Job Hunting

[Dewar]

I wrote a big response but now I'm re-reading what you said and I'm not 100% sure of the situation. I'll just say that even if you were still under contract, most employers will waive those contracts for you to move over to a full time position with the company you're temping with. It fosters good will all around to allow those sorts of moves to happen and, depending on the contract terms, your temp agency may even get some sort of finders fee like a recruiting agency would. 

 

If they're asking you to remain a temp, but want to pay you directly, it gets a little more shady. That's fairly common around the Microsoft campus, where a particularly good temp will basically get told to setup their own "company" with just them in it, and then they get paid directly rather than the temp agency taking a chunk of change. Unlike getting hired on full-time, you're effectively setting up a competitive temping company and many temp agencies will take a dim view of that. Whether or not they can actually stop you is dependent on legal paperwork of course.

 

Edit: Besides all that, it sounds like she wants you bad enough to have gone through some wrangling to get a position made for you, so I'd definitely go for it.

[Mangela Lansbury]

The place I was talking about has me officially starting as a temporary employee Monday -- and they asked me today to apply to a permanent position there. It includes accounting responsibilities, which I have zero experience with. I sent an email to my immediate boss saying that I wasn't sure that I could take on those responsibilities immediately but a gradual 3-6 month learning period would be great. The pay band they're offering for it is uh... okay, not a shitload of money, but I claimed less than 10k last year, so that 50k a year would be legitimately life-changing.

I'm excited, pending a conversation about that email???

[Ben X]

Good luck!

[Justin Leego]

That's great news Mangels! Congrats and all the best for a humane Monday

[Griddlelol]

Awesome news! 

[Rilen]

I've been working as a butcher's assistant half my life and I don't even qualify for other butcher jobs, which is fine with me since I kinda hate that industry now, but it's still the only place I have any experience in.

 

I'm kinda stumped, I'm willing to work at almost anything, except those call centers where you try to force your products onto others, which is 50% of the jobs listings now, not only do I find these jobs almost scams, I'm too socially awkward for them anyway.

 

How does one ever get a job if you're willing to start from the bottom? And I do mean literal bottom, as in janitors, sewer workers, factory jobs, the kind of jobs most people would rather die before taking. 

 

All I see is job listings I'm under-qualified for, I've sent my CV to stores and malls and so far I've only gotten one email saying they don't have job offers.

 

While I'm not as desperate to start looking up human guinea pig jobs, I am rather frustrated that I'm having trouble finding places I can even send my CV to. 

@Tanukitsune 

I have some advice on that subject. If you have any leeway (i.e. living with parents, savings) try to find someone who is doing something you are interested in and ask them if you can work to learn. Trades are always in demand because many of them cannot be outsourced and young people are often uninterested in them these days. It's also the kind of job that you get continually better, so your salary continues to increase. When I decided I wanted to be a cook I just worked like a dog for a chef for two months of pittance pay and then he took me on as a full time cook. Right now I'm learning welding and apprenticed to a metalsmith. In my spare time I work on a farm. As long as you work hard there are always people around you with interesting skills who need help and are willing to teach. 

Also, I don't know what the job situation is like where you are (UK?) but you can check online and see what trade is most in demand. These will be the people who will be most willing to teach someone whose quite green. In the US at least, welding is needed everywhere and there are never enough welders so the pay gets up there very swiftly.

Hope this helps, good luck.

PS: My mom always wanted me to be a butcher.

[dibs]

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/ACHBS#HZwmRsB

[Merus]

So I got a job, so that's nice.

 

It's kind of neat, I would be working at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, which given the presence of 'sustainable' in the time, gives you an idea of the general research they do.

[natellite]

I've started to get my first round of rejections from this job hunt. Trying not to be discouraged. For every rejection I receive, I'm applying for two jobs!

 

...and drinking two beers!

 

......sigh

[Justin Leego]

Tanukitsune, am I right in saying that English is not your mother tongue? Because your written proficiency is top level.

If you can acquire the relevant certification (or perhaps even if not), perhaps you could leverage your bilingual skills and knowledge of the butcher's trade to find something in a trading or logistics company?

Or do localisation for Squenix.

Congrats Merus. Sounds like it'd be right up your street.

Keep it up Nat!

[Twig]

Well I was contacted by someone headhunting for Japanese companies that wanted to hire foreigners specifically for software engineering positions and at first I was apprehensive but eventually I settled on fuck yeah I'm going to do it I'm going to move to Japan. She hasn't said anything for two weeks, so I'm wondering if that's a dead end now. So... now that I'm in this mindset of definitely wanting to move to Japan (since I have literally nothing for me where I currently am), I'm just sad. I have no idea how to look for a job in Japan, but I want to. Hmm.

[Mangela Lansbury]

The place I was talking about has me officially starting as a temporary employee Monday -- and they asked me today to apply to a permanent position there. It includes accounting responsibilities, which I have zero experience with. I sent an email to my immediate boss saying that I wasn't sure that I could take on those responsibilities immediately but a gradual 3-6 month learning period would be great.

