entitledunemployedmillennial

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Recruiter scheduled a interview for a Wednesday for a unix job that would be a "good fit". Turns out that the position was put on hold and they "forgot" to check before they wasted my time.

#saveJkid #linux #recruiters #IT #job recruiters #recruiter #unemployed #agency #unemployable #unemployment

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

I find this very offensive based on the ordeal I'm going through. I'm basically financially desitute and in mental pain and you're giving a useless motivation poster.

Called out of temp work three times in a row.

I’ve been working this temp job for the past two months. It’s barely minimum wage ($11.50), and most of the money has been going towards the rent which is 3 months past due. The only benefit from this is that it makes us eligible for a crisis grant from social services (which they still didn’t go through). It’s boring tedious work, but it merely buys more time for people who want to help me find a better job won’t find out that me and my living in the streets, because all the homeless shelters are full.

The only problem is that I can’t afford this job at all because it’s inaccessible by public transport, and thus only accessible by car. I basically pay uber/lyft 13 to 15 dollars each way. Sometimes with special deals I pay just 8 dollars each way. So it’s actually costing me money to go to and from the house and the workplace. The amount of money I had to use along with my deteriorating economic situation just sucks up all the motivation and energy out of me.

But I could not tell my parents because everytime I call out of work they get upset, and I had to handle their emotions along with other tasks because I was practically a sole-provider of my parents for four years with no help from government or charity. I did it three times. Once on Monday because I had to deal with social services in the afternoon, which told me to wait for a phone call that never came regarding the crisis grant for the rent.

Tuesday and Wednesday is because of uber cocking up. Yesterday, the uber app malfunctioned due to cloudy weather, along with the app changing the wait time from 7 minutes to 40 minutes! I was waiting for 25 minutes for a ride to work because also the driver took too long to get there. Along with the cold weather and along with the fact that I was going to be late at work the longer I waited, I canceled the ride and headed back home and stayed in my basement apartment under the house. I could not get another ride because if I did, I would be charged that when I’m done riding, along with waiting for the hold on the original amount to clear out!

I called out. I stayed in the basement the whole time when my mom came back until 11pm.

Wednesday. Same thing happened. But this time I called for a ride 15 minutes before 1pm. I’ve waited 15 minutes for a ride, and I’ve finally got in the car. Only to be told that she does not want to ride to the area where the worksite was because she already been there. “[Insert City Name in Maryland], hell no!”. I’ve told her that I have to attend work. She told me to “It’s not my decision you have to work”, and promptly made a uturn to the exact area where I was picked up. She then canceled the ride.

I’ve lost all motivation to work for that day and any energy was sapped out of me. Went back in the house, left a message that I’m calling out and I’m in the basement for the rest of the night. I didn’t called my parents about what happened because if they did, they would be upset. And they’re easily upsetable these days, on top of the Holidays (which I’m not looking forward to with all the shit I went through this year). They have a different mindset about work and jobs and I do. Different generation, while I had to adapt and put up with way much shit than they did in their generation. That’s why I’m not telling them.

I have zero energy to tolerate this shit, along with having barely any money to go to and from work. I wish there was someway to get out of this hell. Just leave and go to a city anywhere from here. I just want relief for myself and my family.

#saveJkid #poverty #unemployed #woo #unhelpful #sole provider #caregiving

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Called out of temp work three times in a row.

I've been working this temp job for the past two months. It's barely minimum wage ($11.50), and most of the money has been going towards the rent which is 3 months past due. The only benefit from this is that it makes us eligible for a crisis grant from social services (which they still didn't go through). It's boring tedious work, but it merely buys more time for people who want to help me find a better job won't find out that me and my living in the streets, because all the homeless shelters are full.

The only problem is that I can't afford this job at all because it's inaccessible by public transport, and thus only accessible by car. I basically pay uber/lyft 13 to 15 dollars each way. Sometimes with special deals I pay just 8 dollars each way. So it's actually costing me money to go to and from the house and the workplace. The amount of money I had to use along with my deteriorating economic situation just sucks up all the motivation and energy out of me.

But I could not tell my parents because everytime I call out of work they get upset, and I had to handle their emotions along with other tasks because I was practically a sole-provider of my parents for four years with no help from government or charity. I did it three times. Once on Monday because I had to deal with social services in the afternoon, which told me to wait for a phone call that never came regarding the crisis grant for the rent.

Tuesday and Wednesday is because of uber cocking up. Yesterday, the uber app malfunctioned due to cloudy weather, along with the app changing the wait time from 7 minutes to 40 minutes! I was waiting for 25 minutes for a ride to work because also the driver took too long to get there. Along with the cold weather and along with the fact that I was going to be late at work the longer I waited, I canceled the ride and headed back home and stayed in my basement apartment under the house. I could not get another ride because if I did, I would be charged that when I'm done riding, along with waiting for the hold on the original amount to clear out!

I called out. I stayed in the basement the whole time when my mom came back until 11pm.

Wednesday. Same thing happened. But this time I called for a ride 15 minutes before 1pm. I've waited 15 minutes for a ride, and I've finally got in the car. Only to be told that she does not want to ride to the area where the worksite was because she already been there. “[Insert City Name in Maryland], hell no!”. I've told her that I have to attend work. She told me to “It's not my decision you have to work”, and promptly made a uturn to the exact area where I was picked up. She then canceled the ride.

