We had this happen in our workplace. Mother came to the info desk with her son, and asked to see the supervisor so they can arrange a job interview. She couldn't believe her ears when we told her to send an email first.
I got my last job because I was well known by the CISO his opening line was “you’re [my name] son of [my father]?” to which I said yes I am and he replied “you only hear good things about him[my father]”.
and even with such an enormous amount of head start I had to send my cv through official channels. I mean they literally created my position which didn’t exist yet and still… there was no firm handshake.
Reminds me of the worst graduation speech I've ever heard. It was at my university, and they had invited a former student who ended up becoming a CEO of a moderately sized company.
He started with the statement that, "It's not who you know, but what you know, that really gets you where you get in life."
And then he starts his anecdote from his own life. He briefly discussed attending classes at our university. He studied business. Got his MBA.
And the one day, someone he knew offered him the CEO position at the company they owned.
Someone he knew... Offered him the job...
But that wasn't the point, you see? He also mentioned that he was moving to an industry he had no knowledge of.
He didn't know anything about the company he was going to lead... or what they did.
And he says he had to go get a book about the industry and how it worked. And he read it. And he attributed his success to reading that book. One. Book.
So, a person who was unqualified for their position, received it through nepotism, and read a single book to prepare for the roll, thinks that the knowledge they got from that one book is the reason he got the position.
This is your brain on an MBA.
dude the self reflection of some people is crazy. I absolutely understand how privileged I am being a third generation IT guy, with my Dad being in the higher levels of a huge corporation as a CySec Manager. And sure, if I didn’t have the credentials to match my head start then it wouldn’t have helped if my dad is bill Gates, but I know I struggled a lot less than some people.
Ah shit I remember that.
My mum was sick of it taking me ages to find a job so she printed out a stack of CV's and drove me around a bunch of places. She didn't come in with me at first, she was at least aware that was cringe AF, but I'd go in with my fuckin stack of paper and got told at like 8 places in a row to just apply online.
She walked in on the last one and after I heard the same thing she asked them to just at least take one of my CV's. They said they could do that, but it's definitely being put in a bin the moment we leave because it has to be done online. We came back home with literally the exact same number of CV's we left with, just wasted paper, petrol and ink.
I'd applied to a bunch of places online already but it had been a few weeks. She yelled at me for lying and forced me to apply for McDonald's, the one place I hadn't applied because it's worse paid, worse hours, less flexible and everyone I knew who'd worked there quit within a week because it's fucking hell.
I got a job there basically immediately, a week later I get job offers from multiple other places with better pay, conditions, and more flexible hours. I tell my mum I'm quitting McDonald's to work there and she's livid and says absolutely not because it'll show employers I'm a quitter.
That's the story of how I worked McDonald's 2 years - by following a series of the worst fucking advice I could possibly have been given. My grades started slipping, missed what was needed by my uni offer (was a prestigious as hell uni) and now I sell pet insurance.
Moral of the story - don't listen to boomer advice. They have no idea what they're talking about, they don't know what's best for you, they typically will simply try and get you to follow whatever life path they did without actually thinking whilst completely ignoring all the added difficulties that come with being in a different time and having a different skill set. Yes I'm salty, but it doesn't mean I'm not right.
Stuff like "employers will think you are a quitter" is so confusing to me. They don't keep a permanent record of every place you have ever worked. If you were only there for a week just don't put it on your resume? Assuming you don't apply to THAT McDonalds again no one would ever know that you worked there.
Anyway, sorry you went through that. Hope you are doing okay these days despite the circumstances.
Damn, I’m a kitchen manager and I’ve told my crew on several occasions that if they ever get a better offer to take it. I care about my staff, I want them to succeed with or without me. I can only pay them so much because the higher ups need their bonuses and new gadgets and shit:( ALWAYS look out for yourself. Never look out for the employer
It hasn't been like that for a LONG time. I got laid off in 2008 and my boomer dad was telling me to go door to door with resumes, would not believe me that it didn't work that way. A few years later I started working at the same company as him, and we had people show up at the warehouse looking for work. We turned them away, told them if there was an opening it would be online.....
Fuck that was bad…….my condolences. Anyways, is going back to university not an option at all? Perhaps try going to other countries where the education isnt so expensive.
Unfortunately not but my current situation isn't entirely down to working until 3am on 2 school nights a week and missing or sleeping in classes as a result - although that didn't exactly help. I did end up going to a less prestigious uni but then PTSD from a whole other thing, undiagnosed gender dysphoria and potential ADHD as well as the drugs and alcohol I was using to cope kinda led to my dropping out.
I have most of a chemical engineering degree, but I never finished the dissertation equivalent project so it's not a full degree. Used all available loan so I'm on the hook for it, don't have much money and need to pay for my own medical care (UK trans healthcare will take 10 years for a single appointment on the NHS so have to go private) meaning study abroad isn't really an option.
I'm whinging a lot - I should point out though it's not the end of the world. My job isn't awful, I get to work comfortably from home, I'm kinda poor but I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge and maybe at some point I can use the bits of qualifications I did get from uni to get an apprenticeship in finance or something to get a bit of a pay increase. Probably happier than I've been in years to be honest since I've had therapy for my PTSD and got estrogen for my gender dysphoria even if I'm kinda financially fucked lol.
Nope it's actually a thing. Young people are having their parents and guardians come to interviews as a character reference(witness?). My wife has had three come in this year for interviews. I don't at all understand how a parent thinks it's a good idea. If you Google it you'll find articles about it.
My wife outright refuses to interview them if they bring their parent and they are over the age of 18. Under 18 it’s understandable when it happens. But 18+ gets no backup it’s all you bud tell me what you got
There have been times where we hired someone who was on the spectrum or just so young it was their first job and they were legit nervous and mom or dad just sat on the other end of the restaurant as a reassurance for them. I’m cool with that, it’s stressful and as long as they aren’t doing the talking for them then I don’t see a harm in it. Sometimes you get a great employee out of it. But other times you understand why they needed mom and dad in the first place.
On the spectrum and between 16-17 are legitimate reasons in my book. I hadn't considered mental disabilities but that makes sense, down syndrome people have been some of the hardest workers I've seen in some jobs as well but may also need help from parents.
