http://www.charleston.com] would be a solid next stop. I would like to visit Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum [http://www.patriotspoint.org] and to see Fort Sumter [http://www.spiritlinecruises.com/sumter_overview.asp] which was the starting place of the US Civil War.
more later
The other part of my limbo is that I am working, in fact I have 6 hours today at one of my jobs, but it's not the kind of work that is anything more than filling slots in the schedule and the pay is helping to keep me afloat, but right now I am coming close, but just missing my target earnings for each week.
Ok, onto the fun part of this blog. On the Road, I last left off with the idea of being in Atlanta, and honestly, just as I feel a little bit in limbo about the job hunt, I also feel a bit in limbo about where to go from Atlanta. I figure that after a weekend, I would be ready to wander on down the road. .. I think that Charleston [http://www.charleston.com] would be a solid next stop. I would like to visit Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum [http://www.patriotspoint.org] and to see Fort Sumter [http://www.spiritlinecruises.com/sumter_overview.asp] which was the starting place of the US Civil War.
more later
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Hanging On
Start Rant mode!
PDFs, the Internet and job apps/ required forms... really why do companies want you to print out a PDF and fill it out? Would it not be easier to simply have some sort of on line form that you can fill out, and they can print? Or not print? Something that will save them a tree? Now I realize that there is an entrenched culture of the pen and paper application, but isn't it time to enter the information age? I do know that there are plenty of places out there that have on line application systems, and take that information as their first point of contact with perspective employees... and many of these also require you to fill out a paper app once you have been hired, as if my writing my address, and the name of my last boss by hand is anymore valid then having it PRINTED out and letting me sign that document.
I guess my real problem in that I am insecure about my penmanship, the fact that I have trouble spelling sometimes, and when I am nervously filling out a job application it’s especially bad. I also hate the fact that the space that is often given for entering the information is too small for that information. Even things like phone numbers often aren’t given enough space, and if the last company or organization is long, well then that can be a problem as well… think about this, you don’t want to use an acronym (because that’s not professional) but imagine that you have to write something The University of Mississippi Department of Human Resources in a little box. Sure the idea of writing U of Miss. Dept of HR might cross your mind, and I am pretty sure that the person reviewing the application is going to understand what you are saying, but you loose point for not writing out the whole name.
This leads me to another issue, companies and organization ask for you to submit a resume, which is intended to give them an over view of your work history, but then you fill out the application it often times says flatly that writing see Resume isn’t acceptable. Or worse yet that you are not to attach a resume at all. Why not, I know that the resume is not a complete document of all the information that the employer desires or wants to have on hand, but it’s a good starting place. If it’s done right is has at least your current contact information and the names of the employers that you have worked for in the past and the names of the schools that you have attended.
So what is the solution? Other than the already mentioned on line application that would be printed out by HR and you would simply review it and then SIGN that printed document, I think that a generic form asking for all the information that a employer would want that you can bring with you and sign would be ideal. There could even be a space where company specific information could be added.
OK end rant.
So my job search as been moving along slowly I finally got around to setting up the pre employment screening for the University of Michigan only to be told that the status from my previous employment at the university (which ended when the temp job ended in 2002) is set as Do Not Rehire. I have no idea why this is my status as when I left the university I was told by the director of the department that I was welcome any time, when my former bosses all had positive things to say about my employment and two of them even agreed to be listed as my references for future employment. I need to get to the bottom of this, and find out what happened and if there is anyway that I can get it fix. I wonder if this is why I haven’t gotten positive responses (or in some cases any responses) from the jobs that I have applied for at the University in the last couple of months?
This leads to my next thought, how long do you hold a negative experience against someone when it comes to employment? People grow up and change as time goes on, but at what point do you forgive a mistake? Is it the level or severity of the mistake that you look at? Is it a change in personality or behavior over time? I don’t know, I am just asking at this point.
Ok. Now for the fun part.
