MEGA - Jobs, Resumes, Interviews

[alasdairm]

^ good advice.

It is possible to do with loans (even personal ones since family is willing to help out)

unless you have the money you need to relocate and get a new place (deposit and first months rent at a minimum), it's hard to imagine how you'd do it without getting a loan from somewhere.

How long does it take to get "on your feet" after moving

that depends. i've moved 5 major times in my life: edinburgh to london immediately after university; london to boston after working a few years; boston to san francisco; san francisco to south lake tahoe; south lake tahoe to boston.

each time it was for a different reason and a different set of challenges applied. i suppose the real answer depends on your definition of 'getting on your feet'. if you're talking about being settled in to a new place, car registered and all that crap, i would say 2 weeks to a month. if you are talking about having a social circle of close friends that you hang out with regularly and a wider circle of friends that you see out and about, that might take 3 o 6 months depending on how gregarious you are.

Relocating for an existing job within the same company vs Relocating to start a new job

that may not be your decision but relocating with a company is always likely to be preferable as there's a chance you'll get some help with the move. when i moved from london to boston and boston to san francisco, i did it with my company and they paid for everything - moving expenses, visa paperwork, plane tickets, everything. when i moved to tahoe and, most recently, back to boston, i had to do it all myself. this time, i downsized my life so that everything i owned fit in my car (or on the roof rack) and i drove cross-country. that has a few advantages to - you get to see some scenery and you can stop along the way and visit bluelighters you like

How long before you gave up on finding new or better employment in your current location before you decided to move to a new one

it's a little different but i started looking for a job in boston about a month before i moved this time. when i got here, i figured that i would be in a permanent position within about 2-3 months. the research i did said 3-6 months. i landed a job after 4 months. i was able to claim unemployment which helped, obviously.

good luck.

alasdair

 

[ChickenScratch]

you might just hold off on the move until you find the right job. a good company will help you with relocation expenses. even entry level, they'll help with basic stuff like moving your belongings and possibly putting you in a corporate apartment for 30 days or something while you find a spot to live.

if you haven't already, i'd suggest getting a linkedin account, and beefing it up as much as possible.

 

[_a_A_C_c_]

[*]It is possible to do with loans (even personal ones since family is willing to help out)

my last move from ohio to cali was very last minute (3 weeks notice) and we relied on family for some loans. and we lived with my sister for about the first 4 weeks we were out here. it would have been extremely difficult for us without help...

we weren't planning on moving, so all the sudden having a rent increase of 2.5x was a bit daunting. not to mention a much larger security deposit. furthermore, my husband's new job was paid on monthly basis, so there was a 6 week lag between his last paycheck in ohio and his first paycheck in cali. then there was the cost of getting all our stuff out here (we used a ubox from uhaul), getting both of us out here (he drove, i flew), deposits for utilities, generally a way higher cost of living (gas was almost $1/gallon).

[*]How long does it take to get "on your feet" after moving

i guess that depends on how you go about moving. in the last move, it took a several months for us to repay our family and begin saving money again.

however, when i moved from seattle to ohio, it took minimal time to get on my feet. i packed everything that was important into 3 suitcases and flew to ohio. my husband was already working and we had furniture in storage.

when i moved from ohio to seattle, the hardest part was getting used to being so far away from the area i grew up in. financially i didn't have a hard time getting on my feet but finding friends took a bit longer.

[*]Relocating for an existing job within the same company vs Relocating to start a new job

this is the easiest of my cross country moves. my friend's company covered all of his moving expenses... including setting him up temporary housing in seattle, shipping his (and mine) belongings from ohio, a moving bonus and his flight out there. this was all negotiated when he got hired. however, i have had friends who have transferred within the company and they had similar experiences.

the company they all work for also offers a cash bonus in lieu of the stuff i listed above if they want to move on their own. another friend of mine took this cash and used it take a cross country road trip in a uhaul.

[*]How long before you gave up on finding new or better employment in your current location before you decided to move to a new one

i am lucky that in all of my major moves, i was moving with someone who was already employed. so i had some leeway when it came to finding a job.

but my husband stuck with his job in ohio until accepting the job in cali. i don't forsee him quitting anytime soon. my friends who moved/relocated with their company are all still there for the most part. but they all waited until they had a good job lined up before moving.

 

[Vaportrails]

I have mixed feelings about this. With all the emphasis these days put on networking to find entry-level employment, it seems moving to a new state or even a new city would be career suicide. I'm not really talking professional jobs, but semi-professional and grey-collar jobs that pay $15hr or better.

