Job hunt, need advice

[CRUZTAKER]

Alot of you folks are aware of the magnificent situation I have gotten myself into with my employer.

What was once a very lucrative job locally that paid well enough to buy a home and two new cars plus medical/dental, and 5 paid weeks of vacation a year, has worn me down to an angry, moody, and sometimes sad person as a result of them no longer soliciting work in Ohio.

I have been home less than 48 days this year, and last year was just as bad. They make no effort to find us work locally any longer, and refuse to pay dash time nor milage for the thousands upon thousands of miles I put on my personal car each year. Last year alone I put nearly 24,000 uncomped miles on my car. I have nearly done that already this year. They want us to claim those miles on our income taxes. I have taken a beating on medical benefits reductions, and took a $5000 pay cut as a result of their reducing our daily per diem, and cutting our out-of -own per diem to a bare minimum to survive.

I can't take it any longer. And knowing that I will never find a job that pays as well as this one with that amount of vacation seems alright at this point if I can just be with my family more than 24 hours a week.

I haven't had to look for a job in nearly 11 years. This current position just kind of fell into my lap 5 years back by accident. Now I search....telecom is dead in Ohio. Therefore I am looking at other alternatives.

The problem is, the only resource I am familiar with is the local newspaper classifieds.

Now I ask you...the masses on this site full of information I am unaware of.
HOW EXACTLY DO FOLKS GET THE WORD OUT THESE DAYS?

Internet? Headhunters? Agencies?

What avenues could you folks suggest?

BTW: I am more than willing, and sure I will, take a pay cut to keep my sanity, my wife and son, my home, and oh yeah...the Marauder, just to get back to normal life and be home.

[SergntMac]

A Google search is one place to start, I used telecom employment and Ohio, and there are 607,000 replies to sift through. Start there?

Best wishes to you, Barry, I have some friends with SBC, I'll ask around.

[torinodan]

Barry, I'm in the same boat your in as far why to be upset with things. I had a post started about looking for jobs and someone left some good links. When I get to work I'll put some more up that I got from my transition assistance class and also a link or two for some head hunters if you want them.

[seans]

Check your State's web site. They usually have listings of state jobs as well as a way to search for jobs for people that are thinking about relocating to your state. Also do an online search for federal jobs. My brother found a good job with the Federal Dept of Highway Transportation that was only a couple of minutes from his house. Good Luck!!

[Cheeseheadbob]

I've also been in a "beat your head against the wall" type work environment. I'm not going to blow sunshine up your rear and say "hang in there" or "it will get better" I dreaded every morning going to work. I lost weight, was short tempered and moody. Ain't worth it. I tried Monster.com and had little if any reasonable responses. Mostly computer generated emails saying what a great future I would have with their company. Almost all wound up being situations where I would be an independent contractor of this company and responsible for all my own expenses... Networking with friends, current and past customers, anyone who you might think could help you get in touch with the decision makers at companies is the only way to get to the real jobs. Get your resume up to date and done professionally. Also get it in email form and on CD-ROM. Give a hand full to close business associates and friends. You never know when an opportunity will present itself. Please rest assured that I am no expert in this area, I'm just relating how I got a very low stress, very well compensated, and flexible job. The best jobs and/or executive jobs are rarely posted anywhere. Only senior execs and senior managers know that there will be an opening and when. Good Luck and Best Wishes!
Alot of you folks are aware of the magnificent situation I have gotten myself into with my employer.

What was once a very lucrative job locally that paid well enough to buy a home and two new cars plus medical/dental, and 5 paid weeks of vacation a year, has worn me down to an angry, moody, and sometimes sad person as a result of them no longer soliciting work in Ohio.

