GAME05

Me, I wouldn't worry as much about the gaps so that you can squeeze in more work-relevant job duties. May be just me, but I don't think the gaps would shy an employer away from ever interviewing you. When you're qualified for the job, gaps are something more to ask during an interview. I have plenty of gaps in my resume and I don't get asked about the gaps so much as I get asked why I haven't lasted long-term at any of the positions.

I'll look into oil stuff again. Can't do CDL driving because of my back and work as a grunt burns people out very quickly. Nice to get some money in my pocket, sure, but then I'm back to where I am now and a year older. So I am focused on career-type work. But I know oilfields do have gauge-watchers and gate-keepers. Lots of competition for those, but once you land one they pay really well. I lived right by a huge shale/oil operation in Texas and one guy told me outer Mongolia has a booming mining industry with jobs that pay gobs of money. I'm still applying at various parks, and currently seeing if I can slide into the energy industry. And next week I'm hoping to get some appointments with some temp-to-hire agencies. I used to know someone who landed a temp-to-hire data entry job. She absolutely hates the work but is now making $55,000 per year, so she's pretty entrenched.

I've hit the point of frustration with my Park Ranger search. I have a very solid resume yet only three interviews this year. The state wants teachers and I'm sorta everything-but. I'll be able to work on a teaching-related certification, but I'm also not so committed to a $32000/year job that I want to devote yet another year when I'm in my late 30s, just scraping by in order to land it. I'd enjoy working for the Job Service. Resumes and cover letters fit my editing background and I enjoy helping people. But nothing's popped up yet. I've reached the point (and age) where I just desire a career. Grind out 25 more years staring at a computer screen? fine. Hoping to come across a career-type job which'll hire based on my solid education despite a complete lack of direct experience. I've been looking into energy companies today. But I feel quite lost for just where to look and how to go about doing it. But good news is my current $7.75 job loves me and I've just been extended through December, so at least now I've got some extra time to look. My apologies, this was probably more a rant than a question.

that's just the downsides that come out in slight frustration. it's working outdoors, protecting nature, a lot of different roles, and you never know what you'll be doing from one hour to the next. And find the right park and you get to focus on whatever aspect of the job you like the best. anyway, I talked to a couple Rangers about it today. The boss said he's known people who went to Academy and got hired on right away, though the other said Law Enforcement isn't near as big a focus as Environmental Education. Also dorms aren't paid for with tuition, so we're talking about $7000 to pay for it myself. That's a year+ to recover that cost, and I'm confident I'll have a job before then. Apparently my 1:4 Interview:Application rate is really good. The boss added that often if you're Top 3 for Position A, then they won't interview you for Position B because a decision hasn't yet been made if you'll be hired for that first position. Sorry if this ended up being some thinking out loud. I'll talk to a higher-up about it all tomorrow, but I'm thinking my best bet is scraping by at McDonalds for the winter and strengthening my Environmental Ed background (which isn't much of a cost).

I'm going to be laid off in six weeks. the job doesn't start up again until mid-April and unemployment would only pay $100/wk. I could always do McDonalds until it starts up again and skirt by on $2500 in savings (rent is only $300/mo), or move back home (paying to race back should an interview come in). I'm a fairly qualified candidate for a Park Ranger job, guessing somewhere around 20th in the State based on interviews landed. It shouldn't take forever to land a job, but the competition is tough and dependent on openings, so who knows. Could be a month, could be a year. I currently have about eight applications out right now. If hired, the State would pay for Police Academy along with hourly pay during that time. The next semester of Academy starts up in January. Out-of-state tuition is $4500 plus whatever incidentals (not sure yet if dorm life is included). What I'm starting to seriously consider is taking out yet another student loan and paying for Academy myself. I would be busy in the offseason, plus I would have about four months of time to do nothing but work out (the Academy physical requirement is tough). I have been told by a Ranger that having gone through BLET (Academy) and with my strong background, that I would be the #1 candidate out there. Essentially, spending $4500+ would speed up getting hired by some rough guess of months. The theory is that I would recover the tuition+ through being hired full-time at a sooner date. Not quite sure yet. I'm hoping that the applications out right now are simply being put on hold until the fiscal year ends in September. The "What's Bugging Me" part: I have a great resume and it's still tough as heck to land this job which doesn't pay well, is inherently dangerous, works weekends and has a terrible work schedule.

probably just thinking out loud here, but i could work my current job for 11 hrs/day for $140/day which i plan on quitting in two weeks anyway, or take a two week stint as a flyer-hander-outer guy for a TV show scout for $125/day.

you said you couldn't look into Fort Atkinson. i take it your search is limited to cities along a bus route?

there's also Microsoft classes where you can become certified in things like Office and PhotoShop. if you're not landing as many interviews as your professor thought, it's a possible signal that your resume/cover letter needs some tweaking. i haven't been to one yet, but i know most cities have a monthly young professionals meet at some bar. 30 people asking each other what you do for a living. maybe that's an idea for more networking.