The four-pronged approach I've been hearing about lately is education, experience, an impressive resume/cover letter and knowing someone within the company. If you fulfill all four of those, you can simply get an interview at a company. If you're missing any one of those, you won't get a shot.

 

[XThexXTank]

Should i put this on my resume?

Ok yall so Im faced with a dilemma:

Summers here and I'm lookin for a job. So I was lookin at jobs at Best Buy and one of the jobs I was interested in applying to (Asset Protection) requires at least 3 months asset protection / retail experience. Heres the fuckin problem:

I dont have any asset protection experience BUT i do have approx 3~4 month retail experience... the problem is that this experience was at Goodwill Ind. for court ordered community service. I have no other retail exp. to put on my resume in order to even be considered for the job.

So, would it be a good idea to put it on there and be honest, or just keep lookin at other jobs?

 

[Jerry Atrick]

I have a lot of retail experience and I've also had to do community service. I would not list court ordered community service on a resume. If you want to do asset protection, I think you would be better off applying to Best Buy at the entry level and working your way into a position like that. It's amazing what kinds of promotions you can get in retail if you show up every day, work hard, and are nice to customers and co-workers.

 

[Tommyboy]

You should contact the Goodwill and speak with your supervisor there to see if he/she is willing to omitt the part about why you were working there. I was faced with a similar dilemma. I worked somewhere for community service, and it would have filled a gap in employment, but I never bothered listing it on my application since it was only a months work, and I didn't want to call the manager to bring it up with him. That was for the application though, and it wasn't relevant for the job so I left it off of my resume.

I suggest putting it on your resume, and if they are looking to confirm your employment there then you should call your supervisor like I said ealier, and if they won't help you out without mentioning that you were mandated to work there then tell Best Buy that you don't want them to contact them. You probably won't be considered for the job without any experience, so you best bet is to put your experience on there, and deal with them confirming your employment if it ever comes to that. Some jobs will want to confirm prior employment if it is relevant to the position you are applying for, but others won't if it's not that important. Sometimes they can tell right away if you have experience or not by questions in the interview, so if you are prepared for the interview then you should have no problems proving that you have experience without them having to call and confirm it. They will probably ask what your previous experience was, where the job was, and what the job entailed. Make sure you can adequately answer that without them thinking you are making it up.

 

[Jerry Atrick]

You should contact the Goodwill and speak with your supervisor there to see if he/she is willing to omitt the part about why you were working there. I was faced with a similar dilemma. I worked somewhere for community service, and it would have filled a gap in employment, but I never bothered listing it on my application since it was only a months work, and I didn't want to call the manager to bring it up with him. That was for the application though, and it wasn't relevant for the job so I left it off of my resume.

I suggest putting it on your resume, and if they are looking to confirm your employment there then you should call your supervisor like I said ealier, and if they won't help you out without mentioning that you were mandated to work there then tell Best Buy that you don't want them to contact them. You probably won't be considered for the job without any experience, so you best bet is to put your experience on there, and deal with them confirming your employment if it ever comes to that. Some jobs will want to confirm prior employment if it is relevant to the position you are applying for, but others won't if it's not that important. Sometimes they can tell right away if you have experience or not by questions in the interview, so if you are prepared for the interview then you should have no problems proving that you have experience without them having to call and confirm it. They will probably ask what your previous experience was, where the job was, and what the job entailed. Make sure you can adequately answer that without them thinking you are making it up.

Don't take it personally but I completely disagree with your post.

Essentially what you are suggesting is that the OP ask his former supervisor to be less than honest. We can have a huge philosophical debate over whether omitting the truth is actually lying but at the end of the day, I don't think a supervisor would go for it. Besides, it is usually the hiring HR manager calling the former HR manager to verify employment and the supervisor prolly will not even have a say in the situation.

If the OP lists the community service on his resume and puts it on his application, he will be taking a huge gamble that Best Buy is not going to buy the OP's story. I have worked at some major retail corporations and I know from experience, their HR managers don't fuck around. If the OP lists Goodwill on the application and then tells Best Buy he does not want them to be contacted, the BB HR manager will be suspicious and wonder why and he prolly won't get the job.

The ONLY time you should ever list a job on an application where they are not to be contacted is when you are still working there. When you list previous jobs and check that you would not like them to be contacted, the HR manager will either ask you why or assume you got fired or quit without notice.

