I've been looking for work like gang busters as of late. Like many, I languished on my unemployment a little too long. But Governor Fat Bastard fixed me and the likes thereof, by kicking thousands of New Jersey taxpayers, off the unemployment we paid into when we were working. Those Republicans really do put country first, don't they? I'm surprised he puts anything first that's not something edible. But I digress...angrily.
So with no income and no jobs, cause no one on either side of the aisle has done anything to create any jobs, least of all those bastions of truth, justice, and Arizona Tea--the Tea Bagger Party--I've been precariously thrust into harm's way and have shit my pants everyday since. And been induced to many a sleepless night. But again, I ANGRILY digress.
Looking for work today is so different from even a few years ago. Temp agencies don't even want you to come in. Time was they'd have you come in, take some computer tests (you know typing, Microsoft Word & such like that, to gauge your computer competency), give you an interview and then place you on a job. But those days are gone, like sand through the hour glass. So went the days of my life. Don't sue NBC, I'm broke as it is.
Used to be you'd have to get up early to pound the pavement, cause job hunting was actually personal. You'd have to call a company and actually speak to a real live person, God forbid, on the phone! Schedule an interview. Mail, yes real live mail--like with a stamp and the postman and everything--your resume and cover letter out to people. Send thank you notes and stuff. Actually dress up and newspaper in hand (I'm dating myself now. Who the hell reads newspapers anymore), go from place to place that you'd circled, and inquire about the position. So you had to hit it early cause as the adage goes, "the early bird gets the worm". Mommy instilled this in me, as a woman who worked in corporate America, she was serious about what to wear when applying for a job, and what time of day you were to be out and about. Back then, all of that conveyed a kind of professionalism and seriousness about your level of commitment. It showed how reliable you could be and let the employers measure your trustworthiness. But those days have gone the way of the condor, my friend. Not sure what that means or where the condors have gone, but I'll tell you where they're not. Here. Ain't seen no kinda condors round here.
All of my applications take place on the Internet now, like shopping and porn. I belong to several sites like Monster.com and have my resumes saved there, with various copies of cover letters, and with the click of a button, I signal my interest to multiple jobs at once. It's kinda easy and brainless, but not as non-time consuming as I'd hope, or as it would appear to be.
But lately, while applying for jobs online, I've come across many, and I do mean MANY, postings that have taken on the request of submitting a picture along with the resume and cover letter. I find this creepy and more than odd. As I feel I should. When I put myself up for an audition, or when I'm seeking representation by an agency, I fully expect to send a head shot, resume, and cover letter. Kinda makes sense as my face is literally my calling card (I have head shot business cards). But why they need to know what I look like in order to type some letters and answer the phones, I'll never understand. One admin job posting only wanted good looking people to apply. I decided that was for some porn shit.
Now, admittedly, most of these requests came from job postings on craigslist. Right, and like you, I was writing it off as that site being crazy. But I started seeing that in my monster ads too. Is this another job trend I'm kinda late to? Weird, right? It's not just me. A friend told me it's either creepy or discriminatory. I vote for both. And that's honestly what I thought at first too. They wanna make sure they hire the right type of person. Why not put a postscript at the end of the ad saying "whites or those who can pass for whites only". Guess that's not as sexy.
There are lots of things that bother me about the job hunt, this is just one. Another is how you have to pass a credit check to gain employment. What about my credit can determine the kind of employee I'm gonna be? Nothing. I've had jacked up credit most of my adult working life, and yet, I've managed to never steal anything from any job. I've come in early at times, and many, many times have worked well past quitting time. I've always been an exemplary employee despite having an embarrassing credit score. Mommy and I used to bitch about this little ditty often. She worked in a bank for crying out loud, and as a manager had to fire many people for stealing. And most of those so called great employees had AAA credit. That tells you nothing about who they're gonna be as an employee for such and such company. What it does do is give a company a way of discriminating discreetly. This way they can say they didn't hire so and so because they failed the credit check and not cause the person was black. It's pretty well known that blacks and hispanics historically have bad credit in this country. So if you don't wanna hire any of those folks, run a credit check and weed 'em out. And I have a huge problem with that.
But what are you gonna do? Such is life. Till the Republicans and the Christian Right are brought down anyway. Country first!
Till next time, lovers!
No comments:
Post a Comment