So they're starting to give me accounting responsibilities, still as a direct hire temp, but they're walking me through, "these are some accounting processes, and this is how it works"... which I can only take as a good sign?

I think I might have a real life, permanent, full time job soon???

[dibs]

Oh.

 

If I were them, that would be be setting you up to take a fall. Like, imagine if Enron could have said "the intern did it!".

 

Jk, that's really cool!

[Dewar]

So I got a job, so that's nice.

 

It's kind of neat, I would be working at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, which given the presence of 'sustainable' in the time, gives you an idea of the general research they do.

 

Turning lead into gold?

[jennegatron]

Turning lead into gold?

 

Trolls into gold.

[Dewar]

I'm not sure if I'd call that sustainable, that's more of a growth industry, what with the supply problems solved.

[Gerretic]

I have some questions related to my job search situation and a quick straw poll. First the direct stuff: I've been wanting to leave my current company for several months. I've recently started a major new project and so many other people have also left the company recently that I'm ending up in a fairly major role on it. I'm not confident enough that I'm going to find something new to give notice yet and I fear I will become even more central, so what is the best way to exit gracefully without putting my remaining colleagues in a bind?

 

Straw poll:

How many of you either think or hear the thought expressed by a coworker, "I wonder how this works at a real company," "I wonder what it would be like to work for a real company," or something along those lines, on a regular basis?

 

I have only had two jobs so far in my professional career and both were at fairly small companies (<500 people) but it's hard for me to imagine that most companies do things the way we did, which was often haphazard. I'm curious how common that sort of sentiment is.

[Merus]

In general, give notice when you have a job offer in hand. Most employers will be fine with you working out your notice with your current employer. Actually, it can be a good sign because it tells them how you're going to treat them when you move on.

[Griddlelol]

I've always had the attitude that you don't owe the company you work for anything. As long as you do the job and get paid for it, the transaction is complete. That said, don't ditch them without handing in notice, that's a bit wrong, although it doesn't sound like you'd do that.

 

The best way to leave is to find a new job and tell them you're leaving. Don't mince words, just do what you need to do.

 

I have never heard "I wonder how a real X would do this." I've worked at a few small companies, and now at a big university, but everything has been professional. I've often heard "this is how we should do it" but I doubt that's uncommon. 

[SuperBiasedMan]

Less than 500 is small!? My office is 30 people...

[Polish Hill]

I have worked at two companies, both with more than 50k employees.  I can't say I've ever heard the "real company" line but in companies as large as those it is more along the lines of, I wonder if the problems we face are confined to this department.  So similar idea but with a slightly different vocabulary.  Regardless of company size I'm sure the problems you are seeing and discussing with your fellow employees aren't isolated to the company you work for.

 

And definitely give notice.  I've always worked under the 2 weeks minimum guideline and your mileage may vary but at least that should be ample time for your peers to get the wheels in motion for taking over your responsibility.

[Gerretic]

Yeah, giving notice is a sure thing. My department has already lost more than half its people in the past few months so my question is really, what do I do when two weeks doesn't seem like enough? I agree that I don't owe the company anything more than that; my concern is purely for individual coworkers who I like personally and will be putting in a difficult spot when they have to rapidly learn my stuff and their other workload remains the same.

Oh well, there's never going to be a good time.

[Polish Hill]

At some point I think you have to let it be someone else's problem.  Maybe you can lengthen the notice to 3 or 4 weeks depending on the role and how understanding your new employer is but like you said, there never is a good time.  I know my current position will require a few written FAQ's or here's how to handle what I was doing and didn't have a backup for when I leave.  Depending on the type of work you do that may not be possible but at the end of the day the succession should be up to the people there and if you can be as accommodating as possible while not straining the relationship with your new employer that would be ideal.

[Mangela Lansbury]

Yeah, giving notice is a sure thing. My department has already lost more than half its people in the past few months so my question is really, what do I do when two weeks doesn't seem like enough? I agree that I don't owe the company anything more than that; my concern is purely for individual coworkers who I like personally and will be putting in a difficult spot when they have to rapidly learn my stuff and their other workload remains the same.

Oh well, there's never going to be a good time.

If you notify people that you're actively looking, they're sometimes willing to work with you to make your position more manageable/enticing, if you want to give hefty notice for leverage?

That can also backfire big time.

[dibs]

Gerretic, if you have been wanting to leave for months, i wouldn't feel bad about leaving. From the sounds of it, your colleagues would probably congratulate you. Do not give notice without a new job ready.

 

That said, make sure you do actually want to leave and that your concerns are genuine. Every job i've ever had, the workers have rolled their eyes at the ineptitude of management. It is easy to say how you would run a project better when you don't have to deal with the politics and pressures they do. Also, you say you have recently been thrust into a more senior roll. Did this come with a more senior job title and pay rise? Is the project to be a long one (add 50-100% to the planned time)? If you hold out for a year can you go job hunting with a new title, higher pay and a successfully completed project to brag about?