 

[alasdairm]

related reading: Lying hardcore on the resume: cool?

alasdair

 

[XThexXTank]

Alright thanks for posting yall but Im prob gonna go with J.A.'s suggestion. The thing is that the application is online and asks the last place of employment wich is at the Goodwill and also asks for how much I was paid (absolutely fuckin nothing) so if they consider me and I go in for interview, there gonna ask if it was volunteer, and it wasn't. I dont wanna risk chances of sayin yeah it was and have them call up and find out it was comm. service cuz then I wont get the job.

 

[hthr007]

Job interview tomorrow!

Eek! I'm so nervous. I've never had an actual job interview before. The pay is GREAT, and I really need to get out of the place I'm at now because co workers and management make it hell.

The company is going to be using the STAR method to interview me. (the Situation or Task faced, Actions taken, and then the Result.

Tips? Experiences with this method? My nerves are on edge. I really need this job!

 

[alasdairm]

star isn't situation or task. it's situation and task...

i'd do a google search for star and ensure you understand what the terms mean and the difference between them. the best advice i can give is to take a moment after you hear the question and don't just start talking. it's ok to say "could you give me a moment to think about that" so that you can get your thoughts straight.

when you're done, and you're happy that you have answered the question, stop talking. interviewers will often remain quiet after you finish. don't be tempted to keep babbling just to fill the silence...

good luck.

alasdair

 

[hthr007]

Sorry for the small typo.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[alasdairm]

what's the job? how did it go?

alasdair

 

[hthr007]

The job is for a senior management position for a private loan company.

The interview went awesome! I was surprisingly not nervous; the interviewer seemed more nervous and uncomfortable than me. I didn't even say "uh", "umm", or "ya know".

He was explaining what I'd be doing at the conclusion of the interview, and then said Monday or Tuesday I'll hear back from them

 

[Tommyboy]

Don't take it personally but I completely disagree with your post.

Essentially what you are suggesting is that the OP ask his former supervisor to be less than honest. We can have a huge philosophical debate over whether omitting the truth is actually lying but at the end of the day, I don't think a supervisor would go for it. Besides, it is usually the hiring HR manager calling the former HR manager to verify employment and the supervisor prolly will not even have a say in the situation.

If the OP lists the community service on his resume and puts it on his application, he will be taking a huge gamble that Best Buy is not going to buy the OP's story. I have worked at some major retail corporations and I know from experience, their HR managers don't fuck around. If the OP lists Goodwill on the application and then tells Best Buy he does not want them to be contacted, the BB HR manager will be suspicious and wonder why and he prolly won't get the job.

The ONLY time you should ever list a job on an application where they are not to be contacted is when you are still working there. When you list previous jobs and check that you would not like them to be contacted, the HR manager will either ask you why or assume you got fired or quit without notice.

Well the OP knows the people he volunteered for better than we do. If he had a good working relationship with the people at the Goodwill, I think that he should speak to them and tell them that he wishes to list that he volunteered there, and that he will only do that if they think it's alright to not mention that he was mandated to work there, and just confirm he volunteered.

When I was mandated to work at my schools dining hall as my community service, the manager really liked the work that I did, and allowed me all the perks of the job that actual employees got. This included free fountain drinks or free coffee, and 15 minute breaks, when I was only really working for 4 hours a day. Even on some days off he would not charge me for some things. He told me I was a great worker and always said that I could work there once community service was over if I wanted, or I could have even continued doing my community service on the weekends, and worked for pay during the week. I never took him up on the offer since it was close to the end of school year. Given the good relationship between us, I don't think that it would be wrong to ask him if it would be necessary for him to mention that I worked there for community service, or if he could say it was just volunteer work.

I have never heard of a company asking a previous employer why the applicant worked there. All they do is confirm that the person worked there during the dates they listed, and maybe confirm the pay, and a few other minor things. They don't ask what grounds the person was hired on.

related reading: Lying hardcore on the resume: cool?

alasdair

I don't think that saying that you volunteered somewhere when you really were mandated to work there is considered lying hardcore.

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Given the good relationship between us, I don't think that it would be wrong to ask him if it would be necessary for him to mention that I worked there for community service, or if he could say it was just volunteer work.

Once again, we're back to asking a supervisor to be dishonest.

I have never heard of a company asking a previous employer why the applicant worked there. All they do is confirm that the person worked there during the dates they listed, and maybe confirm the pay, and a few other minor things. They don't ask what grounds the person was hired on.

