At the end of Episode 2 of Season 3's Criminal Minds on CBS, Gideon has dropped off the grid. He has left the FBI, in search of something that he can't put his finger on. He muses to himself that he can't understand mainstream society, and that what he is really looking for is some "happy endings" he used to know as a kid. Aren't we all?
The truth is, the majority of us who still have jobs, are unhappy and feel trapped. Polls indicate that well over fifty percent of Americans feel this way, some indicate as many as seventy-five percent. Remember the expression, “Get a life!” Well guess what, that is what many of us are looking for. And, number 1 on the list of elements needed, is a good job.
And, the number of unemployed Americans rose 861,000 persons in May, to a total of 8.5 million people. That is 5.5% of the total work force. The figures were the highest in two decades. That is a lot of people needing to find a new opportunity.
Where and how you look for a job has changed drastically, since the last time I was looking for a career opportunity twenty years ago. Does Career Builder come to mind? That's right. You don't do anything as dumb as walk into a company and talk to the Human Resources person about what is available, and get to know a person. No, no my friends. There are so many bodies looking for job opportunities in today's marketplace, that the management geniuses have opted for and adopted the extremely icy and ghostlike procedure known as applying over the internet. Average company human resources departments today receive anywhere from 125 to 300 applications for the average position.
Instead of a live person, today you file your application on a computer via the internet.
You don't get any sense of self assurance of how your application went, or if you'll hear from any company you apply to, ever again. And, in the case of jobs with the government, the application process itself is in many cases stifling and demeaning.
Some government offices have in this day of technological prowess, thee most
user-unfriendly software available, in any modern universe. Now, since I mentioned Career Builder, I will have to say that their system is one of the better ones in the market.
Instead of saving your work for you automatically, as you go through the process of completing information requests from your selected application's software, in the case of an interruption, these little beauties kick you out of their systems automatically without saving any of your work. Some companies and government agencies have
intrinsic questionnaires. Excellent, except that directions for answering the questions are all too often vague, and these are reviewed by some people who haven't even worked in the specific employment area they are judging your future on. Some applicants however may prefer these personality traits, as many people in today's work force management areas are made up of people with similar aptitudes as these referenced judge types.
Remember the line above that indicates that you may never hear from companies you apply to, again? Well, just recently, I received a letter requesting me to apply for a job with a company I'd curiously sent a resume to. I'd sent this speculative application resume nearly 3 years ago. If I'd needed a job at the time, I'd be pretty destitute don't you think, if I'd been forced to await these callous mindless twit's response. Want to work for this top 500 company? NOT!
I made an application to a Fortune 100 company. It was for a position as general manager. I had the skills the website said were required. The application process took over three hours because you couldn't just upload a resume, the site required you to fill out each job you had as a part of the process. There was a questionnaire with over 90 questions. I was excited, as I thought I had completed a fairly impressive application.
That was over 3 months ago!
The government's system for career searches needs to be revamped. It needs to be completely investigated. You cannot talk to anyone who is involved in reviewing applicants for jobs. What is the government hiding? You can't beg, borrow or steal any help from anyone in a decision role or anyone in the department you are applying to, even to seek some incite for answering questionnaires. One department I tried to seek help with had customer service people who were downright rude. I'm calling long distance, and three times I had a person put me on hold and never return.