One the Road, when I last left off I was thinking that I would be visiting Atlanta about this time, looking forward to the weekend in town. I have been to Atlanta before; I was there for the 1996 Olympic games, which was my internship for my degree. I was there when things were crazy and there were a lot of visitors in town, so maybe I didn’t get the whole experience of Atlanta. This time around I would love to revisit the Little 5 points, check out Wuxtry Records (http://www.wuxtryrecords.com) and poke around (I think I went there in ’96) ride the Marta, eat at Johnny Rockets which I know is a chain, but the first time I visited one was in Atlanta. I am sure that I could spend a couple of days in the city, drinking coffee, wandering though the college areas and prowling the record and bookshops. At some point I would have to wander down to Centennial Olympic Park and take a look at it again.
I think that would hold me until Sunday, when it would be time to wander on.
Another thing that I would want to have along with me for a trip like this would be a Mac book laptop. A easy to use and dependable, Wi Fi enabled book to use for posting on this blog, to send e-mails, keep track of the trip, and news… but may be most importantly help with the tunes on the trip. When I travel I like to listen to NPR as much as I can, but there are times when what I carve is music. For a trip like this one the idea of having a new and clean Mac book with iTunes and a iPod (that can dock with the car) to carry that music would be great. I would of course start out with a library of my music (all legal of course, ripped from MY CDs, or downloaded legally from the net); there would also be pod casts for the listening.
Currently I do keep a music blog over at mog.com/iren (hint hint plug plug) and one of the features that I write every month is a overview of the tunes that have caught my ear over the past month. Being on the road would give me the chance to, not only keep track of that project but also to report on the regional and local scenes and bands that I could run across.
PDFs, the Internet and job apps/ required forms... really why do companies want you to print out a PDF and fill it out? Would it not be easier to simply have some sort of on line form that you can fill out, and they can print? Or not print? Something that will save them a tree? Now I realize that there is an entrenched culture of the pen and paper application, but isn't it time to enter the information age? I do know that there are plenty of places out there that have on line application systems, and take that information as their first point of contact with perspective employees... and many of these also require you to fill out a paper app once you have been hired, as if my writing my address, and the name of my last boss by hand is anymore valid then having it PRINTED out and letting me sign that document.
I guess my real problem in that I am insecure about my penmanship, the fact that I have trouble spelling sometimes, and when I am nervously filling out a job application it’s especially bad. I also hate the fact that the space that is often given for entering the information is too small for that information. Even things like phone numbers often aren’t given enough space, and if the last company or organization is long, well then that can be a problem as well… think about this, you don’t want to use an acronym (because that’s not professional) but imagine that you have to write something The University of Mississippi Department of Human Resources in a little box. Sure the idea of writing U of Miss. Dept of HR might cross your mind, and I am pretty sure that the person reviewing the application is going to understand what you are saying, but you loose point for not writing out the whole name.
This leads me to another issue, companies and organization ask for you to submit a resume, which is intended to give them an over view of your work history, but then you fill out the application it often times says flatly that writing see Resume isn’t acceptable. Or worse yet that you are not to attach a resume at all. Why not, I know that the resume is not a complete document of all the information that the employer desires or wants to have on hand, but it’s a good starting place. If it’s done right is has at least your current contact information and the names of the employers that you have worked for in the past and the names of the schools that you have attended.
So what is the solution? Other than the already mentioned on line application that would be printed out by HR and you would simply review it and then SIGN that printed document, I think that a generic form asking for all the information that a employer would want that you can bring with you and sign would be ideal. There could even be a space where company specific information could be added.
OK end rant.
So my job search as been moving along slowly I finally got around to setting up the pre employment screening for the University of Michigan only to be told that the status from my previous employment at the university (which ended when the temp job ended in 2002) is set as Do Not Rehire. I have no idea why this is my status as when I left the university I was told by the director of the department that I was welcome any time, when my former bosses all had positive things to say about my employment and two of them even agreed to be listed as my references for future employment. I need to get to the bottom of this, and find out what happened and if there is anyway that I can get it fix. I wonder if this is why I haven’t gotten positive responses (or in some cases any responses) from the jobs that I have applied for at the University in the last couple of months?
This leads to my next thought, how long do you hold a negative experience against someone when it comes to employment? People grow up and change as time goes on, but at what point do you forgive a mistake? Is it the level or severity of the mistake that you look at? Is it a change in personality or behavior over time? I don’t know, I am just asking at this point.
