Job search strategy discussion thread

Then you need to get into some counseling, life skills, and management training fast.

Where does one even get that?

Look it up man.

It's your town/school. I just told you to see if your university had a job placement and what not. Most American Universities do. I don't see why a European one wouldn't.

The first step to getting your shit together is to start taking the initiative.

Actually I already have several offers. As I told you, I have sponsors; teachers that are mistakenly impressed with me, and misguided family members eager to help. The problem isn't finding a job, not with my degree. The problem is that I'll probably fuck it up horribly. I'll ask you again: where does one get "counselling, life skills, and management training"?

Well, just the latter two. I've already hired a counsellor. That shit is expensive, too. I'm kind of ashamed that I need it.

edited 6th Nov '14 7:26:27 AM by TheHandle

LOOK IT UP!

Seriously dude. Google is a wonderful thing. If you have such wonderful mentors who think you're awesome, ask them not an internet thread.

The thing is Handle, there's only one way to find out: Do It.

That would mean admitting to them that I'm not as awesome as they think.

Much easier to be honest in a semi-anonymous medium.

The stuff Google shows looks like garbage. That's why I'm asking for word-of-mouth recommendations. Then again, the stuff I was recommended looks pretty similar, so how does one tell quality stuff from Charles-Atlas like bullshit?

The only choice is to move forward. One cannot not-play. Well, not without living life as a parasite and a dependent. I'm sick of being a student. I want to pay for my own life. So I gotta risk it. I mean, how much of a fuckup could I possibly be?

edited 6th Nov '14 7:42:08 AM by TheHandle

Then you won't be any good to yourself until you get some serious help.

You have an engineering degree. You're a trained problem solver. You should be able to discern a scholarly source or not.

If you can't do any of this, then get yourself mental and academic help until you can.

Why are you talking about discerning scholarly sources? I'm not looking for research papers, I'm looking for life-training. You don't get training by reading papers.

I'm good at solving technical problems, not at solving my own life. The human factor eludes and baffles me, in general, no matter how much I read up on psychology, sociology, or neurology.

edited 6th Nov '14 7:49:10 AM by TheHandle

Jesus christ man.

Scholarly, reputable, reliable, not full of shit.

If you can't discern how to find a legitimate program or not by an internet search, you have a lot of problems.

I'm not trying to bash you or make you feel bad, but this is something you should be able to do as a sophmore in college, let alone about to graduate.

... No it isn't. This has nothing to do with the skills taught or required in my course. I have never had to discern whether someone attempting to sell me a service was reputable or not. Especially not soft-sciences related fields.

But I see I'm not going to get any further advice here, at least not from you. Not when we've hit "I don't understand how you can't solve this yourself" levels. I'll look up how one can tell a good program from a bad one, and then I'll look up programs. With any luck, the first line of advice won't be rubbish, and won't lead to a waste of time and money on the second stage.

Sorry if I came off as annoying.

edited 6th Nov '14 7:59:27 AM by TheHandle

Calm down, folks.

Critical thinking is part of your training.

You can do more than you're giving yourself credit for. Again, I have told you before to check with your college and see if they have a department for this.

Again, the fact that you're so narrow in your focus just shows that you really don't need to be worrying about this and just really need to get into counselling. If it's so expensive, did you even think to ask the receptionist if there is financial assistance available? They would have that there or at least know where to direct you to apply.

This isn't rocket science, this is adulthood. You're smart enough to navigate TV Tropes, you can do this. This isn't a monolithic impasse.

Okay, Handle, I'm going to start you off with a book recommendation. One of the most helpful volumes I've read in the last two years is Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. They're a couple of Harvard professors who noticed that there were plenty of books on how to give feedback, but few on how to accept it. It talks about the kinds of "triggers" that can make us reject coaching or criticism, even when it's meant to be helpful, and how to get past those so that you can extract the useful bits.

Training yourself to be able to get the most out of constructive criticism or even caustic criticism is a good start to self-improvement. It's not just useful in jobs, but in relationships, and even participating in internet discussion forums.

Since you've mentioned being reluctant to approach the people who praise you for advice because you worry about letting them down, I'll share a tip from the book. Find a person you know who doesn't particularly like you, that you find difficult to deal with. Humbly ask them for help by honestly telling you what they think you most need to improve on in whatever field and advice on how to improve. You won't be losing their respect, because you didn't have it in the first place, and they might even gain some respect for you if you listen carefully and work on improvement.

There's a Kindle version, so you may be able to get it in Spain.

Completed first week of new assignment, lots of data entry, so far from the phone portion they haven't even issued me a telephone yet.

How's everyone doing?

The project Tennant actually needs me for is still not ready; they've been having me do invoicing. Problem is I'm too good a worker (seriously this is what they told the temp agency), so they keep running out of invoices! Thus I am off today.