I've lost all motivation to work for that day and any energy was sapped out of me. Went back in the house, left a message that I'm calling out and I'm in the basement for the rest of the night. I didn't called my parents about what happened because if they did, they would be upset. And they're easily upsetable these days, on top of the Holidays (which I'm not looking forward to with all the shit I went through this year). They have a different mindset about work and jobs and I do. Different generation, while I had to adapt and put up with way much shit than they did in their generation. That's why I'm not telling them.

I have zero energy to tolerate this shit, along with having barely any money to go to and from work. I wish there was someway to get out of this hell. Just leave and go to a city anywhere from here. I just want relief for myself and my family.

#poverty #temp work #uber #maryland #savejkid #mininum wage #motivation #no energy #public transportation #crisis #zero energy #life is expensive #work #employment #want to leave #social services #mental energy #almost homeless #happy holidays

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Here's my video about my how being a sole-provider for my umemployed parents prevents me from having regular haircuts, beard shaves, and replacing my eye glasses.

If you're able to, please donate.

https://www.gofundme.com/help-jkid-get-out-of-debt

Thank you and god bless

#saveJkid #autism #gofundme

#unemployed #savejkid #autism #eyeglasses #haircut #beard #gofundme

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

I have always had fascinating experiences whenever I was unemployed. The sad part in our country is that people deny, completely, that you are useful for any cause if you’re switching jobs. I mean, I have gone through 3 jobs already and all of them are pretty distinct. Ubiquitous enough, the kind of experience I gained were huge. Let’s say, you go ahead and ask a normal person in India about his future, he would have had that planned in his toddler age. Experiencing new horizons is never a trait, is it? Just like this laundry guy, the people right from the lowest profession to the highest start judging you. Humorous take on this was written in this form. More like this coming soon. Check out my instagram handle.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

In america it does. If you don't have the "right" job, you will get job shamed. More recently Cosby Show' actor Geoffrey Owens was forced to quit N.J. Trader Joe's after being job-shamed by republicans

https://www.nj.com/passaic-county/index.ssf/2018/09/cosby_show_actor_says_he_quit_clifton_trader_joes.html

This is your reminder that being unemployed does not define who you are. Your worth as a person isn’t determined by how productive our ablest society deems you.

#unemployed #job-shaming #job shaming #job shamed #identity #platitudes #Geoffrey Owens #new jersey #trader joes #jobs

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Rejected from Help Desk

On the month of April, I've gotten desperate. My unemployment is about to run out on the first week of May. So I ended applying for anything that remotely fits my skills along with the jobs I wanted since I was unemployed. Help Desk, dispatcher, office assistant, technical writing, anything. One of the positions I've applied was with another IT Federal Contract that is in the same area where I used to work at: The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office).

But as usual, despite a booming economy I've never heard back.

It was not until the first week of July that I've heard back. They want to schedule a interview. At first glance, I thought why are they're skipping the phone interview and want a in-person interview. Have I found a unicorn company that is actually desperate for workers? It had to be. So I've scheduled the interview for wednesday, and the interview coordinator was quick to reply within a hour.

Wednesday came and I've finally made to the area early, one hour early. I visited the USPTO to see what changed. Mostly, little has changed except the gift shop which has expanded outside the the actual USPTO museum, and the entrances themselves have changed.

15 minutes before the interview was about to begin, I've started making my way to their offices. The actual office where the IT Contractor is located was on the second floor. I pressed the buzzer, I was let in and looked for a bunch of chairs to sit on and waited. And waited... and waited... for 25 minutes.

The actual interview was at 1pm, but I ended up waiting until 1:15pm for the interview to start.

The actual person doing the interview came to me, introduced himself and I introduced myself. I tried getting him to shake my hand, but I could not reached his hand, and he did not notice that I wanted to shake his hand so I've forgotten.He then proceeded to read from a sheet of paper he was holding to. 

He was reading it as a script, describing the company, the role I would be doing, the attendance policy, and the benefits and pay I would be getting if I was selected.The first question he asked was "What is your background?". I told him that I have several years experience in Linux System Administration, IT Asset Management, Quality Control and Assurance, and computer troubleshooting. 

I've have previous experience with being with the USPTO via my previous IT Contractor that worked here before 2017 and experience with all three tiers of support (Tier 1-3).

The next question he asked was: Why do you want to work in this position? I explained to him that I wanted to work in this position because I want to support the company's mission and goals and to learn new skills.

The next two of the questions were more personal in question, like Tell me how would do deal with a frustrated person or tell me how do you deal with a angry person.

The remaining questions where more technical. Some of the questions I could not answer like "What does OWA stand for" because I've never heard of OWA, which was Outlook Web App, and "show me how to test a network connection on the command prompt without using ifconfig". The remaining questions I easily completed them to the letter. But to the interviewer, they're not the result they like.

I'll give you a few examples like: Show me how to get to adjust screen settings without going through the control panel. I had prior knowledge of doing so, as you right click on the desktop and click on "Screen resolution". The interviewer was not satisfied by it. Same thing with "Show me how to get to Task Manager without using the Control, Alt, Del keys." I right clicked on the task bar and click on Task Manager. He was not satisfied despite e following the letter of the technical question. Same thing for "show me how to get to network troubleshooting without going through the control panel", he was not satisfied.

After I've answered most of the questions, he thanked me for my time and said that he will make a recommendation. I was then told that if I do not hear back by Monday, contact the person who gave you the interview.

Monday after the week of the interview, I sent them a thank you note. That's when they admitted that I was not selected for the position. Despite the fact that I signaled that I was ready to learn new skills and most of my skills I've learned in my years of IT can be transferred to this position. They did told me that the note would be passed on.

