Monday, November 30, 2009

Career Fairs have become SPAM FAIRS!

QuietAgent.com has been sending me job links that lead to other job posting sites that force you to once again register your information so these new job posting sites can once again SPAM you with offers to attend mysterious online colleges.

If you're not already getting spammed by Pyramid Scheme Insurance or Financial Companies who promise you the chance at being a manager, then take all of your leads away from you because you didn't sell enough.

Now I went to search for job fairs and I found one in Chicago through www.nationalcareerfairs.com, but here's the catch. In order to see the list of businesses at the fair, you have to register your information.

Well you'll never guess who's going to be at that fair in Chicago on December 2, 2009.

Besides the military and retail, there is another job search company, several universities I never heard of, A real estate investment sales company, a company that offers training to career trainers, a "institute" that offers computer training for those seeking a computer career.

Basically, Everything described in Barbra Erenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed: on (not) getting by in America" http://www.wesjones.com/ehrenreich.htm

Online Job Search sites make their money by either selling your information, or selling other companies the opportunity to SPAM YOU for them by targeting you with links that offer you everything but a job.

How did I find this crappy Chicago Job fair that turned out to be SPAM TRAP? I searched for career fairs at the site I thought I could trust to keep that garbage away from me. http://www.jobcentral.com/

Start using ".jobs" in your browser search instead of ".com"

Friday, November 27, 2009

New money making tactics emerge from Online Job Listing Services.

I always get infuriated with Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com when they incessantly force you through page after page of application forms for Online College.

It's like walking through a minefield, you must be careful and search for the tiny button that says "No Thanks," because if you don't you will be bombarded with emails and phone calls by people wanting you to enroll in their education or training program.

It becomes easier to find the "No Thanks" button, so they are starting to resort to far worse tactics. Holding your potential job hostage, by forcing you to register with a secondary job listing service before they will allow you to see the job description.

I was notified that I was matched with a job by QuietAgent.com. I clicked on a link that I thought would lead me to a job, instead I was directed to a page of search results from hard2hire.com. The only way I can find out about that job is if I register with yet another job listing service that will SPAM me? No thanks.

My guess is QuietAgent.com is getting paid by hard2hire.com for the redirected clients who register, then Hard2Hire is probably getting paid by their advertisers, who ever the hell they are.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Now This!

Remember when you went to apply for a job and all you really needed was your work history? Did that work for you? That was back in the 1970's. It works when you're fresh out of high school, but not for older workers who were previously laid off.

For a while you only needed three references that you could turn over after the first interview. Then potential employers expect you to turn over your references in advance, even though they may be scam artists or psychotic individuals who might be out to ruin someone's life for the fun of it.

Then, get this, some employers expect you to have other people take time out of their busy schedules to write letters of recommendation to them before they consider an interview.

I'm not going to have my associates write hundreds of letters of recommendations if I apply for hundreds of jobs.

And Now This! Employers are expecting you to spend $40 to get yourself finger printed, then spend over $100 to go to the State's Office of Professional Development and get a "Permanent Employee Registration Card (PERC) card.

I was told by my potential employer (who when asked, told me he worked for some security agency I never heard of) that it would take a couple of weeks for the prints to get through the system, then I would have to go down to the Department of Professional Regulation and apply for a PERC Card.

I never received specific instructions for this process or given the name of someone to contact. I called the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation and the recorded message repeatedly told me to visit their website to apply for a license, but there was no link for license applications to be found on their main page for a PERC card, so I called them back and listened intently through the entire recording until it told me to press '2' for other license inquiries, and it was busy.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Joe’s trouble with Illinois Skills Match

Joe has a search running at JobCentral.com that daily notifies him of jobs for which he’s certainly qualified. Most of these jobs can only be applied to through the Illinois Skills Match system of which Joe is also registered.

According to Illinois Skills Match Joe only qualified for a hotel desk clerk and four part-time check-out clerks. However, Joe entered 135 skills in their system in addition to his two college degrees and four years of exemplary active duty military service.

One day Joe went to the Illinois Workforce Development Center in Springfield, IL to figure out why, with his record of experience and education, he qualified for only a few high school level jobs. He was told by one person that there just might be too few jobs in the database.

