One of the job search sites I am using has a variety of job events around the region and encourages you to go to them. Okay, the networking thing isn’t really working to well yet so I might as well go down and see what is there and see if I can hand out some resumes. I had been to one of them a few weeks before and it wasn’t much but I was hoping that that was just a fluke.

Now, having been on the other side of the desk as it were, I know how to dress when looking for a job. You never know who is manning the booth or is behind the counter. I was managing a truck stop once and was fully responsible for all hiring. While pulling a shift behind the counter, two young “ladies” (and I use the term loosely) came in and asked if we were hiring and then for an application. Both were wearing torn jeans, crop tops and flip-flops (oh and popping gum!). On top of that, while standing in front of me filling out the applications, they discussed how they would lie on the app! Needless to say there applications never made it to my files cabinet! My point is, when looking for a job, be prepared at any time to meet someone in a position of influence. Another point to keep in mind is that you never know who is observing you and who may have influence in the hiring decision. That secretary behind the desk may be the boss’s wife. Heck, she MAYBE the boss! Even if you are just “dropping off an application”, dress for an interview.

Anyway, I digress. So I dress in my sales professional wear (nice slacks, button down pale blue shirt, Sport coat, tie, polished loafers), print up my resumes on nice quality bond paper, put them in my leather portfolio, head out to get a haircut and then off to the job fair. Now for another tip; get the haircut BEFORE you put on the dress shirt! Jeez, little hairs everywhere! Okay, got that cleaned up and I’m off.

I arrive at the location to find a nearly full parking lot and make my way to the front lobby. Now knowing the particular venue, a Holiday Inn , I didn’t really expect a large event and I was almost shocked at what I saw when I entered the lobby. The line for this thing (and it had been open for an hour) wrapped around the outer wall of the entire hotel lobby and doubled back on its self! It was an hour to the door!

I have never seen anything like this outside of a fire department mass hiring “cattle call”!  It turns out that the conference room where this was being held was small and they were only letting people in when somebody left. The line kept moving but like I said, it took an hour to get to the door. It was in this line that I started noticing how people were dressed. Since when did jeans and hoodies become okay for job hunting? Or a bright red quilted ski jacket? How about an old cowboy hat? Now don’t get me wrong, I own several cowboy hats and there is a place and time for them. A job fair in the middle of a city in California neither the time nor the place for a crushed, work style straw Stetson! Yes, if you were applying at a ranch outside of Tehama for a ranch hand job, sure but not here. And what is with the two guys that look like they snuck over here on their break from the McDonalds’ down the street, still in uniform and smelling of fries? I know that they may not have had any other time but come on “dudes”, bring a change of clothes to work! Don’t show up to a job fair in a Micky D’s uniform!

Oh well, makes my chances better. Most of the people there were dressed in a coat and tie, or at least a button up shirt and tie, and the women in nice dresses, skirts, pantsuits and the like, so they all get it.

I finally reach the door to the conference room after an hour only to discover that it is an absolute zoo inside! The place is packed (probably over capacity), and there are very few employers here! You have got to be kidding me! I waited in line an hour to find more lines stretching clear across the room (in both directions, the lines were crisscrossing!)  and maybe 15 employers there? And not all of them were actual employers either! Pardon my French, but WTF? Who allows people like Pre-Paid Legal at a job fair? What’s next, Amway/Quixtar? Two of the booths were about getting state and federal jobs 9nop hiring, just flyers) but with the mess this state is in, getting a state job could end you right back here at another job fair in 6 months or collecting minimum wage because the Governator and the legislators are fighting again (still!).

Very disappointed, I made the rounds in about 15 minutes. Half of the room was healthcare (mostly looking for RN’s) so no point in stopping there unless they want to pay me to go to school and guarantee a job with them on the other side. CarMax was there again, still running through car sales virgins like Guy Fieri though Diners.