Ok. Now for the fun part.
One the Road, when I last left off I was thinking that I would be visiting Atlanta about this time, looking forward to the weekend in town. I have been to Atlanta before; I was there for the 1996 Olympic games, which was my internship for my degree. I was there when things were crazy and there were a lot of visitors in town, so maybe I didn’t get the whole experience of Atlanta. This time around I would love to revisit the Little 5 points, check out Wuxtry Records (http://www.wuxtryrecords.com) and poke around (I think I went there in ’96) ride the Marta, eat at Johnny Rockets which I know is a chain, but the first time I visited one was in Atlanta. I am sure that I could spend a couple of days in the city, drinking coffee, wandering though the college areas and prowling the record and bookshops. At some point I would have to wander down to Centennial Olympic Park and take a look at it again.
I think that would hold me until Sunday, when it would be time to wander on.
Another thing that I would want to have along with me for a trip like this would be a Mac book laptop. A easy to use and dependable, Wi Fi enabled book to use for posting on this blog, to send e-mails, keep track of the trip, and news… but may be most importantly help with the tunes on the trip. When I travel I like to listen to NPR as much as I can, but there are times when what I carve is music. For a trip like this one the idea of having a new and clean Mac book with iTunes and a iPod (that can dock with the car) to carry that music would be great. I would of course start out with a library of my music (all legal of course, ripped from MY CDs, or downloaded legally from the net); there would also be pod casts for the listening.
Currently I do keep a music blog over at mog.com/iren (hint hint plug plug) and one of the features that I write every month is a overview of the tunes that have caught my ear over the past month. Being on the road would give me the chance to, not only keep track of that project but also to report on the regional and local scenes and bands that I could run across.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Middle of the week... slump
I am still here, still thinking and wondering about this blog. I don't know if I have stated that I don't intend to post here everyday, but I felt like I needed to post something during this week.
The job hunt, has been on the back burner the last couple of days, mainly because I have been at work. I know that might sound strange, someone looking for work who doesn't have the time because they are at work, but it's true. I have a pair of gigs where I can pick hours here and there. These are the jobs that have kept me afloat the last couple of months. Anyway, I am still looking...
One thing that I do want to take a moment to talk about is the number of jobs I see posted in the area that have been open for months and months. What is going on here? Do the powers that be really want to fill these jobs? Are there not a lot of people out of work and looking? Now I know that some jobs that have very specific skills that are required, but plenty of the jobs that I am seeing and talking about are not jobs that require a masters degree or specialized training... so I gotta wonder, are the bean counters really just trying to hold the carrot out there while expecting their workers to cover for a job that they are never going to fill?
Ok, I have to run out the door here in a moment, but I left off day dreaming about spending time in Savannah Ga, and I would think that about this time in the week I would wander up towards Atlanta, which would be a great place to spend the weekend. So let's just say that I spent my time at the shore and exploring the coast, and then would spend this afternoon heading up to Atlanta. I will have more to say about Atlanta tomorrow.
The job hunt, has been on the back burner the last couple of days, mainly because I have been at work. I know that might sound strange, someone looking for work who doesn't have the time because they are at work, but it's true. I have a pair of gigs where I can pick hours here and there. These are the jobs that have kept me afloat the last couple of months. Anyway, I am still looking...
One thing that I do want to take a moment to talk about is the number of jobs I see posted in the area that have been open for months and months. What is going on here? Do the powers that be really want to fill these jobs? Are there not a lot of people out of work and looking? Now I know that some jobs that have very specific skills that are required, but plenty of the jobs that I am seeing and talking about are not jobs that require a masters degree or specialized training... so I gotta wonder, are the bean counters really just trying to hold the carrot out there while expecting their workers to cover for a job that they are never going to fill?
Ok, I have to run out the door here in a moment, but I left off day dreaming about spending time in Savannah Ga, and I would think that about this time in the week I would wander up towards Atlanta, which would be a great place to spend the weekend. So let's just say that I spent my time at the shore and exploring the coast, and then would spend this afternoon heading up to Atlanta. I will have more to say about Atlanta tomorrow.
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