I've returned...

[Pumpkin_Man]

Murf, back in 2006, it looked as though I was going to be laid off. Luckily that didn't happen, but here is what any unemployed person faces in today's world. Many people who actualy have jobs but want better ones litterly flood the internet with resumes. It's unbelievable how many resumes and on line apps that come in for just one job in just one day. We recently opened up a PART TIME position inour department. This happened about a week ago after our part time person left us to relocate. Within one week, there were litteraly 10,000 resumes. They finaly narrowed it down to 1000 candidates. A stack of printed out resumes, litteraly as thick as a Chicago phone directory JUST FOR THAT ONE PART TIME JOB, and those were chosen out of 10,000. Just to get your resume looked at is paramount to winning a lottery any more.

That's what all colleg grads, and anyone else looking for work is up against. It's a bloomin lottery any more, and the odds that your resume will even be looked at are as high as 10,000 to one.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Wow, that's astonishing, and sobering.

I have to believe that the ease of applying for a job via the internet has upped the number of applications.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's just it. There are a lot of people who want to relocate. They already have jobs, but for what ever reason they want to move to another locality so they post resumes all over the Internet, and it creates a huge number of apps and resumes for every job that opens. A lot of companies won't even bother with an applicant that lives a thousand miles away, but it makes it harder and harder to get your resume even noticed none the less as employers have to sift through litteraly tens of thousands of apps for each job that opens.

Couple that with the ecconomy we're in today, and it's worse then the Great Depression. It's a lottery. Makes no difference how highly educated you are, how much work related esperience you have, or how many awards you won at your former job. If you get laid off, or are just starting out, or if you're over 50, your chances of even being cinsidered for ANY JOB, let alone a decent job, is very very slim. Even minimum wage jobs like at McDonalds or Burger King are fiercly competed for now a days. The owner of the McDonalds in my home town, an aquantience of mine because we go to the same church, was telling me just last Sunday that he had about 3 openings. 2 cooks and one job taking customer orders. He was going through all the on-line applications, and he couldn't believe what he saw. People with Masters Degrees, some who had 20 plus years experience, students freshly graduated with Associates Degrees and Bachelors Degrees, Retirees, the list goes on and on. All of them scrambling for a crappy job that pays bare minimum wage, has no bennifits, and only part time hours to start. It's pathetic.

Sort of makes one think if this high tech society is such a wonderful thing after all.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Yeah, well, every innovation has its good and its bad side. What you gain in one area you often lose in another.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I recken Soe, Murf. A lot of stable owners and carraige repair men lost their jobs when cars took over. But at least they were able to look for other work, and didn't have 10,000 applications for every job opening.

All I really can say at this point is "Thank God I have a good job." I just hope I can make Studio O'Brien Photography work after I retire, IF I should be lucky enough to make it to retirement, and there is still a pension waiting for me.

Mike