There is a fine line between what the HR manager is allowed to do by law and what they actually do. Sure, by law the only thing a hiring HR manager is supposed to ask is whether or not the employee in question worked there. But in practice, some HR managers ignore the law and ask further probing questions about the employee. I know this because my mother used to be an HR manager. She never broke the law by asking these types of questions but she informed me that other HR managers have asked these questions of her when inquiring about a previous employee.

You said it yourself that they may confirm the pay. If the OP says he worked there and even got a supervisor to lie for him, that will not keep the previous HR manager from telling the hiring HR manager that the OP was never a true employee, did not earn wages, and did not pay taxes. By the way, telling the hiring HR manager that the OP never earned wages or paid taxes is completely legal within the confines of the law.

I'm not saying I never lied to get a job. I'm just saying that when someone does lie, they have to do it in such a way that there is no way to get caught. What you are suggesting the OP do leaves way too many opportunities for Best Buy to call bullshit on the whole thing. I stand by my suggestion that the OP try to get hired at the entry-level and work his way up into asset protection rather than spin this enormous web of lies that will get him nowhere if/when he gets caught.

 

[double ewe]

Well the OP knows the people he volunteered for better than we do. If he had a good working relationship with the people at the Goodwill, I think that he should speak to them and tell them that he wishes to list that he volunteered there, and that he will only do that if they think it's alright to not mention that he was mandated to work there, and just confirm he volunteered.

....



I don't think that saying that you volunteered somewhere when you really were mandated to work there is considered lying hardcore.

that's how i feel too. i imagine he could likely just ask if they would say anything about why he worked there. if they say 'yes,' don't list them. if they say 'no,' they're not offering to lie so much as confirming that they're willing to abide by employment law.

 

[alasdairm]

I don't think that saying that you volunteered somewhere when you really were mandated to work there is considered lying hardcore.

i agree. but it is lying. hence "related".

alasdair

 

[Tommyboy]

Once again, we're back to asking a supervisor to be dishonest.



There is a fine line between what the HR manager is allowed to do by law and what they actually do. Sure, by law the only thing a hiring HR manager is supposed to ask is whether or not the employee in question worked there. But in practice, some HR managers ignore the law and ask further probing questions about the employee. I know this because my mother used to be an HR manager. She never broke the law by asking these types of questions but she informed me that other HR managers have asked these questions of her when inquiring about a previous employee.

You said it yourself that they may confirm the pay. If the OP says he worked there and even got a supervisor to lie for him, that will not keep the previous HR manager from telling the hiring HR manager that the OP was never a true employee, did not earn wages, and did not pay taxes. By the way, telling the hiring HR manager that the OP never earned wages or paid taxes is completely legal within the confines of the law.

I'm not saying I never lied to get a job. I'm just saying that when someone does lie, they have to do it in such a way that there is no way to get caught. What you are suggesting the OP do leaves way too many opportunities for Best Buy to call bullshit on the whole thing. I stand by my suggestion that the OP try to get hired at the entry-level and work his way up into asset protection rather than spin this enormous web of lies that will get him nowhere if/when he gets caught.

I said that they could confirm that he did volunteer work, not to lie and say that he worked for wages. I didn't say for them to ask the supervisor to make up some wages that he worked for, but just to confirm that he volunteered there during that period of time. Would HR ask the supervisor why the OP volunteered there? Where is all this room for HR to call bullshit coming from? The OP did in fact volunteer at the Goodwill during said period of time, which is where they gained the experience needed for this position.

Maybe I just had a really good community service volunteering experience, because I was treated like any other worker, and as far as the managers were concerned, I was just another worker, but just there for a different reason, and worked for free. If I were to use that on an application, I would treat it as any other reference. Call up the manager, inform them that I am applying for a position in which my experience there is what I would like to use to qualify me for the job, and ask if it is ok to list them as a reference as a place that I volunteered at in which I gained the experience.

I'm sure the OP could tell if the manager would mention if he was mandated to volunteer there or not, so he wouldn't even need to mention anything to them about omitting that part, but I also don't see a problem with him asking if it's possible for them to not mention that he was mandated to volunteer there. A lot of work places are very friendly environments, where managers and workers at the bottom of the totem pole get along very well, and are friendly with one another. It's not like they are always separated by a bunch of other workers, and are stuck up people that would jump at the chance to mention the person was mandated to work there.

that's how i feel too. i imagine he could likely just ask if they would say anything about why he worked there. if they say 'yes,' don't list them. if they say 'no,' they're not offering to lie so much as confirming that they're willing to abide by employment law.

Exactly.