But that doesn’t jibe with the number of jobs that show up on Jobcentral.com that claim to be registered at IllinoisSkillsMatch. Here’s a list of the most recent postings at JobCentral.com:

MEAT PROCESSOR WRAPPER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

GENERAL MERCHANDISE STOCKER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

BAKERY MANAGER ; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL) ; first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

SCANNING COORDINATOR; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

MAIL ROOM CLERK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT CASHIER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PRODUCE MANAGER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Chatham, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

DELI CLERK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

OTHER PARTY LIABILITY INVESTIGATION; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

GROCERY MANAGER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSOC; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

ASST DELI MANAGER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT PARCELLOR; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

DELI COOK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

MEAT CUTTER JOURNEYMAN; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PRODUCE STOCKER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT FLORAL CLERK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM


Joe doesn’t understand why he can’t even connect with these employers for an interview. He’s certain that he’s well qualified for these positions. Here is what Illinois Skills Match has lined him up with

PT Customer Service Assoc; Springfield, IL; $8.25/hr & up
PT Checkout Service Associate; Springfield, IL; $8/hr & up
PT Checkout Service Associate; Springfield, IL; $8/hr & up
Front Desk Clerk, Springfield IL; Springfield, IL; Minimum Wage

Joe is left with little information to go on, so he assumes that there is a patronage wedge in the database at Illinois Workforce Development that skims off the decent jobs for those who have political or familial connections to existing state workers.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Career Fair at Crowne Plaza

Again. It's today from 3 to 6. Why didn't I post this sooner you ask?

The same employers seem to be showing up every time. There is also a new development, but this new development dates back to England's 19th century. I'm talking about 'letters of recommendation.'

There was once written a tale, probably by Jane Austin, of a young man desperately seeking letters of recommendation from a powerfully rich but bitter and vindictive widow.

He desperately needed her help to get a position somewhere, and she used him to her heart's content, ultimately destroying him and others around him, so the plot goes.

Now the Illinois State Journal Register published a section in their newspaper for today's job fair. In this section there was an article written by Allan Woodson, Director of Workforce Development for the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

The article is titled 'Game Plan Strategy for Success at Job and Career Fairs,' the contents of which are the usual standards by which one should organize one's self for job fairs, but then, instead of just providing references, one now has to provide letters of recommendation!

It's certainly an improvement on the vetting process. It almost eliminates the need to do anything more that just sit at the booth and jawbone with your fellow recruiters.

To the recruiters: Do you really think I should just let you know who my friends are before we even have the first interview? I'm not that stupid.

Would you share your friends contact information with job recruiters who keep showing up again and again at job fairs? It's disturbing. Like seeing the same employer persistently advertising for workers week after week, month after month for the same positions.

Those are symptoms of employees leaving frequently.

Military recruiters are different. You can't go AWOL. They promote soldiers . I was a soldier. I was promoted five pay grades in four years, I also survived.

If you can handle the arrogance, contempt, scapegoating and incompetence, go for it. It's a meat grinder here in Springfield if you didn't grow up here, and you might come out smelling not-so-sweet.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Career Builder Employment Mine Field

I found a job listing for "Writers / Photographers - Springfield - freelance telecommute"

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=QAMGM&ff=21&APath=2.21.21.0.0&job_did=J8E4N36N41DS2T512B4

It's a position posted at Careerbuilder.com for Examiner.com, supposedly a news organization that pays you for blogging and photography.


Job Overview
Company: Examiner.com
Employee Type: Part-Time
Industry: Art - Photography - Journalism Entertainment Internet - ECommerce
Manages Others: No
Job Type: Consultant Marketing Media - Journalism - Newspaper
Location:US-IL-Springfield



I thought my dreams finally came true, but then I took one important next step.

I Googled the words "examiner.com" and "ripoff". This is what came up:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Examiner-com/Work-at-Home-Busines/Examiner-com-don-t-pay-you-Den-P4C22.htm

Examiner.com makes an ad asking you to contribute to their newspaper by writing and taking photographs and posting them online. They list themselves as part-time work.

I posted about 20 articles. I took the job
because I was excited to be offered a job at all so I didn't ask right away how much I'd be earning.

Later, I learned that you have to have 1000 clicks to even earn $10 and they don't pay you until you hit the 3000 click mark. After 20 articles, I only made $10, which they're not going to give me.

