“Wow, this looks great but…”

I’ll take, “Phrases most heard when I look for a job” for $1000, Alex.

So I have about 10 years in construction, 5 in data/communications infrastructure, and another 5 in software/technology. I have experience doing business in Taiwan and China, and negotiating large contracts with Fortune 500 companies. I can boast titles like Foreman, Sales1, Director of Sales, Sales and Marketing, Business Technology Consultant, but… as impressive as that is, I don’t have a degree.

Yeah, I will out perform your MBA’s and I probably have more skills and experience than they do, but… I didn’t get a piece of paper that says I paid a whole bunch of money for a pretty piece of paper.  Ok, so I don’t know everything, and I certainly missed some useful things by not finishing College, but I evidently know enough to do my job, otherwise I would still be doing construction, right?(Not that there is any shame in construction, I just can’t do it full time anymore.)

Well, I am biting the bullet. At the coaxing of my ever supportive wife and boss of the house, I applied to continue my education at the local college here.  I am headed to Cascadia, a local 2 year school that is on the same campus as the University of Washington. They have a program that will allow me to do a direct transfer into the University of Washington. Check it out, it is supposed to be the #2 Community College in the US, and I happen to be a Husky fan, so the transfer degree is a sweet bonus.

In my endless quest to climb the corporate ladder, I admit… I was tempted by the $900 on-line Masters Degree based on my vast experience but I thought better of it because, if by chance I ever got a fancy job, I didn’t want to run the risk of being labeled a “charlatan” and a “fraud”. I decided against the online preaching certificate too, for the sale reason.

There was one other option I was looking at that was somewhat appealing. http://bain4weeks.com/

No, I don’t get paid from these guys or anything… Though the website layout could use some work, it is an interesting concept. You can get your degree in less time by studying on your own and testing out of classes. I think it very well could be a good alternative for some folks. Myself, I learn most effectively by being in an environment where I am able to heckle and argue.  Live bodies for me.

Bottom line is, if you are running into the same problem when you apply for jobs, well, you might as well just buck up and go for it. Go back to school. Money, Mortgage, Marriage, and parenthood all took their toll and were pretty decent excuses, but it is time just to get it done… get beat up for the next few years, and start the climb back up the corporate ladder again. Now those HR guys will have to find another reason as to why they think I am not qualified. Does Male Pattern Baldness count? 

Courtesy

Whatever happened to good old fashioned customer service? Simple things like the guy at the gas station that used to check the oil on the car and wash the windows. (Incidentally, I did recently see a television show where a family from Oregon tried to go on a road trip and ran into some trouble at the pump…namely, they had no idea how to work it, since in Oregon, you aren’t allowed to pump your own gas.)

Maybe I am just getting old, but when did the reaction from accidentally brushing against someone while walking along the sidewalk  turn from a simple apology into an invitation to a street brawl?

And the biggest frustration of mine right now… HR people that do no have the common courtesy to send you a response letter. Really folks, I am already stressed out looking for a job, putting together my resume, digging around on the Internet for possible job openings on sites like www.indeed.com and emailing you a cover letter and a resume for something that looks somewhat appealing through the cryptic job descriptions. Is it too much to ask for a quick email, even a form email? Let me know that you got what I sent.

Something simple like:

“Dear Out of Work Guy,

Thanks for sending your resume. We received it and we are looking at it. We hope you understand that we get 3 gazillion other resumes every time we post on Monster.com and we can’t reply personally to every single resume we receive.

This job closes on the XX day of XX month, if you haven’t heard from us by a week from that date, that means we have found someone that matches the job description a little closer than you do.

Thanks for applying to our company .

Regards,

Hiring Manager in the Mystical Cloud we call “job land.” “

Really, is that so hard to mail merge? Set up an auto-reply… that is all you need to do. It will make me feel so much better.