GAME05

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.

yeah, "assertive" is what i really meant. didn't end up saying anything because maybe i'll be leaving sooner than i thought and i'll just mention it in the exit interview. i'm getting both excited and scared/nervous about my upcoming move to North Carolina. a small part of me is still thinking about Colorado because my brother is there, which would be fun, but i also have a good friend in NC and i lived there the past six years. i know it's the right move because i can't continue being as lonely as i've been (and because the job stinks), but having no unemployment benefits and about $4000 saved won't be easy. even small-time jobs can be tough to get these days, and being 35 and over-educated doesn't help for those. $400/mo rent and i can put a deferral on my student loans, so hopefully i can land a $9/hr job to start and get by with that for a while. i'll be putting my work in a major bind, but that's their problem, i guess. now to decide when in April to go...

thanks, Cheez. i think i'll still talk to the boss in private about it. call it practice on being aggressive in the workplace instead of being passive. i'll just ask the boss to put himself in my shoes and tell me how he'd interpret it all, then just accept his toned-down response. if i wasn't already leaving, i'm upset enough by all of this that i would have quit, anyway. on a side note, i've learned that men are actually worse gossipers than women are.

*post deleted. comments too specific to my job that i only wanted to raise the question temporarily and not leave it up for permanent record. one never knows how deep a future employer might dig into internet records if they'd be able to match up game05 to my real name.

after some thought, i think i'm just going to leave things as they are. i already told her i'd be willing to come over or that i could do an initial phone interview, and i got no real response from that. and it's a different person doing the interviewing, who will know i'm still interested. if he'd throw my resume away without going through a minor hoop of at least calling me, then i probably wouldn't have landed the job, anyway. and more, i'm going to be thin on money as it is when i move there in April, so $500 is a lot.

huh. the 'desperation' thing is something a friend also mentioned, though i hadn't considered that it puts HR in a tough spot. when the lady said "so do you want me to just take your name off the pile?" i said i'd still like to be considered (for whatever that's worth). i'm not sure how else to put it other than explaining that the opportunity is valuable enough to me to cover my own flight. and heck, in this market there aren't that many decent opportunities out there. but it wouldn't be the first time i've lost an interview because of distance. going to bed now and will have to decide when i get up on calling her and pushing the flight or not calling at all.

got a call this morning and the HR lady was very impressed with my resume, even said so twice. i think she mostly called because she wanted to find out if i actually did live 1,000 miles away like my resume indicated. once confirmed, the air kinda went out of that balloon. a phone interview is not an option, and there wasn't much of a reaction when i offered to fly out there because the pay really doesn't merit the expense of flying out there (at least in her opinion, anyway). i think the best route is to check my work schedule tonight, look at flights, call her back and be able to say "hey, i found a flight and i can get there next Wednesday. how would that work?" at the least, as an HR Director, she would be able to say if i'm a top top candidate to make the trip out worth my while, or if i'm kinda so-so and don't have a great chance. i have the feeling that a lot of prospective employers are just disregarding my application since i'm applying for mid- to entry-level work from so far away. stinks to be an out-of-state applicant, but at the same time, i've become much more marketable in the field by taking this job than if i'd stayed closer.

i work with a pseudo-governmental organization that deals with water use/usage in Texas, and we have a pretty small lab. (actually, i think we're hiring for lab technicians.)

i wanted to give an update since people helped me out and i'd made a lot of posts about downloading a virus on my work computer. before the boss came back from vacation, i stopped by work to pick up my phone and said "Sorry about that virus" to the secretary, who told me she'd downloaded a virus that next day, too. IT told her it was an issue company-wide. she also said she was going to mention to the boss that she'd downloaded a vurus, too, which made me feel better about it. the boss is back and he didn't say anything to me. regardless, i've since stopped using the computer entirely. i bought a book and read that on night shift, instead.

i've worked at D's Sporting Goods before, which has high turnover. i also really enjoyed my time at Wal-Mart--i worked in the deli, so i didn't have the same pressures of having to stock a shelf at a certain speed. and if you end up going into food service, i also enjoyed my time at Subway. -------- it appears my job should have an unofficial opening coming up (not me). but you'd have to live in Texas otherwise the commute sucks. it's in the Parks field.

i'd say that because you haven't had a job in your field since graduation, that definitely qualifies you as a new graduate, regardless of how long you've been out of school. i know you've checked, but i'm surprised the Department at school doesn't have more resources for finding graduates positions. i know it's not the same, but my boss' daughter just graduated law school and only 5% of her class found work (five years earlier it was the complete opposite statistic), so they hired her and a few other people to work at the university.

yeah, i'm starting to realize i'm worrying too much. the worst that could happen is i get written up (which really doesn't mean anything) and i'm not too popular for causing a tougher internet policy (but i'm leaving anyway). definitely will stay off the computer completely because they'll be monitoring me, and the next offense would be a direct violation of what the boss will be telling me not to do. the offense is more downloading a virus/trojan, which the boss believes is going to wipe out the entire hard drive. i've even seen the boss violate the "no internet except work sites" policy, but i promise the irony will be lost on him. heck, technically, the computer's homepage is a violation of our internet policy. the fact that i was stuck in the office by myself for 12 hours per day over Christmas doesn't really matter, since the boss expects us to be sweeping the floor or something the entire time. and if during the talk the boss wants to discuss me actually enjoying the job or not, i won't exactly open up about anything.

