7 Lessons From a Successful Job Search

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So our wonderful politicians in Washington, DC are so upset about the cost of President Obama's Healthcare Plan, which is less than what the war is costing, they've managed to slice it down to size. They are doing this by eliminating billions of dollars by taking the money from exactly the people who need it. CNN reported today they've' come to an agreement to screw the unemployed and poor! Exactly the people who need it!
I am so fed up with these 'well paid and insured' politicians telling us how they speak for Americans. I'd like to know who they think they are speaking for? These guys certainly don't speak for me. They don't have a clue about what Americans want or need, nor do they care. They only care about themselves, getting re-elected and keeping their cushy jobs. And, that is where the heart our problems lie.
At this point, it doesn't matter if you are a Republican or Democrat, if we don't address the un-sexy (boring) subject of election reform, we will continue to get screwed in every area of our lives. I for one don't believe we can afford to continue down the path we're on.
We all know the old adage 'divided we fail,' well it has struck me that, 'the powers that be' have done an excellent job dividing today's Americans. We are more polarized today than ever before. Think about the labels we have for each other. Liberal, Conservative, Alien, Rich, Poor, Religious, Anti-Abortion, Baby Killers, Right, Left, Blessed, Black, White, Brown, Gay, etc., and they all provoke strong feelings one way or another. People are emotionally locked into these black and white issues. A perfect set up for mass manipulation. I believe our founding fathers would turn over in their graves if they saw where our basic values are today.
We are bombarded 24/7 on all sides by manipulative messages through our wonderful mass media. Brainwashed and spoon-fed sophisticated false messages through mind-numbing repetition of all sorts of news-entertainment camouflaged as real news, and radical, hateful politics presented as legitimate news. Include false advertising and marketing campaigns, stupid entertainment programs harping and pushing actors as 'the adored ones' to be looked up to, and it's easy to see how we have become a nation of lemmings lead wherever the monied, power interests want.
It is time to stand up and demand what we deserve and what we pay dearly for. We deserve the truth, level playing fields in all industries, a reformed tax system without corporate loopholes, no more Corporate Welfare and the establishment of a universal healthcare plan for all Americans that is Non-Profit which is not manipulated by the insurance, drug or healthcare industries.

Ellie of CA 3:50AM July 30, 2009

I see many people on here, most with the same complaint. The government keeps the reality of this situation from us (helped immensely by the liberal media), businesses are still going all the while laying off employees by the hundreds of thousands per month (that is the population of a major city, like Toledo Ohio, maybe Denver, EACH MONTH).We sit by and wait while because of free trade agreements designed to help our economy take our jobs overseas. The design of the free trade system was to free us from having to waste our time manufacturing items which could be made more efficiently elsewhere, freeing us up for better paying jobs- WRONG
Then they tell you the 'unemployment' rate is less than 10% (By the way, no small number, since 10% of the US population is over 30 MILLION people, or roughly the population of the entire New England area.)The real unemployment rate is over 20% which is more like the population of the Eastern US Seaboard states.
We wait while these jobs pass by us; employers firing people because there is 'no money' then heading off in their Mercedes to their home in the 'nice part of town' while the person they just backstabbed gets to try to relocate.
These employers pass over seasoned employees because they are 'overqualified' or because they 'do not have the proper skills set' which are basically excuses and business speak for 'you want too much money' or 'you are too old' and then a person who gave 20 years of their life to a job now has to move to El Paso and work at a Taco Bell and serve the very people who took his/her job less than six months ago.
The system is corrupt, it is broken, and people are scared, so what is the first thing they do? Introduce 'coping skills' to ease and allay those 'fears'. All the while they (and I mean THEY) keep us in the dark about all of the scams running behind our backs for billions of dollars, while a poor person with a family of four to feed and a mortgage on a house they can no longer afford cannot get assistance of mere thouands...
It is really time for us as Americans to stand once again as we did in the 1770's, although not as warriors, but as people promised, then denied the very freedoms we worked- our parents worked- and so many of our relatives and friends have died for.
I will NEVER call to take up arms, against the government or anyone else, except in self defense; I am not calling for MILITIA action, but ACTION of another kind. My friends, the pen IS mightier than the sword.
We need to demand from our government the same things demanded of us in the working world. Honesty, integrity, ethical and morally proper behavior, and the right to be part of the country our families have built. We need to stand up and say ENOUGH and then vote, petition, and raise our voices as the one nation we once were. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "A House Divided Cannot Stand!" We need to become a unit and we need to say it with our wallets, and our voices until someone hears it... NO MORE

Dave V. of MI 1:49AM July 24, 2009

I've been in construction since high school. I loved what i did to raise and feed my family.I've made many freinds and contacts over the 38 years of hard work. As a construction worker in new homes i've watched the illegals from south of the boarder invade my line of work for over 20 years now. I'ts been very tuff to find work even every once in awhile for over 5 years. Yet no one stood up and said "this must stop".
Welcome to my world.

