Dried up old fart

We claim to be the experts on recycling, we say " reduce, reuse, recycle", but we lack sorely when it comes to elderly people. I have been out of work for 15 months and I can almost count on both hands how many responses I have gotten out of close to 300 applications. I know in my heart that this is because of my age. Why is it in this world that we are not using the knowledge of those older. There was a time when the elderly were managing the younger and preening them for bigger jobs; now the younger are gleaning the older to make room for the newer. My message to these young managers is thus," I taught you when you were young, I showed you the ropes " and now you cast me out like I am yesterday's garbage. The time is coming shortly my young padawan learners when you are going to run into the problem from hell and there will not be any of the old timers left to help you. We will say, "sorry, it's happy hour and I am late for my Capt and Coke". We need to take a lesson from other countries and how to extract the knowledge that the older have. I always listened to my grandparents and I learned from them, because as we would say, " been there, done that". Now don't get me wrong, I have had younger managers that were good. I don't claim to be a good manager, but I am a good technician and have been repairing things for over 40 years. The smart person would take advantage of that and use my knowledge. Get smart world and realize that recycling just isn't material things,

Our Impersonal World

How impersonal can our world get? Think about this and all that has changed! It used to be when you drove into a gas station an attendant rushed out and started pumping your gas, cleaned your windshield, checked your oil, water and air and took your money (Note I said money, because you didn't pay with a gas card, because gas didn't cost an arm and a leg)with a smile on his face. Today you pump your own gas, in some states you pay for the air for your tires, clean your own windshield, check your own oil and if you don't pay at the pump you most likely pay a scowling attendant behind bulletproof glass (in some cases) that is just dying to tell you how much they hate their jobs. When you dial a professional office if you are lucky you get a human voice to talk to, otherwise you get a recording whose first response is dial 1 for English. Some of these automated answering systems get so complicated that by the time you get to where you were trying to get to you forgot what you wanted. Does the world really believe that this high tech garbage has lightened the load? Let's look at this in reality; most likely this aided the company in eliminating another position, but increased the load on another person whose task now is straightening out all that the automated system has messed up. Companies do not want employees anymore, they want virtual employees in the form of contractors. I thought that only computer systems were virtual in this world, but everything has become virtual. Virtual attendants, virtual receptionists, and now if you look on the job boards there are even virtual job fairs. What's next virtual relationships? You go to an online store and you order a contract for a wife and 2 kids for 20 years; at the end of twenty years you can either renew the contract or get a virtual divorce. Oh by the way the contracted wife must provide her own medical insurance for herself and children. I agree this is a bit far fetched, but think about it next time you hear about these crazy pre-nuptials. I pray that this world will get a grip soon and go back to a more personalized, friendly, value added place to live. Oh BTW, press 2 if you want this in another language.

Just a bunch of numbers

When did the world become so impersonal; when did we the people become just a bunch of numbers. Everything about the job search process is so impersonal it is pathetic. In days of old you would put together a resume on fine printed paper and mail it to a company; an actual person would open the letter and a staffing employee would read the resume for a possible fit. If you were not a fit for the position someone would write a nice letter thanking you for applying , but that your qualifications didn't match what the employer was looking for. You were informed that your resume would remain on file for a year and if another position came up fitting your qualifications you would contacted. Now enter the 21st century version! All applications are done online via some hiring application like "Taleo"; it takes you 20 minutes just to fill out all the information which in most cases is just a repeat of your resume, and oh BTW you still post your resume. An automated response comes back indicating that your application has been received and is in review; it says that you can track the process online and your resume will be filed for a year. Now let explore the real truth, The resume goes in and goes through a set of filters before it ever makes it to the hiring manager to see if you qualify. The staffing agent is looking for "THE PERFECT FIT", which BTW there is no such thing. The company never updates (at least very few) the website as to the status of the application. Your resume goes to the bottom of a 1000 other applicants and is forgot for ever and a day. You almost never received any confirmation that your application has been rejected so there is never any closure. When I do receive a confirmation I thank them whole-heartedly. I am assigned an applicant number, but it really doesn't me jack. The qualifications these days are so ridiculous that Albert Einstein couldn't get a job. A Master degree in computer science for a support engineer...."REALLY"!!! Let's stop being just numbers on a server somewhere and be human again.

