Exploring the Job Seeking Process
So let’s explore the job seeker experience.
I haven’t done the unemployment thing for some time, to be specific, the last time I was fully unemployed was in November 2004. It was a 2 to 3-month thing before I got my next job. Then I jumped from company to company until I got to my last job, the corporate type. I was living at home when I was out of a job last so I was kind of just sitting at home not doing much. Now my new unemployment experience is different indeed. I now own a home, have 2 kids, a bunch of bills, and the uncertainty of everything is a little much on my mind.
For those who actually been following me for some time you know me as the owner of CGAgency which many of you also thought was my full-time gig, so yea news flash this has always been a side hustle of mine. I have a certain addiction to creating and running businesses so CG has been my plaything since I have been 18 years old. It doesn’t make the needed profits to allow me to go full time with it as of yet but it’s always a work in progress and to be honest, this recent unemployment situation has made me think to pursue that reality so I don’t have to rely on others for my income. But this is not the topic of this blog so let’s get into that.
Let me explain my current mental state about my recent layoff. I was one of 16 people laid off from a company I worked at for the last 15, almost 16 years. I was a manager at the company so when it happened I understood it as a business decision and took it as just that. I figured I would take this as an opportunity to relax a little bit and work on my side projects while looking for a new job. So I did just that. After two weeks I started to get a little itchy. Let me explain the itch. It isn’t really where I am upset or anything like that but like many, work or just the process of doing the work defined me. I had a high position at a global company, being a leader of people, and a business owner, I also have my MBA. It was a big change in my mental state, my thought was I was successful and then it took a company to let me go to knock me down a few pegs. It is quite sad actually the amount of control a job has over us.
So here is my new schedule, feel free to copy it for those who are also out of work.
My job-seeking schedule is every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll apply on company websites for jobs I find on Indeed and LinkedIn. I don’t trust companies will actually check on the jobs outside of their own system so that is why I do that. That usually works out to a total of about 12 hours a week. After job searching I dive into other things but my hardcore CGAgency work days are Tuesday and Thursday. Honestly, this is the busiest I have ever been. I have been diving into a lot of marketing and damn that work is a lot. My daughter has been making comments about me working so much, so yea the hustle is real.
Ok, so the job stuff…
To put it simply, in my humble opinion, the job-seeking process is flawed.
As a disclaimer I am a big, “it is what it is”, person. I am not an overly sensitive person and I have very tough skin and am very politically a-sexual, meaning I take no sides, I honestly don’t care and believe most people in powerful positions are money and power-hungry so no one can be trusted. So let’s jump into my points here.
Let’s discuss rejection letters:
Trust me I get it. Due to legality issues and such I know why these must go out. I have to assume everyone looking for a job is in my shoes where they are mass applying to jobs so the only responses we care about are the emails asking us when we are available for an interview. There are other people who don’t like the job they are in and because of that they have their sights on a few companies so this is why they would indeed care about these rejection letters but I am taking the following stance.
Let us just not put these out in the world. They all read similarly and they are just insulting no matter how kind they try to be. The ones I most enjoy are the ones that simply say “This position has been filled, continue to visit our careers page for more opportunities.” Every other message is pretty much saying you are not good enough for this role. I just think of all of the troubling mental health in this world when I get these emails. I feel for those people who are in worst situations than I am in and when they apply to 20 jobs then are getting 10 instant rejection emails it can’t be easy on them when I am sure they are more qualified than the person who are in the job, or worst yet that the job was canceled but instead of stating that the headcount was removed they send a rejection instead, so like a child who doesn’t want to get in trouble, they just lie.
So my stance is to transform this process to be more fact-based, let’s tell people the reality of the situations. When the position is filled then explain that. If the position has been retracted say that. Stop with the soft apologies, because we the unemployed and the unhappy aren’t in the mood for your kindness. Also, stop it with the projects you want us to do for free, and your video pre-interview recordings that are sent out to every applicant. Please, people, don’t feed into this. This should be handled in the technical portion of the interview process by humans, and for the video recordings, you won’t be able to catch the real personality of someone through their webcam when they are talking to themselves, such piss poor judgment calls here. I refuse to do those projects without compensation as I know a few cases where companies would take those answers and apply them to actual problems that the companies were facing at the moment so the people without the jobs were interns without knowing about it. I obviously decline with the utmost respect and inform them, I would be happy to complete it in the latter part of the interview, before an offer is made perhaps just so they know I can do the job they require me to do.
