I am so pleased to have this writer return to continue talking about his unemployment journey. Follow him on Twitter for more!
In the last entry, I mentioned how difficult it was to find a great paying job in this area that was not a service sector job.
The fact is this area-from Las Cruces to El Paso-has added just over 3,000 jobs in the past year (2013-14). Awesome. If I want a job here they are available. I just have to be willing to start at $9.00 per hour. Does it matter that I have a Master’s degree? Nope. Not at all. Does it matter if it’s in Human Resource Management? Nope. Not at all.
What to do? I’m pretty much exhausted from job searching. I have submitted at least 20 different applications to 20 different companies that use the same ATS platform-Taleo. You know what would be great? If Taleo was a single use platform. Build my profile, upload the resume, and BAM! done. Then I could apply using that profile.
But, that’s not the case. I wouldn’t be frustrated and annoyed if that happened.
I’ve eased up on the gas job searching. I’ve decided to reach out to my network more instead of spending 5-6 hours job researching. Those public administration applications I submitted? Never heard back. Should I have reached out? Yes. That’s on me. Mea culpa.
I did find out though that I need just 6 courses and I’ll have a graduate certificate in Project Management. 9 classes and I’ll have a Masters in Project Management. Guess what I signed up for? Yup, grad student round two.
I’m still job searching. Just passively now. I’ll follow up on what I have out there. But, I’m done chasing the job rabbit around the track. I’ll just focus on networking and school now.
And, if I see something that I can qualify for-you bet I’m gonna reach out first before subjecting my resume to the ATS Darkness.