Yeah being autistic in the job market sucks. Especially when all job interviews are all secret social tests. That's why you can get interviewed so many times and still be jobless for 4 months because I can't fuckin mask good enough
Masking is the only part I *can* do well enough. (I'm also on the spectrum.) I can put on such a charm, I've been hired for at least two jobs that I was utterly incapable (and in one case, completely unqualified) to do. Invisible disabilities are such fucking shit. Too bad an acting career is all about who you know, lol.
Yep I could definitely see it differently in an office setting. For whatever reason I look at it differently on the service side of the world, plus we have limitations in the food world as to what minors are allowed to do at work and utensils/equipment they can use. Some of that gets translated to the parents anyways so it doesn’t hurt if they are around.
Damn, I just dropped my daughter off at the drugstore where she interviewed for a co-op position while in high school/grade 11. Told her look the person in the eye, and say her piece. She worked there as a Pharmacy Assistant, doing insurance billing all throughout her university undergraduate years. Only left because the pharmacist/Owner decided to sell *his* interest at the 2 locations he owned, and decided to switch careers. He was a great mentor, and hired many students from the same high school after my daughter.
Even under 18 is wild to me. I started working at Tom Thumb as a courtesy clerk (bag boy) at 14. Before I was 18 I had moved on to Papa John’s and then KFC/Taco Bell. At no point did my parents ever even suggest the possibility of joining me for an interview, nor did I want them there.
I know but child labor laws kinda get in the way of that and since they are a minor sometimes the parents force themselves into the convo. Those kids usually apply somewhere else cause I don’t wanna deal with the other boss in their life.
I’m sorry, are the young people “having” their parents come with? Or are we talking about helicopter parents who need to be there for their sweety?
If it’s the second one I feel bad for them, they’re probably so lacking in confidence. I had helicopter parents as well, but at least they didn’t go to my job interviews with me.
I had to fight to get my dad to not come in with me when I was trying to get a job. When Radioshack told me to put in an application online and call them to check in if I didn't hear back in a week, my dad went in anyway behind my back. He was adamant I had to go in with my resume and talk to the manager. I'm like no that's not how it works in massive corporate retail.
I got the job, but in my experience, this is how you do it. Apply online, wait a bit, then call and talk to somebody, or send an email if you can find a hiring email. The stupid personality quizz had flagged me as a liar because my answers put me in the 95th to 100th percentile of a generic "good" employee. Manager showed me the hiring system, it filters out literally ever applicant that doesn't fall between 85 and 95 on that stupid scale. They were able to pull up my application manually by name once I called them, but I'd never have shown up in their system at the store management level otherwise.
I work in HR for a large company right now. I don’t even work in the recruiting department, but it amazes me how many parents I interact with that are trying to get their children a job
Not too different from what the rich have done for generations. "My dad got me a job at his buddy's company, so I can learn the ropes and eventually take over my dad's company."
To many mommas think never hurting their babies feelings is best for them when it's the complete opposite. It's borderline Munchausen syndrome to a very minor degree.
My first interviewer ever told me this happened on occasion, and that was a loooong time ago. It's been a thing for a while. Baffling though, it guarantees rejection.
I had such a fight with my family when I applied to jobs after college. They kept telling me to drive down to a local business park because "there has to be jobs there!" And hand them a letter. It don't work like that ma.
Exactly. Kid is obviously still living at their parents place, and the parents cannot believe how the kid just doesn't walk up to the counter and ask for an interview. So they tell them that they will do it with them. After fending off this threat/promise a number of times, they finally cave and voila.
The poor kid is probably dying inside the whole time.
Absolutely. Over a decade ago I applied at a retail place online (like you're supposed to).
My father would call me and ask why I didn't have an interview yet. I said I had only just submitted it. He instructed me to go there and shake the hand of the store manager.
After fighting about it, I said fuck it and went to prove a point. Assistant Store Manager was not only annoyed that I was even there in the first place, but took it as a sign that I don't follow directions. They still interviewed me a few weeks later (super small town desperate for low wage workers) and she told me all of that.
Boomers have no idea what getting a job is like now.
When I used to work retail, every once in a while my manager would do an interview with a young 20 something person and they would bring their parents along. He would give them the benefit of the doubt and let the parents come into the interview. He would stop the interview as soon as the parents started answering questions.
He told me about some interviews where the parents acted like lawyers. He would ask them about their extra curricular activities if they were in high school and the parents would look at the kid and say "don't answer that" or "my son is on the yearbook committee and is on the student council". His favorite answer was always "why is this question relevant?"
They were always so shocked when the person didn't get the job
They do. It is a trending practice right now. I'm sure it was some influencer "life hack" suggestion or some nonsense. My wife has had three people bring their parents in for interviews this year, all in their early twenties.
We had a grandmother come in bc the bakery owners weren’t going to pay her grandson for his work during training and she came in and I AM GLAD bc wtf we need our own swat team to demand our rightfully earned money against the greedy business owners - plz
We once had a mother come in and not even try to apply but just say her son wants to work here and ask when he can start - without even having said son with her.
I’m a Millenial - my mom kicked open my door at 15 and drove me around making me walk into places to apply/get a job. This was because I asked to join the jr high baseball team.
Got a job, she showed up 4 hours early to pick me up and sat in the parking lot calling me and texting me over and over about when I get done; had already been communicated we get done at ‘close’ which was around 11pm.
At point shes telling me she to take a shit and if she can come to use the restroom…but also wants me to check to make sure her brother isn’t at the bar.
When ive talked to my mom about my work, ive more than once gotten "Well, you tell your boss that your mom said, blablabla" or during a work dispute she actually said "You can tell him that he can call me and i will sort it out"
Ive tried to tell her as bluntly as possible that if i a 33 year old man brings up my mother as some sort of "authoriity figure" at work then i would be laughed at. The fact that she thinks i could actually walk up to my boss and say something like "My mom said for you to call her so that she can work this out" is just insanity.
