Last week I wrote 5 Things the Long-Term Unemployed Need to Do to Find a Job and it ruffled a few feathers of the long-term unemployed. Here’s some of the feedback I received:
If you’ve never sent out over 200+resumes/applications and received only one phone call from a headhunter who asked me to take less than the stated hourly rate, gotten a few cursory acknowledgment emails, and no other real-life contact, then you don’t know what it is to be job-hunting these days. The automated application systems, the keyword searches that screen you out right away, the knowledge that not a single human being is even reviewing your app or resume, can’t help but make you feel it’s a waste of time. It’s enormously discouraging to not even be able to get a foot in the door, to even be given the chance to prove yourself.
To read more, click here: How to Hire the Best of the Long Term Unemployed Candidates
My husband is one of the 50+ year olds who worked for a company for 17 years and then was “packaged” out the first reorg after his 50th birthday. He had a great relationship with his client and the numbers showed that, but essentially he was “clogging the talent pipeline.” He has now been looking for a job for 8 months and I can not believe the torture this process entails. He has made it to the final two four times now, with an average of six interviews per company, only to have lost the position to an internal candidate. This job market is painful, I don’t care what the government is telling us. It is humbling in a way I never would have expected.
Oh I have to agree with your last sentence. I live in a big city that should have lots of jobs and I’ve still seen many horror stories of awesome former coworkers being completely unable to find work
Dear Evil,
Thank you for acknowledging the challenges of the long-term unemployed, and thank you for writing to the employers about this issue. (I don’t know how much impact it will have, but, geez mcgeez, it’s a good start.)
The mechanized search currently forced on most jobseekers doesn’t allow for any touch of personality or creativity anymore. I used to be able to walk into a temp agency with a resume, sit down with a staffer, and be set up for at least a temp job for the next week. Nowadays, everything is online, everything is screened out, and most of us don’t get a courtesy thanks, but no thanks. All your effort in crafting a resume and cover letter is wasted because no human has looked at your skills and experience.
I *am* getting out of the house and networking locally, but it’s not a final solution. Part of me just prays I can hang on to my house and my car until age 62, and I can bow out of the rat-race that is corporate America.
Color me with that gray crayon over there. Yeah, the one labeled “discouraged.”
I have been long-term unemployed due to a corporate reorganization and months after applying for 100 positions a week from Australia to Europe I took a job at half the salary of my prior position. The only reason they considered me is because I had some limited experience in an obscure field, this was focused solely on that obscurity and due to that obscurity they only had two applicants. Since getting the position, for several years, I have continued to apply for new jobs (not at the 100/week pace) but due to focus on this obscurity, I have recieved very few callbacks even in fields where I was at the top of the field before…no current experience.