Your boomer parents after giving you the most outdated job-seeking advice of your fucking life [Day 86]
Your boomer parents after giving you the most outdated job-seeking advice of your fucking life [Day 86]
Back when I needed a job I showed up on a construction site, asked politely, and they put me right straight into operating a crane. Just get out there, pound the pavement, shake some hands. You'll be hired in no time.
Showing up and asking would probably work on a lot of construction sites though.
pound the pavement
Gonna be hard around here. They recently fixed all the cracks.
Just give them a firm handshake and look them in the eye. I'd like my parents to sit in on some of the developer interviews I've had.
Total sidebar but I love telling this story every chance I get.
Interviewed a candidate, he absolutely nailed the interview.
The only thing that was “off” was he ate a full fucking breakfast on camera during it.
Eggs, bacon, toast, potatoes, tea/coffee, he buttered the toast …. I mean he just went to town on this amazing breakfast. Didn’t skip a beat answering us and shoveling food in his mouth.
Then turned our offer down.
Absolute unicorn. I’ll always wonder what I missed out on.
Damn what a legend. Total alpha move
Apply to jobs in person. Attach your resume to a brick, and throw the employer's front window.
OK, I got some paperwork about my application and it has an appointment already set. Seems like a serious opportunity.
I always wondered if faxing them 3,000 times a day would make them hire you, or just get you arrested.
Instructions unclear.
Threw a brick through each window at the local strip mall.
You just spell 'sandwitch' anyway you want baby, and the good lord will provide.
My parents work ethics are very early 1900's. Be positive, be consructive, be thankful, never say anything negative, always do 110%, be humble in every situation, no mater what happens.
I get a small satisfaction, when I tell my father that I refused a promotion, because the position was a bullshit and a trashcan of unpleasantness, or that I resigned because the workplace atmosphere was not healthy. His face is always worth it.
Classics aka why are you complaining:
- "Back in my day the job market was also tough“
- "When I was applying for a job I had to send out 120 handwritten applications“
- "When I made one mistake on the typewriter I had to rewrite the entire cover letter“
They also almost had a heart attack when I took a couple months after college to interview because they didn’t understand that there’s like 5-7 interview rounds on average.
And when I told them I have an offer they were like "wow accept immediately otherwise they’ll rescind it“. And when I told them that I’ll just use that offer as leverage for other potential offers they thought I‘m delusional and acting entitled lol
When I made one mistake on the typewriter I had to rewrite the entire cover letter
Bro just backspace. What kind of typewriter is this?
Looks like most typewriters before 1973
Typewriters before this time did possess a backspace key, but it simply moved the carriage back one character space so the typist could use whiteout to remove a mistake. When struck, the correction key of IBM Selectric II would use internal correction tape to remove the mistake and replace it with a letter key manually chosen by the user
Read more at the ANSI Blog: Invention of the Backspace Key https://blog.ansi.org/?p=7178
Idk man I’ve never even seen a typewriter in my life they could tell me anything lol
Eh, we are currently doing our hiring rounds for a few seasonal positions and have offered the job to a few people who have responded with they need some time to think or are waiting on a few other potential offers.
That's all fine and dandy but we tell them they need to respond with a yes or a no by the end of the week because we need to hire someone and if they no we will need to waste another week waiting for our second choice to shop around and eventually have no time left, they get a day to respond or we ask the next one.
''You have to call them back!'' Who am I calling Deb? The algorithm that processed my 60min quiz that needed to know about any dreams I've had about my teeth falling out, and how many featured George W Bush in my childhood garage? It doesn't even know how to answer a phone!!
Something like 15 years ago, I was in grad school and my elder boomer father in law told me "when it's time to find a job you can shave your beard." Only this wasn't a beard, it was just me not having shaved for a week. Is that what he would prioritize if he were hiring someone?! I've met few people in my life who are less in touch than that man
20 odd years ago, getting tired of job interviews and the one time I looked scruffy and unshaven was when they hired me
That entirely depends on the job and conditions of the beard. In a customer facing position a wildman styled beard might not be appropriate and in my time in kitchens I would refuse to hire anyone whose facial hair wasn't clean and maintained (beard nets are never optional in food prep).
This is the second day recently that I missed, so there'll be two tomorrow and two the day after to make up for it. I'm just really distractible; sorry.
You're good, love the content
My grandfather always told me to knock on the backdoors (!) of random businesses and ask if they need a "computer repair guy" or a "CNC programmer" (I learned to be a software developer).
consensual non consent programmer
Consensual non consent milling machine
My parents thought having a degree alone will land you a job. By the time I graduated, the paradigm had shifted and interviewers are asking if I had any previous work experience to prove that I have good work ethic. Problem is, growing up, my parents never allowed me to work so I never had anything to show for. Even after graduation, they advised me against getting any jobs "underneath" me. It took awhile before I went against my parents advise and finally getting a job related to my degree. The trails of bad advise did not even stop at job-seeking but that will be another long story.
In any case, I realised that my parents are a bunch of insecure nouveau riche (they grew up poor and I can sense they have hint of elitism now that they moved up the socioeconomic ladder) who did not set me up for life well. I told myself I won't listen to them and rail against them giving me any more advise. I think they realised their mistakes a bit too late now.
Edit: a word
Yes go into a business and have them look at your like you've got two heads while you've already been denied by an AI.
are those of us with boomer parent(s) still getting job advice? mine already retired haha
Mine was even though they were already retired. Tbf I was only working for 2 years at the time so I was still getting job advice. It was basically “try to work in government so you get a good pension when you retire”, even though the private sector equivalent jobs were paying double.
I'm in my 30s and still get this kind of advice occasionally when I'm job hunting from my retired parents. My mom still talks about "rising through the ranks" even though I've been telling her for a decade that that's not a thing anymore. Nobody goes from mail room to CEO. And nobody gets a gold watch either.
You would get unsolicited advise for just about anywhere, not just job advise.
Oof this hurts
People don't appreciate what they have if they have food and place to sleep and full day to do anything they want.
I never understood that, I am the same, worried about things I shouldn't. Ambitious for what ? Earn 10-20% more ? Your mind will tell you "good job", now spend on stupid things to feel better.
Like I have a choice. If I need to find a job I don't have a choice because I am poor. That means It's 99.99 chance I will be poor for the rest of my life. Deal with that and enjoy that you have extra 8-10 hours of your life back because after 20 years of work those might been remembered as best years of your life.
There are many people like you on this planet, miserable, looking for their place, maybe instead of looking for job find them and talk with them, maybe you will find same ideas and build something.
Scared to talk ? Try to write something, I wrote something here.
And look, if enough of you stop looking for a job the job will need to start looking for you because those rich asholes can't do anything themselves and they need lot's of slaves.