They were having a resume review over against one wall and it look like the line was short so I figured that, since I had not had to do a resume in years, mine probably needed some pointers. Might as well try to get something out of the day, right? This shouldn’t take too long and I could get back to trying to dig up more job leads, right? Wrong… It turns out that the line doubled up on itself at one point and it too was over an hour long! When I got to the front, I was expecting people from HR firms or Job agencies to be doing the reviews, somebody that has experience in reading them and hiring people. Wrong again. What they had were people that had one man resume writing shops or were life style/job search “coaches”. Personally, I sometimes think these “coaches” couldn’t find jobs, got lucky helped some friend find a job and decided to go into business themselves. What I got was one person’s opinion on what was wrong with my resume. The sad thing was that my resume was pretty close to one of the guys I was in line with (both done on MS Word templates, with near identical layouts), my person hated mine and “deconstructed” it, and his “coach” liked his. Go figure.

All and all it was a disappointment and a bit of a waste of time (I had an hour drive on each side of this). It wasn’t a complete waste because I did learn that the days of job fairs being a great place for finding a job, are way over, and also I learned that no matter how bad things are, how desperate the economic situation is, some people still aren’t serious about finding a job.

The useless advice runs the gamut from minimizing the impact, to making unrealistic expectations, to being completely out of touch with the reality of losing one’s livelihood.

Read on for some great examples of useless advice. If you have your own useless advice, Post it. I’d love to hear it!

The Just-Get-Over-It Approach

“If you’re laid off, you’ll need to overcome the initial shock and demoralization and move on quickly and confidently.”

Uh, yeah, that’s helpful. Losing a job can be utterly devastating. It ranks right up there with death of a loved one and divorce as being one of the most stressful events in life. So how helpful is it to tell someone that has just lost a family member to “get over the initial shock and move on quickly.” This type of admonishments can make you feel there’s something wrong if you’re having difficulty regaining your confidence or moving forward. There isn’t. It’s normal. And the only way over it is through it.

The Laughingly Unrealistic

“Do things that will get you to be recognized as a world leader in the field you want to be in.“

No problem here. You simply go from complete obscurity to a recognized leader in your field. How? Easy. Join LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, start a blog and attract thousands of followers. One of those followers will see you for the expert you are and offer you a job so you can abandon LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and your blog. Right.

The Glaringly Obvious

“Review your financial situation. If your unemployment goes beyond a month or two, you may need to make some lifestyle adjustments.”

It’s hard to imagine that there’s an individual who’s been laid off or fired who hasn’t instantly seen their financial life flash before their eyes. It’s equally hard to imagine that some lifestyle adjustments are not in order. It’s simply common sense.

The Out-of-Touch

“If your feelings of anger, sadness or helplessness persist beyond a few weeks, consider getting short-term therapy for depression.”

The thing about prolonged unemployment is that things often don’t progress in a straight line. Until things right themselves – which usually means finding a job and feeling secure about income again – it’s natural to experience bouts of anger, sadness and helplessness. To suggest that these feelings persisting beyond a few weeks is abnormal is unhelpful.

The Wishful Thinking

“Now is the best time to pick up a hobby you’ve always wanted to do but never had time for.

Who wrote this really?

More from the Pick-Yourself-Up-by-the-Bootstraps Useless Bucket

“Don’t let your layoff get you down. Be sure to take care of yourself, both physically and mentally. Stick to a regular exercise program. You need to look sharp when you go to job interviews.”

Worried about paying the rent, putting food on the table, college tuition? No problem, go out for a jog. Statements like these show a staggering lack of understanding of the emotional pain inherent in losing a job.

The Too-Little-Too-Late

“Take a few minutes to connect with everyone before you leave the premises. Get everyone’s contact information and future plans. You never know if you might need them.”

Here, the author is hoping that in the immediate minutes following the news that your livelihood has been destroyed, you’re going to have the presence of mind to methodically build your rolodex as security is ushering you out the door.

The Golden Opportunity

“This is the time that you can spend Organizing Your Life! Today is the day to start!”

I’d like to slap silly whoever wrote this, especially for the exclamation marks!

Thanks to
Tom Hogan – Level 1 Resources
We provide Accounting and Finance talent to Companies throughout CT, Westchester County and NYC area

I have also polished up my resumes and had them looked over by people in the fields I am interested in.

I have started to submit resumes but so far nothing. The key will be to have a plan, put the plan into action and remain positive.