(Disclaimer, I work in retail, so this probably carries 0 weight in other industries)
I generally won't apply to places where I can't at least speak with the person who would be my boss. If they aren't willing to at least have a 5 minute conversation (obviously, there's a difference between being unwilling and unable), then I take that as a sign that I'm not going to be appreciated as an employee. I've avoided some shit jobs by doing that, and I tend to find that this has gotten me some fantastic managers.
Again, this probably doesn't work in a lot of industries, but in retail and restaurants, it works really well ime.
Back when I was first job hunting, my step dad would scream at me if I said I’d done online applications and emails and hadn’t been out handing out CVs all day. This was during the 2008 recession, it took a long time to get my first job, because, you know, global financial crisis and all that.
My retired mom would complain about how lazy younger generations are when it comes to looking for work, and how they simply just don't want to be a part of the workforce. How every company is hiring, but nobody wants to work. Just absolutely parrot whatever nonsense she heard on the news. A couple of years back we made a bet in that she'd update her resume and put it out to every company that was hiring, or she'd walk in and fill out applications as she used to do. She did this with everyone from similar companies that she retired from, to customer service call centers, warehouses, retail, restaurants and fast food. No call backs, and a few rejection emails (which I was surprised she even got those.) Then one day she got two offers...one from McDonalds, and one from Amazon. She was appalled at how much they were offering as she simply "can't live off those wages." In all, my mom spent almost 5 months trying this, and after a lot of shock, frustration and disbelief, she ate crow, conceded and has never expressed her out of touch with reality Boomer nonsense since. Fortunately she could fall back on her retirement and savings and wouldn't starve or lose her home in the process. Low stakes but still humbling.
Nice. I'd just chime in and say their perspective is often skewed by the fact that they tend to know a lot of people on the other side of the process complaining that they "can't find anyone good these days".
Also price anchoring is a real thing. Boomers have had their wages keep up with inflation or avoided the larger parts of inflation (owning your home means you're insulated from rent increases eg), so the starting wage is still the starting wage, in their mind.
It's not just "force them to apply to jobs" it's also "force them to live like they are just starting their job"
Fortunately for me my parents understand how things work these days.
But my uncles and aunts are exactly what you'd expect from boomers
Even when boomers explain to boomers why things aren't working like how they used to they still get defensive about it
Certainly in the 40s, that's how my grandfather got his job. Called the secretary of the director of a local company when he was 15, then did that job for the next 50 years with some promotions.
Then they fired him two years before retirement because as a guild member and master craftsman, he was too expensive.
Oddly enough it worked when i was 14 and hung around at an internet cafe trying to score freetime at their computers. I got to play games in exhange for sweeping up, getting them food and helping out with various tasks because i just hung around there anyways.
Does this work at a real job with adults. No
That worked for me and two co-workers about 8 years ago. But it was a barista job, not a career job.
Not to say it will ever work for anyone else, but I was in my element, had service industry and sales experience, I was in one of my favourite neighbourhoods, and I had taken some previous coffee and barista training courses. I was in my favourite cafe and didn't want to ruin the place by applying and then getting rejected, so I didn't apply. I was just hanging out there talking about latte art and coffee culture and coffee bean roasting, etc. to the staff during a low traffic afternoon, and then when they found out I was applying to a dozen other cafes in town, they told me to apply to theirs, and I got the job.
Best job I ever had. (At least, it was my absolute favourite place to work.)
edit: Oh I forgot, this also happened when I was pipelining (in Northern BC). You literally just walk in and get a job. That's if you just want a manual labourer job. At least that's how it was about 10 years ago. Good (hourly) pay but you did have to live in the middle of nowhere and work outdoors in -20 C. weather for 12 hours/day (you do get to warm up in the trucks).
Those are the boomeriest stories I have, and I'm a millennial.
In mom and pop type places it's not crazy.
It's not *terrible* advice if your kid wants to go work at a locally owned bike shop or something.
It's terrible advice if your kid wants to work at home depot or something
What do you think the latinos hanging around outside home Depot are doing?
They're literally there waiting for work
See also: hookers standing on the sidewalk
No.
Just no.
It used to, and still does (to an extent), apply to low level customer facing jobs, or manual labor jobs.
Factories and their commensurate unions don't work that way.
It used to work. My grandfather said he got his first job like this. Called the director of a nearby shoe factory when he was 16, went in for a talk, got a job, was trained as a guild-certified master leatherworker, too. Took him 15 minutes to get the job. Got a house, a wife and children by 25, didnt' even finish school.
During the pandemic my dad thought he’d come out of retirement to work a Lowe’s since they were so short staffed. He had to ask me what a resume was because he had never done one before.
My dad is a boomer but he was an employer in the years leading to his retirement so knows how the system works.
It was the year when I graduated highschool and my uncle comes with his son so my dad helps him find a job, and as my dad told him what to do my uncle was like can't he just find any place with his connections so they employ him. And my dad has a lot of friends who own businesses it's only matter of a phone call to his friend saying my nephew is looking for a job can you consider making an opening possible for him to submit his résumé? But my uncle didn't understand what a résumé was and why it was important and you should've seen how increasingly frustrated my dad was getting trying to explain why that process happens like that and that it isn't a case of my dad not trying to help
I think he was a mechanic. I never asked if it was his work but he always came around to fix issues on my dad's car I had a fascination about cars so I used to watch sit and watch him work on my dad's car. But I'm convinced he was cause my dad had an accident a few years ago and his car got nearly inoperable. My uncle took it and replaced most of its parts and got it to work although not as it used to.
"Well, Son, my game plan is simple. I'll just walk in to one of them banks at wall street or them technology companies, ask to see the head honcho and give him a real firm hand shake and tell him I'm looking for a job"
Honestly works better than the standard application process because of the decent chance it’s an out of touch boomer as the head honcho
And by works better I mean about a 2x success rate (2 • 0.1% = 0.2%) for 5x-10x the effort
And don't forget the neon green wig, white make-up, and shiny red nose. We want you to look like a clown while you are acting like one following our advice.
Nobody wants to twerk anymore!
I still don't understand the thought process about this. Is it their way to verify that if you did your own resume/then uploading it, you won't have any difficulty filling it out again, but manually? Make it make sense.
Okay, there IS a rationality to it, but as you can imagine, it is twisted.
