Monday, September 26, 2016

The Panda Bear returns to Blogging, Unemployment and the New Science of Job Hunting

The Panda Bear Blog, the populist blog of a humble office worker is back.

When the Panda Bear last wrote her last blog piece, she had lost her job and decided to go to school to upgrade her jobs skills.    She went under what is called Section 30 where unemployment lets you go back to school instead of job searching.   The Panda Bear successfully completed her program in August and since September has been job hunting.   She has learned much since she has started her new job hunt.

The first thing she learned that despite the official unemployment rate being at four percent, people are still unhappy with the job market.   The Panda Bear is surprised that so many people are still ashamed to say their unemployed, despite there being many layoffs and high unemployment rates(The Panda Bear thinks it is ashamed that so many people are still quiet about being unemployed.    These people are loosing some networking potential and it stops society from recognizing the extent of the unemployment problem.

The Panda Bear notices that two age groups have the hardest time finding jobs.   The first group are the young workers with no or very little experience.   Employers nowadays don't want to train people. The other group of workers that seem to be effected are the "mature" or not young workers(this group includes the Panda Bear).   Probably these workers are have more trouble finding work because of both ageism and this group can be costing companies more money earning higher salaries and being eligible for more benefits.

The unemployment office gives advise on how to get around age discrimination in the workplace.   The first suggestion is that one should remove dates on resumes of when one attended school and the work history should only go back ten to fifteen years.   Less obviously, the Panda Bear discovered that the fonts one uses could indicate age.    People should be using modern and contemporary fonts not the old fashioned Arial and Times Roman.

It is not without controversy about whether business practises are correct or outdated.    One young career counselor upset a lot of people in her class by saying that the use of the word "Dear" in cover/business letters had become outdated and suggested the person using it was old.   Many clients objected and said that using "Dear" was proper English.   The Panda Bear tried typing a cover letter and just addressing it "Hiring Manager" seemed abrupt.   However,  upon reflection that Panda Bear thought that modern cover letters probably are a shade more informal since they are uploaded into an application system rather than going through snail mail.   Also the Panda Bear has heard that the younger generation constantly abbreviates the language and many say they don't use proper English.   Therefore, the Panda Bear has decided to address cover letters to "Attention: Hiring Manager".

The use application(automated) tracking systems has in itself revolutionized the job hunting process.   The application is screened by a computer before it gets into human hands.    There is a whole series of strategies that one has to use to get it to clear the system sp the hiring manager sees it.    This
type of application does not bother the Panda Bear too much;  in her type of job one is expected to be good at computers.  However, even the simpliest types of jobs now require online applications which many people find difficult to use.

With the start of applying jobs, the Panda Bear has started to feel the beginnings or work pressure.   She has been surprised with how busy she has gotten job hunting.  












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