from someone who's done it, grad school isn't the employment door-opener that it once was. in my experience, a grad degree lands you a lot of interviews but lack of experience keeps you from getting the job. also the number of people with MBAs has skyrocketed since this Great Recession hit. i might recommend the same path that i've been taking. i worked a lawn care job last summer which paid three times more than typical summer jobs. even paying for a taxi to and from would be worth it. you'd make enough for a used car with a good amount of savings left over to do an interstate job search. the way i see it, a car and some savings is first priority over landing a full-time job.

definitely no such thing as "overqualified" anymore. i hope you find something adamb100. could you spin your experience into magazine ad sales? i used to work at Cygnus in Fort Atkinson and they hire a lot of people for that. Inside Sales would be the best way to get started, and they offer a lot of upward movement from there.

well, happily moving forward in the career. after only a phone interview, i was just offered a job working at a State Park not in Wisconsin. minimum wage and seasonal stinks, but it's great experience and a recommendation from the boss after the season would go a very long way to landing full-time work. after the season i'll sign up for the Police Academy. fortunately no age maximum that i've found yet. an LE plus all the education/certifications i have, provided i do a good job this summer, and i'm a top candidate for a full-time Ranger position even in this economy.

thanks. it's lawn care, but checking shouldn't be necessary. i'll only be doing it for a summer.

so the lawn care job is commission-based, primarily. but i don't do any active selling and the hiring manager said there wouldn't be a situation where i was ever out of work to do. but there are work goals (hit X# of houses per week) and i didn't get clarity in the second interview to what happens if i don't happen to meet that. will go back to ask. still, it will pay more than minimum wage and give me my time for certifications. there's a fear of "what if i don't meet my goals and don't have the time to meet them because of classes?" fear of mine that's possibly unwarranted.

that stinks, Jimbo. i know just what that feels like to be working at a job, know your stuff and do a good job, and then they replace you with someone else. rough. .................... well, it took me about two months, but i finally found some work in Madison. wasn't easy. i've been offered a minimum-wage job at a movie theater (i'll be a popcorn jockey!) starting Monday. and i also have a second interview tomorrow for a lawn care job, which i have a very good chance at landing. the lawn care job doesn't start for two months, but it pays twice as much with a few more hours per week. money is secondary to me because my real purpose is getting the various certifications to strengthen my Parks&Rec resume (not all are available the next two months). still, the lawn job represents another $6,000 or so on my pocket vs. the movie job over the course of the summer. so i've decided to go to the second interview and basically agree to work there on the condition that they give me the days off when the certification classes come along. if they don't, then bye-bye. if they do, then work the movie job for two months with a lot of volunteering. and since volunteering is very important for me, taking the lawn care job will mean working six days/week and then volunteering somewhere on that one day off. and if i have a job interview, i'll tell them it's another certification class. i'm really doubting they'd agree to the time off (roughly 10 total days off during the summer), but i can always ask and see what they say.

when i was last there, Fort Atkinson was at least an easy-enough drive to Madison. and there's probably more to do in Whitewater that i never discovered. last year i was living in Victoria, Texas. i'd ask locals the best part of living there and they'd all say how close it was to so many big cities (2+ hours). i didn't say it out loud, but thought "oh, so the best part about living in Victoria was that it's easy to leave Victoria."

thanks for the advice. i talked to another friend of mine about it. he reminded me that what they're looking for is the best person for the job NOW, which is probably me. and no matter when i leave, i'll be doing so for more money or to better my career, and who can argue with that? everyone else at that company is doing the same thing. the life of an Assistant there is already fairly short since the company is in Fort Atkinson and no single, young person they hire really wants to stay in small-town Wisconsin for very long. so i applied and i'll let HR decide. on another note, just letting out some frustration, but wow it's tough even finding part-time work right now. i've had one single interview since i've been back here and didn't get the job because it didn't appear i would stay at the position for 2-3 years--the $8.25/hr part-time position. just amazing the state of the economy that people can actually expect this and keep a straight face.

ethical question... i'm having a lot of trouble finding even simple part-time work, though keep my open for full-time openings. i used to be a magazine editor, worked at one place for 2+ years before i quit to hike the AT. enjoyed the job and was good at it, but don't like the industry because jobs are terrible to find and i've seen too many editors with 10+ years of experience working for $35K per year. my plan right now is to work whatever PT job to pay for my Parks and Rec certifications to make me more marketable for a job. well, i noticed that my old editorial company is hiring for what appears to be my old job. we'll just assume they'd actually hire someone back who'd quit the job previously. i don't hold that an employee owes a company too much loyalty just for being hired by them, but is it maybe unethical of me to accept the offer (should they even make it) when my intention would be to quit a second time? it seems like that's really a jerk move. sure, maybe i decide to stay, but one promotion above me only pays about $34K/year, and Parks and Rec still pays better, plus sweet sweet government benefits and more job security. it just seems like maybe lying to the editorial company saying "oh, i just miss editorial work" and quitting the same place twice just isn't right.