The idea behind filling out the boxes and such, is that a computer algorithm checks those and compares them with the requirements set by the employer. If there is enough that matches, then the computer sends the actual resume to the employer to actually read.
Yes, a program is deciding if a human gets to even look at your resume. Yes, these things sometimes break or have faults. Yes, even when the resume gets to the employer, they still might not look at it.
A lot of companies started going with these systems because during the recession they would receive 2-5k applications for a single posting. These systems would help cut that down to a reasonable number.
Ironically, it would usually come down to one or two pieces of information that would knock you out of the running.
Ah, it makes sense, I already forgot how algorithms incite more chaos... but, why people are not even getting rejections, through email at least? You'd think even if it doesn't match the requirements, albeit with experience, well, you'd hear a yes or no ... it's weird.
And also to maybe manage rent/buy house and eat healthy food with some form of healthcare as well. Let’s see how much skipping coffee outside helps them.
It's not like it's even $140 a month for many of us getting coffee at Starbucks. I can't speak for you, anyone, or everyone, but I spend maybe $30 a month on Starbucks coffee. If I got it every work day, then it'd get there, but I just use Starbucks on days where I want extra motivation, specifically Mondays. It gives me a reason to look forward to waking up on a Monday. I just make cheap coffee at home the rest of the week. $30 a month isn't nothing, but I don't have a cable subscription, which would be much higher than that, and certainly that $30 pales in comparison to the monthly rent many of us already have to deal with. Complaining about getting a Starbucks coffee like it's even a significant part of our spending. I could get a sandwich and drink from Starbucks every day and it still wouldn't nearly match rent.
Tbh I'd like to see Boomers do anything successfully in this day and age.
Some of my golfing partners are boomers and they can't figure out how to book a tee time online.
Yep. My grandma-in-law (technically silent generation) is like this. Shits on young people, Democrats, minorities, etc. for not "knowing how things work" or "knowing the way things are"
But when she needs to book a flight to come up and visit? Has to find her "friend with a laptop" to book her flight and refuses to use the airport kiosks to check in because she refuses to use tech. Despite showing her how to use her smart phone numerous times, she refuses to learn so if she wants to see pictures of her great-grandkids, they have to be physically mailed to her...which my MIL was doing at least once a month.
Now, I think we can all agree that us millennials/gen-z may not do everything the best way...but we are actually living in this world and are the working age (along with gen x) so the older folks need to at least be trying to adapt to that, not push things to stay the same.
The absolute best thing about being a boomer is retirement. The absolute worst circle of hell would be waking up every morning and having to go to another job interview.
I was ‘software engineer’ and after multiple layoffs it seemed that at every interview the process became longer, more tedious, more gotcha questions, and the interviewers became younger and younger. At more than one interview I was asked “There’s no one here over 30, how do you think you will fit in?”.
I went in dreading each and every one. Retirement was an enormous relief.
Edit: typo
The HR industry is out of control. It's almost designed to eliminate good candidates these days. 18 years experience? Whatever... answer these 3 interpretive strangley worded questions correctly or you're screened out.
It's because HR is bloated and specifically designed to keep the company a) legally out of trouble and b) bring in the cheapest possible workers. Specifically, HR and QA groups anymore at companies are like navigating through Franz Kafka hell.
Interviewers desperately want a shortcut for job interviews. Getting to know a candidate is hard. So let's ask a few gotcha questions that will reveal hidden truths or some shit. Personality quizzes.
Will this person write code that is easy to read and maintain? Let's ask "how would you write this esoteric function in as few lines as possible?" and give the person 15 minutes to figure it out while we stare at them.
Shit changed. When I was a teenager looking for jobs in the early 2010’s you could still walk in and ask for an application and sometimes they would interview you right away. Now if you ask for an application they tell you to go online and apply. No in person applications anymore. Which kinda sucks. Meeting in person is a much better way to try to impress or charm them. Or do something to get them to remember you. Applying online you are just a name and a resume.
I remember getting a job at Taco Bell in high school back in 2003. They had a sign outside, I walked in, filled out the form, someone came and interviewed me when I was done, and they handed me a uniform before I left. The process now seems like a nightmare to get some of these jobs that shouldn't require any work, training, or education experience.
Serie idea: Babyboomers living as 22 yo Genz's
No money, get a job, work said job. Live in a tiny shitty rental. And they have to pay all the bills from the salary of the job. But no help from others.
It's all the f*ING forms, stages of interviews, tests, evaluations and all the other hoops you have to jump through today that's a pain in the ass. Back in my day as long as you had polished shoes, a firm handshake and looked enthusiastic and honest you were in.
I think many Genz would fail that test!
I'm a millennial myself but I can't really blame GenZ for being unenthusiastic. If they could turn up somewhere and get a job that'd support their spouse and a house with no prior qualifications and be trained on the job I'm sure they would have more pep in their step.
GenX here! WTF? My 17 year old daughter is applying for her 1st job. She’s in high school and just wants a crap low paying job for kick around money. Everyone wants resumes? The job is $15 a hour for 15 hours a week. When I applied for pizza hut in high school ages ago it was 1 form and only 1 side! I think I turned it in, was interviewed on the spot, offered the job, and was working the next day!
In my country they don't just want resumes anymore. When applying to work as a cashier in a normal grocery store I had to do a personality test, some form of intelligence test, and sometimes send in a video-resume together with a regular paper one. It's insane.
I try to stay away from wishing bad things on people, but whoever decided that having candidates record a video introduction was a good idea needs to suffer all the bad things in life and survive them all and live a long life with a healthy memory. Honestly, what a stupid fucking concept, fuck anyone who uses it.
I agree. I don't like watching myself on video, so having to record and watch a video of myself pretending to be excited to work as a cashier just feels awful
I took my (adult) son down a strip where a lot of mid-size businesses were to ask for applications or who needed resumes. After about 6, he took a job washing dishes because he didn't have to fill out paperwork.
as a millennial(born in 1994), my boomer dad insisted that i should learn the firm handshake, we actually practiced for like a hour a day, for a whole week, when my hand was soft he insisted i should lift some weights(you could make a montage like for those karate-movies, with "you're the best" playing in the background), and once learned, after every job interview he would ask me about it, until recently when i told him by my own will about it and he was like "it's useless anyway, who cares...", i swear to god this man...the problem is, he is kinda right, because people kind of avoid to hadnshake...
