The Job Hunt Thread

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

No that was the VA.   Still pissed about that.

Also proof you can apply for a job completely unrelated to your current job title/skill set and get it.  I can't for the life of me figure out why a SECRETARY applied for a Research Technician III position.

I looked up the details, it appears to be the same department but it's not the same job.  This one wants a lot of sociology/psychology skills which I do not have though I did take a lot of both in high school and college.  They'd also prefer patient experience which I don't have but I did put my server positions back on to show I have people skills.

I am still thinking about it.  Worst that happens it is boots me out and I stay here right?

[Wisconsin Beth]

Yep.  Go for it Drama!

[taz157]

Sept 15, 2015 10:04:35 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Yep.  Go for it Drama!

Yeah that!

[tcu2003]

Go for it, drama!

[andi9899]

I say go for it, Drama.

I have an interview Friday. A lady I met a while back said that she thought of me because they are having a job fair and I should go. I talked to her yesterday and told her that I don't think a tax return company would want me. She said she has a position open to manage one of their retail offices and then during the off season, I would be recruiting new employees. I said I would talk about it and she told me just to come in and she'd start my interview process now.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Good luck andi.

[andi9899]

I like the idea of the marketing aspect. I don't know about taxes. I haven't done a tax return in years.

I did also apply for a supervisory position at a large health insurance company. I would be a team lead for their customer service department.

I also saw an inside sales position for a global brokerage for excess and surplus lines. That would be good. I like that kind of stuff better than plain home and auto insurance.

[Sunnyday]

I've been at my new job for 7 months now. I know that I never wanted to stay, but what is the minimum I should stay? One year? And then start looking? Right now, my life is in turmoil, I don't want to add a new job search to the mix.

How long should I stay to be able to say , "now I'm looking for new challenges" with a straight face?

[debthaven]

Sunny are you still living away from home? I think that would be a good reason to look for a new job now. 

[kjto1]

Sunnyday, how long were you at the job before this one?  If you are at this job 7 months, then the previous job 3 years, and the job before that 5 years, then I say start looking.  If a lot of your jobs are less than 2 years, I would try and stick it out. You can still job hunt, but it will look like you are a short timer on jobs.  One 7 month gig won't hurt you (unless you are in a new field to you, and that is your only experience). 

Good luck!

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Is there anything about the job that would cause it to make sense that you're still looking even though you haven't been there for long?   Lower pay?   Higher benefits?  Hours?   Duration of the position?

I am still looking and the answer I've prepped is that I was told upfront this job will only last 2 years.  I am still on the hunt for a long term position and in this economy I feel I should use the full two years to continue to search to avoid a lapse in employment if possible.

[andi9899]

Sept 16, 2015 7:43:44 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Is there anything about the job that would cause it to make sense that you're still looking even though you haven't been there for long?   Lower pay?   Higher benefits?  Hours?   Duration of the position?

I am still looking and the answer I've prepped is that I was told upfront this job will only last 2 years.  I am still on the hunt for a long term position and in this economy I feel I should use the full two years to continue to search to avoid a lapse in employment if possible.

Maybe that and you took a temporary job just to get off unemployment. They have to understand that less money is better than almost no money. You might word it a little differently, but you get the general concept.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I don't know that I'd call it a temp job.   Out of all the academia labs I interviewed with the longest timeline was 3 years.  Whether or not that lab has managed to extend funding since then IDK.   There is just not enough money to go around.

It's always been that way in academia and it's only getting worse. 

I do my best during interviews outside of academia to explain how the system works.  If I am interviewing with people who do similar work they usually understand since quite a few of them got thier start working in academia.

I have a harder time getting HR people (outside of hte ones that work at the universities) to understand how my job is paid for and how the system works.

[andi9899]

I see. I never knew that. Well, I hope you find something soon.

[MJ2.0]

I just had a phone interview for a supply chain deductions analyst position at the company I want to work for (Company L). I think it went pretty well. I didn't even ask for more money - the halved commute is all I'd need, lol! I should hear about an in-person interview by the end of the week.

[andi9899]

Good luck, MJ.

[lurkyloo]

So my new job is contractor status rather than a direct employee.  They started me working through one contracting agency, but the plan was always to switch to a different agency.  That's going through on Monday and brings with it (drumroll please) a $1500 raise on annual salary, 4 weeks PTO instead of 3, subsidized health insurance that will be about half what we're currently paying through DH's work, a 401k contribution just under 6K/year that I don't have to decline health insurance to get, the ability to contribute directly to my 401k...and 80 hours of PTO to use before Dec 31.  Where's a dancing banana when you need one?  