Unemployed American of OH 7:16PM July 23, 2009

I voted for and supported President Obama for months on end in hopes he would be better than President Bush...who I didn't care much for...being a liberal myself.
It turns out that he's WORSE than President Bush; who was in the White House to help his big money friends and the crooked corporate buddies that helped him get into office.
It looks like President Bush was a liar all along.
President Obama, on the other hand, claimed he would look out for "the little guy": A BARE-FACED LIE!! He has lined the pockets of big business in a way that President Bush would not have DARED to do. And he has made the economy WORSE NOT BETTER! He's paying off his cronies that got him elected. He won't bail out California as he SAID HE WOULD at a rally I saw him at IN PERSON. The LIAR! He's got a lot of money (TRILLIONS of dollars!) for GM and GE etc. All you have to do to get the BIG bucks from Obama is to own a large and poorly operated company that should REALLY be put OUT of business under the RICO act or by an Act Of Congress!
And the "little guy"? He or she might have gotten a LITTLE check from the IRS...if lucky!
President Obama is a 10 STAR LIAR and we would have been better off giving the crook named President George Bush a free term in office rather than having an election!
I'm switching to the Libertarian Party...I'm tired of the liars and crooks of the Republican and Democratic parties.
President Obama AND President Bush should BOTH be IMPEACHED for their LIES! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !~
If you don't like what I'm saying you should refer to the Constitution of the United States (and don't forget to read all of its Amendments). Or complain to your Member of Congress!
It's ALL B*^^S*^^*. anyway!~
Kasey

Kasey of CA 6:11PM July 23, 2009

If you ask me, this whole mess startedwell before this year and I assume many of you had things well during the "golden years" of refi's and HELOA loans...Lots of people buying things and selling things and making a killing - while was trying to catch up and figure out how come I was so unblessed.
Well, I was in school during that time period and recently married...No home - who could afford those rising prices; but finally saved my 20% and jumped in. I had friends who didnt make 40K a year driving BMW's off of "fake" equity and I never enjoyed any of that stuff.
To make a long story short...Finally lost me homes to foreclosure in 2007 - that started before all of the talk of "loan mods" and bailouts. Been living with my Mother-in-law, who worked for an Automative manufacturer for 26 years (you can guess what happened to her right now!)
Starting in Feb 2009, I was unemployed for 3 months; never been unemployed in my life since I was 15 years old! Got married (full-time employed), finished Higher Education and paid for it without any loans(full-time employed)and then the bottom drops.
I was #2 in sales in my company; but due to financial shortcomings with inventory - everyone was let go...Started looking that day, then got 7 offers in th first month (turned them all down because they were what I made in High School and refused to believe the recuiters and everyone else that this is all there is. Kept looking and felt like a dumb -a$$ for passing on all of those offers.
I applied for everything under the sun and just SOLD my way into being the best prospect for EVERY job - didnt have experience in "this or that" = found a way to explain a life experience that showed I could do it; didn't have the additional years of experience/schooling = "I chose to garner life experience, Mrs. Interviewer, let me share some with you..."
Got turned down 45 times in the next 2 months following the offeres I passed up (yup; felt even worse)
Thanks to God above, as of the begining of May 2009,I took an offer for a Fortune 100 company making twice what I made before (now, thats not to say I'm lucky as much as to say I'd been making CRAP wages my whole life!!!) Now I make more than I've ever made...
But this economy has taught me 2 things:
1) Enjoy it while it last, because nothing last forever; I used to give my soul to an employer - now I watch for the signs and will never stop looking; its always better to move on your terms, not someone elses...And 2) the "pain" I can tell a lot of you feel right now can focus your drive for a better future; remember those good times and KNOW that they will return - what doesnt kill us makes us stronger!
..So, take it from a guy who NEVER had much, and NOW is finally getting to enjoy some of life...
NOTHING IS OVER UNTIL YOU SAY IT IS...
PS...I had to move my family 400+ miles to "stay open" to what is important...it was easiest BECAUSE I had nothing to keep me there,and sometimes the things you keep kills you!

