Tell me about it...
Posted on 04/16/2013 7:05:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
There's a real stigma associated with people who have been out of work for more than six months or those who are prone to job hopping.
To find out how hiring managers view these candidates, economist Rand Ghayad conducted an experiment where he sent out 4,800 fictitious résumés for 600 job openings.
Ghayad found that managers would rather hire people with no relevant job experience than someone who's been unemployed for a long time or has had several jobs in a short period of time.
The resumes sent out described candidates looking work for different reasons across several industries, but all were all male, had racially ambiguous names and similar education backgrounds.
Below is a chart from the paper illustrating how little it matters if you have experience in the industry you're applying for because "the first thing employers look at is how long you've been out of work, and that's the only thing they look at if it's been six months or longer," writes Matthew O'Brien at The Atlantic.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
and what pray tell is this mysterious “law of large numbers” you keep referring to? Is that anything like the 50 mile rule? That someone who has to move more than 50 miles for a job is better than the one right across the lane? Those are just words to say to make it sound like you know what you are talking about
It’s not so much fault as it is clues....someone who managed to find something productive to do for six months in a given area is likely to be more productive than someone who, in the same six months, in the same geographic area, did not. If your job depends on finding the best applicant, human nature dictates you hire candidate A. It might be a mistake, candidate B might be a super hero just needing an opportunity....but this is like the NFL draft - you have to find little things to separate them out, knowing you will make some mistakes.
You wouldn’t understand anyway.
It’s tough dealing with low vocabularies....but consider the more simple terms “in general” or “typically” instead of law of large numbers, if that helps you keep up to speed. GENERALLY someone who stayed busy is more productive than someone who did not. TYPICALLY a go getter will figure out something to do in his spare time while others may not.
All of these play into a universe where there are rules, and exceptions, but the AVERAGE, or the TYPICAL, or the GENERAL THEME will be shown, and can be shown, in any survey of large numbers.
To apply a generality is often wise, and NEVER personal. You have chosen to perosnalize it, and you will never rectify the two.
At that point, not finding good job opportunities, I went out on my own. I did okay, at least paying my bills, until the crash after the dot com bubble and 9/11.
I went to work for Home Depot for over a year until another project came along, and then worked again on my own until the spring of 2008, when I was offered a full time job in my field. I did that AND ran my own projects for almost two years.
Then came THE crash and by August 2009 my employer called it quits. I took unemployment for a year while I searched for a job. I couldn't find one, but won a one year contract for the State of California.
Then I really screwed up. I was naive, weak, and too willing to go along. I got abused. I gave an unplanned two for one sale. It took two years, and nearly killed me. I went months without pay, sleep, or sanity. But I got the job done and now it's past me.
I had another big project lined up, but the funding agency requires a performance bond that I can't obtain and a $400,000 job slips through my fingers.
So now it's summer 2012. I have no choice but to take a low paying job in an unrelated field. I apply for all the jobs I see, and do freelance work when it comes up. I can barely make ends meet. My credit's shot. I owe back taxes.
My resume says I've been freelancing (or self employed) since 2009. Do I change that? Should I list a completely non related job instead? I have applied for dozens of jobs in my field, including out of state. I have had two interviews, both for freelance work, and got no work from those.
Am I too old? Too much experience? Not diverse enough? Not up on the exact software they want? Are the ads a formality and they already know the hire?
I do not ask to make a point. I want advice. I don't have the cash to live on while building up a business, nor the time now to do work if it came up without jeopardizing what employment I have. I really need a decent paying job to live like a modest life, save some money again, and plan the last two decades of my working life.
Actually, you are exactly the kind of person I would want to hire, were your resume come across my desk. You are not what I would call chronically unemployed at all. You never sat still.
Now, I know nothing about your area of the country or your field....but I would advise finding some kind of partner who is bondable so you can snag the next 400 K type opportunity that comes along.
Yep. That why I worked for two high tech start-ups, we never got funded, I never got paid, I've done repair and resale of mobile homes, cleaned storm drains, shoveled alpaca poop, moved rocks, direct marketing, and done my best to keep my engineering skills close to current on line and via meetings, seminars and trade publications.
I'm 60 and near dead broke, spending a few years and a hundred thousand dollars to go back to school doesn't make sense, unless I'm missing some wisdom you could impart, naps?
Maybe I could be a TSA groper or an ObamaCare Navigator...
oh yeah, I guess you don’t know what you mean then, it’s just a phrase to roll off the keyboard lol
naps has some fancy government job pulling down the big bucks on the east coast, you and I pay his salary, it is next to impossible for him to be canned, so he can pretend to be all safe and secure, but you know what? God can change all that in an instant and pride goeth before a fall
I don’t know where your venom is coming from. Your experience is not at all reflective of the long term unemployed. And crooks are crooks in any industry, but to assume legit biz has an agenda because you’ve run into non legit businesses is needless and adds nothing to the discussion. Crooks are crooks period.
what a bunch of gobbldegook
“There are folks in this thread who insist that you are laid off BECAUSE you DESERVE to be and that accounts for MOST OF THE REASONS. “
Being an engineer at both the local and corporate level I was accustomed to a requirement to bring to the table 10 times my salary in savings, speed or quality improvements and always exceeded that requirement so it would have been in a company’s best interest to hire me.
However, the central planners have created such a hostile business environment that hiring an additional person is the last thing a business wants to do and they will do everything possible internally to avoid the extra head count.
I'm working on it.
Now this is interesting. I've rarely agreed with Naps on much of anything, and I think he is living in la la land to think that Santorum is particularly competent or will ever sell on the open market to anything but a niche of voters. I also think he misses a lot about the free market due to his job. However, he said nothing on this thread that was not totally reasonable. And I found no pride in what he said either.
I think everyone here agrees that the central planners have screwed up the job market for everyone....but in a tough environment, businesses are more careful than ever to hire the right person. They make mistakes, because everybody does, but because of central planners, mere survival is the only agenda.
There shouldn't be a stigma against someone who was previously employed being unemployed for 6 months during an economic downturn.
The job hopper on the other hand? Yeah, I'd be concerned about that.
actually, post 64 is anything but. If it's over your head, I'm sorry, but others might have the patience to "splain" it to you.
This is true in good times and in bad times. BI, a liberal rag, acts like this is something new. It's not.
RE: The job hopper on the other hand? Yeah, I’d be concerned about that.
How about a person who works on contract from one job to another?
In the software development business, one often does not work for a company... one works for a recruiting/contracting firm who contracts you out for projects 6 to 9 months at a time...
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