yep, one of those things i could have Googled and found out in thirteen seconds, sorry. "If we determine you were not fired for misconduct..." since the boss has to go through upper channels, it's paranoid to think that he'd get the ok to fire me based on "he makes small mistakes" or even "he's not right for the job (doesn't know mechanical stuff)." and even if, unemployment would really give me an opportunity to do volunteer work and network and just help pay for my transition to NC. i have an address in Austin i could use to maintain my Texas residency. and really, i doubt telling an employer "I was hired for a mechanical job but I'm not a mechanic" isn't totally going to scare anyone away from hiring me. likely i suppose it'll end up meaning the boss isn't too thrilled with me and might think i'm lazy (which i'm really not). i ended up getting a coworker/friend in trouble because of this, too (he was on the Internet that night) who said that my/our internet usage is going to be monitored very closely now, and obviously i'm going to completely avoid going on there from now on. thanks, all. i'm really feeling a lot better about the whole deal now. yeah, Monday will be rough, but i think overall, any scenario won't end up being as terrible as i'd perceived it yesterday.

pretty close. i'm currently a Park Ranger, although realistically i'm a Park Janitor. lot of bathroom cleaning and trash dumping but also some small maintenance stuff here and there. i've actually been told not to be proactive about projects since i lack the experience. i also rotate back and forth between early morning shifts and all-night shifts with as little as two days' turnaround. there aren't other positions at the organization. i'm in Texas and trying to move back to North Carolina. since full-time jobs are tough to find, i'm also looking for part-time jobs in the field. i'm hoping my graduate degree shouldn't make it too hard. so that's why i'm just holding out until roughly through April. by then i'll have either found the job or will make the decision to just go back to NC and cross my fingers (not positive on that yet). this latest incident scared me quite a bit, but no, i'm not going to get fired. the boss has to go through upper channels for that, and forgetting a garbage can and being on the computer isn't a strong justification. the boss thinks i only ever just sit around, which isn't true, but that's the way it is. he's been asking the other Rangers how i've been doing on the job. i'm going to get written up and probably won't be endearing myself to the other Rangers who might not be able to surf the Internet any longer. but i can deal with it for four months. regardless of my hatred for the job, it's one of those situations where i just don't really belong there despite my efforts to fit in (the other Rangers like me, though). it's very much a cultural thing, too. and that's what always has me nervous is that i clearly don't belong there. it's possible the boss ends up talking to me about enjoying the job and whatnot since i've messed up too often, but i can handle that, i guess. thanks for the help, guys. it's been tough the past year between not liking the job, not liking the city i live in, not fitting in anywhere and not knowing anyone down here. edit: i thought a person couldn't collect unemployment if they got fired, or at least there was a complicated appeal process. otherwise there would be nothing stopping someone purposely getting themselves fired just to collect unemployment. but strangely, unemployment would be awesome for me to help me afford possibly not finding a job in NC for a while.

how do prospective employers view a termination on an employee's record, especially if it was the past job? so-so if you have a good reason, or akin to a felony? i feel i'm on the borderline at my current job. this weekend i got a virus on the work computer, which is considered just about the worst crime that can be committed. there was nothing X-rated, but the boss is getting a LONG list of the sites i was on during Christmas weekend. it won't go well. to a veteran employee, it wouldn't be terrible, but i've been there 8 months and have already had two or three sit-down talks with the boss for what are serious offenses at the job: 1. forgot to empty the office trash can at night. 2. came in very sick on night shift but forgot to clean one restroom that happened to be very dirty. 3. voluntarily came into to work and apologized to the boss for doing a poor job one night. apart from this, what it all really amounts to (and what i would tell a prospective employer) is that i just don't quite fit into the work culture, and that i was hired as a maintenance man despite having zero maintenance experience. but i would then also have to check that "Have you ever been terminated" box on standard application forms. it's hard enough to land interviews as it is, and does checking that box mean the application pretty much goes right into the garbage? because of this, there's a small part of me that almost wants to quit before i get fired. sorry if this is mostly venting, but it really worries me. plus, all i'm really trying to do is make it until about April because by then i should be able to land a part-time job back home in North Carolina.

Nieves, do you know anything about being a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional? i was thinking of paying to get this just for resume-building. i asked an old boss who hasn't written back, but i was wondering if it held any weight at all. it's kind of expensive and very clearly just a way for the governing body to take money out of our pockets, but i'm thinking it's just one more thing that other applicants won't have (though the graduate degree tends to do that already). i am hoping to become a Certified Playground Inspector, too, because it should be a nice value-added on my resume. after these two certifications are complete, i'm going to ask for permanent night-shift duty and then get a simple-enough second job. the extra $200-300 per month will either pay off additional school loans or i could be much more willing to fly out of state for a first interview without having to dip into bill-paying money. i already lost out on a Park Ranger job because i wasn't willing to fly out for a first interview and they wouldn't do an initial talk over the phone. a second job would mean death to any possible socializing, but it's not like i know anyone here, anyway. Get me out of Texas!!!!!