jobs...why is it so hard to get a good one?

[cherinyc]

As it is I struggle to find work because I'm either overqualified or underqualified for just about everything....

my problem as well. During the post 9/11 slump, working in Manhatten, I decided to go back to school - figuring that while the job market was struggling I would be getting another degree. So now I have 2 degrees, and I am overqualified to be an Admistrative Assistant (aka Secretary) but not qualified to be a Project Manager. What i have encountered though, is that once you take that Admin job you get pigeonholed. I took a temp Admin job (my first Admin experience) and surprise surprise, I am a great Admin because I have been an Executive in the past and I'm not an idiot. However - it makes people see me as JUST that. (nothing against any assistants out there, I am just hoping that my $35000 worth of school will get me more).

For all of the resume suggestions from everyone - been there/done that. I have revamped and revamped. Here's the deal...I am trying to break into Pharmaceutical Sales and the majority of the Pharm companies out there want you to have a minimum of 1 yr previous sales experience. (I have worked in the Marketing Department of a Pharm Company for 8 mths now). I have been a buyer at Macys and a Sales Analyst for La Prairie Cosmetics (using my business degree) then I went back to school and got a degree in Communications.
If I could get the face to face interview, I know I could sell myself on the job, but before these companies will even talk to you they make you go through a long online application which asks the question "Do you have atleast 1 year of previous Pharmacetical Sales Experience?" Once you answer no, your resume/profile gets bumped out. I can't lie and say I have experience so....not sure what to do.

[Dogmama]

Send your resume anyway. Don't take "no" for an answer. If (when) you find the job you want, call the HR manager and/or the person who is hiring. Tell them you have two degrees in related fields and experience in corporate, including retail.

You'd be surprised at how many losers you get in an interview. I have interviewed people for several positions lately and I'm amazed at:

1. Lack of appropriate dress
2. Lack of knowledge about our department
3. Making up stories (lying) about their experience
4. Inability to follow directions on the application (e.g., "list your positions starting with your most recent" often generates a list of jobs starting with high school!)
5. Horrible grammer, spelling and punctuation on the resume

I was willing to relax my initial standards if I could find somebody who had potential. I would think that showing lots of initiative in a field like sales would be admired.

DM (who is checking this message for spelling, grammer & punctuation)

[Kitsune06]

Grammar?
I've had enough 'cool' or 'weird' jobs to at least be able to say in an interview "I've looked into my possible interests, and I'm returning to Admin Assistant positions because it's something I can both excel at and enjoy."

Started out at Taco John's in a gas station/travel plaza. Did that for a year during high school, just short of full time. Hadda pay my phone bills somehow.

Dropped that when I graduated after saving up to fix the metro to go to Oregon. Got a job that winter at a little family software company (no kidding 'family', mil and dh were working there at the time) as a janitor, but they got nudges from dh and mil that I'm good with computers, so they had me do odd admin tasks. I was told to "stay as long as it took to get the job done" so I stayed 8 hrs a day and was upgraded to 'official full time'... climbed the ladder and was made official Admin Assistant, then manager for different little admin aspects...

Fastforward to after my move, job hunting was *hard*. I eventually got a job at a piercing shop as the 'tool girl'- sterilization/cleaning.

Call center work followed that, and just before I swore I'd hang myself with my headset, I got my security job.

Security job pays the bills, but also requires a type of thinking I'm totally unfamilar with. ...going back to admin work... :eyeroll:

Such is life. So many lesser interviews where I lost and didn't quite know why, and yet this fairly prestigious place has hired me (pending credit check) ... so I guess you never know?

[Dogmama]

Grammar?

I'm toast without spel chek

But, I know that little line under the word means something...

[run it, ride it]

Oh, jobs. I have a black hole of one every summer season. Absolutely horrid working conditions (HOT, polyester, cleaning human excrement out of campground showers without proper equipment, questionable management)--but it pays (government), it has steady hours. That's why I keep going back.

I live in a tourist town. The work is seasonal. Fine for me, as a student.

I used to work as a restaurant hostess. Couldn't take the summer tourists. I switched the kitchen for a few seasons--four years I worked for the same people doing the job of at least three people and never got a raise above student minimum ($6.40CDN). I was working 80+ hours a week at age fourteen--labour board? What's that? We didn't get breaks, even after 10-12 hours straight. Kitchen management was awful, so I left.

Worked nights for two years in my current position--SAD really got to me in the winter, so I took days last summer. Which is worse: trying to stay conscious cleaning up vomit in the wee hours (11pm-7:30am), or trying not to pass out from heat exhaustion (12pm-8:30pm) pushing your way past tens of tourists to remove the poo pile someone left in the shower? The question is rhetorical, at best. It's the pay I can't turn down. NO ONE wants to do the job I do. The pay reflects that. But even then... some messes I come across are a real struggle to justify going near no matter WHAT they pay me.

But hey, nothing could be worse than cleaning maliciously placed feces on a daily basis, so I will appreciate every other non-fecal job I have just on that basis, right?

Remember: no matter how bad your job is, at least you don't have to scrape poo off the floor. Doesn't that make you feel better?

[SheFly]

Found this article this morning, and thought it might be useful: http://bostonworks.boston.com/news/a...you_find_work/

Good luck!

SheFly

[cherinyc]

Found this article this morning, and thought it might be useful: http://bostonworks.boston.com/news/a...you_find_work/

Good luck!

SheFly

some interesting suggestions - thanks!