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Friday, October 8, 2010

The Cluster Fuck That Is Job Hunting



Normally I would post my FUCK YOU FRIDAY post today, but I need to vent about something that I've mentioned off and on about, and that's finding work here in Vancouver. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS CITY.......seriously I love living here because it's right by the ocean, I'm just minutes from the mountains, and there is tonnes to do, but finding work here is fucking impossible. I've never in my life struggled for a year to find a job, only to be rewarded for my time searching with shitty low paying jobs that wouldn't pay me enough to live. And out of the hundreds upon hundreds of jobs that I've applied to only 5 legitimate ones have responded, of those only 1 so far is offering enough pay to make a decent living here (which I'm in the process of trying to get but it's a fairly long process with a good deal of paperwork, and theres no guarantee I'll even get it.)

I've also noticed two disturbing trends out here when it comes to employment opportunities being posted online or other places.

The first is that the wages out here have been going down while the educational and experience requirements have been going up. When I first moved out here last July there were tonnes of jobs offering between 17 to 19 an hour. Now the average is between 8 to 15 (15 for skilled labour). That's not a huge deal until you factor in that Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in Canada to live in, and that the new HST tax our wonderful provincial government threw at us jacks our taxes up about 6 percent. This means that everything from food to clothes to everything goes up. I've seen my grocery bill go from 55 every week and a half to 85 for the same amount of food......................ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME ? And I thought, and perhaps I could be wrong about this but isn't the minimum wage in B.C around 8.5 an hour, how the fuck can they pay someone 8, isn't paying below minimum wage illegal ?

How the fuck am I suppose to make enough money eat, pay rent, and have money for necessities like soap and toilet paper, let alone have money to have any kind of social life or go on a date with a girl......not that the women in this town want anything to do with me because the majority of them are self centered pretentious snots who are only interested in money and looks.

The second is the amount of people online or in person who are telling me horror stories about shitty employers, denying basic workers rights such as denying lunch breaks, withholding employees wages for no reason and treating their employees like garbage. I've even heard stories of employers firing their employees for no reason other then they know that they can fire somebody and hire another unlucky asshole for less then the person they replaced.

I'm fully aware that right now it's an employers market and they can pick and choose the best people for the positions they need filled, I can't blame them for that because if I ran a company I would only want those who are effective and not complete fucking idiots. That being said the way their conducting themselves is absolute bullshit, and these companies should be ashamed of themselves.

I also hold a special place for the job placement agencies out here. I love how these fucks advertise how they'll help find me work and never call back. I love how I have to call and email them over and over to find out if they even received my resume, only to get the run around by some snotty receptionist who is too pissed off at her own shitty job to do it properly. I love the few times that I actually do get to speak to a recruiter how I tell them all the skills I have only for them to say "Wow you have a lot of really good skills, I'll get back to you right away" only to never hear from them again.

And as for those skills in case you're wondering I have 7 years of experience in the military, in that time I've been responsible for over 8 million dollars worth of armoured vehicles. I've had leadership training, basic combat intelligence training, computer training, unarmed combat training. I've driven fucking near every vehicle in the Canadian forces minus tanks, helicopters, and jets (I'm sure I could at least get a fighter jet off the ground, landing it could be interesting) I can deal with a shitload of stress, I have discipline, I have dress and deportment which means I don't show up looking like a fucking slob, and if given a job I work my ass off. After my time in the military I worked for a phone company and drove a garbage truck so I have skills in those areas too.

On top of that I've been told by those employers that have seen my resume that it was the best they've seen, and even wanted to use it as an example to set the bar for other potential applicants. So what the fuck ?

Frankly my fucking brain hurts so I'm going to put this out there in Internet land, maybe someone out there can suggest something that I haven't tried or know of something that I can do that I haven't thought of. I'm open to all suggestions except for prostituting myself out behind a dumpster or selling smack to hobo's. If you have an idea or suggestion leave it in my comments or fire me off an email ( thewolfsden@live.ca ), I can use all the help I can get and any idea would be a big help.

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10 comments:

Crazy Brunette said...

Oh honey... I love you. Like I totally am in looove with you, and if I lived in Vancouver then everyone would be jealous of you and I'm betting I MAY be able to blow someone to get you a job...
or
You can move to KS, no mountains, no ocean... but you can work at the railroad with my Daddy if you want! (Country enough for you sugar?)

I'm back, and I missed you fucker.

Kelly said...

Eee-fuckin'-gads! It's been a whole year? Fuck! What do they want you to do for them in order for you to get a job? Do they want you to have a couple of goddamn Master's Degrees in several departments of expertise or something? Do they want you to be able fuck one gerbil and give two donkeys handjobs while you balance a plate of spaghetti and meatballs on your head?*

*My feeble attempt at lifting your spirits.

After having about 4 real jobs in my life and and then struggling to get what would be a series of shitty or mediocre low paying temporary services jobs, I have to agree... It's getting real goddamn tough for a lot of people in this economy (Canada's, America's, UK's and other countries, too) to get a decent job. I know from experience, in America.

I feel for you. The temporary services like CBS or Addeco are the worst one around here. Some jobs they offer, and you will be "lucky" to get will put your life in danger doing something risky or demeaning for 8 dollars. Shit money.

