Pumpkin's Rant of the Day: Job Search

Tweet

Hello to you all. I hope you are all well. Just lately, I have been having a tough time trying to keep positive and I have been struggling in various ways - mainly job-related but also other things I don't feel like going into right now. I have just written a long post but then lost it by accidentally refreshing the page. This may be a good thing as I forgot much of what I wrote so this might be shorter - I won't make any promises, though, it could well be longer This post is about the frustrations of job searches. I'm looking for another job because I'm not sure how much more I can take of my current one. We're training staff from another department as a 'resilience plan'. Basically, they're not recruiting anyone else into our department or doing anything to support/retain current employees. So, after being told that our team and another were definitely not merging and it's just cross-team training, the two teams have more or less merged. Our side hasn't been trained on the other side yet. I don't know what we are supposed to believe but the fact is we need more staff, management won't admit it or do anything about it so we won't be trained elsewhere because a) it isn't necessary and b) we don't have time. There are upsides to my job - the annual leave is generous at 27 days per year, going up to 32 after 5 years' service. It's not physically demanding, although can be mentally exhausting. There are a few reasons I'm looking for another job: 1. For personal reasons, I'd like more flexibility. A standard office job with office hours has its advantages but has its downfalls, especially when trying to be a care provider or arrange/attend medical appointments. 2. Despite the claims of my current employer, progression opportunities are non-existent. I've had interviews for other positions but no luck, and they would all be a side-step rather than actual career progression (although paid more for doing less). 3. I've proven that our job is incorrectly graded. According to our job description, we should be on a minimum of one pay grade above. Of course, nobody is doing anything about it. We do considerably more than those in other departments with the same job title and pay grade. The one consistent thing in the job is that we're constantly being expected to do more. Managers expect us to just accept and get on with it. There is only so much one person can do at one time, though. I worry that one more extra thing is going to break me. There are already people struggling to keep up, and one long-term employee having to be completely retrained because they simply haven't been able to keep on top of the changes. Then we have to contend with people leaving and taking time out of our schedule to train new recruits - that is, of course, if those leaving actually get replaced at all. This then impacts our customers (my job relates to social care so it could make a huge difference to some) as they're waiting an hour for someone to pick up their call. That then impacts us and our morale as we bear the brunt of the customer's frustration. One thing that is frustrating for us is that, although our role is varied and complex, it is still limited. We are very much on the side of the customer when they ask why someone hasn't returned their call or why something is taking so long. We don't know the answer to that but we'd also like to know why a 5 minute task is taking 6 months to complete or why those above us in the hierarchy haven't told someone something they need to know. We'd also like to know why the higher-ups look down their nose at us and are quick to tell us when we do wrong but expect us to do their jobs, take on whatever is thrown at us (whether it's relevant to our job or not) and to be all-knowing about everything. Anyway, I didn't intend to rant about my job! I'm grateful I have got one, but what I have said only scratches the surface of the problems. I wanted to talk about searching for jobs. That seems to get more complicated every time I try. Most jobs are now recruited through recruitment agencies. Search for a job online and all of the results will be recruitment agencies. That's OK up to a point. I found it handy, at times, to save a CV/resume, cover letter and a few details on recruitment agency websites. It's great for those where you can actually apply on the recruiter site. You just click on the job and send your stuff via a link. That's, apparently, not enough for some now. If you go through the recruitment agency then follow a link to something else asking you to create an account just so you can upload a CV and answer questions that are answered on your CV or that make no sense. Even if you go direct to the employer, you've still got to create an account. This is very off-putting, especially when you end up being turned down for the job but then getting spammed by the recruiter about the same job or about entirely different jobs that are neither in your geographical area nor your chosen field. Some sites/recruiters won't even give you basic information about a job until and unless you create an account with them. Trying to find anything suitable is tricky as it is. Yes, there are loads of jobs available. Many are part-time (I wish I could afford to work part-time). You type in the location and it comes up with jobs nowhere near that location. There was one site I used (can't remember which one) whose location thing looked