The work continues on the website as well as various other social media sites such as LinkedIn and Free Agents . Still have to work on my Plaxo account.

The old year is finally coming to a close. What a mess of a year!!! I can’t remember one as weird and messed up (for us) as this one!!

I was almost laid off in April (staffing issues and state budget issues) and had to fight for my job. I went on vacation (already scheduled and booked before I knew about the layoff. We went to the Great Pyrenees National Specialty in Santa Barbara) without even knowing if I had a job when I came back. The bad thing was the Division Chief knew I was staying on but he went on vacation with out telling anyone else!

Missed the big fires this year because the Captain at the station that handles the out-of-county responses was taking them (and all the OT) for himself and his partners.

Had to drop an important class that I have been wanting for years because Mrs. Obama was coming to UC Merced, we had to cover extra engines and I couldn’t get coverage so that I could go the the class. They rescheduled the class but then I was to be laid off again (I was at the bottom of the seniority list and also not eligible for permanent hire) and was dropped from the class (even though I wasn’t laid off!) again.

I was told by the Division Chief that he would look into my situation and that there was a possibility of bringing me on permanently or, at the least extending my time (Limited term employees can only work 24 months but if eligible can be extend in 12 month blocks). He again goes on vacation (he was very close to retirement) and the next time he sees me, he tells me that not only can I not be brought on permanent at this time, but because of the county budget cuts, I am being laid of in 2 weeks!

My Battalion Chief (my direct supervisor)was angry that I found out before him and that he didn’t have a chance to tell me himself (the first time I was almost laid off, not only did he not tell me but I found out from a scheduling Captain that I was almost laid off after the fact!). He said that he would see what he could do. Unbeknownst to him, I was taken off the schedule even thought I had not been formally notified nor had the lay off process actually been initiated. I worked the next two weeks thinking that the end of the month was my last day but still not having any clue as to where I was supposed to turn in my gear, who would do my separation interview (which was never done BTW) or when I would get my last check. I work up to what was supposed to be my last day before I found out that I was still working for another 16 days!

The next 16 days were a real mess becuase I was bounced all over the unit, working odd days and split stations and still no paperwork, no interview, no idea where/when to turn in my fire gear (2 sets issued by 2 different agencies)

On top of all this we learned that my wife needed a hysterectomy ASAP (and we also had no idea when my insurance would run out) and her surgery was scheduled for the day after my last shift (I was on 24 hour shifts and my last shift ended the morning of her surgery). Talk about elevated stress levels.

I was laid off from CalFire the week before Thanksgiving and because of Debi’s surgery, I not only cared for her (as well as the house and animals) but handled the family Thanksgiving as well. Thanksgiving actually went well but then Debi developed a series of infections that almost put her back in the hospital. On top of all of that, we had to worst winter storm in 19 years hit us, take out power and do a lot of damage to the property including freezing and rupturing an insulated waterline from the well, leaving us with out water even after the power came back on.

Because of the storm, I missed the phone interview with the state unemployment office and, because of the state budget crises and the economy, was never able to get someone on the phone. Consequently my unemployment claim was denied and I have to refile it! No income there for months!

Add to all of this the stresses of Christmas, the stress of Debi’s website development business being slow (steady and getting better but still off from 2007) and the financial stresses of being laid off in a depression and you have one mess of a year!

Now I know that I do not have it anywhere near as bad as many and that I was lucky to be working at all (stress or not) through what is hoped to be the roughest part of the downturn. I still have my home and have the support of the best wife an man could have. I am grateful for what I have and thankful that life for us has not been anywhere near as rough as it has for many Americans but I am SO happy that this year is over!

Here’s hoping for a better New Year for all of us.

Happy New Year

RC

1) Never launch a website until it is finished.

2) If you must launch it before it’s finished, don’t link to unfinished pages and NEVER show an “under construction” page!

Having said that,  because of the way that WordPress is working right now, as well as the fact that I had to do a complete un-install and reinstall of a partially finished site,  the best way for me to test this site is to launch it and test it live.

I sincerely apologize and promise that I will have the pages complete by this weekend.

Randy Carpadus

Oh BTW..Don’t know where the date error came from. This was posted on Dec 15th!