Spam in a can

As all of the nation is quite aware the job situation is pathetic, to say the least. One of the things that I have read in the media recently are articles saying that the outlook for the young getting a job is poor. If this was the case why are there so many young managers? Maybe a certain age group; like fresh out of college is affected, but the old are affected as well, if not even more. The problem is not so much age ( although I wish I could prove it was ), the problem is the narrow focus of the companies presently. Companies are looking for what I term spam in a can; in other words they want to open it up and partake of the it without having to prepare it. Customers want you to to hit the floor running and are not willing to take experience into consideration that you could quickly learn the job. The other issue is location; Chicago for instance where I live does not have any IT high technology companies, so if you have a hardware storage background it is already strike 2 against you. Most of the positions in Chicago are for administrators and a great deal of them are contract positions. Nobody wants to hire full time any more; nobody wants to pay for insurance or other benefits. The high tech jobs seem to all be in every location except Chicago; Boulder, Arizona, Texas, Eden Prairie, MN, and of course Silicon Valley and Southern California, They even seem to be in the most obscure locations, like Nashua, NH! A third problem is the sometimes ridiculous qualifications and certifications that the customers require. Come on, a master degree in computer science, really!! Some of the certifications only require a 2 day class. I have heard tell that project managers with 20 years experience couldn't get a job because they didn't have a PMP certification. Since when did silly certifications outplace experience. The biggest issue is customer loyalty, this is something customers no longer have. Employees have become disposable and are just a number at the company. There is no personal attention anymore when applying for job, it is all done via the Internet on job application software that you submit along with a 1000 others. Some companies will acknowledge receipt, but a lot do not and it just goes to the bottom of a long list of applicants. America is in desperate need of going back to a friendly, loyal workplace; lets not end up just spam in a can.

Get a grip America!

Just this morning on the news it was reported that Sarah Palin's approval rating is down; 71% say she is not qualified to be president, Hogswallow! If you ask me she is a lot more qualified than that boob that is running the country now. Which one of his campaign promises has he fulfilled? We are still at a high jobless rate in America (he's real fast to blame other presidents) and yet he keeps penalizing the big corporations and giving our money away. It doesn't take rocket science to realize that when large corporations are fat they feed the smaller corporations that they outsource to. America is second to none when it comes to health care, but the insurance companies continue to rape us; but his health care plan will fix that. If you think government run health care is so great talk to Kitty Werthmann or better yet refernce http://www.resistnet.com/profiles/blogs/1938-austria-land-of-the and read about 1938 Austria. Has he been the mayor of a city (It doesn't matter how samll); has he been the governor of a state? So what exactly has our junior senator from Illinois done; passed a few bills? America stop be hornswoggled. I'll tell you what the real problem is; number 1 she is radical, they don't like her politics. Radical is what we need, not some polished bonehead that plays politics as usual. Number 2 she is woman, we still suffer from an age old prejudice that a woman isn't capable of doing what a man does. She couldn't possibly be the commander and chief of the armed forces. I have never seen anybody that can answer any question asked of her as quickly as she can. That is the ability you need to make command decisions. In the play "Defending the Caveman" the men are the hunters and the women the gatherers. We've had enough hunters, It's time for a gatherer. Women know how to scrimp and save a buck; women know how to care for the sick, women know how to negotiate arguments. Hell our own congress is anything but Bipartisan. Abraham Lincoln said it best " A house divided against itself cannot stand". For once we need to stop fighting with each other an work together as a whole and I think Sarah will bring us to that. I think it's time that America takes a long hard look at itself. Get a grip America.

What's up with that

It's been a while since I have ranted , but this one sort of bugged me. When I was at choir practice the other day we found that the song "Yahweh I know you are here" or something like that ; had to lose the word Yahweh and replace it with Oh Lord. Whats up with that? According to the director the Vatacan said that the term Yahweh offended the Jewish community so all songs with Yahweh in them must now have it removed. Does this now mean that the entire Old Testament has to be rewritten to remove any reference to Yahweh; which by the way is a proper name of God? I can't for the life of me think why using a proper name would be offensive. All I can think is What's up with that?

Sorry for the absense

I'm sorry I have not ranted for a while; which may be good, it may mean all is good. I promise I will soon update with some new rants.