My internship ends today. In June, I'll have a meeting to consider an internship at another company.

Thank you.

edited 3rd Dec '14 7:38:02 AM by Quag15

At least you are being acknowledged for your awesomeness!

There are several openings at my work, including about 5 in my department. I applied for 3 of them that would be a step up.

The way I see it is if I apply, I can learn something from the interviews and the department heads know that I'm both eager and willing to take more responsibility. I've apparently been doing well in my position. So hopefully, I can pop up the ladder some more.

Worst case, I stay where I am. The way I see it is there is nothing to be lost, only gained.

Good luck!

edited 3rd Dec '14 7:25:41 AM by Gabrael

Isn't the worst case that your new governor guts the whole operation? Or have you heard good news on that front?

(not trying to be pessimistic, just remembering something you'd mentioned earlier)

Not much news on my front. I just remembered to update my resume with the new jobs i got for this school year. After new year's i'll start looking at local jobs full-time for the end of April.

I've finally graduated. Am doing some research on the companies I'm interested in, reading up on their balances, income statements, who form their leaderships, who/what owns them, any mentions of them in the press... I've been told it was very important to tailor your motivation letter and CV to the companies you want to join, and to generally research them thoroughly beforehand, but I wonder if I'm overdoing it. I also wonder whether I should unionize, and with which of the great unions here.

I'm also spending quite a bit of effort making cool CV's and ML's. I think I'll soon be able to churn them out as easily as I do a forum post. It helps that, having graduated, I'm not ashamed of it anymore, and don't feel hesitant at all in boasting about the skills I have.

On a similar topic, I've overcome my fears. I've tried telling people the truth, and found that

• Regardless of what their current opinion is, they don't want to be told they're wrong, and they'll twist and re-interpret whatever you're saying in the way that best fits their already-formed opinions. At best they think I'm being modest, at worst they think I'm delusional and/or whiny.
• I am still able, willing, and in time to improve upon and resolve my faults, so any downwards revisions they'd have to make would be provisional anyway.

In other words, it's a waste of effort, so I'll just stop worrying and just let the deeds speak for themselves, for better or for worse.

I'm also not afraid of the effort and pain and stress needed to be an achiever and to be responsible and in charge, not anymore.

edited 3rd Dec '14 8:10:59 AM by TheHandle

Yes, that is still a possibility. But I'm trying not to think of that right now. My son's birthday is this friday. I much rather focus on happiness and hopes for a promotion then the fact we could be back on welfare in a few months.

Regardless, it will be much easier to find a new job with another promotion under my belt then otherwise.

Cheers to your graduation! Good luck kicking butt out in the occupational world!

edited 3rd Dec '14 8:07:50 AM by Gabrael

@Quag15: congrats.

@Gabrael: At least according to all the self-help books I read, you can never go wrong by asking for more work and more responsibilities. From what I hear from my contacts and such, that doesn't always translate into better pay or formal promotion, or even formal recognition of any sort. How can one tell in advance the difference between "a step-up" and "the company squeezing the energy out of you"? Companies like to inspire loyalty, but when are they worthy of it?

Are there websites and social networks listing the testimonies of disgruntled workers?

Also, thank you!

edited 3rd Dec '14 8:11:59 AM by TheHandle

Oh tons of them. Tumblr has a few. I can't link them because I am on my work computer and that's blocked.

It's a case by case basis. It just all depends on the job and how they are treating you previous and what not.

For me, I'm in a state position. I apply for promotions through a website, and I just sit back and wait for what happens. My boss'es and co-workers have expressed appreciation for my work previously, so I'm not threatened to try for it. I've made a good reputation for myself in the building by just doing what I'm told and also trying to help others.

That's another part of it, my direct boss now isn't the best and he didn't want to promote me. But my bigger boss told him to hire me. It's not about impressing your direct chain of command, it's about building integrity and work ethic. The head of security adores me and he has connections elsewhere.

You never know who's husband or who's friend is looking for people. And since all of us are in jeopardy of losing our jobs, we're looking around at others who we are willing to keep or who are worth bringing along somewhere else.

I really do hope for the best in that regard, Gabrael. You've earned a stable life by now.

Congrats to those who've had good news and hang in there for those who haven't.

Handle, Glassdoor is a decent site for finding out how former (and sometimes current) employees feel about a company, but it's an US site, so I am not sure if there's a Spanish version (you're in Spain, right?) If there's more than one union you can join, do the same research as you would for a company. In strong union areas, joining a company and a union can go together as it is nearly impossible to get hired for some jobs without union approval.

Down to 19 hours this last week. Ouch. There should be plenty of work on Monday, but the companies Tennant is supposed to be supplying had better pull their thumbs out soon.