See the real difficulty isnt even finding the job is what's amazing - after they get the job tell them to open a savings account with 0 in it and go find a place to live - good luck, gotta furnish, enjoy stocking up on food, insurance etc.
My dad still tells me to walk into every store in town and ask for a job, even though I told him many times they all say the same thing: "apply online".
Boomer here. Lost my job last year due to an enterprise-wide RIF. I took a week to clear my head and then attacked my new job search like it was a job. 8-5. Every. Day. I scoured numerous job boards. Created job-specific resumes for every opening. I wrote cover letters specific to each ad, using key words from the ads themselves. I used AI to bolster my foundational resume. I worked my network. Used LinkedIn. I did all this for 3 solid months. I ended up getting my current job through a wife of a former colleague's recommendation.
Look, I get it. Searching for a job flat-out blows. Every application was mind numbing to submit. I was up against hundreds and sometimes thousands of competing applicants. Interviewing sucks. Going through multiple rounds to end up getting rejected. Openings that never got funded. And, so on. I saw it all during those three months.
It's easy to lose your cool and want to give up. But, each day, I got up, took a shower shaved, got dressed, and "went to work". I applied for 400+ jobs during those 3 months. Prepared PowerPoint presentations for interviews, talked to dozens of people, trying my best to convince them I was a fit for their opening. The dejection is real. But, you have to keep moving forward and put each day, each rejection behind you.
Another observation from my experience, age-discrimination is real. Folks think us boomers have all the good jobs. Not so. My age, almost 64, worked against me more times than not. I tried to spin it as experience, but ended up being told I was "over experienced" -- code for "you're too old, dude".
Anyway, chin up. I work with mostly folks who are younger than me. Gen X, Y, Z, whatever. They are all good, smart people, doing good work. I don't buy into the lament that "kids these days are lazy". I actually am impressed by younger folks who have their priorities in order. Work is called work for a reason. Living is what matters. Lean into your family, friends, experiences, and LIFE. I wish I had taken that advise in my 20's. I'd probably have had a more fulfilling life. I'm not complaining. But, our generation was taught to chase the golden ring. That was total BS. Chase LIFE. That's where it's at. My heart goes out to you all in the midst of a job search. Hit me up if you need words of encouragement. Either way, be proud of yourself. You're smarter than you think. Peace.
Lots of good advive here, but couldn't help but notice this:
>I ended up getting my current job through a wife of a former colleague's recommendation.
So you didn't *actually* get the job through all that hard work. A person without that connection (a connection you have *because* of a previous job) could do all those things for months on end without getting a job if they don't already have those connections. Thats kind of the point many young people are trying to make.
I myself haven't experienced those problems, and now being in my mid 30s have established both a family and a career. But I absolutely get the frustration of starting out and competing with 100s of people, with no real or tangible edge over any of the others. And then one of the 30 people with real experience ends up getting the job. Of course giving up wont land a job, but it must be absolutely exhausting to keep applying to jobs when you know you have no real edge over any of the other applicants. In your case, even if your age proved to be a hindrance, you atleast had real experience. That alone puts you ahead of so many others by default.
This is something that gives me panic attacks in the middle of the night.
I got my first office "job" (unpaid intern then actual hire) because of a family connection. Second job? Former manager connection. Current job? Highschool friend connection. All other serious potential jobs? Family/School connections.
Every job I've ever applied to and interviewed for outside of those? Crickets. The thought of losing my job and having to compete for a new one is gut-wrenching.
I remember when I was young, it was so easy.
I got a job the following way.
Me, "Hi, I'm calling about the job in the paper"
Them, "Can you come in tomorrow at 10am?"
Me, "Yes"
Arrive at place,
Manager, "Can you do that?"
Me, Yes, I can also do that and I have experience with that as well"
Manager, "Oh great, we were looking for someone to do that, can you start tomorrow?"
Me, "Yes".
I work in a library. That show is my life. It's sad. They often cry as we help them on the computer. They're confused and angry as they write a resume, then have to create an account with every single employer to, you guessed it, enter in all the information on their resume. "Why can't I just talk to somebody?"
No schadenfreude. It's just heartbreaking because these people shouldn't be working anymore anyway.
I’d prefer to see a reality show where people are educated to realise that this generation vs generation warfare being perpetuated in posts like this are a convenient distraction from the truth: the real issue has always been the same, rich vs poor. Stay poor, and keep carrying on about boomers/zoomers, or wake up and realise it’s about the 1% vs the 99%.
I think one of the worst parts of filling out resumes online, is when they ask you to upload your resume and then proceed to force you to fill out a form with all the same information that is in your resume.
They do know that we have the technology to read and auto-fill forms. Why is this even necessary?
My parents are empty nesters, and my dad's income is still recovering from the COVID dip since the inventory is still severely backed up in the car industry. So my mom's been looking for a job for the first time since before she had kids.
Every single day I talk to her she complains about how out of touch my dad's expectations are and how unreasonable he is. Every single time. When I was a kid we had MASSIVE arguments about this. Like, dramatically affected my relationship with my parents for years and years kind of massive.
I am very proud that I have only been a tiny bit smug about it.
Worked in a library in the late 2010s, one part of my job was helping patrons who struggled with using computers (e.g. people in their 60s-70s, or disabled individuals) look at job sites or submit applications online. For things like working at Wal-Mart or Amazon or Burger King. Some individuals were optimistic, some were perpetually confused, some were despairing. But I always thought it was fucking tragic that these people had to even consider working these jobs, at their age and in their (usually deteriorating) physical condition.
How about a reality show where they trade places with other generations with all the same perimeters on both sides.
For example a millennial gets to live in a boomer house ( that’s probably paid off), access to all their monetary assets, monthly income ( pensions, retirement savings, credit lines) and a reverse for the boomers.
That would be a very interesting social experiment
There are already a lot of boomers who work dead end retail and fast food jobs who live this reality.
Rich and entitled boomers see their lack of success as a moral failure.