You're asking for suggestions or actual places to get a job, so here's mine:

Move to another town, as far as possible, if you can possibly afford it. The region you're in is obviously dead as far as getting work is concerned. A new town may give you better opportunities. (I'm sure you've already thought of this but I thought I'd throw it out there, anyway)

Actually, that's all I know to give you, as far as advice. I can't really suggest any exact locations in Canada that are hiring because I'm from the U.S and don't know squat about such places. I all can say is I hope this new job prospect you were talking about comes through and you get it. I wish you luck. If it doesn't, I would, if possible, move. Then start looking. Maybe stay with a friend, temporarily.

Goddamn, this was a long comment. I must be drunk or something. :)

Take care

The Wolf said...

No worries about the length of the comment Kelly. I have thought about moving but there is one huge catch, I have nowhere to move to. I don't have friends or family that I can rely on so I'm on my own for that.

As for these employers they know they can pick and choose whoever they want, one of the big problems is that there are so many people from across Canada and around the world that come to this city to live. Not only do I have to compete with the locals but people from out of the country as well. We have a lot of people from Asia that come over here as well who are very wealthy that drive up the price of things such as real estate and then only live here for mabye 4 months a year.

If this job dosen't go through and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it does I'm pretty much screwed. The military isin't hiring anyone until next year when their recruitment season re-opens, the same goes for all branchs of the police both local and the R.C.M.P and the only positions available with the coast guard are officer positions that take 4 years to train for and only pay about 365 dollars a month training allowance.

This pretty much leaves me with a couple options, pray I get this job, try to hold out until the military will re-hire me, or get a good length of rope and hang myself from a tall tree.

Max Evel said...

Wolf the economy is bullshit all over .

Gnetch said...

Aw, Wolfy... I'm sure you'll get a job soon. I agree with what CB suggested. You can move to KS. Maybe you'll have more opportunities there.

I have a friend who now lives in Canada. I think she's making the country sound more awesome than it actually is.

The Wolf said...

Max Evel I know it sucks all over the place right now. As bad as things are up here I've heard there a hundred times worse in the U.S, I've also heard Europe got the royal shaft from it as well.

Gnetch I'm sure there may be some opportunites in KS but I've spent enough time inland, I need the ocean. Worst case scenerio is that I have to wait until the military starts recruiting again and I get back in with them. I don't care what position but if I get in the navy then at least I don't have to worry about work ever again.

Most of the country is pretty awsome up here it's just this city is kinda fucked up. At least it's not Toronto

Anonymous said...

This global depression and unemployment situation makes people feel very small and inequal.It does not matter where you live.

klahanie said...

I can so relate to this posting. As you know, I used to live in Vancouver and had some serious fucking about by some unscrupulous employees.
I went 17 months without a job and then got pissed off with the so called minimum wage. So pissed off, I ended up living and working in England. Desperate times made for desperate measures.
Man, I miss Vancouver, my friends, my family, terribly. Yet, I know I could never work there again. I do hope that your work situation improves in Vancouver. I can fully understand how much of a head fuck it is. Believe me. I know how it screws up your quality of life and your mental health.
Wishing you well, Gary.

klahanie said...

Shit, I forgot to mention; I do hope you manage to have a nice Thanksgiving Day. Yes, this will come as a great surprise to many that there is one in Canada.
Take care.

Anonymous said...

I know how you feel, I have had 10 "phone interviews" and they all end wth the "you can expect a call next week" after a week call them back "You said you would call me" then some fucked lame excuse or the best they hang up. They post a job ad and they want a business degree for selling cloths and a funking highschool kid is behind the counter, wtf is that. I guess she can give good head. The best excuse for not hiring me was "we are worried that you need to commute" and what do you live in the stoock room, stupid fucked up answers.
I will be living out of my car in a few months so then I can live in your fucken parking lot so my commute will be real short.
I saw an ad for a construction labour/cleaner, they wanted 4 years experience to push a fucken broom, what kind of shit is that.
Another job I said I was willing to relocate, the dumb bitch then asked me were to, and how the fuck did you get a HR job.
Another interview the interviewer was 30 minutes late, wondered why he kept looking above my head, them after 20 minitues he said to the other person that we need to hurry this up, I stood up and saw the clock above my head and looked at him and said "I will solve your problem" and looked at the clock then looked at them and said that I hope you find the best person for your job as I walked to the door. As I walked they asked what the problem was ? I said I didn't want to work at a company were all the people liked watching the clock all day. How fucked is your company ?
I have concluded that most HR people are taught how to fuck with people and ask stupid questions that have no real relavance to a job or the work.
So i'm thinking of starting an HR consultant business so I can sit there and be so fucken stupid I look like a brain.
I was asked in one job interview "we work with alot of redneeks, do you think you could handle that?" I responed "I think I could, I know a guy who makes the best pepperetts in the area, you can get a discount if you hit the deer" she sat there and then asked what pepperetts had to do with redneeks and she wasn't even blond.
We do live in a fucked up world when you can't find a job and the fucked interviewer appears to be a graduate of University of stupidity.

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