So in practice, the company was not that desperate for workers. They were just picky like every other company, despite a hyped up booming economy. Despite the fact that they could have easily teach me how to do the job they want them to do in their own way. Because they want candidates who can already know how to do the job and at the same time, they want it done in the exact way the company wants them to do.

If the interviewer or the company was not actually picky, they would have hired me anyway. Basically this is an example of: "We are desperate for workers (who can be paid less and fulfill our requirements, and demonstrate their skills in the exact way the we want)." Employers want employees but the employers themselves are inflexible, even for a position where they explicitly require you to use their knowledge base before helping a customer with their IT tech issue.

Anyone can do help desk. Just tell a person their basics of the job, customer service, and have them always use the knowledge base when helping the person, and document the issue until it’s solved. Basic stuff. But no, employers are inflexible in this “Booming Economy”

Oh and here’s the list of questions they asked me in the order I remember them in:

What is your background?

Why do you want to work in this position

Tell me how do you calm a angry customer down

Tell me how do you deal with a frustrated person.

A Role play session about a customer wanting to set up a second email account with Microsoft Outlook. He wanted me to solve the problem and document it as if this was real.

Tell me what does the initials OWA Stand for?

Show me how to get to adjust screen settings without going through the control panel

Show me how to get network troubleshooting without going through the control panel

Show me how to get to Task Manager without using the CDL keys

Disable Widows.exe via Task Manager, then reactivate it.

Show me the device manager and tell me how to disable a piece of hardware.

Show me how to repair software.

Open the command prompt. Show me any command

Show me how to check a network connection without ifconfig

Research how to solve a problem: Monitor not showing anything

The real reason why I could not get the job is because he was not satisfied with my answers to questions 7, 8, 9, and 12. Along with my inability to answer questions: 6 and 14 possibly led to me to fail the interview. And I could easily tell because he was putting X’s on the numbers where I could not answer or failed to answer in the interviewers prefered way.

If the employer was that desperate, they would have hired me anyway. But training a new employee who actually wants to work is expensive, and thus a lot more cheaper to be inflexable not to hire a unemployed person.

But my experience means nothing, because I’m a worthless entitled millennial.

#unemployment #help desk #uspto #booming economy #economy #unemployed #information technology #interview #job interview #script #Linux #windows #outlook #task manaer #repair #inflexible #picky employers #requirements #interview questions #entitled millennial #worthless #entitled #millennial #federal contractor #virginia #rejected #thank you note #IT support #gatekeeping #autistic

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Rejected for Help Desk

On the month of April, I've gotten desperate. My unemployment is about to run out on the first week of May. So I ended applying for anything that remotely fits my skills along with the jobs I wanted since I was unemployed. Help Desk, dispatcher, office assistant, technical writing, anything. One of the positions I've applied was with another IT Federal Contract that is in the same area where I used to work at: The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). But as usual, despite a booming economy I've never heard back.

It was not until the first week of July that I've heard back. They want to schedule a interview. At first glance, I thought why are they're skipping the phone interview and want a in-person interview. Have I found a unicorn company that is actually desperate for workers? It had to be. So I've scheduled the interview for wednesday, and the interview coordinator was quick to reply within a hour. Wednesday came and I've finally made to the area early, one hour early. I visited the USPTO to see what changed. Mostly, little has changed except the gift shop which has expanded outside the the actual UPTO museum, and the entrances themselves have changed.

15 minutes before the interview was about to begin, I've started making my way to their offices. The actual office where the IT Contractor is located was on the second floor. I pressed the buzzer, I was let in and looked for a bunch of chairs to sit on and waited. And waited... and waited... for 25 minutes.

The actual interview was at 1pm, but I ended up waiting until 1:15pm for the interview to start.

The actual person doing the interview came to me, introduced himself and I introduced myself. I tried getting him to shake my hand, but I could not reached his hand, and he did not notice that I wanted to shake his hand so I've forgotten. He then proceeded to read from a sheet of paper he was holding to. He was reading it as a script, describing the company, the role I would be doing, the attendance policy, and the benefits and pay I would be getting if I was selected. The first question he asked was "What is your background?". I told him that I have several years experience in Linux System Administration, IT Asset Management, Quality Control and Assurance, and computer troubleshooting. I've have previous experience with being with the USPTO via my previous IT Contractor that worked here before 2017 and experience with all three tiers of support (Tier 1-3).

The next question he asked was: Why do you want to work in this position? I explained to him that I wanted to work in this position because I want to support the company's mission and goals and to learn new skills.

The next two of the questions were more personal in question, like Tell me how would do deal with a frustrated person or tell me how do you deal with a angry person.

The remaining questions where more technical. Some of the questions I could not answer like "What does OWA stand for" because I've never heard of OWA, which was Outlook Web App, and "show me how to test a network connection on the command prompt without using ifconfig". The remaining questions I easily completed them to the letter. But to the interviewer, they're not the result they like.

I'll give you a few examples like: Show me how to get to adjust screen settings without going through the control panel. I had prior knowledge of doing so, as you right click on the desktop and click on "Screen resolution". The interviewer was not satisfied by it. Same thing with "Show me how to get to Task Manager without using the Control, Alt, Del keys." I right clicked on the task bar and click on Task Manager. He was not satisfied despite e following the letter of the technical question. Same thing for "show me how to get to network troubleshooting without going through the control panel", he was not satisfied.

