Job Hunt Thread

[chw42]

I like the fact you can work twice at home with the Chicago job. Man ... quality of life is pretty nice there. You can go get a f***ing haircut at your convenience, an oil change, whatever. Sometimes it's nice to be left alone and not feel like you are in an episode of the Office.

But both jobs sound great. There's something to be said about getting away. I will tell you this from going there. Austin is AWESOME and I've never heard a bad word about it. It is a big big party scene as you recognize. The UT women are beautiful. You might want to experience it.

 

As far as sports if you want to see the Sox in Houston or Dallas both are about 3 hour drives or 2.5 or so. It'll be a big change regarding pro sports. People there don't give a s*** about anything but TEXAS football and music. You will date some amazing women, though. But if you care that much about Bears, Bulls, Sox, you won't be having much fun in that regard except following them on tv and here.

 

If you want an adventure of a lifetime and maybe marry an amazing Texas girl, go for Austin for a few years. Actually a lot of non Texas natives live down there as well.

I'm just saying you'll probably like Austin ... unless the Texas mentality pisses you off down there. The native Texans think they are everything and the rest of the country sucks.

 

Yeah, I was thinking of what I'd do without the ability to go watch the Sox in person. Driving to Dallas or Houston for that many hours kind of sucks.

 

And honestly, I'm a fairly liberal person. But from everything I hear, Austin is about as liberal as you can get in a southern state. Especially Texas.

[greg775]

Well as I've said before I don't plan on being a family man anytime soon. 450 a week would have been plenty to put bread on MY table.

 

I got this job from a friend on facebook, another friend on facebook told me he could get me in at his fathers or one of his uncles trucking companies if I passed the written test to get my CDL...So my long term plan has turned to that. There's my 40k a year career job.

 

Do you realy want to be a trucker, though? That might be the toughest job in humanity.

[nitetrain8601]

Yeah, I was thinking of what I'd do without the ability to go watch the Sox in person. Driving to Dallas or Houston for that many hours kind of sucks.

 

And honestly, I'm a fairly liberal person. But from everything I hear, Austin is about as liberal as you can get in a southern state. Especially Texas.

 

I'd go with Austin. I rather deal with heat to be honest. Plus, you don't have to deal with crooked city politics as well as state politics, and a huge rising cost of living. Plus, being in the tech industry, it's always best to move towards where those tech companies are prominent.

[greg775]

I'd go with Austin. I rather deal with heat to be honest. Plus, you don't have to deal with crooked city politics as well as state politics, and a huge rising cost of living. Plus, being in the tech industry, it's always best to move towards where those tech companies are prominent.

 

I will say one thing: If you are going to leave Chicago, there's not many places I'd rather live than Austin, especially if you are in your 20s.

Women, women women. Party scene. Party scene. Party scene.

Only other cities that are better if you are in your 20s or early 30s: Vegas, maybe LA (traffic obviously is a joke), New York (traffic, amount of people obviously is a joke). That's about it.

Like I said, I've never heard anybody say a bad word about Austin. If there's ever a place to get off on your own, it might be Austin.

[chw42]

I'll be moving to Austin next summer. Thanks for the help/advice guys.

[iamshack]

I'll be moving to Austin next summer. Thanks for the help/advice guys.

Hey Hey! Congrats! Great place to go!

[LittleHurt05]

I'll be moving to Austin next summer. Thanks for the help/advice guys.

 

 

My cousin actually just moved down there today. Keep Austin Weird.

[2nd_city_saint787]

Do you realy want to be a trucker, though? That might be the toughest job in humanity.

 

Unless I decide to bite the bullet and crawl even further in debt to go to college or come up with a large sum of money to open a restaurant then sure truck driving is up there on my list of "Career jobs".

 

There's good money in it and since I'll be on the road a lot I'll be able to save a lot of that money. Plus the farthest I've ever traveled is the tip of Wisconsin (The Brat Stop) so it'd be nice "travel" a bit.

 

Oh and congrats Chw! I've always wanted a job that would pay me to relocate.

[dasox24]

A little late to the party, but Austin was a good choice. You had 2 seemingly great options, so you really couldn't go wrong. But if it were me, I'd have picked Austin too.

