Tough time to find a new job

[NDub]

Damn, this is a tough job market.

I've been applying for jobs for like five months and got one interview and two rejection e-mails. I've sent out probably 60-70 resumes/cover letters or applied online.

I'm confident my resumes and cover letters are good as I've gone over them so many times and others have checked them, too. I even cater each to the specific job for which I'm applying.

I've sort of handcuffed myself to one area because I want to stay close to family and friends, but I'm beginning to think I should open my options.

Over the last two years, my newspaper has done a lot of cutting back and I'm afraid there isn't much more to do. We don't get raises this year. Hourly workers got cut 2.5 hours a week and salary loses 6%. Plus 401K match is down (haven't started that yet as I'm still pretty young plus I don't make enough money to start anything substantial). The circulation is down almost 3K in a year and that's saying a lot given that we're sitting around 21K right now.

I don't enjoy coming to work every day anymore. The pay is lousy, the hours inconsistent and the newsroom can be listless. I want out so bad. I'm so frustrated.

Sorry. Just wanted to rant.

 

[Batman]

There's always Roswell.

 

[RickStain]

Going from 60k reporting jobs to 40k in 36 months while j-schools pump out more graduates every year will do that.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

I hear you. I've been looking eight months, without a job, and I've had no interviews and no rejection emails. Not even from Office Depot for that stocking job.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Going from 60k reporting jobs to 40k in 36 months while j-schools pump out more graduates every year will do that.

Exactly. And let's not forget that there are many laid off employees w/ plenty of experience that want back in.

 

[NDub]

J-schools can pump out all they want. I want out of this entire profession. They can have my damn job when I'm gone.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Hang in there. You never know what an opportunity will come along.

 

[forever_town]

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Best of luck!

I just got my latest rejection letter after an interview. I'm at least getting interviews, but I haven't gotten over the hump yet.

 

[Fredrick]

I don't enjoy coming to work every day anymore. The pay is lousy, the hours inconsistent and the newsroom can be listless. I want out so bad. I'm so frustrated.

That about sums it up. Newspapers are a horrible place to be right now.

 

[NDub]

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Hang in there. You never know what an opportunity will come along.

Hey, wow. That's great. Literally moments after you post about not getting an interview, you get one. State job, eh? If you don't mind, what exactly did you apply for?

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Best of luck!

I just got my latest rejection letter after an interview. I'm at least getting interviews, but I haven't gotten over the hump yet.

Congrats! Have you found interviews "easier" to handle and get through? Almost some repitition seems to help, no?

I was kicking myself after my interview because I knew there were some parts of the discussion that I could've made clearer to my prospective employer. I've learned from those mistakes.

 

[Mark2010]

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Hang in there. You never know what an opportunity will come along.

Good luck to you. Care to share how you landed the interview? How you tweaked your resume and/or made the connection from past experience to this particular job?

 

[Mark2010]

I hear you. I've been looking eight months, without a job, and I've had no interviews and no rejection emails. Not even from Office Depot for that stocking job.

Ditto.

 

[Ace]

It is tough out there. You really have to work it.

Best thing you can do is make or hit on a connection where you are applying. Sending a resume cold -- even if you are well-qualified -- isn't going to cut it these days 90 percent of the time.

 

[RickStain]

I'd probably be on the list of chronic unemployed, but I was lucky enough to be looking for a job just a little before the axe really got choppy earlier this year, and I decided to be willing to live in the most God-forsaken place possible (in the lower 48) where no one else would want the job.

 

[forever_town]

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Best of luck!

I just got my latest rejection letter after an interview. I'm at least getting interviews, but I haven't gotten over the hump yet.

Congrats! Have you found interviews "easier" to handle and get through? Almost some repitition seems to help, no?

Thanks for the comments. I don't think it's repetition that's helped, though.

I spoke with a career counselor at my county's one-stop career center and she hit on exactly what I think my problem was: I'd get so nervous about my job situation and it would adversely affect my performance during the interview.