After I've answered most of the questions, he thanked me for my time and said that he will make a recommendation. I was then told that if I do not hear back by Monday, contact the person who gave you the interview.

Monday after the week of the interview, I sent them a thank you note. That's when they admitted that I was not selected for the position. Despite the fact that I signaled that I was ready to learn new skills and most of my skills I've learned in my years of IT can be transferred to this position. They did told me that the note would be passed on.

So in practice, the company was not that desperate for workers. They were just picky like every other company, despite a hyped up booming economy. Despite the fact that they could have easily teach me how to do the job they want them to do in their own way. Because they want candidates who can already know how to do the job and at the same time, they want it done in the exact way the company wants them to do.

If the interviewer or the company was not actually picky, they would have hired me anyway. Basically this is an example of: "We are desperate for workers (who can be paid less and fulfill our requirements, and demonstrate their skills in the exact way the we want)." Employers want employees but the employers themselves are inflexible, even for a position where they explicitly require you to use their knowledge base before helping a customer with their IT tech issue.

Anyone can do help desk. Just tell a person their basics of the job, customer service, and have them always use the knowledge base when helping the person, and document the issue until it’s solved. Basic stuff. But no, employers are inflexible in this “Booming Economy”

Oh and here’s the list of questions they asked me in the order I remember them in:

What is your background?

Why do you want to work in this position

Tell me how do you calm a angry customer down

Tell me how do you deal with a frustrated person.

A Role play session about a customer wanting to set up a second email account with Microsoft Outlook. He wanted me to solve the problem and document it as if this was real.

Tell me what does the initials OWA Stand for?

Show me how to get to adjust screen settings without going through the control panel

Show me how to get network troubleshooting without going through the control panel

Show me how to get to Task Manager without using the CDL keys

Disable Widows.exe via Task Manager, then reactivate it.

Show me the device manager and tell me how to disable a piece of hardware.

Show me how to repair software.

Open the command prompt. Show me any command

Show me how to check a network connection without ifconfig

Research how to solve a problem: Monitor not showing anything

The real reason why I could not get the job is because he was not satisfied with my answers to questions 7, 8, 9, and 12. Along with my inability to answer questions: 6 and 14 possibly led to me to fail the interview. And I could easily tell because he was putting X’s on the numbers where I could not answer or failed to answer in the interviewers prefered way.

If the employer was that desperate, they would have hired me anyway. But training a new employee who actually wants to work is expensive, and thus a lot more cheaper to be inflexable not to hire a unemployed person.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

The “Gig Economy”

Sometime after which, I’ve may have finally found something that I could get into. There was a job listing I found while throwing resumes into snag.jobs about a job opening for certified flaggers. The job opening would provide training and certification on the same day of the hire. It was from a temp jobs agency. But the problem is that the location is in Virginia, and it’s in a location where I had to take a long bus ride.

The actual process was simple because all the information and the application was done online. So all I had to do was to was to pass a health and safety test. After the test, came the certification but I felt like that this was taken too long since I had another interview may interfear with it. Then I found out that the certification test would only allow me to workin Virgnina so they odl me tghat I have to go to another office in Maryland and they have to push my information there tomorow.

Then as usual they forgot. So I had to call these people again to make sure if they did. Then I had to call to their maryland office, then call back to their virginia moffice. Until they finally got the information in. Then they added more information in. They told me to for the jobs I had to fill in a jobapp and I have to select the jobs I want.

Plus they told me for the certififed jobs, I have to work the initial jobs in the app in order to have access to them and to access to take the exam.

So I check periodically for the jobs that are avialable and picked all the job preferences. In practice, most of them were way outside the DC area. In areas outside of public transport. None of the jobs the job app offered is in DC, Silver Spring, or Arlington proper. There in areas such as Edgewood MD, Jesup, Annapolis. And it’s usually warehousing and cleaning. And you have to  buy your own equipment as well on your own dime and time.

Ultimately I felt this was a Bait and switch to lure people in to collect information and make the apperence that we have plenty of people to hire.

--------

There’s a good reason why people are screaming that the unemployment rate is low: Apps such as uber and lyft has enabled people who can’t get jobs via the traditional way can just sign up for the app and just drive. While people are gaining money, for most people they don’t make ends meet. Because these jobs are meant for side gigs, money you can earn in the side. In reality, most people take these jobs because it’s difficult to make ends meet and it’s difficult to get another job.

And because of so many people getting gig jobs, it eliminates people from the unemployed ranks even though they’re not fulltume positions. In affect, millions of people can be considered underemployed because of these gig economy jobs. The worst part is that the gig economy is being oversatuated because too many people are in these jobs. People that would be in full time work. Because these apps for meant for side jobs, but as the it’s still difficult to get a full time job, they don’t have a choice. And for some, if they drive for uber or lyft for so long, any employer that would be interested will be turned off because their previous job is not recent, no matter if they did their actual skill on the side or volunteers or did training on their own.

These gig economy jobs also outsource things that used to be the responsibility of the company. Like vehicles, equipment, health insurance, PTO, and other benefits. They have been shoved to the worker on his own time and dime. As a matter of fact for most part time jobs that have no health inuramne, you are expected to apply for medicare or if you live in a state that only povides medicare if you are dirt poor you are expected to pay for it out your meger income if you can’t get a better job, go to a underfunded and understaffed free health clinic, or do without health care until you reach an emergency and a big fat bill.

