No Second Chance

Name Withheld by Request

After a 28-year professional and rewarding career in the title insurance industry in San Francisco, I headed to the east coast to tend to elderly parents. Not having sought employment in many years (I was the one who was always approached by employers) I have been flabbergasted by many aspects of the job seeking and application process of today.

First of all, the amount of information required up front is outrageous. I have had to supply social security number, passport, driver’s license number, references, urine specimen, authorize credit check and background check, etc. etc., just to fill out an application, including for 6 and 7 dollar an hour jobs at grocery stores and nursing homes.

Not to mention all of the online submissions of my resume. All of this info provided not even an interview! If my identity is not stolen it will be a miracle. A staffing agency sent me to three interviews, one at a credit union and two at real estate information services firms. Thinking these would be right up my alley, I was shocked to be told I was “overqualified.”

I find myself in a down market in an economically depressed area (Pittsburgh) where there are very few middle management office jobs. I have discovered I am a dinosaur, and not sure what, exactly, to explore as a new career.

In the meantime, I cannot land entry level low paying jobs (I made more money babysitting in high school) because I am overqualified. I have to get my thinking cap in high gear and come up with a new profession pretty quick, just when I should be planning my retirement. News flash to job seekers: don’t move to Pittsburgh, Pa.

Comments

[barbsright]

Their should be a website, LeavePAorStarve.com!!!! My best advice for you is to find out where friends or family of yours work, and are happy (if anyone is these days), and apply there. It is all about the people you work with.

[fedup]

You're right - middle management jobs are far and few between. You're either overqualified or they already filled the position. And the low-level jobs are tough to come by.

Temp. agencies aren't much better. All the documentation just to do Data Entry?

I constantly monitor my credit statements/reports, but what about all the other information, i.e. personality tests, that the company gets, but you are not privy to?

Maybe we should all move to India?

[Justin K.]

It’s so sad, You spend your life building up a career and becoming a master at it when it turns out that the less experience person gets the job. If for no other reason then the fact that he/she can be paid less. Hmm…………

[jain]

You been out of town for ten years? Welcome to the real world.

[Maureen Rogers]

I have absolutely no experience in the title insurance industry, but have you contacted your former employer (and other networking contacts in your field) about any free-lance project opportunities they might have.Many jobs lend themselves to working remotely. Again, don't know about your profession,but freelance at something you like and are good at may be infinitely preferable to the lower end jobs you're overqualified for to begin with. Good luck!

[Chris]

I wish you the best of luck. I've never been to the East but judging by the number of Easterners hell bent on moving here (Colorado),it must be rough over there and I'm apparently not missing anything. Again, best of luck in your job search.

[dennis]

you should already know better than to look for work in Pittsburgh unless you are a doctor or a nurse

[dennis]

Oh, I forgot, maybe you can get a job as a change person at the new slots casino. Oh, never mind on that either, no change people, too expensive, the machines will provide all of the change.

[Cris]

It's not just Pittsburgh--Stay away from Florida-- it's one big plantation. Well, maybe Miami's an exception; haven't been there recently.It's a race to the bottom, as they say...

[Susan Berlowitz]

I can relate to your experiences. I am so sorry that you are having such a tough time. I am a casualty of the music business, which is in very bad shape, and I live in New York City. When I do get interviews, the words "over qualified" seeem to always pop up as the end result. For six years, I worked freelance, but that option dried up and now, for seven months, I have been frantically seeking work, and can't even seem to get hired as a cashier. Sadly, I know so many people across the country who are in the same boat. It isn't comforting, at all, to know that others are suffering.

[jeff]

I am looking for work as well- and I get those pre screen calls where the recruiter has no clue about the position and they expect good qualified answers about hypathical scenarios. How can someone expect you to nail the question about their workplace when you know nothing about the job or the workplace there?

If you look at it as a formula you would have;

X= right answer
Y= possible variables
Z= Question
W= other unknowns not know to you or the screener because they take the answers to the hiring manager.
C= canned answers found in books and internet

X= (Z)(Y/C)(W)

How could you possibly answer correctly?

example; "if you got the position, and there were some other people under you who were disgruntled about being passed over how would you handle the situation?"

correct answer; don't answer this, it is a trick. anything you say will be wrong because you don't know enough about the situation. or if you have to answer say "I would do nothing"

I am a director in a company and hiring like this is retarded. get to know the candidate first and tell them about the job and then lay into them about the past and what they did there- not what they can or cannot do for in a future situation.

[fedup]

Yes, Susan,

"Overqualified" is a term used frequently by hiring managers because

1) They don't want to pay you what you're worth,

2) They're afraid that you're smarter than they are and can see through their B.S.

Keep plugging away. We are all in the same boat! Good luck!

[Jacqueline S. Homan]

The unmentionable reason for what you are being unjustly subjected to can be summed up in a single word: CLASSISM. It is the elephant in the room everyone else pretends not to see. The credit score, among other things, is used to ensure that only those who are not financialy hurting get a chance for the few middle-class jobs that remain here in America. I have written a thought-provoking blog on this very same subject matter you addressed here. If you get a chance, read it:

http://classism-jacqueline-homan.blogspot.com/2007/10/classism-in-career-opportunities.html

On a final note, I live in Erie, PA which is about 100 miles north of Pittsburgh. I am also self employed as a property & casualty insurance agent. I resorted to self-employment after not getting a fair chance for geting a "regular" job, due in no small measure to classism in hiring practices and opening of doors to careers. I don't have it great but I am getting by.

There may be opportunity here for title work with all the recent real estate activity going on. The pay may not be glamorous, but Erie has the most affordable housing market in the entire state of PA. You can actually eke out a lower-middle class standard of living here on an income of $20,000/ year for a family of two - if you buy a decent existing home as opposed to a brand new one.

[Relaxant]

Carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant. It acts by blocking electrical communication among nerves in the reticular formation of the brain and in the spinal cord.

[John]

I am going through the same thing. I have been an executive manager (V.P. or above) in lending for over 11 years. With the collapse of banking and real estate I was handed my pink slip 3 months ago. I have sent over 60 resumes out to date, always over-qualified.

I did what I saw as my only option, I dumbed down my resume and qualifications. Maybe now I can at least get an interview. I never thought I would see the day when I had to lie in the negative, but that is the state of jobs in America today.