I have been home less than 48 days this year, and last year was just as bad. They make no effort to find us work locally any longer, and refuse to pay dash time nor milage for the thousands upon thousands of miles I put on my personal car each year. Last year alone I put nearly 24,000 uncomped miles on my car. I have nearly done that already this year. They want us to claim those miles on our income taxes. I have taken a beating on medical benefits reductions, and took a $5000 pay cut as a result of their reducing our daily per diem, and cutting our out-of -own per diem to a bare minimum to survive.

I can't take it any longer. And knowing that I will never find a job that pays as well as this one with that amount of vacation seems alright at this point if I can just be with my family more than 24 hours a week.

I haven't had to look for a job in nearly 11 years. This current position just kind of fell into my lap 5 years back by accident. Now I search....telecom is dead in Ohio. Therefore I am looking at other alternatives.

The problem is, the only resource I am familiar with is the local newspaper classifieds.

Now I ask you...the masses on this site full of information I am unaware of.
HOW EXACTLY DO FOLKS GET THE WORD OUT THESE DAYS?

Internet? Headhunters? Agencies?

What avenues could you folks suggest?

BTW: I am more than willing, and sure I will, take a pay cut to keep my sanity, my wife and son, my home, and oh yeah...the Marauder, just to get back to normal life and be home.

[SouLRioT]

Well, I cant say I've used them, but I've heard of HotJobs.com and with a search I got this for you: Results (http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/jobsearch/search_results.html?ulm_input1 =Cleveland%2C+ohio&country1=USA&search_type_form=quick&updated_since=sixtydays&basicsearch=0&advancedsearch=0&metro_area=1&industry1=TEL&search=Search)

[torinodan]

I've also been in a "beat your head against the wall" type work environment. I'm not going to blow sunshine up your rear and say "hang in there" or "it will get better" I dreaded every morning going to work. I lost weight, was short tempered and moody. Ain't worth it. I tried Monster.com and had little if any reasonable responses. Mostly computer generated emails saying what a great future I would have with their company. Almost all wound up being situations where I would be an independent contractor of this company and responsible for all my own expenses... Networking with friends, current and past customers, anyone who you might think could help you get in touch with the decision makers at companies is the only way to get to the real jobs. Get your resume up to date and done professionally. Also get it in email form and on CD-ROM. Give a hand full to close business associates and friends. You never know when an opportunity will present itself. Please rest assured that I am no expert in this area, I'm just relating how I got a very low stress, very well compensated, and flexible job. The best jobs and/or executive jobs are rarely posted anywhere. Only senior execs and senior managers know that there will be an opening and when. Good Luck and Best Wishes!All of what cheesehead said is correct. Do your networking with people you know and you have to get an updated resume.

[Mike Poore]

Our son, John went with a head hunter, and found several positions in a short time, although he had to relocate.

There's a huge homeland security project under construction at Fort Detrick, in Frederick, MD, and if you can hang on for a few months they'll soon be staffing the place. I'll warn you though, Frederick is getting to be an expensive place to live.

[juno]

Try Monster.com for the search and to post a resume.

[MikesMerc]

I've been involved with HR and the hiring routine at several different companies over the last few years, and we have placed quite few folks by posting ads on Monster.com. I wouldn't discount that resource too quickly.

Being willing to relocated is another idea to get used to. It may not be something you are willing to do, but you can expand your chances of finding a good job in a big way if you consider it.

Good Luck!

[jdando]

Ouch, sorry to hear the job is that much of a pain.

I have had my best luck getting a new job and finding people for my open positions via networking. Figure out precisely what you want to do and then start talking to people about it.

Keep us posted
jeremy

[Cheeseheadbob]

I tried floating my resume on monster.com and all I got was automated computer generated email responses from companies. All of my inquiries to the "interested" parties were for entry level positions. My information on the site specifically said I was looking for a senior management/executive position, so my experience with the site was not too positive. Just my .02. NETWORKING IS THE BEST WAY TO GET THE JOBS OTHER PEOPLE WISH THEY HAD!
Try Monster.com for the search and to post a resume.

