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Friday – A Sign of the Times
Dec. 11th, 2009 09:38 am.
.
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I went on an interview yesterday for a company that had placed an ad on Craig's List. The job is for a start up company and it would start out as part time (30 hours a week) with a fairly low rate of pay, but has the potential to grow into something a lot more substantial if the company takes off the way they hope it will. I applied because it was close to home and it would leave me time to work on the home-based business I am considering starting (I'm not ready to give details on that yet so don't ask).
"You're one of 15 interviews we're doing today," I was told. "We got over 500 responses to that ad, and then we had to take it down so they would stop coming in."
That's 500 applicants to a part-time, low paying administrative position. I'm flattered that my resume made the cut, and alarmed at how much competition there is for this kind of work.
Keep in mind that Houston's unemployment rate, at 8.5%*, is about 2% less than the national average. I can't imagine how many responses such a job would get in some place like Modesto, California or Detroit, Michigan, where the unemployment rates are close to 17%.
According to economists in Washington, D.C., the economy is recovering, but it is a "jobless" recovery. I have news for them: a recovery without jobs only counts as a recovery for those people who are working. For those searching for work, it's just a continuation of the economic misery.
Looks like it's going to be a hard-candy Christmas for a lot of people out there this year. In light of that, I hope the other 14 people who interviewed that day showed up wearing sweat pants and smelled like they hadn't showed all week. Probably not, but a girl can dream.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
*per the US Dept of Labor as of October 2009.
Reminder: It's not too late! If you want a Christmas card from me, leave me your address here. You don't have to send one in return and you don't have to have ever commented before. I just like mailing them out.
.
.
I went on an interview yesterday for a company that had placed an ad on Craig's List. The job is for a start up company and it would start out as part time (30 hours a week) with a fairly low rate of pay, but has the potential to grow into something a lot more substantial if the company takes off the way they hope it will. I applied because it was close to home and it would leave me time to work on the home-based business I am considering starting (I'm not ready to give details on that yet so don't ask).
"You're one of 15 interviews we're doing today," I was told. "We got over 500 responses to that ad, and then we had to take it down so they would stop coming in."
That's 500 applicants to a part-time, low paying administrative position. I'm flattered that my resume made the cut, and alarmed at how much competition there is for this kind of work.
Keep in mind that Houston's unemployment rate, at 8.5%*, is about 2% less than the national average. I can't imagine how many responses such a job would get in some place like Modesto, California or Detroit, Michigan, where the unemployment rates are close to 17%.
According to economists in Washington, D.C., the economy is recovering, but it is a "jobless" recovery. I have news for them: a recovery without jobs only counts as a recovery for those people who are working. For those searching for work, it's just a continuation of the economic misery.
Looks like it's going to be a hard-candy Christmas for a lot of people out there this year. In light of that, I hope the other 14 people who interviewed that day showed up wearing sweat pants and smelled like they hadn't showed all week. Probably not, but a girl can dream.
*per the US Dept of Labor as of October 2009.
Reminder: It's not too late! If you want a Christmas card from me, leave me your address here. You don't have to send one in return and you don't have to have ever commented before. I just like mailing them out.