Downside:  have to attend an 8 am orientation session in rush hour central on Monday.  Also, DH has been traveling a lot more than I expected.  It's still awesome to get to live together full-time though.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Congrats lurky.

I have made a contact here so that's good.  It's the person who used to work in this lab long before me.   We talked a lot and now we're trading job posting information back and forth.  So that's helpful.  She knows more people here so she can point me to PIs to talk to about potenital jobs later down the road.

Her experience in this lab echoes what I experienced back in Surgery Research at UNMC.   I have also had similar feelings though the micromanaging it's quite as intense since I am only dealing with one person doing it instead of three.  There is also the added "bonus" that now I am a lot more experienced and in this scenario I have skills they desperately want and can't find elsewhere compared to last time.

So the plan is the same as always.  Keep my head down and do my job, it is what it is. 

Found a job that sounds really awesome.  It'd be with Methodist and as an autospy assistant.  I'd be sampling and sectioning tissue for analysis.  Not that hard I've done it with more mouse tissue than I can to think about.

Downside is it does have Saturday hours.  We'd have to figure out something child care related for the days DH has to work Saturdays too.

But it's not a grant position and would get me out of academia so I can deal with Saturdays.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Sept 16, 2015 9:38:20 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

I don't know that I'd call it a temp job.   Out of all the academia labs I interviewed with the longest timeline was 3 years.  Whether or not that lab has managed to extend funding since then IDK.   There is just not enough money to go around.

It's always been that way in academia and it's only getting worse. 

I do my best during interviews outside of academia to explain how the system works.  If I am interviewing with people who do similar work they usually understand since quite a few of them got thier start working in academia.

I have a harder time getting HR people (outside of hte ones that work at the universities) to understand how my job is paid for and how the system works.

I was with the same lab in academia from 1982 until I relinquished it in 2015.  I know a lot of people in my position, but we're not the norm these days.  In the past (when I started), you'd get one person who pretty much ran the lab for the PI, and people cycled in and out for various projects.  The one advantage is that the person who ran the lab acquired the abilities to do any of the jobs, so if someone left, there was never a hole in the running of the projects, that person just stepped in and completed things until either the project ended or another person was hired.

The PI I worked with always had funding, and even at the worst time, we had some industry contracts which supported my salary.  When I went back last summer, I found out that my boss had just gotten a 5 year, $5 million renewal of a project that I had been working on and he wanted me back on it.  For a brief time, I thought about it.  But at the end of those 5 years, I know my PI was going to hang up his test tubes and retire so by going back, all that I was doing was delaying the inevitable.

IMO, it is really sad that things don't work like this anymore.  The PI is left with trying to acquire people and getting a lab up to speed when they get a grant - which is difficult when you don't have anyone else there.  Many projects have continuity between them, in that one is based on the results of a previous person's work, it's really a good idea to have one person who is the thread throughout them all.  I suspect that this is a lot of your problem here, Drama.....

I really hate where research is going these days.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

It really does suck.  My former Pi from Creighton would talk at length about how this is exactly what was going to happen if major overhauls didn't occur when it comes to funding.

But that's not important and besides who wants their taxpayer dollars to go to me playing with mice?

I need to get out. i wish I had done that back in 2006 when I left Creighton and things were still booming in industry.  Now that is struggling as well so I find myself slowly being squeezed out of my niche with no clue where the hell to turn next.

ETA: IWCC now offers a medical coding program for $2100.  That's not a bad investment so I am looking into what all is offered around here and what the pay is if I were to do the program.  Doesn't hurt to have more options.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

ETA: IWCC now offers a medical coding program for $2100. That's not a bad investment so I am looking into what all is offered around here and what the pay is if I were to do the program. Doesn't hurt to have more options.

This isn't a bad idea.  I know that BTC (where I'm going) also offers this and it's something I considered as well.  However, there is only one local hospital and a buttload of engineering firms in the area, so decided to play the odds.  Salary for what I want to do is about where I left off from research too, which helped drive my decision.

[mojothehelpermonkey]

Sept 17, 2015 12:06:10 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I was with the same lab in academia from 1982 until I relinquished it in 2015.  I know a lot of people in my position, but we're not the norm these days.  In the past (when I started), you'd get one person who pretty much ran the lab for the PI, and people cycled in and out for various projects.  The one advantage is that the person who ran the lab acquired the abilities to do any of the jobs, so if someone left, there was never a hole in the running of the projects, that person just stepped in and completed things until either the project ended or another person was hired.