The worst part is that for people who have disabilities or unable to afford a car, this requirement locks out the disabled from joining up on the gig economy. Except for ones that you can do online. And even then, it’s difficult to get a return phone call or a email back for a interview because there are simply too many people who can’t get jobs who scramble for these jobs.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

WIOA Failure

Around 2018, my parents found out about WIOA through the Prince George's branch of the American Job Center and told me about the WIOA program at the Prince Georges County job center. The WIOA stands for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It’s a law that allows states and counties to support unemployed Americans with federal funds for retraining via a private training center or community college or have paid on-the-job training from local employers working with the American Job Center, with the possibility of being picked up by the company for a full-time role. You can’t pick both options so it really depends on what you need.

Obviously, because I have no savings and my unemployment slowly running out, I had to take the paid on-the-job training. So I called the Job Center and expressed my interested in the WIOA program. And you have to express interest in it because this program is not well-advertised to the unemployed.

But I heard about WIOA from my parents who had the opportunity to get a job via their on-the-job training program but could not because they had health issues. But WIOA is known as the Work Investment and Opportunity Act. The allow allows grants for study for certs or classes or for on-the-job training. I opted for the on-the-job training because I needed the money and two there was the possibility for the company to pick me up.

After I made the appointment, and went to the appointment in the office, the co-ordinator which was a woman explains the entire process.The entire process but the actual process will not start until I fill out several forms. You have to fulfill a checklist of requirements to be approved for the program, then verify the fact that you’re a displaced worker or unemployed. In that form you have to explain why you’re having difficulty seeking work. I’ve explained in full honesty that I have autism spectrum disorder which makes it difficult to gain relationships in order to seek better work, gaining relationships with co-workers is practically the only way to gain employment, and difficulty seeking security clearances because I’ve been the sole provider of my parents for 4 years because they were unemployed.

Then you have do actual research on the job you want via a occupational research assignment. Doing that assignment is very difficult because in most companies you want to interview with, the HR departments are difficult to contact by phone or email. But what I had to do was print out three job openings that had the job title I want, and fill in the required information the best i can.

And, of course, you need to submit your resume.

After you submit the information by email or in person. You have to go to a orientation course that tells you everything about the WIOA, what the Act is, how does it work and the details about the options they provide. It was the same co-ordinator that handled my paperwork. From what I heard from her regarding being placed to a paid on-the-job training position that it takes from 2 weeks to 6 months, but on average it takes three months to be placed in one of those to start work. She knew how dire my situation is since I dropped hints on it.

Finally after the orientation class, you have to take a Prove-IT test. Now for that test, I was able to take the System Administration test, but the Oracle Java exams and SQL exams were very difficult to take because I had no knowledge of them and it was a surprise for me because I did not expect such a test.

All I could do was to guess the answers the best I could in order to complete the remaining exam.

Then finally, another co-ordinator which was another woman gave me a link to the System Administrator job for a local contractor for the Prince Georges county government. The job would be a great fit for me if I was actually hired. Then I encountered the same problems with dealing with third-party IT recruiters, but it’s worse since you’re dealing with the state government since if they screw up, they don’t get easily disciplined or fired unlike the private sector.

I did the same thing as I did to the IT recruiters. I followed up with them by phone every week to make sure I exist and to check up on the hiring process. Often times, I leave a voicemail message and I don’t get a return call back. Often times I had to do a weekly follow up on both co-ordinators. Each one told me that they will update me tomorrow or the next day. When tomorrow or the next day came and I don’t get a phone call back, and I had to be the one calling them back.

Then slowly, I found reasons why it took so long to hear anything back from the person who gave me that job link from the other co-ordinator: The first excuse: She went on vacation. The second excuse was that she got married after she went on vacation. Finally I was told that her office was being moved to a different location. Despite all of this, she could not take 30 minutes of her time following up on voice mail messages in between the times she went on vacation and marriage.

Finally, they admitted months later that the position I have applied to with the company that was supposed to work with the American Job Center with unemployed Americans who signed up with the WIOA was closed. Worse, basically told me that they threw their hands up instead of actually giving me a position that they would have worked with ASAP by telling me to go to a IT recruiter. The same IT recruiters that I contacted a week after I was laid off that months later threw their hands up and told me they actually have nothing for me after wasting 2 hours of time talking to them at their office and doing weekly follow ups over the phone.

Even the Government of the State of Maryland does not value the time or skills of the unemployed. Even if the unemployed person is disabled and has a autism spectrum disorder.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Craigslists

Craigslist is the same thing as well. It only has the benefit for not forcing you to apply for an account when you apply for jobs. So you can So you can actually email postings with just a cover letter and your resume. In some cases, I applied to every other job with just a dumbed down resume. And I could never hear back, and there’s no way to contact the job because they’re all anonymous.

The only legitimate job interview I had was with a legal company. But she flaked and then proceeded to gaslight when I reminded her that she was late. Then I tried scheduling another one. We finally had a phone interview, but her attitude shown that she didn’t want to proceed. And as usual, despite me interested, she never heard back.

Another one where I had to call directly was a position where I can work online for a moving company. The person sounded like he was interested

And there are full of scams. One of them is a real estate posting scam. Numerous scams involving personal assistant or office assistant. Also, they’re full of listing for nothing more than spam for uber/lyft or any other gig economy app of the month.

Even one where I was instantly qualified for a sales agent. When I susses out the information from the person responsible, he gave me an email with the website: It turns out the website was under construction. Then another representative told me and claimed that the places existed for years.