I've done better the last two interviews, but I think it's more because I've tried to listen to her suggestions about relaxing and slowing down my speech patterns since I can talk fast.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Update: I have an interview Friday morning (my first since I began this search in September). It's for a state job. They just called me.

Hang in there. You never know what an opportunity will come along.

Best of luck, JD. Got my fingers crossed for you.

 

[NDub]

It is tough out there. You really have to work it.

Best thing you can do is make or hit on a connection where you are applying. Sending a resume cold -- even if you are well-qualified -- isn't going to cut it these days 90 percent of the time.

So do I call the propsective employer and initiate conversation about my interest? Or maybe shoot an e-mail?

It's not very often we're just connected to anyone/thing we please.

 

[Ace]

It is tough out there. You really have to work it.

Best thing you can do is make or hit on a connection where you are applying. Sending a resume cold -- even if you are well-qualified -- isn't going to cut it these days 90 percent of the time.

So do I call the propsective employer and initiate conversation about my interest? Or maybe shoot an e-mail?

It's not very often we're just connected to anyone/thing we please.

Hell, I wish it was that easy.

The pros would say that you should circle back and try to talk to someone on the phone or via email stating your interest in the job after about five days -- but not on a Monday.

The trick is to find out who the hiring manager -- or the HR person parsing resumes -- or who will ultimately make the decision.

You may need to do some research via google, linkedin, facebook, whatever.

Bottom line, they may have hundreds of resumes for a job and couldn't pick one if they tried. But if Bob in Accounting can vouch for NDub or you talked to the HR person and didn't seem like a wacko, it may put you at the top.

Sound places are tough nuts to crack. They keep the job description vague, don't take calls in HR, etc. So it's not easy.

 

[MidwestSportsGuy]

Damn, this is a tough job market.

I've been applying for jobs for like five months and got one interview and two rejection e-mails. I've sent out probably 60-70 resumes/cover letters or applied online.

I'm confident my resumes and cover letters are good as I've gone over them so many times and others have checked them, too. I even cater each to the specific job for which I'm applying.

I've sort of handcuffed myself to one area because I want to stay close to family and friends, but I'm beginning to think I should open my options.

Over the last two years, my newspaper has done a lot of cutting back and I'm afraid there isn't much more to do. We don't get raises this year. Hourly workers got cut 2.5 hours a week and salary loses 6%. Plus 401K match is down (haven't started that yet as I'm still pretty young plus I don't make enough money to start anything substantial). The circulation is down almost 3K in a year and that's saying a lot given that we're sitting around 21K right now.

I don't enjoy coming to work every day anymore. The pay is lousy, the hours inconsistent and the newsroom can be listless. I want out so bad. I'm so frustrated.

Sorry. Just wanted to rant.

You just described my exact situation, seriously almost verbatim.

I'm finding it brutal, as well. I've applied for positions where I'm perhaps a bit under qualified, for ones where I'm drastically over qualified, and ones where the ad appears to describe my exact skills and experience. Sales, marketing, customer service, fundraising gigs, PR, MR, you name it. I have impeccable references, I've had interviews lined up for me by well-to-do businessman in my area, etc. I customize each cover letter for each new opening, I place follow-up phone calls or send follow-up e-mails. In the rare case I get an interview, I inevitably leave feeling fantastic about the meeting, and then ...

As for employers responding to inquiries or, God forbid, getting back to the folks they interviewed, holy hell. It's a lost art. I'd estimate I've seriously applied for more than 100 jobs, and of those, maybe heard back from about 10. It's gotten to the point where I appreciate a rejection letter, form letter or not.

Sons of *******.

Ahh, thanks for letting me, too, vent. Now only if I can get that well-timed interview, ala J_D.

 

[BTExpress]

One of the 70-80 places I applied to was Office Depot . . . as a proofreader for ads.

With 26 years of newspaper copy editing experience, you'd think this job just might fit someone like me. Yet I hear absolutely nothing after submitting my application. No interview, no rejection letter. Nothing . . . except for a "not selected" designation next to my application, which I can view online.

Please, somebody hire my wife as a schoolteacher before she decides America is some godforsaken, third-world country where two highly educated people can't even find simple jobs.