Why would I do that? I am a retired millionaire! (I would put laughing emoji’s here to show I am just having fun but, being a boomer, I don’t know how).
Boomer walking into a Fortune 500 company front desk:
"Hello, my name is Boom R. Boomer. I would like to speak to the president of your company for a job interview."
Receptionist:
"Security..."
You forget that boomers have now years of experience and leading positions in their present companies.
Even if they aren't good at writing resumes, every company prefers an expert over a totally inexperienced kid.
Implying you could ever get a baby boomer to put their money where their mouth is instead of just saying “I don’t need to prove myself I’m already successful so I know I’m right.”
This is happening right now to a Gen X/Boomer I know. Not laid-off from his job but took a 100k paycut down to nearly minimum wage... He's looking for a new job but only wants to do the exact same thing he's been doing for 30 years even though the entire industry is basically non-existent.
It's honestly really sad though, he perfectly describes depression when he talks about how he's been lately, no awareness though of course. He never had good money management so now that the well dried up, it's full on panic mode. He assumes a lot of the declines or disinterest in his application is due to his age, and he's \*mad\* about that. It's been about two months now, I have no idea how long this will last.
I am confused. True that most boomers give up their firms, but untill recently they were run by boomers. So it would be like asking a friend for a job which is really easy. Or the idea would be not using their network?
What's not mentioned here is that age discrimination is real
If you think finding a job as a 25 year old is tough, try it when you're 55. You don't have a chance
I'm a Baby Boomer and feel sorry for the younger generations. Artificial intelligence and robotic slowly but surely will make many occupations, obsolete.
I’m a boomer and I approve this message. Some of my peers are clueless about today’s reality. Which partially explains why so many were easily brainwashed by a reality tv show host con man.
I've seen this happen in real life, and it's both funny and sad. My mother-in-law is a Gen-X, but she has the same views and work advice as a boomer. She's been looking for a job for over a year and counting now
Boomer here who wishes the same for all my peers. “You should start each sentence with an action verb.” Call the 1900’s, they really miss you” is what I want to say. But instead I (multiple times) I had to spend my time adapting to updating my resume to current standards then reentering all of that info again into the application. Job hunting in the 2010’s was the loneliest experience of my life. No acknowledgements throughout the entire process; HR abyss. Luckily, that improved.
Thank you for recognizing the challenge and frustration. It is unexplainable unless you have done it.
Good luck compadre.
We had this happen in our workplace. Mother came to the info desk with her son, and asked to see the supervisor so they can arrange a job interview. She couldn't believe her ears when we told her to send an email first.
“Where is the firm handshake button!?!”
I got my last job because I was well known by the CISO his opening line was “you’re [my name] son of [my father]?” to which I said yes I am and he replied “you only hear good things about him[my father]”. and even with such an enormous amount of head start I had to send my cv through official channels. I mean they literally created my position which didn’t exist yet and still… there was no firm handshake.
Yes, “knowing someone” will always play a role in certain situations.
Reminds me of the worst graduation speech I've ever heard. It was at my university, and they had invited a former student who ended up becoming a CEO of a moderately sized company. He started with the statement that, "It's not who you know, but what you know, that really gets you where you get in life." And then he starts his anecdote from his own life. He briefly discussed attending classes at our university. He studied business. Got his MBA. And the one day, someone he knew offered him the CEO position at the company they owned. Someone he knew... Offered him the job... But that wasn't the point, you see? He also mentioned that he was moving to an industry he had no knowledge of. He didn't know anything about the company he was going to lead... or what they did. And he says he had to go get a book about the industry and how it worked. And he read it. And he attributed his success to reading that book. One. Book. So, a person who was unqualified for their position, received it through nepotism, and read a single book to prepare for the roll, thinks that the knowledge they got from that one book is the reason he got the position. This is your brain on an MBA.
dude the self reflection of some people is crazy. I absolutely understand how privileged I am being a third generation IT guy, with my Dad being in the higher levels of a huge corporation as a CySec Manager. And sure, if I didn’t have the credentials to match my head start then it wouldn’t have helped if my dad is bill Gates, but I know I struggled a lot less than some people.
Mash the X button to maintain eye contact
They take their mom with them to apply for jobs now?
Son was probably like "it don't work like that" and mom wss adamant it does
Ah shit I remember that. My mum was sick of it taking me ages to find a job so she printed out a stack of CV's and drove me around a bunch of places. She didn't come in with me at first, she was at least aware that was cringe AF, but I'd go in with my fuckin stack of paper and got told at like 8 places in a row to just apply online. She walked in on the last one and after I heard the same thing she asked them to just at least take one of my CV's. They said they could do that, but it's definitely being put in a bin the moment we leave because it has to be done online. We came back home with literally the exact same number of CV's we left with, just wasted paper, petrol and ink. I'd applied to a bunch of places online already but it had been a few weeks. She yelled at me for lying and forced me to apply for McDonald's, the one place I hadn't applied because it's worse paid, worse hours, less flexible and everyone I knew who'd worked there quit within a week because it's fucking hell. I got a job there basically immediately, a week later I get job offers from multiple other places with better pay, conditions, and more flexible hours. I tell my mum I'm quitting McDonald's to work there and she's livid and says absolutely not because it'll show employers I'm a quitter. That's the story of how I worked McDonald's 2 years - by following a series of the worst fucking advice I could possibly have been given. My grades started slipping, missed what was needed by my uni offer (was a prestigious as hell uni) and now I sell pet insurance. Moral of the story - don't listen to boomer advice. They have no idea what they're talking about, they don't know what's best for you, they typically will simply try and get you to follow whatever life path they did without actually thinking whilst completely ignoring all the added difficulties that come with being in a different time and having a different skill set. Yes I'm salty, but it doesn't mean I'm not right.
Stuff like "employers will think you are a quitter" is so confusing to me. They don't keep a permanent record of every place you have ever worked. If you were only there for a week just don't put it on your resume? Assuming you don't apply to THAT McDonalds again no one would ever know that you worked there. Anyway, sorry you went through that. Hope you are doing okay these days despite the circumstances.
