I'm Amped On Red Bull And Am Wearing Out The Job Listings!

  So since getting sh*t-canned towards the middle of January. I've been diligent about meeting my state unemployment obligated "three job contacts a week" requirement. That being said, in the course of almost two months already, I've had A telephone interview and A in person interview.

  The last time I was unemployed (or as one of my friends calls it "funemployed"), I think I estimated that I had applied to 600+ jobs before finally getting a job. Mind you that was over a 10 month period, resulting in approximately 4-5 in person interviews.

   Something about this isn't right. I hold a Dual Masters in Human Resources, I'm an Army Veteran, and have pretty much had more office and leadership experience than I know what to do with.

   Then I was reminded of why potentially I have absolutely ZERO luck in getting my foot in the door. I saw a job posting for an HR Generalist today that required said following at minimum:

• Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources (okay, got that)
• Two years experience in Human Resources (well, 1.8 years, but close enough)
• Two years experience in an office environment (does 10+ years do it?)
• Knowledge of MS-Office products (anyone that graduated college in the last 10 years is pretty much an expert at that shit)
• Fluent in Tagalog (......wait....WTF?)

    There is something seriously wrong with the world, or the employment area that I need to be fluent in a language I am barely familiar with to get a job. Tagalog? Really? I get Spanish, possibly even Chinese. But Tagalog? Again, I'm sorry for this HR position I don't have ANOTHER Master's degree in Accounting and can read every language on the Rosetta Stone. 

WTF people.....

Anywho, for those wonderous readers who are steadily following my post. We're going to do alittle challenge. Starting tomorrow (March 08, 2013), I will apply for one job a day. The day I actually get an interview, I'll let ya'll know, as well as the day I actually land a job. 

That is apparently after I learn Tagalog or become a master at Payroll.

Recruiters....I Hate You.

fig. 1-1 Not related to this post, but found it

when I Googled "I hate corporate recruiters".

 In my current quest to obtain employment, I'm constantly reminded how much I hate the hiring and the corporate hiring process. Recruiters specifically are the ones I am not a huge fan of. The following points submitted to you as follows (in standard Mechanical Escape bullet format...booyah.)

• Bottom Feeders - Recruiters are considered "HR professionals" despite the fact they do little more than what a trained monkey can do. Not good enough to get into actual HR work (i.e. benefits, troubleshooting, etc.), but are good enough to basically check for minimum qualifications on a resume and ask pre-canned questions. Not really alot of self-thinking on this, and my experience with recruiters are one or the other. They either send you all the wrong matches, or basically employment cock-block the people that might actually be good for the job.
• Gate Keepers? Or quick-hire-messer-uppers? - Many people have had the joy (aka punch in the nuts) experience of, when applying for a job, filling out an online application. Not just a quick, "what is your name, number, and attach your resume" function. Noooo. It's "please rebuild your resume from scratch for our convenience so we can easily put your information into our system" online process. F**k that. I'm not going to do your job by breaking my data up for your program. I'm applying for A job, so if you look at my resume and say "nope, not a good fit", fine. I'm good with that. But if you simply don't have time to pull up my resume rather than going to your over priced HRIS system to review me, then just go get bent. I know you bastards thought this was a good idea, but no, it's not.
• Forget Something Dumbass? - Being the "pre-programmed" screeners as they are, the questions I've experienced have ranged from lengthy, to shallow and pointless. But the one thing I have noticed is that recruiters have a baaaaaaad habit of doing their screening via telephone, and forgetting one of the most important elements of employment. The environmental fit. Just because some boner can answer your questions right, doesn't mean you're going to find the personality fit into your workplace. And having been on the receiving end of the results of a screener, I can tell you as a hiring manager I could do your job better simply looking at a resume and cover letter than you can.
• Job Postings - Again, typically with recruiters, I have seen some abominations what recruiters call job postings. First and foremost, yeah, you're an EEO employer. But posting "women and minorities encouraged to apply!" basically sh*ts all over pretty much white guys everywhere. Posting simply "EEO employer" is fine, but you don't even need to do that. It doesn't provide additional legal protection, and I think everyone knows, or at least assumes, that not hiring someone because of sex or ethnicity is illegal. Posting a subtle "white guys...piss off" isn't needed. We got that. Which moves on to my next issue.
• Really? You Want What? - Okay f**kers. Like I've ranted about before, you don't need to advertise that the potential candidate will be working in a "fun environment". That is not a benefit by any stretch of the imagination. And what's the opposite? What are you going to post? "On your first day, you'll be looking for a nice place to hang yourself from!" So for Gods sake, don't ask me to include something "wacky" or "fun" in my cover letter. Don't give me a f*cking chance to get "extra credit" by telling you what my favorite ice cream is (I'm lactose intolerant by the way you ass), because while it may seem fun, it actually makes you sound unprofessional and alittle lame. And a diversity statement? WTF is that? You want me to write a page about my experience with racial/ethical issues and what my standpoint is on it? Puhleez. I'm a white guy that grew up in a middle class neighborhood in Northern Idaho. But despite the fact that my hometown had A black guy and a handful of Asians, that doesn't mean I need to write an entire page that can be summed up by saying "discrimination is bad and illegal". Plus, asking me to write that kinda makes me think you already have some workplace discrimination sh*t going on already. And to quote Sweet Brown, "ain't nobody got time for dat!".
• The Canned Rejection Letters - I won't even rant about this, I'll simply answer thusly. 1) While you say you think I'm competitive, obviously I'm not competitive enough. 2) I HIGHLY doubt, although required, that you will keep my resume on file for 6 months to 1 year "just in case" a job happens to come along that I'm a match for, so don't even f**king waste the ink to say it. 3) Saying you wish me luck in my job search is like a cop saying "have a nice day" after giving you a ticket. It's condescending, and albeit an unwarranted shot in the nuts. A simple, "we're sorry, but you weren't selected for this position" works both functionally and legally.
• The Actual Rejection Call - Okay. From an HR standpoint, it's sometimes better to get crap in writing. Rejecting a candidate in writing is good for two reasons. Reason 1: documentation. We all know the road to HR Hell is not well paved with a trail of paperwork. Reason 2: when a job seeker gets a call back from a potential employer, only to have their hopes dashed by some snarky ass recruiter who feigns sympathy....well, that's right up there with the "have a nice day"/ticket scenario. Email me, or send me a letter, but don't call me.

I Know That Smell....

Over a month into my unemployment "bliss" and hating every minute of it. 

Don't get me wrong, not having to get up at the butt crack of dawn to go to work isn't bad. That's actually the highlight of being jobless. It's the employment searches that drives me bananas.

Looking through job postings, I've found a long time ago that companies are just asking for absurdity at best when they're developing or hiring new job roles.

I have a Dual Masters in Human Resources, which you figure would be enough to land me at least the bottom of the barrel HR jobs (i.e. specialist, generalist, etc.). Not quite. Most places, while requiring a Bachelors, typically ask for 5-10+ years HR experience. Even better, they typically tend to throw in "oh yeah, you gotta have payroll processing experience too...".

Okay numbnuts, HR professionals don't typically have accounting experience. Why? Because that's just a whole different field. It's called accounting.

No, I'm not fluent in Sanscrit. No, I don't use Quickbooks. And hell no, I don't have a SHRP (because I figure an actual education, and not some store bought certification carries more weight).

And as for benefits, casual dress, "fun work environment", and a "competitive salary" (i.e. $1 higher than minimum wage) are not actual benefits.

Good gravy I never should have left the Army. Civilians don't know their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to career progression.