[bigruss]

Congrats!! Personally, I'd be nervous as hell moving that far away, but definitely going to be an interesting ride.

 

Good luck!! Though, you will have to pay for MLB extra innings now

[farmteam]

Congrats!! Personally, I'd be nervous as hell moving that far away, but definitely going to be an interesting ride.

 

Good luck!! Though, you will have to pay for MLB extra innings now

I will say that if you can afford it, it's way better to get extra innings than MLB.tv. I had the latter this past year, and I'm thinking about biting the bullet and getting extra innings for next season. Just much, much better.

[southsider2k5]

Actually looking to open my own small business in Chicago on the side in the next few months.

 

Out of curiosity... Anything ever happen?

[HuskyCaucasian]

Interviewed yesterday for "Stage Technician" job at a local community theater (or is it theatre?). It's only part time, but it's flexible hours, so i can work around my current job. I felt it went extremely well.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Athomeboy_2000

[cabiness42]

Had one of the strangest job search experiences ever:

 

Applied for a job via CareerBuilder Monday. Got a call from HR person about 2 hours later to set up a phone screening with her for the following day. Received e-mail confirming day and time for phone screening.

 

Never got call at the appointed day/time. Called my contact to try and find out what the mix-up was and got her voice mail. Got an email from her an hour later telling me that she had set the appointment in her calendar for the wrong day. Re-set the appointment for the following day and got a confirmation email.

 

Again, got no call at the appointed day/time. Again called my contact to try and find out what's up and got voice mail. Got an email from her an hour later telling me that her company had an "impromptu announcement event" that she had to attend and asked me when would be a good time to reschedule.

 

I sent her some suggested days/times. That was 24 hours ago and I haven't heard back from her.

 

I've come to the conclusion that she's either f***ing with me or grossly incompetent. Are there any other possible answers?

[southsider2k5]

Yeah, if a firm can't make a phone interview, they probably aren't worth working for. Bad HR can very often be a sign of a bad company.

[Balta1701]

If you're unemployed and desperate, keep at it. If you're already working somewhere and that position would be a moderate upgrade or less...just let it go.

[flippedoutpunk]

Holy crap, i just finished sending a resume and completing a seemingly hour long application for this open FBI position in Chicago that directly relates to my job in the military. Hopefully that 5-point veterans preference pays off.

[chw42]

Congrats!! Personally, I'd be nervous as hell moving that far away, but definitely going to be an interesting ride.

 

Good luck!! Though, you will have to pay for MLB extra innings now

 

I'll just buy MLB.tv and probably the NFL Sunday Ticket package.

Edited November 29, 2012 by chw42

[Iwritecode]

I got a text from my wife asking me if I had ever applied for a job in Sun Prairie, Wis. I told her that I couldn't remember ever applying for anything there but it's been a long time since I've applied for a job anywhere.

 

She gave me the name and number of the person that called and it's a number out of Baltimore, MD. I called it and he said he has a position with a substantial salary (about 30% more than what I'm making now) plus medical and relocation costs. The city is only about an hour from my house so I don't think I'd need the relocation costs but it sounds interesting.

 

He sent me an email with a few basic questions and 3 different open positions. One of the questions is asking for the last 4 digits of my SS#. Then he called me back 20 minutes after he sent the email to see if I had responded yet.

 

He told me the name of the company but I cannot find a location for them in Wisconsin. They are a company based out of India and are actually a part of HP. The guy I spoke with had a very thick Indian accent.

 

I'm just getting a weird vibe from this. It's odd that he would just call me out of the blue like that. I'm guessing he found my resume on one of the job search sites or something but I haven't been actively looking for a couple of years. Not quite sure how to proceed. I read some reviews about working for the company and they are listed as a solid "OK". Not good, not bad.

 

[G&T]

I got a text from my wife asking me if I had ever applied for a job in Sun Prairie, Wis. I told her that I couldn't remember ever applying for anything there but it's been a long time since I've applied for a job anywhere.