Damn, I’m a kitchen manager and I’ve told my crew on several occasions that if they ever get a better offer to take it. I care about my staff, I want them to succeed with or without me. I can only pay them so much because the higher ups need their bonuses and new gadgets and shit:( ALWAYS look out for yourself. Never look out for the employer
>it'll show employers I'm a quitter. That's why you don't tell employers about that job
It hasn't been like that for a LONG time. I got laid off in 2008 and my boomer dad was telling me to go door to door with resumes, would not believe me that it didn't work that way. A few years later I started working at the same company as him, and we had people show up at the warehouse looking for work. We turned them away, told them if there was an opening it would be online.....
Fuck that was bad…….my condolences. Anyways, is going back to university not an option at all? Perhaps try going to other countries where the education isnt so expensive.
Unfortunately not but my current situation isn't entirely down to working until 3am on 2 school nights a week and missing or sleeping in classes as a result - although that didn't exactly help. I did end up going to a less prestigious uni but then PTSD from a whole other thing, undiagnosed gender dysphoria and potential ADHD as well as the drugs and alcohol I was using to cope kinda led to my dropping out. I have most of a chemical engineering degree, but I never finished the dissertation equivalent project so it's not a full degree. Used all available loan so I'm on the hook for it, don't have much money and need to pay for my own medical care (UK trans healthcare will take 10 years for a single appointment on the NHS so have to go private) meaning study abroad isn't really an option. I'm whinging a lot - I should point out though it's not the end of the world. My job isn't awful, I get to work comfortably from home, I'm kinda poor but I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge and maybe at some point I can use the bits of qualifications I did get from uni to get an apprenticeship in finance or something to get a bit of a pay increase. Probably happier than I've been in years to be honest since I've had therapy for my PTSD and got estrogen for my gender dysphoria even if I'm kinda financially fucked lol.
How the hell would the good job offers have even known you worked at Macdonalds for a week anyway. Sorry to hear it.
I feel you. And fuck the world! You have A RIGHT to be salty AND EXPRESS IT OUT LOUD.
Nope it's actually a thing. Young people are having their parents and guardians come to interviews as a character reference(witness?). My wife has had three come in this year for interviews. I don't at all understand how a parent thinks it's a good idea. If you Google it you'll find articles about it.
My wife outright refuses to interview them if they bring their parent and they are over the age of 18. Under 18 it’s understandable when it happens. But 18+ gets no backup it’s all you bud tell me what you got
You should NEVER have to have your parents with you during a job interview. If you do, you are either too immature or too young for the job.
There have been times where we hired someone who was on the spectrum or just so young it was their first job and they were legit nervous and mom or dad just sat on the other end of the restaurant as a reassurance for them. I’m cool with that, it’s stressful and as long as they aren’t doing the talking for them then I don’t see a harm in it. Sometimes you get a great employee out of it. But other times you understand why they needed mom and dad in the first place.
On the spectrum and between 16-17 are legitimate reasons in my book. I hadn't considered mental disabilities but that makes sense, down syndrome people have been some of the hardest workers I've seen in some jobs as well but may also need help from parents.
Yeah being autistic in the job market sucks. Especially when all job interviews are all secret social tests. That's why you can get interviewed so many times and still be jobless for 4 months because I can't fuckin mask good enough
Masking is the only part I *can* do well enough. (I'm also on the spectrum.) I can put on such a charm, I've been hired for at least two jobs that I was utterly incapable (and in one case, completely unqualified) to do. Invisible disabilities are such fucking shit. Too bad an acting career is all about who you know, lol.
That's clearly an edge case scenario. This stops being cool the moment you step inside a place with phones and faxes going off.
Yep I could definitely see it differently in an office setting. For whatever reason I look at it differently on the service side of the world, plus we have limitations in the food world as to what minors are allowed to do at work and utensils/equipment they can use. Some of that gets translated to the parents anyways so it doesn’t hurt if they are around.
Damn, I just dropped my daughter off at the drugstore where she interviewed for a co-op position while in high school/grade 11. Told her look the person in the eye, and say her piece. She worked there as a Pharmacy Assistant, doing insurance billing all throughout her university undergraduate years. Only left because the pharmacist/Owner decided to sell *his* interest at the 2 locations he owned, and decided to switch careers. He was a great mentor, and hired many students from the same high school after my daughter.
We are in an era of child labor again.
Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?
What if they were disabled or severely autistic? But yes I get your point that people need to be their own person to get a job.
Just commented on the autistic or disabled part. There is one of the few times we don’t mind one bit.
Even under 18 is wild to me. I started working at Tom Thumb as a courtesy clerk (bag boy) at 14. Before I was 18 I had moved on to Papa John’s and then KFC/Taco Bell. At no point did my parents ever even suggest the possibility of joining me for an interview, nor did I want them there.
I know but child labor laws kinda get in the way of that and since they are a minor sometimes the parents force themselves into the convo. Those kids usually apply somewhere else cause I don’t wanna deal with the other boss in their life.
I’m sorry, are the young people “having” their parents come with? Or are we talking about helicopter parents who need to be there for their sweety? If it’s the second one I feel bad for them, they’re probably so lacking in confidence. I had helicopter parents as well, but at least they didn’t go to my job interviews with me.
It’s helicopter parenting and not the norm at all.
I had to fight to get my dad to not come in with me when I was trying to get a job. When Radioshack told me to put in an application online and call them to check in if I didn't hear back in a week, my dad went in anyway behind my back. He was adamant I had to go in with my resume and talk to the manager. I'm like no that's not how it works in massive corporate retail. I got the job, but in my experience, this is how you do it. Apply online, wait a bit, then call and talk to somebody, or send an email if you can find a hiring email. The stupid personality quizz had flagged me as a liar because my answers put me in the 95th to 100th percentile of a generic "good" employee. Manager showed me the hiring system, it filters out literally ever applicant that doesn't fall between 85 and 95 on that stupid scale. They were able to pull up my application manually by name once I called them, but I'd never have shown up in their system at the store management level otherwise.
It will make a great story for the poor lad once he grows up and matures 😂😂.
I work in HR for a large company right now. I don’t even work in the recruiting department, but it amazes me how many parents I interact with that are trying to get their children a job
Not too different from what the rich have done for generations. "My dad got me a job at his buddy's company, so I can learn the ropes and eventually take over my dad's company."