TTobias of CA 5:44PM July 23, 2009

I am sure you mean well Liz, however, you need to read some of the Comments below on what is happening in the real world. You must be all of 25 years old. Try getting told for the last two years that, "You are overqualified." Makes one wish they had not been so successful. Write an article on how America is hurting as is evident from the Comments. Write an article on how the idiots in Congress and the Bankster owned Federal Reserve got us in this mess. Write an article on how people can get a job when they have all been outsourced to the Orient, and India, and the Phillipines so the CEOs can hit their quarterly numbers and make a fatter bonus. Write an article about real unemployment figures. Pull back the cloud that has enshrined the news media and get down in the trenches and do some Walter Winchell, or Cronkite reporting. Tell it like it is! And maybe you will not be a statistic like Millions of other Good Americans.

Southern Belle of TX 4:54PM July 23, 2009

You stated that "there has to be something we can do to get our economy going again. Anyone care to share any ideas?"..........YES, I have one....One that leads to another. TAKE YOUR COUNTRY BACK. Vote out EVERY politician in office during the next election. And vote for any that will go back to Constitutional Mandates...The United States Treasury was the only authority set up by the Constitution to issue U.S. Money, not the Bank Owned Federal Reserve System, which put us all in this mess.

Time for a Voter Revolt of NM 4:21PM July 23, 2009

We are being lied to about the real unemployment numbers. Various economists lately have stated that REAL unemployment is 19.6-20.3%. The government numbers do not reflect the people that have given up, have been unemployed longer than 1 year, or those that are underemployed like the HR Manager now working for minimum wage as a Hostess at a Hamburger Joint here in Dallas. Nor do they count the people that owned their own businesses that have gone by the wayside that CANNOT file for unemployment benefits because they did not pay into the State Unemployment Funds. Our political system is corrupt. The Politicians do not care about the people, only the Special Interest Groups like the bankers. Otherwise, why would our Congress vote to EXCLUDE credit cards from Personal Bankruptcy. Banking lobbyists pure and simple. Keep the faith America.

Tired of the lies of TX 3:58PM July 23, 2009

I've been looking & applying for jobs since August 2008 and haven't even gotten a $#%!@ interview for any of them. Before getting laid off I use to earn close to $18.00 per hour and now am applying for minimum wage jobs. I have a bachelors degree and over 8 years of customer service experience and I keep getting the lame excuse from companies that they've found someone more closely suited to what they're looking for. So recently I looked into volunteering for the American Red Cross and the Animal Humane Society. Out of all the inquiries/applications I've made since August, these are the only call-backs I got.

in Dante's unknown circle of hell of NM 3:37PM July 23, 2009

The large construction company i was with up North started laying folks off about 10 at a time ... slowly ... quietly ... each time someone in our Division got laid off we all got the speech about "having to do more with less"... I thought that we would be OK since my company was getting money from the so-called Bail-Out and was getting govt/public contracts but apparently the money was just going to make the owners richer. I survivied four rounds of layoffs and then my number popped up. I tried for about three months to find a job but finally had set a point on the calendar (and bank account) that i had to do something drastic at.
I gassed up the car and drove all the way to Dallas TX to look for work. I knew no one in Dallas and slept in my car for a week to save money. I was able to eventually find a job at Home Depot. I worked there for almost two months applying for construction jobs every chance i got in my offtime. One day one of the customers i was helping asked me why i was working at Home Depot and i explaind my predicament. That aftrenoon his company's HR person called me and asked me to come in the next monring for an interview.
I am now making more then I would have if i hadnb't been fired - have a better working environment - and better bosees then my previous employer.
I guess the morale of the story is that sometimes you have to completely get away from circumstances for good things to happen to you. Don't get me wrong - i am not a brave person - i went to Dallas solely becuase i heard on CNN that they had a lower unemployment rate then most other places. I knew no one there, and just figured as long as i had any money coming in i would be OK.

Dave of TX 3:31PM July 23, 2009