And for those of you wondering have you tried selling your stuff on craigslist, we did. We tried selling purses that were barely used and like new for weeks. And no one was interested because it wasn’t dirt cheap or free.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Starting my own business

Around April and May I was very close to starting my own IT business, plus joining a startup connected to a large medical company in New York. I was tipped off by it from one of my internet friends. The start up company if it still exist would be in Washington, DC. I came to the meeting and I can tell that there was no sense of urgency. As I had to wait 25-30 minutes to get him to come to where I am.

But the actual meeting where I get to see the people who own the room, which was a medical facility. The people who was there was welcoming and nice and wanted to work with them. The were 2 other people that would be in the startup, both of them black american. But the real problem is that it slowly dawned me that person kept dragging the proceedings on and on, breadcrumbing and playing hard to get.

Emails to and from each other. It seems like he takes his sweet time replying back. Text messages periodically go unanswered. Even though I told him that my unemployment benefits will run out, he kept up his behavior.

But the subsequent meetings went on and on. With no sense of urgency. The actual meeting I had to wait, and I had to call them 2 and half hours of waiting. He admitted that he had a previous meeting that he never told me about it.

Now the IT contractor aspect, I would be handing a  IT linux servers, and for a server migration. The server migration thing was for me to transfer a old windows system with a unique software to a linux system and to put a virtualbox on it. The rest was linux servers that I would maintain.

But it feel though, when I was going to make a contract for the payment that would be done immediately. The contact deliberately wasted my time, went cagey periodically when I asked him certain questions. Then finally flaked and refused to answer my questions about the start up. Eventually he ghosted instead of spitting it out.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Job fairs

People think the job market is better and since people who never been to a job fair in a long time will lie themselves towards other people telling that people are hiring at job fairs again.But in practice they’re a waste of time if you come in thinking that you can get easily hired for a job there.Most of these job fairs are good for advertising, and for trinkets they give out.

I’ve visited several job fairs and hiring events in the DC, MD, and VA area. Most of them were in metrorail distance, There was one where I had to walk to, crossing over parking lots because there was no direct sidewalk to the hotel. I dress in a simple white shirt and grey work pants, and with a bunch of resumes I’ve printed out at FedEx.

I introduce myself, I tell them my work background and which jobs I’m interested. And they respond to the same thing. Apply online. Go to our website and apply online. There are only a few people that were actually speak outside the script in where what our job does what they can do to help and what not. They gave me a business card to call.

Some of the companies in these job fairs are usually the following: Law enforcement that requires skills and physical capabilities that I would be disqualified for, commission only sales for insurance, government positions that insist that you apply online on usajobs, and skills learning websites, or retail positions. All of them are not jobs.

It’s the same script:

Anything else, and they will tell you to apply online to their website. So that your application will be ignored. Unless you try to talk to them get to know the company enough to get their phone number or email. That’s how the real strategy is: You apply for their jobs, you then call or email them to make sure they got their resume and call them.

Job fairs are a waste of time and money. Almost all of them will tell you to apply online. But the real reason is the contact numbers. You apply for a job and then you contact them to tell them that you’ve applied for the job. But in some cases the contact numbers are worthless because they don’t bother replying, they’re never pick up their phone calls or return their email messages.

This is for a good reason: They get swamped with so much work that it’s easier to just let their messages go ignored. Because of this, the unemployed have no value. I have seen this happen dozens of times: Federal government and in the private industry.

In some cases, in companies where they insist that we can help the unemployed find work like the federal government or WMATA for the disabled, they failed or they stall and flake claiming that they had too many applicants and will not make time to help them. Or in some cases when you apply via email they will not reply back or if you phone them as a follow up they will not return their messages.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

In person interviews

For all the job applications, phone screens, and phone interviews I had I only had three interviews. One of them was for a Linux System Administrator job in Arlington, VA. Another one was for a IT Asset Move assistant in Washington, DC. And the Last one was for a mid-level help desk in Silver Spring. All three of them were going to be great opportunities until reality slapped in the face, each and every time.

For a IT move thing, it was held in a high rise. In a floor that was owned by the US Government. We had a good conversation and told me all of those things about the job. I mentioned my IT Asset Management experience and IT support. I never got a call back so I had to call them back once every 3 days. The recruiter kept forgetting to call back. It was not until I call them that I had a update via email that I was more suited Linux System Administrator role despite mentioning the IT Asset Management experience.

One of them was for a Linux System Administrator job at a federal facility. The interview was routine. And they wanted to answer their questions via a two page document. I could not answer some of the questions because it involved things I could not answer like programs. There were in some cases due to the chronic stress I could not remember some of the answers to some of the common questions.

So I waited for a response. Then they told me that they will contact me on friday. Then friday came and never call back. I had to call them on Friday and they told me that they will call me again on Friday. This went on and on, until they admitted that they have not made a decision for a month and politely told me not to call back.

For a mid-level help desk. It was for a government contract in silver spring, but the interview was held in rockville maryland. So I had to take a metrorail to Rockville, then a local county bus to get to the area, then walk the rest of the way. The interview was routine in itself and it had the same questions. I was told that I did a mix of tier 1,2 and 3 roles in my two jobs I’ve mentioned in my resume.. But then I found out it was fake, they sent me a rejection notice the next morning. It was a sign that the entire interview was fake.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Phone screen after phone screen

For the past 8 months I only had 15 phone interviews. There were merely phone screens asking for the same thing over and over. What is your background, what was your last position, are you a US citizen, do you need visa sponsorship, what is your last salary, where do you live.

