So I’m currently working as an independent contractor for a previous employer, and I’m around mid-career in IT so right now I can be picky. I’ve been applying to everything that’s around my current skill and experience level and not an MSP so there’s about 5-10 listings per week for me to apply to, but I’m also competing with 100+ applicants on every application
I have one friend who’s around entry-mid level IT career and another who’s just trying to land some kind of entry level office role having several years of retail experience and some office experience. None of us have the skills or experience to make blue collar work even make sense to persue (and my experience trying to repair some plumbing at home suggests I should never do plumbing. Heck the shelf I put up 6 months ago is already falling down so any kind of power tool work is clearly not my forte)
You were just saying you couldn’t find a job, and now you’re saying you can be picky?
:-/
I see this all the time on social media. Folks love to only tell half the story. I straight up linked someone here to our job listing board and they said “Texas? Nope, I’m in Arkansas.” And all I can think is “How the fuck are you expecting to find IT work in a tech desert like that?”
You want a cushy desk job. It’s not that there aren’t jobs
I mean, if you’re an IT professional, you’re going to want IT work. “I see you’ve got 10 years working in C# and Python on your resume, how does this qualify you to pour cement or turn a wrench?” is the response I’m going to get as a 40-year-old gunning for… what? An apprenticeship in construction? Maybe I can work as a short-order cook? Come on, dude. Somehow I doubt they’re offering jobs in my payscale, either.
There are plenty of blue collar jobs where they train you on site.
For $15-25/hr, maybe. The work is sporadic, the hours long, and the A/C of dubious nature.
And telling this to a CPA or a Database Admin or a back office HR manager? There’s zero skills crossover here.
I’m more annoyed by the folks who insist they can’t find a job, then doggedly insist it needs to be within a 10 minute commute of a Denver suburb. I’m at least a bit more sympathetic if you’re underwater on your mortgage and staring down monumental rental costs at your destination (fuck California, entirely). But there are folks who won’t budge even in their own fields. This goes way beyond asking an inside sales guy for Microsoft or a rocket scientist at NASA to go pick cotton in Alabama because the job exists.
I’ve told you where I’m at in my career, that I currently have work that I enjoy to keep the bills paid but it’s not full time employment so I’ve been job hunting trying to secure full time employment, and you’re here telling me I need to drop my entire career and go work in a factory or go into construction or whatever and start my career over at square one for what’s probably a temporary market condition?
I literally shared my experience job hunting as an anecdote of how horrible the job market is right now. I’m not asking for advise in how to shift into a career in welding. I’m just saying it’s a really tough job market!
What kind of jobs are you applying for?
There’s still no shortage of blue collar work.
So I’m currently working as an independent contractor for a previous employer, and I’m around mid-career in IT so right now I can be picky. I’ve been applying to everything that’s around my current skill and experience level and not an MSP so there’s about 5-10 listings per week for me to apply to, but I’m also competing with 100+ applicants on every application
I have one friend who’s around entry-mid level IT career and another who’s just trying to land some kind of entry level office role having several years of retail experience and some office experience. None of us have the skills or experience to make blue collar work even make sense to persue (and my experience trying to repair some plumbing at home suggests I should never do plumbing. Heck the shelf I put up 6 months ago is already falling down so any kind of power tool work is clearly not my forte)
What the heck? You were just saying you couldn’t find a job, and now you’re saying you can be picky?
Also, go figure. You want a cushy desk job. It’s not that there aren’t jobs, it’s just the ones available “aren’t good enough for you.”
There are plenty of blue collar jobs where they train you on site.
:-/
I see this all the time on social media. Folks love to only tell half the story. I straight up linked someone here to our job listing board and they said “Texas? Nope, I’m in Arkansas.” And all I can think is “How the fuck are you expecting to find IT work in a tech desert like that?”
I mean, if you’re an IT professional, you’re going to want IT work. “I see you’ve got 10 years working in C# and Python on your resume, how does this qualify you to pour cement or turn a wrench?” is the response I’m going to get as a 40-year-old gunning for… what? An apprenticeship in construction? Maybe I can work as a short-order cook? Come on, dude. Somehow I doubt they’re offering jobs in my payscale, either.
For $15-25/hr, maybe. The work is sporadic, the hours long, and the A/C of dubious nature.
And telling this to a CPA or a Database Admin or a back office HR manager? There’s zero skills crossover here.
I’m more annoyed by the folks who insist they can’t find a job, then doggedly insist it needs to be within a 10 minute commute of a Denver suburb. I’m at least a bit more sympathetic if you’re underwater on your mortgage and staring down monumental rental costs at your destination (fuck California, entirely). But there are folks who won’t budge even in their own fields. This goes way beyond asking an inside sales guy for Microsoft or a rocket scientist at NASA to go pick cotton in Alabama because the job exists.
The fuck are you even trying to argue?
I’ve told you where I’m at in my career, that I currently have work that I enjoy to keep the bills paid but it’s not full time employment so I’ve been job hunting trying to secure full time employment, and you’re here telling me I need to drop my entire career and go work in a factory or go into construction or whatever and start my career over at square one for what’s probably a temporary market condition?
I literally shared my experience job hunting as an anecdote of how horrible the job market is right now. I’m not asking for advise in how to shift into a career in welding. I’m just saying it’s a really tough job market!
With reading comprehension like yours, I can see why finding white-collar work is so difficult.