A Costly Journey

For the first time in my adult life, I have joined the thousands of people who are tapping into the unemployment benefits system. Since I am enrolled, I must abide by the rules and ensure I apply to at least three jobs a week.

I embarked on this journey with what I honestly consider a good attitude and great confidence. I immediately updated my resume and created profiles on LinkedIn, Career Builder and my state’s labor department JobLink site. I began searching all major job-posting sites with intense focus, spending at least five hours of every workday glued to the screen. After only a few days, I had learned a lot about how these sites can help, and how they can hinder one’s search.

I was recently laid off from a horrendous five-year position as a records manager. I loved my work. I created document management systems and procedures, developed a database from scratch, reviewed and audited nearly 500 records and prepared them for our state audits. The challenge was great, the sense of accomplishment also. The overtime and overall dysfunction of the work environment drained me, and my co-workers. I accumulated valuable experience, even expertise. You would think it would be logical to seek similar positions in other agencies. I would rather crawl under a table and cry.

My resume contains many references to management positions. I was a gift shop or office manager prior to being a records manager. Every single job site such as Career Builder uses position titles as keywords to generate job offer alerts. It does not matter if you specify your current abilities or goals in other parts of your profile. I have received the most unbelievable range of job recommendations I have ever seen, not even one matching my skills.

I have received ads informing me that I should discover the benefits of joining the US Army Reserve, calls from insurance recruiters who insisted I was the perfect candidate to sell insurance to the elderly, on commission, and recommendations to apply for a bundle of positions I know nothing about, but am qualified for according to my profile. Construction inspector, Clinical Director, Licensed Electrician, Occupational Therapist, Security Officer, Auto Technician, Banquet Manager and the latest: State Hospital Psychologist. Say what?

My state’s labor department site is worse. Every keyword search leads to a “we’re sorry, there were no matches found” page. Therefore, I now spend five hours a day browsing through one site after another using no criteria whatsoever in the hopes of coming across something that makes sense. I apply to at least twelve jobs a week and never hear back. Employers are just as overwhelmed as everybody else, if not more. All I want is a simple job. I do not care for particular titles. I know who I am. I do not need a title. I actually despise any title at this point.