The actual phone interview consists of the same questions: What’s your weakness. What is your greatest problem you have to deal with it. What is your strength. What was your last job.

Then the checklists of requirements come up. Some I had to answer the best I could, while there were things that I could not apply because the skills or programs I’ve never used or heard. But I told them the same thing, I’m a quick learner or I can learn these programs. But it didn’t matter, even though people say that they’re all wishlists in reality all people want a person who will check all the ticks.

This highlights another problem with the unemployment crisis: Most employers want perfect candidates. If a employer was legitimately desperate, he would get me into a interview immediately the next day. But so far none of them are despite a low unemployment rate.

Two of the most memorable phone interviewers were with System Administration in DC. One for the Naval Lab and the other one for the IRS in New Carrollton

For both of these jobs the first one I could not answer some of the questions because it was software or concepts that I’ve never used before like a certain key-combination.

The other one was due to the fact that I never used microsoft visio. That was the only thing I was missing because I’ve legitimately never heard or used it.

The worst part is that the interviews are spaced together. Despite the fact that the 4.1 unemployment rate still here employers are not acting like they desperately need hired help.

Due to the job crunch, HR personnel rather seek perfect candidates. If they don’t see a perfect candidate, they will close the position and refile. Over and over. Because it’s more easier to do, than to hire the wrong person.

Just apply anyway, does not work anymore, unless you actually know the employer is desperate. Wish lists in practice are checklists. If you don’t fit the perfect canbddiate, you’re trash.

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Networking and meeting up to a brick wall.

It’s a cliche saying but it’s true. It’s not what you know, but who you know. In this job market it’s now a practical requirement: You have to know someone that is willing and able to help you get a job. And when I mean get a job I mean willing and able to vouch for you to get past the HR gatekeepers and recruiters straight to the hiring manager for a interview that is merely a formality. Here’s the thing, I know people but at the same time, they refuse to reciprocate or in some cases even bother to reply to their messages.

I tried several times to network with friends, family, co-workers, via  linkedin and facebook and with meetup groups. This is because most jobs are gained via networks and connections. They often times bypass HR and the resume is headed straight to the hiring manager.

In practice, most of the people I talk to, some of them who I know for years often times do not even bother replying me back or ignore my emails after an initial reply. Or in some cases after I talk to them about how’s their life going or how’s their day going, as soon as I mention the word “job” or “I’m seeking work” the conversation drops instantly, and any follow up conversations are not replied to at all.

In some cases, supervisors who you work for, even for example one of my supervisors who know your situation, and known you will not help, or insensitively enough give a platitude word salad just to keep themselves bummed out. Almost all of them will not lift a finger to help or claim that they don’t know anything, even though they have networks of people that he could tape into for help!

But in practice, you can help people or offer them or be their support, and when it comes to their time of need, they will not recripoate back. They can choose to because they can willfully choose not to stick out their necks or expand their social capital to help them because it would be too much “work”. Even if the person would be homeless or penniless.

In short they attempted help and instead of trying harder, they throw their hands up after encountering failure, ghosted, or then contacted me briefly to ghost me after a minute so they can feel good about themselves.

Linkedin is one of the worst cases of networking. So many recruiters and people network or connect me to. But when I message them for any reason. My messages are ignored. Even a simple greeting goes unanswered. This is for a good reason, most people tend to use Linkedin as another facebook and use people they connect to as numbers.

Even recruiters play the same crap as they contact you over and over. Or ask for connections and when you ask them why, they will not reply. The only reason why they will contact you is during your birthday or a job change. That’s it.

Now let me give you an example of two networking attempts I did which led me to a brickwall. First one was a DC Hackerspace and another from a Professional meetup in a club.

The first one, they either have no job, unemployed or retired. The hackspace is located in a church. I visited the first time, but no one was there even though it was open season. The hackerspace was fully equipped. With machines and books one of them was a 3d printer, a computer able to play 3d games And also books on technology and linux.

So I’ve visited the next time and I had there were more people. I’ve actually talked to people saw what they did over and over again. But one of them I could tell that explaining what I go through I can tell that her concern was fake. All she could say every time was “That sucks”. “That sucks”, no sense of urgency no sense of any actual concern.

One of them suggested that I should just walk into a homeless shelter if I could not deal with my parents anymore. I asked my ID is maryland, they simply tell me just not show it.

I’ve check out a VR thing, which is something that I can’t afford ever. I could not remember what the game was but it was a shooting game but I can remember it was the facebook made oculus vr.

Eventually I did had one person who was a had a job and who offered to help. She told me that her job was with devops. And I gave her my resume. And she told me that she will gety back to me.

Of course, she never did.

Then she told me all she knows is devops not linux, and the that the devops jobs was with TekSystems and I had to apply with them. I actually did saw the job, and applied for it and they never hear back.

For the second one. It was via meetup.com And it was professional meetup basically a bunch a group of young professionals meeting up in a bar to socialize, network with a free lesson of  salsa lessons. I had no interest in salsa, i came to network and socialize I came to talk.

So I came in, and no one came because i came early. So I waited and waited some more for people to come. I just read news articles on my phone while I waited. I socialize with them, soften them up. Introduced myself, allowed them to introduce themselves to my background. But it’s the same situation, they claim they don’t know anyone. Or they’re unemployed themselves and just got into the city or they know they have jobs but not in a position to help.

Or I finally found someone who cant talk to. I did the same script to him. And he told me about his company what it does. He claims that there were internships available. So he gave me the website name and his email address.

