Narratives of the Disengaged: The Job Search

Privacy Tips for Online Job Seekers

This is from Privacyrights.org. They offer some excellent tips if you MUST conduct the job search online:

Using Twitter the old skool way

My blog is appropriately titled, "Narratives of the Disengaged' for a reason. It does not denote innuendos of unemployment and job search frustrations, but it does describe my overall feeling of unemployment.

Our society is in love with coming up with imaginative ways to make a name for themselves. How quickly we forget Twitter's original intent and rush to infest the site with spam and useless information. "Social media experts" will suddenly come up with magical, "strategic" ways on using the site, and will post tweets promoting their blog posts on these wonderful Twitter strategies, Twitter do's and don't's. I ignore them all, as I see Twitter differently.

In each role throughout my career, most of my colleagues found me very personable (I can't say 'all' because clearly, I cannot please people ALL of the time). Whether it was the act of engaging in office gossip, celebrity gossip, even participating in after-business hours events, I made certain to keep my "social butterfly" reputation intact. I was not shy about asking questions. I was not shy about butting into conversations. I was not shy about speaking up at sales meetings even though my role didn't have much to do with revenues, sales trends, and advertising supplements. I wanted to be heard, and my colleagues appreciated my voice.

I have not had that luxury since July, 2008. I haven't had the opportunity to share ideas and thoughts to those I'm at ease with and prosper. The option of volunteering somewhere is always available, but even that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The idea of working for "free" simply doesn't excite me at the present time. My days are spent at home, researching and job-hunt, and caring for the home in between. No money to go anywhere. No money to do anything. What is a once self-proclaimed social butterfly to do?

That is where the advent of the blog came in. I'm writing and writing, but wait....is there anyone out there even listening to me? So I checked out various blog promotion sights, only to find someone spamming me about THEIR blog. Don't get me wrong, I have come across some very intuitive blogs, which I never would have discovered otherwise. I still feel like I'm talking to myself, and I hate that feeling. One day, someone on my Facebook page posted something about Twitter. My response was, to paraphrase:

"I don't understand this Twitter nonsense. Why would I read about someone else taking a dump?"

After writing that, I became intrigued. I was convinced there was something more to Twitter than that, so...I investigated.

There were numerous responses regarding Twitter being the most successful tool as far as blog promotion. So naturally, I registered. At this point, I've got nothing to lose, and listed my blog in my profile.

Then I started tweeting.

And tweeting.

And tweeting.

And tweeting.

My tweeting madness has not stopped, and it doesn't appear that my fascination will come to an end any time soon. Not while I'm unemployed at least.

Twitter seemed to have picked up where I left off on a social scale. I've met many wonderful people with whom I hope to have a long-lasting tweeting relationship. I've learned many wonderful things, and discovered some very intriguing blogs and web sites which I never would have discovered if it wasn't for this ever-so-popular networking tool. Twitter allows me to be just that....me. In the real world, I carry around a sense of humor, sometimes poking fun at things just to ease the anxiety. My goal was to transfer this on the web, and I was happy to learn that I gained a good amount of followers in about a month. Twitter allows me to maintain my social demeanor in e-form, and as far as I'm concerned, some social time is better than none. While everyone else is busy tweeting techy things and spam, I have decided to stay old school and use Twitter for its original intent....what am I doing? And yes, even a little blog promotion. What's a little blog promo between tweeps? :)

Twitter seems to be getting a bad reputation nowadays due to spam and security breaches. As a result, I had no choice then to protect my updates. I do not agree with this decision, but until Twitter becomes more aggressive, I will leave my tweets protected.

So a' Twitter, here I come!

5 Ways Companies Mistreat Jobseekers

I wish I could provide the reason why this blog has been neglected for so long is because I found a job. Unfortunatley that's not the case, but I did some reading up on the economy and the job search that seems to worsen by the minute.

A real blog post will come sometime this week. In the meantime, I was excited to come across this article. It's about time that a major media outlet recognized the shitty ways of hiring authorities towards jobseekers:

5 Ways Companies Mistreat Jobseekers

AC Nielsen Job Search Privacy Statement

I suppose this should not come as a shock to some, and to be honest, doesn't really shock me either. However, it did confirm my fears as to why I never submit an application online.

I was prepared to send AC Nielsen my resume when I spotted a Job Search Privacy Statement located in the Careers section of AC Nielsen's web site. In short, it basically states, "Submitting your data is completely voluntary, but in certain circumstances we can do whatever we want with your data at will." Not to mention, "In the event of a merger and/or acquisition....you're fucked."

For further reading, click on the link (PDF file). Be sure to pay particular attention to #5 Data Disclosures:

AC Nielsen's Job Search Privacy Statement

Green Collar Jobs Board

I found this job board today that supports Obama's plan to weatherwize the world and make our planet a greener, happier place. I have no issues with that. However, I was reluctant at first because I'm not a fan of job boards. But, in perusing some of the jobs, a lot of them have an actual "reply to" address and not the horrible "Apply Now" button. In addition, I really like this because you can locate the kind of jobs that takes part preserving our habitat, create a more friendly eco-system, better and cleaner fuel and energy, and weatherization. Awesome....and it's worth the effort to look. Sharing the love.

