Dena started work this past Tuesday for the first time in 18 months. Thankfully, due to the Obama and democratic moves to extend COBRA supplemental coverage (health care for the unemployed) and extend unemployment benefits for 99 weeks we managed to survive this relatively unscathed. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't without hardship, adjustments and anxiety but we didn't lose our house, or our car and the only thing we gained was a stronger relationship.
How did she get this new job? Dena applied for jobs every day. She would sit on the computer and search, sometimes even applying for jobs that pop up Friday nights and Saturday mornings. Not sure who posts jobs then but ? At one point she even applied for a Starbucks store manager. She was over qualified and probably too old, but of course, they cannot say that.
Finally in January of 2011 something happened. Not sure if the economy is really starting to turn the corner or if all the planets started to align but really good, interesting jobs in her field started to pop up on a daily basis. She applied and actually got calls back. In the previous 17 months she had a total of 3 interviews. In the first two weeks of January she had had ten. At the beginning of February she was past the first interview stage of three good looking jobs. For those of you who haven't had to hunt lately, the first stage is a phone interview. I suppose you could say the first stage is actually getting an email or phone call acknowledging that you exist, but I digress.
She then proceeded over the next three weeks to move through interviews two, three and four. These were all face to face. Only the final contestant went to interview four. The first two ended at interview three and haven't been heard from since. Both of those interviews had great vibes and no reason not to get an offer or some kind of courtesy call. I think it's unprofessional but it's not uncommon.
On January 22nd she started with contestant number three. We couldn't be happier.
Showing posts with label job satisfaction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job satisfaction. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Job Satisfaction Plummets
The breaking news today was that American job satisfaction is the lowest it's ever been. Well, no shit. The people who still have jobs are being asked to do more with less like never before and for less pay. This does not breed happiness but instead breeds a low level of resentment that festers especially in larger companies. This phenomena eventually leads to a type of burn out or a better way of putting that is a lack of enthusiasm to work like a dog for less pay thus driving productivity down. It's a vicious cycle.
I have friends that are on 13% pay cuts, some of those people not only have a pay cut but also must take one week off a quarter or in one case one week off (without pay of course) a month. That translates into quite a heavy financial loss in the paycheck. How can you be satisfied at work when you're salary is eroded by a pay cut as well as paying more for your benefits, like health and dental. Companies are also cutting perks in all sorts of ways, even stooping as low as foregoing filling the monthly coffee supply. How the hell can a worker be happy and/or productive without caffeine?
It's also no news that laid off workers returning to work have to accept lower paying jobs. Some of these are probably people that have exhausted their unemployment benefits. I find it quite amusing in a sad way that our government is telling us that the economy is slowly recovering. What planet do they live on? Because jobless claims dropped? Well, there aren't that many people left to lay off. If the unemployment number reported is ~ 12% then you know it is significantly higher than that. That number is only calculated based on those people still on the books. Workers who haven't bothered to file, have exhausted their benefits and graduates who cannot find work are not counted. I suspect this number is close to 20%. I know more unemployed people now than I do employed. That is sad.
Frankly, I could rant on and on about this, health care and the state of our economy, but I'll leave you now, looking on the bright side, IT jobs are still in demand and still interesting for those computer geeks that like this kind of stuff.
I have friends that are on 13% pay cuts, some of those people not only have a pay cut but also must take one week off a quarter or in one case one week off (without pay of course) a month. That translates into quite a heavy financial loss in the paycheck. How can you be satisfied at work when you're salary is eroded by a pay cut as well as paying more for your benefits, like health and dental. Companies are also cutting perks in all sorts of ways, even stooping as low as foregoing filling the monthly coffee supply. How the hell can a worker be happy and/or productive without caffeine?
It's also no news that laid off workers returning to work have to accept lower paying jobs. Some of these are probably people that have exhausted their unemployment benefits. I find it quite amusing in a sad way that our government is telling us that the economy is slowly recovering. What planet do they live on? Because jobless claims dropped? Well, there aren't that many people left to lay off. If the unemployment number reported is ~ 12% then you know it is significantly higher than that. That number is only calculated based on those people still on the books. Workers who haven't bothered to file, have exhausted their benefits and graduates who cannot find work are not counted. I suspect this number is close to 20%. I know more unemployed people now than I do employed. That is sad.
Frankly, I could rant on and on about this, health care and the state of our economy, but I'll leave you now, looking on the bright side, IT jobs are still in demand and still interesting for those computer geeks that like this kind of stuff.
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