Much to my delight, there are many changes afoot in my life outside the realm of my control. The catalyst for this is, of course, my unemployed status. In times like these, I have come to reap the benefits of a rich life. How is this possible when I literally have a $0 balance on my checking account? I'll explain...
I'll start off first with my recent series of interviews for a prospective employer (I'll try to keep it short, I promise). Professionally, I want to stay within the publishing industry. Ideally, I'd have regular clients clamoring for my competitively-priced freelance writing services by now. As it stands, my website (whose fictitious name I finally registered with the Corporations division in Tallahassee, thanks to my boyfriend) still needs some work. I need a services page, a rate sheet, a database of prospective clients, and I need to market market market.
All of this is new to me. I've been trying my best to emulate established businesses, and hoping I don't step in a big pile of "oops." So far, so good.
So, in the interim I was hoping to get an in-house position within the publishing industry to tide me over while my freelance business starts to take off. I haven't lost sight of finishing college, it's just on hold until I can generate the income to pay for it. I don't qualify for financial aid.
This is an employer's market (duh). Any interview for an in-house position you go on, you are competing with at least fifty other just-as-qualified and desperate candidates. Even when the market is good, many employers in Florida don't offer competitive pay or a decent benefits package (one of the many reasons I'm building my entrepreneurship). I blame the lack of unions for this. Florida is also a "terminate at will" state, as most know. No matter how much you bust your butt, your employer can fire you without warning, reason, or fear of reprecussion.
In the many months I've been looking for work, I've found two constants in most want ads: 1) a practically PhD-level skill set of requests, compensating between 8-10 dollars an hour (mostly on craigslist), and my personal favorite 2) the bait-and-switch.
The bait-and-switch is where the initial ad titles the position into a lower-paying stratum (clerk, secretary, jr something-or-other) while the body of the ad clearly calls for a much higher level of responsibility. Present prospective employers somehow seem to think interviewees are stupid enough to not know what's actually going on.
We know what you're trying to pull; we're just desperate for work. My best friend, a former job recruiter (he did this for nine years) said this is a typical tactic when the market favors the employer. Get someone in who is qualified or overqualified, and exploit the hell out of them. The problem with this is, it only works for so long. If the new employee takes the job without hinting at negotiation for fairer pay; you'd better believe they're just biding time until they find something that pays better. And trust me, eventually they will, and they'll leave for greener pastures, and you'll be left holding your d*!k.
If a potential employer is okay with making the position a revolving door (I've seen plenty of these too; the boss is a tyrant, the hours and responsibilities aren't what the incumbent were told they were, etc.) then fine. Some companies are just fine with that. But doesn't it make more sense to hire the person best qualified for the job and offer to PAY THEM WHAT THEY'RE WORTH?
Honestly, who wouldn't want a happy, loyal employee? What about the work that either doesn't get done, or is incompetently mismanaged because, to save a buck, you decided you were going to be tightfisted? I believe in a shared respect; put yourself in the other person's position, then see it for the win-win situation it is when everyone walks away happy.
So how does this translate into general contentment? I have many, many people in my corner. I have the support and encouragement of loved ones, and the apparent respect of some of my business peers. Also, through this most recent exercise, I was able to learn how to negotiate.
It's simple, really, and there are a lot of resources out there. Some, like salary.com, but into actual perspective what the true rigors of elevated responsibilities are worth. Yes, the job market sucks right now, but I believe any employer with integrity would appreciate the courage and moxy it takes to propose a counter offer.
Of course, I do have some advantages providing me with the leverage to be able to step into this arena. I'm not in danger of losing my place of residence. A narrow escape, as some of you know, and completely due to an overwhelming show of support from family and loved ones. I also firmly believe it's only a matter of time before my freelance business starts to take off (also due to the support of loved ones). Finally, slowly but surely, more fairly compensating jobs are starting to emerge.
Through all this, I managed to recapture a sense of self-worth. Even though I want a job, I'm no longer desperate and have the ability to marshal the direction of my professional future. This is an invaluable freedom, and you just can't put a price tag on that. I also know that I truly have a solid support system that will cushion me against being forced into a deviation from my goals. Job offers will come and go, but the richness of my life is worth its weight in gold.
4 comments:
Unions aren't the answer. All they do is give those people who DON'T deserve them higher wages because of a few people who may. Most people who join unions do so (and they typically won't admit this) because they find that they can't find a way to earn higher wages on their own.
As far as your annoyance at employers hiring over-skilled workers for peanuts, unless those workers STOP taking those jobs, employers will have no incentive to pay higher wages. But since there will always be someone who is willing to take yours and my potential jobs for a lower wage than we expect, those are the people you should be concerned about--not the employers.
Capitalism is a fickle thing; it can be good and bad. I agree that in this market, capitalism has taken on a bad tinge. I agree with your premise that employers should be looking for employees who want to grow businesses and that they should be paid well for that loyalty. On the other hand, however, capitalism creates great competition for the market's stock of available jobs. And, I've been told on countless interviews these past four years that employers are bombarded with hundreds of job applications a day. It literally is like winning the lottery to become employed in 2010.
Keep your head up. Try thinking from a point of view of personal responsibility too. It's not all the fault of you or your potential employers. Much of it anymore has to do with time and chance.
Eventually, we'll both find work. The question then becomes, how will we keep it, so we're not on beating the pavement again in three months? That recently happened to me. Take my advice and learn to suckle at your next employer's teat until you no longer have a use for them, or you may end up in a similar position.
This job market blows.