Much thanks to MediaJobsDaily for the link.

Green Collar Job Board

The Inspiring Story of Daniel Seddiqui

This is the type of story that deserves a post all on its own. It is the story of Daniel Seddiqui, just your typical guy who is out there looking for that perfect job. However, he decided to take a different approach in the job search. Here is an excerpt taken from his web site:

"February 15:

Ok, this has been a long drive.  I’m not even in Wisconsin yet!!!  So far, I’ve seen a lot coming from the South and reaching Chicago.  I started driving through the Delta of Mississippi and then reached Memphis by the evening.  Lots of people from the South talk about how poor the Delta is and I had the chance to see it for myself.  It was definitely a new experience to see lopsided trailers on the cotton fields.  It didn’t look much different than going camping.  Memphis had Graceland and the motel that Martin Luther King was killed.  Then I headed for St. Louis to take a tour of Anheiser-Busch and now I’m typing in Panera near my old home in Wilmette, Illinois. 

I better leave for Wisconsin before it gets too late………"

That doesn't sound much like he's job searching...right? Actually, he is. His mission is to work 50 different jobs in 50 different states.

He provided an interview via telephone to my local news station. The news anchors asked him if he had any job offers. He replied that not only did he get job offers, but book and television deals. I'd much rather read a book about his adventures than read about Octo-Idiot-Mom any day of the week.

To read more about this incredible story and follow his journey, please visit his web site:

Living The Map - 50 Jobs in 50 States

Reason No. 299494939495 why I don't post my resume online

I am wondering if anyone else heard about Monster.com's recent security breach? This wasn't exactly a headline in the media, that I can recall. I only found out about this when I went to monster.com's home page just now...

(This just goes to show you how often I visit Monster)

Info about Monster.com's security breach

Resume Not Required, Inc.

Looks like someone's been reading my blog.

This is a company of "premiere job agents" (resumenotrequired.com) that provide innovative advice of helping jobseekers with their job search. They insist that resumes are not the way to go in landing that perfect job, and offers other ideas to jobseekers as to how they can stand out in the job market.

But that innovative advice comes with a price.

Being the skeptical belle that I am, I immediately headed to Better Business Bureau's web site. Somehow I wasn't shocked when I learned that they are NOT accredited with the BBB and they already have one complaint on their selling practices from one office that opened in July, 2008. Their overall rating was a C-. Link provided:

BBB report on Resume Not Required, Inc.

I mean, come on people. I don't (and never will!) charge anyone for offering such advice. Go with your gut...and save your money along the way.

Stuck at the airport? United Airlines doesn't care

United Airlines has announced they are getting rid of their customer service phone line altogether. If you have a beef, then you need to take it to e-mail or do it the old fashion way and send postal mail.

United Airlines eradicates phone-in customer complaints

United Airlines told the public that they can't deal with the bitching anymore, in a discreet way, of course. I have a sneaky feeling that all other companies will follow suit, most notably Comcast, who currently ranks #2 as having the worst customer service.

I know for certain that being a CSR is not an easy job. There are a scary amount of customers who call with complaints full of expletives and insults, expecting to resolve their matters at that very moment. It is the type of job I would never do because I just do not have that kind of patience to deal with such idiotic behavior. In retail, it's even worse. This reminds me of a story....

I had a brief gig at a department store a couple of years ago. It was a way for me to get out of the house and earn some money. I thought that my tolerance level would be enough to overcome the insanities people so proudly display, but it wasn't. One day I had a lady yelling at me because she lost her credit card. I had a long line of people to ring up, while  at the same time I was feeling sympathetic to her situation, as I was trying to put myself in her place. After I had given her all available options in locating her card, that wasn't good enough for her and said she wanted to speak to my manager. Well, that was enough for me to retort with, "You can speak to my manager, but just remember it wasn't MY fault you lost your credit card!"

Needless to say, I knew that retail was definitely something that wasn't meant for me. I am more tolerant as a "client relations" girl, where the industry I'm in is not on a public scale, and I'm free to use my own discretion as far as how I can best serve that client.  In a public scale, anything goes, and the CS on the other end is limited by scripts, because the big boys said so. While I do not condone the bad behavior from customers, I can't seem to find any faults as to why they're so angry. The CSR's only go a by a script, and anything beyond that script basically means the customer is screwed. Much thanks to the big companies across the country who put a new meaning to "customer service."

I'm not sure what United Airlines was thinking when they decided to restrict customer complaints to e-mail. Anyone in the job market knows when a resume is submitted online via a generic e-mail address, it doesn't go anywhere or to anyone. So if you're stuck at the airport and have access to a computer, you can e-mail your complaint and it goes into the big black hole of nowhere....just like resumes. Looks like you'll be stuck at the airport a lot longer than you thought.

For further reading (Resources)

Here are some links for your perusal. These are tips to further protect yourself from recruitment scams:

Recruiting Scams

More about Recruiting and Employment Scams 

More will be added here as I find more articles.