The next day I went to the website and there were not internships but actual jobs, so I’ve applied to one. And then tried to email him about it. But apparently I found out that he gave me the short email instead the full email. I did emailed him with the full email.

Email me say that a recruiter will call back. After time the recruiter will not come, so you inform him of your status, only to find out that he has ghosted you. I sent him another email, only to for me to realize he had no interest replying.

Oh one more thing. There was actually a supervisor that I worked with in my last time for over a year. Which he quit and went to another comapny. Then as I was laid off, he got into the same comapny that could not pick me up. I’ve been contracting this guy for months regarding my situation and worst thing is that he knows what I’ve been going through for the parents.

You know what he finally replied with, he basically tells me that he could not help me at all. And puits downs a bunch of fake plattiudes because he knows thaty I’m going to be homeless.

Oh and linkedin. I did everything everone usggest it. But people tend to use it as another facebook. And recruits demand you to be connected to you so they can be seen as a number. Even if you contact a recreuiter from months ago following up they will claiom not to help

Even staff members who know me from the University of Maryland, my alma matter. They try to help, they told me that know someone for work oppotunites. But when I follow up with them, they told that they don’t know any or told me to keep checking. They did pointed out to a oppotunity to be a IT specialist, but I realized after I applied that the application was past the review date.

People who you know and talk to for years seem to disappear when you mention job or employment. As soon as you see the work employment, they will ghost you for that conversation. Because it’s better to disappear than to admit that you don’t have anything.

#Networking #job networking #connections #gatekeping #meetup #social isolation #alienation #homeless #ghosting #recruiting #recruiter #hackerspace #Linkedin #apathy #fake #numb #technology #IT #linux #VR #dancing #Sasa #wrong email #unemployed #UMD #university of maryland #IT specialist #platitude #word salad #worthless

[entitledunemployedmillennial]

Recruiters and temp agencies who meet, talk, and do nothing.

I’ve applied to all the recruiter firms in the DC area, but only three contacted me. One was [Redacted] the other is [Redacted company related to first Redacted company]. Each interview is the same, you come into their office, they jot down information on your resume, they give you three opportunities. After the meeting, what you expect them to do is to push you to the the employer to prepare for a interview. Then you go to their interview, and finally if you pass their interview, you start working for them.

In practice, job recruiters see you as a number, and they routinely forget. So you have to call them and remind them that you exist. That would work if they would actually return their phone calls. But in practice they don’t. They act like salesmen, and they’re piss-poor at their jobs because they’re always busy. And you would think that they would seek out other opportunities if those first three do not work out, but they rather wait or focus on other opportunities.

Even if they tell you that they will call you, they won’t. As they are awful for following up. Worse, they won’t active. lt seek work on your behalf, they just stick you in with three people and wait. They can’t take five minutes of their time to even call back. You have to be the one reminding them that you exist.

In the end, they admitted that they couldn’t get me in, despite my glowing resume. Worse, I’ve found that some companies use multiple recruitment firms to get a single hire, along with posting the job on their website AND on major job boards.

And this is one reason why there looks like tons of jobs, but there’s not because they’re duplicates of the same job position on their website.

I asked the recruiters the same question: What about contract work or temp work. They claim that they did not had anything for me. I also call them periodically, and it’s the same thing.

And I will not get into the recruiter spam posted from Indian recruiters. As a matter of fact, the existence of Indian recruiters bring to light the real reason why people who are skilled can’t get any jobs: The advent of technology lets people be lazy and not want to actually read resumes before sending out emails.

The worst part of the recruiting field is that 99 percent of recruiters are like this. Good ones that are actively looking out for you, are rare because there is such a low bar. Worse, you can’t get these jobs if you want to, because of a two year experience bar that they place, even thigh the recruiters are fresh from college. Why, because they hire via their networks.

I had a few connections and contacts but they flaked or followed through and then dropped me when I could not get hired. In some cases the same people who contact me over and over for applications, but when I send them my resume they dropped me. Then when I finally contacted them after sending them voicemails, they pretend they have not received them or pretended they called me in an effort to gaslight me.

Most recruiters who call me for a system administration job, I assume it’s linux. But every-time they call. They promise that they will help you find a job and then they either sit on their resume or worse they don’t push your resume. Or they will find ways to stall and lie to you. Or when you’re actually desperate for any work, like contract work, they claim that they don’t know anything.

Finally you have people who promise to call back, but will not and will have to chase after them leaving periodic voicemail messages. Every 3 days. Only to find out that they don’t bother returning their phone calls and when you do call and pick up and when you tell them that we have been leaving messages, they pretend that you didn’t hear what they were saying. Another temp agency which I have not heard from, told me that they have particular type of jobs in the area. Of all sorts. They gave me a job app, only to find out that most of the jobs are outside of the DC area and you’re required to take these jobs in order to get the job you want. All of them were outside of my requirements and require equipment that I didn’t had the money for.

Some of these jobs require a active secret clearance. Meaning that the company will not accept you if you don’t have one on you. They will not sponsor your clearance because they know due to backlogs in processing it, it takes months. Even if you applied anyway, they will reject you immediately. And there are no special waivers or exemptions.

#Recruting #temp work #temp agencies #STEM #job recruiters #jobs #recruiters #sales recruting #washington DC #washingtondc #worthless #entitled #millennial #flaky #resume #contract #Indian #indian recruiter #keyword search #networking #unemployed #unemployment #bad customer service #gaslighting