Nyn9, I have two points to make about your argument. An argument that she might very well share, if it wasn't for the fact that she prepared herself ahead of time, by researching, reorganizing, and creating a budget that she knows she can afford to survive on with her measley unemployment check.
Point one is that she is in a realtively small industry, where most of the top players all know eachother. If she were to play musical chairs as assistant editors and administrative assistant to publishers jobs, she wouldn't make it very long before she is black-listed. This is something she taught me, and which also came into play with this current job offer.
One of her business references is an editor from another South Florida newspaper, and was called upon as a type of (business) character witness in her perspective employer's judgement. The conversation between the two editors went so well, that her reference actually contacted her afterword and said that if this job isn't offered to her after their conversation, then he'd be amazed. Must have been one heck of a reference.
In the publishing industry, it's key to have a good reputaion full of integrity. If instead, she were to jump at an opportunity in her industry and amongst her peers, where she is over worked and under compensated, and for those reasons, could not appreciate and give her all, just to have a menial lifestyle...a lifestyle that infringes on her ability to persue other interest with all her effort, and when she does, she has to pratically burn a bridge, because she'd shown she had no intention of keeping that job anyway...it may just end her career in publishing.
Then again, she doesn't have the family responsibilities that you are facing, and she does have unemployment checks coming in. Quite frankly, I'm worried about your pessimistic view of the situation...worried about what state of mind you must be in, because I know you're bigger and bolder than recomend she 'suck on the teat' of her next prospective employer because of how terrible the job market is.
My second point is in refernce to Capitalism, and how good it is or not. I will never take for granted the freedoms we have in this country, nor the choices we have of products and services due to free-enterprise, and certainly not the people that have stood or died to defend those freedoms. That being said, this country is NOT a true capitalism. Have you watched Zaitgeist (and it's addendum) yet? Real eye openers.
I used to believe that it was the Corporations, and their greedy board of directors pulling the strings of their business to squeeze out a little more profit, without concern for the human element, or really knowing the ins and outs of how the business even works. But then my eyes were open to the people who really pull the strings...the people who's hands are controlling the politicians mouths...the people who are the most greedy of them all. The Federal Reserve System and the International Bank Cartels have every last drop of power in this world...and every means to lift us out of recession, or to pull the rug from under us and create another Great Depression.
Why do we fight practially meaningless non-declared wars? Why is there an oil spill in our back yard that is going to surpass the Exxon Valdez, when we have better cleaner...that's right BETTER AND CLEANER means of supplying the entire world with power and energy? Why is the UN being proposed with a 'must act now' imparitive, becase we are 'tipping' our world ecosystems to a point of imminant danger to the survival of life on this planet? If you've seen them, you know...if not...the Zeitgeist Movies are HIGHLY recomended!!
I like your rebuttal. It didn't exactly address my point of view as closely as I would've hoped, but people are free to draw their own conclusions from what they read.
So, you think I have a pessimistic point of view on things eh? Maybe. Maybe it's a realistic point of view. I tend to not sugar-coat what I see. Maybe that's what you see as pessimism.
I find that I am blessed in the people I surround myself with. I also find that I attract bad luck, despite my efforts to work hard and walk the proverbial line. Maybe that's why i seem pessimistic too; I've been burned many times before, and it shows.
It's funny that you brought up the Federal Reserve. One of my associates at my last job actually opened my eyes to this organization before I was canned. He also made me consider Christ a bit more than I was at the time. I am grateful for that.
I understand the probability of being black-listed in a market. That's exactly how I feel in the Orlando market at the moment. I've never been one to follow the crow. I am an original, through and through. My non-compliance gives off a threatening vibe to people who tread the flow of obedience. You've known me for a while. Do you find me threatening? I didn't think so.
In the end, obedience secures one's future in an easy-to-digest manner. That's all I meant about suckling teats and whatnot. I've had to learn the hard way that employers don't really care what I have to say regarding my expertise. Nobody does. It amazes me that people even get hired to write at all. Everyone else thinks they can write. Nobody but those who are trained to do it well.
I like your point of view,but you did seem to run off track a bit there at the end, sir. Focus! :)
Nyn9, while I understand where you're coming from, I can't really quite relate to it.
In the microcosmic aspect you have competition between people, and who will stoop to what to grab that brass ring. Whether they actually "win" is a matter of opinion.
Widening the macrocosmic circle, you have capitalism. As a former New Yorker, I can honestly tell you that the healthy level of competition for customers keeps every one on their toes.
I am also not blind to the abuses of unions. It's not a perfect system, but it is the best one we have to combat exploitation by corporations. Alternatively, one can choose to operate outside that market and work for oneself. I'm not going to go into a tirade about economics, I'm just stating there are two sides to every coin.
As to your suggestion about "sucking on the teat of the employer until something better comes along," I can't tell you how many times my best friend has told me to do that. I'm just not wired to have that mentality; I speak from personal experience. I've tried to do that and my conscience won't let me, even if they deserve it.
Doing that also incurs a lot of resentment from past employers and burns bridges. I can honestly say I'm on good terms with about 95% of my old jobs. It's important to me to maintain a reputation of honesty and integrity. Besides, it's just good business.
Like Brian said, while we share the frustration of being jobless, our lifestyles are crazy dissimilar. You have many more responsibilities. That's why, in my blog post, I mentioned the part about my advantages. I can afford (at the present) to walk away from a job that doesn't suit my needs because of the support I'm getting. I also don't have kids (or a kid on the way). Had things been slightly different; trust me I would have taken the job at what they were offering, and hated myself for it.
Best of luck. Yes, this job market sucks (it's getting better though), but persistence will see this through.
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