Job Hunting

It has been sometime now since I was gainfully employed. A friend and I started our own specialty gift basket business but it flopped. For a while baking for friends kept money coming in but that too has tapered off. Therefore I have been doing the resume thing almost every day of the week. So much has changed. It used to be common practice among businesses to acknowledge the receipt of an application or resume or to send a short note letting you know the job had been filled by someone more qualified; but no more. It tends to make me a bit paranoid wondering if they got what I sent or just what is wrong with me that no one wants to give me a chance at a job. There are exceptions of course. The few times I have applied with the City of North Augusta, I have received very nice notes; no job interview but nice notes. Another thing businesses do now or the person who conducts the interview does, is tell you when a decision will be made and that someone will let the candidates know one way or the other. So you wait and hope and wait only to open the paper one morning to see the job advertised again.
When I was younger prospective employers were worried that a marriage may be in the future and with marriage it was a 98% probability that babies would follow, subsequently no one wanted to hire a young female. Now that I’m older, wiser, more responsible, more knowledgeable, have two degrees, very settled and I dare say smarter than the average bear, no one wants to take a chance. It makes one wonder just what they are looking for in view of the fact that on any given day one can enter a store where rudeness and just plain common courtesy seem to be a thing of the past. Today’s younger generation seem never to have learned simple phrases such as excuse me or thank you or may I help you. Instead they are so busy on cell phones they can’t take the time to wait on customers or get aggravated if you interrupt them during their personal calls or just tell you they don’t know the answer to your question leaving one to wonder why they hire people that know nothing about what they are doing. I’ve worked with the public, I know how hard it can be to be nice to some people but that doesn’t mean everyone is rude or condescending.
So a heads up to prospective employers; take a chance on someone who has experience with life, leave the young rude people alone until they learn some manners. And, what ever happened to dressing well for interviews or the work place? When did it become acceptable to have body piercing, tattoos, and wear Goth clothing to work? Am I so out of touch that the abnormal is now the normal? It used to be frowned upon to look like that in public especially in the workplace, unless, of course, you worked in a tattoo shop or were in a music group. I am truly baffled.
Remember Bob Monaco? I dropped by his place recently just to see what was on the floor for auction this week. His inventory has increased by leaps and bounds. I am constantly amazed at the items he finds. If you haven’t checked out his auction house you do not know what you are missing.
Now that summer is winding down I am going to get back out there looking for people to speak with, stories to tell you, and hopefully, more informative pieces to write. For now, however, the most exciting thing I can report is that the children in my neighborhood as in yours have started back to school. They seem happy to be going back. I know I’m happy they have gone back; the noise level is way down.