Then I can inform you of a common practice due to the need to promote equality in the workforce, the posting of available positions to the public even though the job has already been slotted for someone within the company. This just makes the job seeker experience more torture as they will apply for a job that doesn’t really exist for them. Unethical in my book, but I understand and I expect this behavior because when you are sitting in the management seat you just go along with the HR plan as the Mandalorian said, “This is the way”. It is unethical due to the fact there isn’t an actual open position, it is going to the person who has been working their ass off in the position under that position. You know what? That is what should be happening, companies should hire within unless no one is truly capable or what I have seen in my own experiences in the technical field, they just don’t want the hassle to manage people, machines, and computers to be easier.
Then the push for equality in the job force, please just cut this all out. I’m not saying that there isn’t a problem but the method to fix it is the main problem. In job applications, they claim that this information isn’t being used in order to decide on the proper candidate, oh please. Applicants should be accomplishment driven and skilled-based, allow me to read your resume, and super generic cover letters to hear your story and we’ll judge from there. I don’t want to see the city, age, or first or last name of the person…as a hiring manager, I just need to know if you can do the job and do it well. Now, for the interview process when we are on video or face to face, this is when I know if we can get along and if the team is going to call you one of their own. So at the end of the day, I don’t care about anything society judges you on, some of the hardest-working people I know have served some jail time or do a load of drugs, but the real question is can you do the work, do it well, and with minimum complaints. Then can you get along with the rest of the team that has already proven all of this to myself and upper management. Do it that way and there shouldn’t be any issues. I also believe that the new kids coming up will clear up all the nonsense that is going on right now. They notice differences in culture is all, or a way of acting, they don’t see race in my experience. However, all of the stereotypical stuff we grew up with is all learned behavior so we just can’t repeat it so the new generation isn’t influenced by it. A diverse workforce has been proven to be beneficial in many ways and those who don’t practice it are just foolish. If you look into my agency we have a pretty much 50/50 male-to-female ratio and the lack of racial diversity has a lot to do with the genre of music we handle as it is a primarily Caucasian-populated genre, but again, it is what it is, I’m not going to go searching for a certain type of person to fill a certain role, it’s not natural. I am happy to accept resumes and read those cover letters though and if your purple and on the weekends become a furry and don’t see gender in your relationships, whatever, welcome aboard, just get bookings for these fine musicians and we can have a party.
But seriously now…
Navigating the job-seeking process can be a challenging and emotionally taxing experience. It is crucial for employers and recruiters to recognize the fragile mental state many individuals face when they are unemployed or actively seeking new opportunities. Legal departments and HR need to settle down and be more human, and more transparent.
Unemployment or the search for a new job can leave individuals feeling vulnerable, uncertain, and questioning their self-worth. It is essential for employers and recruiters to acknowledge the emotional impact of this process and approach applicants with empathy and compassion. By recognizing the delicate mental state of job seekers, we can foster a more supportive environment that uplifts and encourages rather than further erodes their confidence.
Receiving rejection emails can be a significant blow to job seekers, particularly when they are already in a fragile mental state. Employers and recruiters have a responsibility to communicate rejections with empathy and sensitivity and more important as I stated above with truth and facts. Instead of generic or vague messages, taking the time to provide constructive feedback and offer encouragement can make a world of difference. I understand there is not enough bandwidth or resources but I am sure comments are made on the applicant’s submission. I know as a hiring manager I would take notes or at least mental notes on why a certain person in my opinion wouldn’t be a good fit. So make that a mandatory field to fill out for those who would make it past a certain level in the consideration of a given role. A lot of this can be taken care of in the application process. Ask specific questions on experience or if it isn’t mentioned on a resume or within the cover letter then that can be a drop-down on the application. Then that can be transferred back to the applicant, then maybe they could have an opportunity to respond, or it would be a hard pass, either way, those are the breaks, when applying to a position you should know if you are able to do the job or not. So it just comes down to the fact that compassionate communication or processes can help individuals see rejection as an opportunity for growth and keep their spirits high during the job-seeking journey.
I feel there should be a more active role within companies that decide to let people go that have been good to them by opening up a community of sorts to share networks so those persons could get back into the workforce at a quicker pace and in the relevant field. My past company was good to me on the financial side of things and they did throw me a bone for offering services for improving interview skills, and resume building. What I really needed though was another job. If for example I couldn’t afford to keep an agent around but they were an amazing asset to the agency it wouldn’t take me more than 30 min to write up and email all of the top agencies to recommend that an agent is available for hire. This can even be automated, the list would just have to be segmented. How grateful would that person be, and also the other agency would fair as well as it is very difficult to find great help.
Like many things in this period of time, this is another thing that is broken. A lot of work needs to be done and I can’t say for sure if there is a way out, as I said before I hope it is going to change with the new generation coming up but we don’t know. Humans are easily molded incorrectly and then we stay in that form because it is comfortable. We just have to be more real with each other, collaborate often, and share our networks, through all of this we will be stronger more resilient, and richer people.
Links:
Check Out My Substack – a lot of the same, just there