The PI I worked with always had funding, and even at the worst time, we had some industry contracts which supported my salary.  When I went back last summer, I found out that my boss had just gotten a 5 year, $5 million renewal of a project that I had been working on and he wanted me back on it.  For a brief time, I thought about it.  But at the end of those 5 years, I know my PI was going to hang up his test tubes and retire so by going back, all that I was doing was delaying the inevitable.

IMO, it is really sad that things don't work like this anymore.  The PI is left with trying to acquire people and getting a lab up to speed when they get a grant - which is difficult when you don't have anyone else there.  Many projects have continuity between them, in that one is based on the results of a previous person's work, it's really a good idea to have one person who is the thread throughout them all.  I suspect that this is a lot of your problem here, Drama.....

I really hate where research is going these days.

  A long term lab manager who knows how to do everything and knows where everything is can make a huge difference in the productivity and quality of research coming out of a lab. When there is so much turnover (which seems to be the norm now), important information gets lost and then the new employees have to waste their time reinventing the wheel.

[MJ2.0]

So I have an in person interview with Company L. YAY.... except they scheduled it for next Friday at 12. I already have an associate out that day and our new person doesn't start until the next week. Also, when we take our half days, they start/end at 12:30. I'm going to call the HR rep and see if they can do Thursday later in the afternoon or at least after 2 on Friday and then I can work from home afterward.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Good luck MJ.

I am trying to figure out how to handle things if I were to get an interview (ha).  It'd either have to be very early in the morning or late in the afternoon b/c I can't take time off in the middle of the day anymore.

And while I am sure in the back of their minds my PIs realize I can't stop looking for jobs if this one is only supposed to last two years but I am not entirely sure how they would take it if they found out I was going on interviews after only having been here two months.  So I've been putting down no they can't contact my current supervisors on applications.  I am willing to provide a number for HR to confim I am indeed employed here if they ask. I hope that's enough.

A job with UNMC in Pharmacy Practice popped up. I definetly jumped on that one. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Urgh I made a boneheaded move. I found another job to apply for at UNMC this one starting at $37k per year and I have the skills to do it, at least according to the job description.

It wanted a cover letter, which is no problem.

It wasn't until I submitted it that I realized I forgot to change the last line of the letter to the current position I was applying for.

Who is going to want to interview someone who can't do a basic edit to a cover letter.  That's what I get for doing it in a rush at work.  Course I wouldn't have been any less distracted at home.

[WholeLottaNothin]

Was it an electronic submission? Is there any way to unsubmit it and fix it? Or resubmit it corrected?

[Ombud]

Sept 15, 2015 14:10:20 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I like the idea of the marketing aspect. I don't know about taxes. I haven't done a tax return in years.

Is this a red flag for you? Running a store front tax store supervising inexperienced return preparers when you're not licensed? I know they want bilingual preparers but ~~~~

Reminds me of over 5000 tax returns done by HR BLOCK where they miscalculated education credit and no one in their offices noticed it (bc of training) or the current class action claim against Liberty Tax (massive robo calls .... I was just added to their suit)

[andi9899]

Sept 22, 2015 11:06:58 GMT -5 Ombud said:

Sept 15, 2015 14:10:20 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I like the idea of the marketing aspect. I don't know about taxes. I haven't done a tax return in years.

Is this a red flag for you? Running a store front tax store supervising inexperienced return preparers when you're not licensed? I know they want bilingual preparers but ~~~~

Reminds me of over 5000 tax returns done by HR BLOCK where they miscalculated education credit and no one in their offices noticed it (bc of training) or the current class action claim against Liberty Tax (massive robo calls .... I was just added to their suit)

There were all kinds of red flags for me. I told the lady thanks but no thanks. They are trying to make a name for them in the Hispanic community and really just wanted a brown face in their office. I'm very involved in the community and the natural choice would be to use me. I'm not really interested in being a show horse.

[Ombud]

That's insulting!

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Was it an electronic submission? Is there any way to unsubmit it and fix it? Or resubmit it corrected

Yes.  Yes I can un-submit but then I am not allowed to ever apply again (I just checked) and nope.

It is what it is and it pisses me off.  A stupid mistake like that could cost me.  I know I do not NEED the job but it'd be a $7k pay raise and I'd be back at UNMC.   You'd think my resume would more than make up for that but my fate is in the hands of HR.