 

She gave me the name and number of the person that called and it's a number out of Baltimore, MD. I called it and he said he has a position with a substantial salary (about 30% more than what I'm making now) plus medical and relocation costs. The city is only about an hour from my house so I don't think I'd need the relocation costs but it sounds interesting.

 

He sent me an email with a few basic questions and 3 different open positions. One of the questions is asking for the last 4 digits of my SS#. Then he called me back 20 minutes after he sent the email to see if I had responded yet.

 

He told me the name of the company but I cannot find a location for them in Wisconsin. They are a company based out of India and are actually a part of HP. The guy I spoke with had a very thick Indian accent.

 

I'm just getting a weird vibe from this. It's odd that he would just call me out of the blue like that. I'm guessing he found my resume on one of the job search sites or something but I haven't been actively looking for a couple of years. Not quite sure how to proceed. I read some reviews about working for the company and they are listed as a solid "OK". Not good, not bad.

 

I actually live in Sun Prairie, WI (just outside Madison). If you want to PM me the company I can see if I've heard of them or know where they might be.

[southsider2k5]

I got a text from my wife asking me if I had ever applied for a job in Sun Prairie, Wis. I told her that I couldn't remember ever applying for anything there but it's been a long time since I've applied for a job anywhere.

 

She gave me the name and number of the person that called and it's a number out of Baltimore, MD. I called it and he said he has a position with a substantial salary (about 30% more than what I'm making now) plus medical and relocation costs. The city is only about an hour from my house so I don't think I'd need the relocation costs but it sounds interesting.

 

He sent me an email with a few basic questions and 3 different open positions. One of the questions is asking for the last 4 digits of my SS#. Then he called me back 20 minutes after he sent the email to see if I had responded yet.

 

He told me the name of the company but I cannot find a location for them in Wisconsin. They are a company based out of India and are actually a part of HP. The guy I spoke with had a very thick Indian accent.

 

I'm just getting a weird vibe from this. It's odd that he would just call me out of the blue like that. I'm guessing he found my resume on one of the job search sites or something but I haven't been actively looking for a couple of years. Not quite sure how to proceed. I read some reviews about working for the company and they are listed as a solid "OK". Not good, not bad.

 

Yeah, I'd be careful for sure. Sounds too good to be true. Lots of those reviews can be faked pretty easily.

[cabiness42]

Asking for any portion of your SSN is a red flag. I've interviewed for lots of jobs and never had that asked.

[Iwritecode]

Yeah, I'd be careful for sure. Sounds too good to be true. Lots of those reviews can be faked pretty easily.

 

I actually didn't read any really positively glowing comments. A lot of them trended towards the negative side.

 

Incompetent upper management, no "vision" for the company, not a lot of growth potential, salary scale that is out of whack.

[Jack Parkman]

So, after one year out of college, I haven't got one interview for a job in my field based on a company liking me. I have applied to many places, and I never get any sort of response from them. I have received calls from recruiters about contract-to-hire positions but the first person I dealt with in that aspect did nothing for me. They called me in August about the job, and I still haven't heard whether I was even considered for the position that they had an opening for. The one interview I did have came from a company open house. I have been trying to stay in Chicago, but I guess there just isn't anything here for me. About 2-3 months ago I started applying for entry level minimum wage positions, because dammit I need some sort of income. I got one interview last month but they haven't contacted me about whether or not I was chosen for the position in a month, so I assume that I did not get the position. I have gone to a grand total of two interviews in one year. I feel like maybe employers see me as a person with not one marketable skill. When graduating college, is it that important to have had a part time job while you were in school? If so, what can I do to correct it now? I just feel like I might as well have wasted the last few yrs of my life going to school, and maybe a college degree in anything means nothing now because there are so many people with college degrees right now out of work, that work experience trumps all. How can I get experience if they won't give me a chance?

Edited December 1, 2012 by Elgin Slim

[GoodAsGould]

If you can't find a min wage job you aren't really looking because there are a ton of jobs avail even full time that don't pay well. As for your field, that can be difficult but might be able to give you advice if you tell us your major and field of interest, also if you can do an internship or volunteer in that field it might open the door for you into a company that could eventually hire you.