quite sensible - it asked about distance from your chosen location, had a bit where you could put in the travel time (which is handy because there are places near me that are similar distances away but take different amounts of time to get to, especially on public transport). It even asked about your mode of transport so, for example, you could say you wanted a commute of 30 minutes by foot which would, presumably, give you a shorter commuting distance than 30 minutes by car. Well, that theory was great but it didn't actually work. It would come up with places that were 30 minutes by car or would be 30 minutes by public transport if public transport was reliable and actually went between the places you're commuting to and from. I went to apply for one job as it was ideal - something I wanted to do, local, I had the right qualifications and experience. But then it said you had to own your own vehicle. That's an annoying one as it's a Catch-22 i.e. If I had a better job then I could afford to run a car but I need a reliable car to access the better jobs. For now, I've resigned myself to the fact I may never escape my current job. I used to enjoy it, and still enjoy some aspects. I just don't feel like I'm going anywhere. The job and the department is stagnant (I think that's the right word). I would love to return to education or to retrain in something else. I'm not sure what I'd do but that is all academic as it's not a viable option for me right now. Some of the job search things have only just stopped recommending childcare/education jobs and I've been out of that industry for years! I really don't care what I do any more. If there's no chance of progression then I may as well just find something I enjoy and/or that will provide a better work-life balance. As for recruiters, I just want to apply for a job. It shouldn't be necessary to create an account with up to 4 different websites just to apply for a single job. Then there are recruiters/employers with drawn-out processes and multiple interviews. That may be understandable for some jobs but I'm not sure it's necessary for entry level. My employer is obliged to give us time for internal interviews but we have to take it out of annual leave for external interviews. I guess other employers are similar. This limits opportunities, of course, and a manager can refuse you the time off anyway. Mine did once so I missed out on the interview completely and wasn't able to rearrange. I can't remember if I had no leave left or if there were too many others off on the same day. I said to my husband yesterday that I wondered what would happen if everyone called in sick on the same day. He said they'd have to get people from other departments. Assuming they did that, they'd still be I a mess as those people will have had no training. I expect the managers would just ignore that fact when no work gets done. I'm not sure my husband (or anyone else I've spoken to) understands just how desperate I am getting to move on now. I told my manager I was exhausted. She asked if I had seen my doctor (I could have a whole other rant about my doctor), apparently not understanding that the exhaustion was not medical but that I'd been doing her job as well as my own. She hadn't been there but had told us previously that this work had to be done, she didn't know how to do it, so it was mainly on me and one other colleague. Manager completely dismissed me when I said we won't have time if she still expected our own job to get done. As for my husband, he is brilliant with lots of things but I came home yesterday and told him I had been crying in pain as I carried shopping home. Now, I don't cry and I usually ignore pain and have never (that I remember) cried in public - I don't think anyone actually saw me. The physical pain was, I think, the tip of the iceberg. My husband didn't appear to be listening at the time but asked me later if I was OK. I told him i was tired (which was true) but didn't say much else because I didn't know how to explain my feelings. I've gone off on a tangent again. What was I saying? Oh yes, understand the need to have streamlined recruitment processes and whatnot but signing up to multiple employer websites to apply for a job, especially if you're already signed up to a recruitment site with all your details on, seems like and waste of time. And the search function is mostly useless because it never seems to match what you put in. I looked at entry level job and some are asking for several years of experience plus various qualifications. Then there are some that appear to be a match but ask for a specific qualification - I have several academic and vocational qualifications but they never seem to be the ones required. I like the old days of temping agencies rather than recruitment agencies. The recruitment agencies are nothing more than job boards sign-posting you to employers. A temp agency sends you to different places for a short period. I like that idea because it gives you experience in other things. If you don't like it, it's only temporary. If you do like it, you get the experience and can look for something permanent in that field if you want. I used to work for temp agencies but they were specialist. I don't know if there are any that cover multiple types of work. I'm sure others of you have had similar experiences or come across other stumbling blocks when looking for jobs. Sometimes, I think 'better the devil you know'.