thanks. i feared "it's who you know" would be the answer. it's frustrating i've been here almost three weeks with nothing and all i'm looking for is something part-time. and being here with the father i think that makes him frustrated by me and probably thinking i'm being lazy about it, too. nothing at Plastics Ingenuity, checking a contact at Land's End, applied for an editorial job at American Girl (am a former editor), Gander Mountain and D's Sporting Goods (i'm experienced in retail and the outdoors), and a few others. did the online Gander Mountain thing, maybe today i'll still walk in and try to talk to a manager. edit: i'll add that i used to work at Subway in Middleton and the owner is the current Mayor, Curt Sonnentag. he liked me, but i didn't see him every day and it's been maybe 10 years since i worked there.

i wanna go ahead and as a seemingly-dumb question: how does one go about finding a McJob? i just moved back to Madison and really just need 20 or so hours per week at whatever job. that's enough to give me the time and money to build my professional resume more. 20 years ago you'd walk down the street and look for Help Wanted signs. 10 years ago you'd look in the newspaper. but now? is it a matter of scouring job boards? is it still best to walk in just in case they don't actually send you to their website? do you go to a company's website first and apply there? i'm nervous that i might end up still sitting in front of the computer in two weeks saying "but i haven't found much yet" when i'm not necessarily looking for something fantastic. maybe not McDonalds quite yet, but not a $50K/year job, either. also, how much do you recommend changing up the resume for menial-type work? i currently have a McResume where i don't add my Graduate degree and in place of most professional jobs, i list the smaller jobs i had in between, all to make me look more appropriate for minimum-wage stuff. last year, Wal-Mart almost didn't hire me because i used my professional resume. but since i'm in my mid-30s, i'm obviously not intending to make grocery stocking into a career. so keep the McResume or keep the one that doesn't omit everything?

my Manager interview today went surprisingly well. a lot of preparation brought a lot of confidence, few nerves, no stumbling and a lot of good answers--even a couple of "that's just what we were hoping to hear." so even if i don't get it, i've become much better at interviews. though if i do get it, i'm suddenly wondering about the support network available (would be a lot of new responsibilities, yet they want someone who "knows everything") nodded to the next interviewee as i was leaving--younger than me and wearing a polo shirt to a managerial interview.

a year of identical previous experience, a Master's Degree, and i'd even been working there part-time for three months--yet i didn't even make the cut for the in-person interview round for a job that paid $23,000 per year. what's a guy gotta do? but i have an interview coming up for a good job. admittedly it's a bit over my head, so i'm not expecting anything to come of it (though i'll still be prepared and all that stuff). but still, my last three interviews were essentially jobs for 1) cleaning bathrooms, 2) mowing lawns and 3) emptying trash; so at the very least, it's still nice to get this interview to know where i stand in the marketplace and that i'm at least competitive for higher-level jobs in the field. i'm still working to boost my resume, but at least it's good to know it's not entirely me, but that it's just a really lousy marketplace right now.

It's a trap! ask for to much and they won't consider you; ask for too little and you'll be making less than your peers. delay salary stuff for as long as possible. "I expect a salary commensurate with my experience, the responsibilities of the position and the current market rate."

even at age 35, i'm slightly tempted to scrap the career field my Master's degree is in and look into somewhat-unrelated work in the private sector. a few years of entry-level pay, sure, but it would still represent a much higher salary than what government work offers. i've been pretty frustrated that my Master's degree hasn't meant much in finding full-time work, and even if i were to land something, the pay being offered isn't much more than i made working in fast food 10 years ago. i should be a shoe-in for a job i just applied to (that's not just being cocky), but am pessimistic because of nepotism (i hope that's ok to say since i don't believe i've ever given away exactly where i work). this week i'll be dumbing-down my resume in order to apply for about any job i can find--not including my Master's degree and substituting some career jobs for my filler ones. funds starting to run dangerously low. it's great one one hand, but also kinda hurts to hear your little brother offer to loan you money. i'm willing to move anywhere fairly decent, but it's too bad that nobody's going to fly me out and i can't afford it, myself. the only long-distance option is moving somewhere and then looking.

working at a park part-time now and the full-time opening closes next week, so we'll see. they have a "huge stack" of applications, but i work there already, have excessive education and related previous experience. but we'll see. but what's frustrating is the full-time pay is an absolute joke. it's still a step up for me with the benefits, though. as much as i may end up liking the job, i'm going to keep looking for better opportunities just because of the pay. my coworkers get the same pay, but they get free housing (i won't).

i give my job its notice tomorrow afternoon. woo-hoo! choosing North Carolina over Colorado was tough because my brother, his wife and an eventual niece/nephew are there. but when i think of just me by my lonesome, North Carolina seems more like home (second to WI, anyway), and i think that's most important. beyond finding a career job, i have so many plans on how i'd like to improve everything with this new start. i'm so excited for this.