Job search strategy discussion thread

@GAP, I know someone with an online job (piecework) editing academic essays (for grammar, flow, etc); there’s a training period and after that you get paid per essay (with increases in rates for certain days). He’s good at it and fast, so he makes pretty good pay. You do need to have your own working computer for that, though, they don’t supply one. You mainly need English fluency and strong academic writing skills, and the ability to edit the writing of a paper even when the subject matter is over your head.

What I wouldn't give to wipe the concept of cover letters from this reality.

Took my assessment test a while ago to be considered for a National Defense position in Canada.

Boy I really hate it. There's math/logic parts that really made me nervous/scared s*itless.

Well, I'll probably fail it though. Not very good in math/logic.

I am currently doing surveys for now but I would really like to do paid research.

The ability of most job application processes to select for people who can write the best irrelevant guff is fascinating. Also annoying, but fascinating.

I heard something about Disney hiring remote data entry for their parks. I am not sur eif ti is legitimate but if it is, I might try to apply to it.

Edited by GAP on Mar 31st 2023 at 1:12:47 PM

Friend of mine who's in BC (Canada) advised me on some internship/young professional spots in NATO.

Thing is, I'm not sure if peeps would see as a YP since I'm getting to my late 30s now.

What's the worst that can come of applying anyway?

Well aside from potential biases that I’m not a YP.

That airfare since I live in Asia at the moment…

Damn. CSE turned me down. Didn't expect it, but still stings even though I'm halfway done with my Strategic Studies degree.

Oh well, better see if I work in Singapore as a backup.

Well applying for a lot of job postings here and there. Will have to see.

It also includes RUSI and a fellows program in John Hopkins via Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies (They accept anyone with a Bachelors or better).

I've been working in manufacturing for several years now and through that I've found several niche openings within it that I've given some thought to, but I've hit a brick wall on the education/training side. Given my particular experience I'm looking at manufacturing companies who make and market manufacturing equipment to upgrade other manufacturers.

A lot of manufacturing equipment is old. I'm talking major defense contractors using one-of-a-kind machines where the creator is long dead and they're being held together by paperclips, gum, and a single 70+year old tech who vaguely remembers basic servicing checklists. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" is the rule with a lot of this stuff but it's reaching a point where everyone trained to service these things is dead or dying and the knowledge to operate/adapt/upgrade them is getting scarcer.

In particular a lot of the computerized stuff is still running on BASIC, and knowing it is the lynchpin for a lot of these jobs. I've looked around quite a bit and asked several colleges on the area and pretty much no one teaches it. Searching online so far has yielded little.

For a lot of these positions you need at least an engineering BA in a related field too, but if I can hit a couple of milestones in the next year I might have the opportunity for an employer to cover some or all of the expenses on that front if I can nail it.

BASIC shouldn't be too hard to find resources for, it was literally everywhere in the 80's.

I thought being a private investigator would be cool, but the requirements for getting a license are bullshit.

How do you get a thorough background check on your employment history? Equifax does help but I need more information.

Whelp. My long held application for NTU (Singapore) got canned. Oh well, trying NUS.

Trying to apply as a researcher in Vancouver (BC). Least I'm paid, but it's through a grant provided. Shame that it's only for a year.

Well, it's April now and I don't know if my application's being processed. Said that it should be done before the end of March.

Didn’t make that job in Vancouver. Sad. OTOH, it’s contracted for one year from a research grant.

I've been trying to find a job for awhile now and I've been using Indeed.com to sign up for some jobs. But, I've been hearing some bad things about Indeed, like how some of the job listings are fake. Not to mention, every time I tried to sign up for a job through Indeed, I don't often get responses back from the companies. What would be a better way to find jobs?

Putting aside for the moment how prevalent "fake" or "dummy" job postinga are on Indeed or any other site:

How often are you submitting applications? Quick rule of thumb is that nowadays it takes 100-200 applications to get a job, which is about 2-3 a day.

Are you following up on companies you applied to, say, a week or two after submitting? It helps signal you're a serious applicant rather than a "fake"/"dummy" job applicant/spammer (and conversely can reveal whether the posting company is also seriously looking or just going through the motions for prima facade cred with government authorities).