Examiner.com is only taking advantage of people in a down economy to get free work done for them. I noticed later that many of the examiners only have about ten articles each themselves. Should've taken the hint.

Amy
Tempe, Arizona
U.S.A.


So when you use CareerBuilder.com there is a chance that an offer will be no better than if it were published on Craigslist.com

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Did Staples Clean House?

It looks like suddenly a large number of positions have opened up at Staples in Springfield, including the General Manager!

I might be interested in working at Staples if there was a guarantee that the company does not periodically replace long term employees that got raises for cheaper entry level employees.

Unfortunately it appears to be a common practice with large national franchises that have no real interest in the quality of life of its employees away from corporate headquarters.

Or, perhaps companies hire students who must return to school in the fall. If that's the case, what are the odds of getting good customer service?

But seriously, would Staples really hire a seasonal General Manager?

http://www.jobcentral.com/results.asp?si=105472612&pi=1&ri=1&so=relevance&as=crep&bu=3118

Please let me know what happened!
Email me at safeworkspace@gmail.com

Monday, July 27, 2009

Changes at the Google Group

This is for Springfield Illinois employees who have nightmare stories about their work experiences.

If had a bad work experiences, please join the group and share your story. The group settings are private so nobody else but other members can read them.

http://groups.google.com/group/safeworkspace

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Rejection letter from K-Mart

I got a rejection letter from K-Mart.

I'm 45 years old. I guess they aren't interested in hiring me. The letter said they decided to "pursue other candidates." I can only assume they mean younger candidates.

I was figuring on supplementing my meager farm income with some part-time work. At least I would be able to get a house. I guess not.

On the upside - I passed the civil service exam for a position at the University of Illinois, however, I'm 3 points from the range of qualifying candidates.

I'm not perfect and I'm not so undereducated that I can be exploited either. I guess in Springfield, Illinois you have to be one or the other to get a job.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Springfield Clinic Online Application FAIL!


I just spent the last couple of hours at Springfield Clinic's website, filling out an online application. After all that work I had three options I could Choose.
"Save", "Submit", and "Close Application."

I thought it would be a good idea to click on "Save," How wrong I was.

It logged me out of the system. Naturally, I assumed that I could just log back into the system to submit my application.

WRONG!

It lost all of the information I entered. But why should I be so surprised? Springfield Clinic doesn't exactly have a sparkling history of immaculate record keeping anyway. Time to go somewhere else.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I might get a job soon

It looks like I might be getting a job soon. I've been unemployed since December 2008. In January I enrolled in the MBA program but my grades after the first semester were not good enough. It was difficult.

I took Economics and Accounting online. I was at my computer for six hours a day because there was so much work. I got really fat and weak. Now I might get a job where I can stand and walk around, and stay away from food for hours on end. It should be great!

I did manage to get a C in Accounting and a B in Economics. I don't feel like going through anything like that again.

The job pays minimum wage and I'll be working nights. The best thing to do is not drink a lot of coffee so your energy level evens out throughout the night. I'm told it's easier to find a job while you still have a job.

We shall see.

Update 2018. It totally sucked.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Career Services at UIS

I received an email from the Career Services office at the University of Illinois at Springfield about the wonderful opportunities to print my resume for FREE!


The Subject: FREE Resume Printing

Option #1:

On March 10, 2009 FedEx Office, locations (formerly FedEx Kinko's) will host a Free Resume Printing Day , reports Yahoo! . Each customer will be able to print or copy their resume up to 25 times on resume-quality paper for free. For more information visit: http://dealnews.com/Upcoming-Fed-Ex-Office-Free-Resume-Printing-Day/282900.html.



Option #2:

The IL Worknet Center at 1300 S. 9th Street (9th & S. Grand) offers FREE resume paper. (Limit 10 copies per day). Their office hours are 8:30am-5pm, Monday – Friday.


UIS Career Development Center
Student Affairs Building, Room 50
One University Plaza, MS SAB 50
Springfield, Illinois 62703-5407
217)206-6508
careerservices@uis.edu
www.uis.edu/careerservices


I received this email through my student email address.

I think it's nice. What was option zero? Getting help directly at the UIS Career Development Center?

Someone justify their salaries, please!