[Cheeseheadbob]

Exactly. I met with a close friend and extremely successful business owner (mentor) and he told me that one must want to know what he or she really wants to do before heading out on a job search. You have to answer some critical questions like; what would be the perfect job for me, where would it be, what would my responsibilities be, do I want to lead or manage, do I want to be self-employed. Alot of stuff to think about. We probably will never have the "perfect" job, but unless you have a direction and goal, you will be constantly chasing and not getting the serenity and peace you need.
Ouch, sorry to hear the job is that much of a pain.

I have had my best luck getting a new job and finding people for my open positions via networking. Figure out precisely what you want to do and then start talking to people about it.

Keep us posted
jeremy

[CRUZTAKER]

THANKS GUY!!!!

I used that yahoo search link one of you provided and actually sent 3 resumes out.

That's a neat search engine. I was very surprised to find companies I knew of that actually were looking for my skill level.

And here I thought I was gonna end up driving an ice cream truck.:P Gage is bummin'!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

Most of these sites want you to PASTE your resume into a box in the web window. When I copy paste my resume out of WORD FOR WINDOWS...it's all messed up and misallighned.

What's the trick to making a resume that will cut and paste?

[LordVader]

Barry,

Know the headaches well associated with working in this field. I moved to Texas a little over 4 years ago to what I thought was my last move, but then last year had to move again on my dime for their benefit or lose my job. I can recommend Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, and telecomcareers.net. Hope these sites help. Keep us advised if we help further.

[MM03MOK]

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

Most of these sites want you to PASTE your resume into a box in the web window. When I copy paste my resume out of WORD FOR WINDOWS...it's all messed up and misallighned.

What's the trick to making a resume that will cut and paste?They probably just want plain text and don't care about the style (format, indent, etc.) of your resume. I went through this when I submitted my resume on my company's employment website (powered by Brassring).

May I suggest putting your resume into a simple text editor (Notepad or maybe Wordpad). Line spacing is about your only feature for plain text. Save it and then it's ready to copy and paste. It's the content they want to see. Use capital letters, for example for your job titles to make them stand out a bit. Not much else you can do. You'll have to see if bold and italic translate but format is probably your biggest issue.

[BruteForce]

What's the trick to making a resume that will cut and paste? (into a web page form)

In Word, go to File > Save As and select "Plain Text (*.txt)". Then open that file you just saved using Notepad and adjust it accordingly. Remember that things like TAB characters & bulleted lists don't work well in web forms. The simpler the better.

[dwasson]

The four resources I'm using the most are Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Dice.com, and HotJobs.com. But what do I know, I'm still looking for a job.

[CRUZTAKER]

In Word, go to File > Save As and select "Plain Text (*.txt)". Then open that file you just saved using Notepad and adjust it accordingly. Remember that things like TAB characters & bulleted lists don't work well in web forms. The simpler the better.
I thought I was missing something, but that is apparently the only way to do it.

Thanks man, I did as you said and now it's legible.

That will work man. Frugly as all get out, but it gets my point across.
I like the company sites that allow attachments....it's prettier that way.

Heck, all these sites you folks suggested is keeping me busier than this site did back in the first week....here we go again, 24/7 internet surfing. But this time momma won't beatch at me. :P

[MM03MOK]

In plain text form, they can add your resume to their database easily and can be searchable by term.

[torinodan]

If you do it electronicly be sure to use as many key words you can. Most resumes done electronicly are scaned for words that apply to jobs they have open. A short 20 min call and you will find most of those out by asking what they are looking for.;)

[Breadfan]

I dreaded every morning going to work. I lost weight, was short tempered and moody. Ain't worth it.
You're lucky! I GAINED weight!

So as to not just be a non-helper, I know in my line of work (computer stuff) you tend to meet people when you are on various projects. Always good to keep in contact with people. Do you know anyone who might know anyone? Sometimes contacts are the best way to get a foot in the door.

[jgc61sr2002]

Barry - Good luck with your job search.