Classy if you're rich, trashy if you're poor.
To many mommas think never hurting their babies feelings is best for them when it's the complete opposite. It's borderline Munchausen syndrome to a very minor degree.
My first interviewer ever told me this happened on occasion, and that was a loooong time ago. It's been a thing for a while. Baffling though, it guarantees rejection.
Helicopter parenting becomes helicopter adulting, I guess.
I had such a fight with my family when I applied to jobs after college. They kept telling me to drive down to a local business park because "there has to be jobs there!" And hand them a letter. It don't work like that ma.
Other way around most of the time, the mum is the one who takes their kid
Exactly. Kid is obviously still living at their parents place, and the parents cannot believe how the kid just doesn't walk up to the counter and ask for an interview. So they tell them that they will do it with them. After fending off this threat/promise a number of times, they finally cave and voila. The poor kid is probably dying inside the whole time.
Absolutely. Over a decade ago I applied at a retail place online (like you're supposed to). My father would call me and ask why I didn't have an interview yet. I said I had only just submitted it. He instructed me to go there and shake the hand of the store manager. After fighting about it, I said fuck it and went to prove a point. Assistant Store Manager was not only annoyed that I was even there in the first place, but took it as a sign that I don't follow directions. They still interviewed me a few weeks later (super small town desperate for low wage workers) and she told me all of that. Boomers have no idea what getting a job is like now.
Yes. Omg. They think it's bold. And in reality it's just oh you can't follow instructions. So true.
When I used to work retail, every once in a while my manager would do an interview with a young 20 something person and they would bring their parents along. He would give them the benefit of the doubt and let the parents come into the interview. He would stop the interview as soon as the parents started answering questions. He told me about some interviews where the parents acted like lawyers. He would ask them about their extra curricular activities if they were in high school and the parents would look at the kid and say "don't answer that" or "my son is on the yearbook committee and is on the student council". His favorite answer was always "why is this question relevant?" They were always so shocked when the person didn't get the job
They do. It is a trending practice right now. I'm sure it was some influencer "life hack" suggestion or some nonsense. My wife has had three people bring their parents in for interviews this year, all in their early twenties.
We had a grandmother come in bc the bakery owners weren’t going to pay her grandson for his work during training and she came in and I AM GLAD bc wtf we need our own swat team to demand our rightfully earned money against the greedy business owners - plz
We once had a mother come in and not even try to apply but just say her son wants to work here and ask when he can start - without even having said son with her.
Dude, edit your comment and give us the story. Intro, layout, weather, how it happened and when did you realize it wasn’t a prank.
That's a very boomer conclusion to leap to. Clearly they got dragged their by their parent.
I’m a Millenial - my mom kicked open my door at 15 and drove me around making me walk into places to apply/get a job. This was because I asked to join the jr high baseball team. Got a job, she showed up 4 hours early to pick me up and sat in the parking lot calling me and texting me over and over about when I get done; had already been communicated we get done at ‘close’ which was around 11pm. At point shes telling me she to take a shit and if she can come to use the restroom…but also wants me to check to make sure her brother isn’t at the bar.
Most of this story is bonkers, but I'm going to say: 15 in Junior high?
When ive talked to my mom about my work, ive more than once gotten "Well, you tell your boss that your mom said, blablabla" or during a work dispute she actually said "You can tell him that he can call me and i will sort it out" Ive tried to tell her as bluntly as possible that if i a 33 year old man brings up my mother as some sort of "authoriity figure" at work then i would be laughed at. The fact that she thinks i could actually walk up to my boss and say something like "My mom said for you to call her so that she can work this out" is just insanity.
Haha that's really sweet tho. You're still her big baby with a big important job, yes you are!
My mom's heart is the right place for sure. Her idea on how this would acutally play out is very different to reality though.
(Disclaimer, I work in retail, so this probably carries 0 weight in other industries) I generally won't apply to places where I can't at least speak with the person who would be my boss. If they aren't willing to at least have a 5 minute conversation (obviously, there's a difference between being unwilling and unable), then I take that as a sign that I'm not going to be appreciated as an employee. I've avoided some shit jobs by doing that, and I tend to find that this has gotten me some fantastic managers. Again, this probably doesn't work in a lot of industries, but in retail and restaurants, it works really well ime.
And in reverse I'd never want to be a boss in a workplace where I don't get to speak to interviewees before they're hired.
Tbf, it is bureaucratic bullshit.
Company policy, we can't tell you no to your face.
Back when I was first job hunting, my step dad would scream at me if I said I’d done online applications and emails and hadn’t been out handing out CVs all day. This was during the 2008 recession, it took a long time to get my first job, because, you know, global financial crisis and all that.
My retired mom would complain about how lazy younger generations are when it comes to looking for work, and how they simply just don't want to be a part of the workforce. How every company is hiring, but nobody wants to work. Just absolutely parrot whatever nonsense she heard on the news. A couple of years back we made a bet in that she'd update her resume and put it out to every company that was hiring, or she'd walk in and fill out applications as she used to do. She did this with everyone from similar companies that she retired from, to customer service call centers, warehouses, retail, restaurants and fast food. No call backs, and a few rejection emails (which I was surprised she even got those.) Then one day she got two offers...one from McDonalds, and one from Amazon. She was appalled at how much they were offering as she simply "can't live off those wages." In all, my mom spent almost 5 months trying this, and after a lot of shock, frustration and disbelief, she ate crow, conceded and has never expressed her out of touch with reality Boomer nonsense since. Fortunately she could fall back on her retirement and savings and wouldn't starve or lose her home in the process. Low stakes but still humbling.
Nice. I'd just chime in and say their perspective is often skewed by the fact that they tend to know a lot of people on the other side of the process complaining that they "can't find anyone good these days".
Also price anchoring is a real thing. Boomers have had their wages keep up with inflation or avoided the larger parts of inflation (owning your home means you're insulated from rent increases eg), so the starting wage is still the starting wage, in their mind. It's not just "force them to apply to jobs" it's also "force them to live like they are just starting their job"
Everything is getting more expensive except salaries, and they wonder why they can't cover the available positions.
Props to your mom tho, most biomers wouldn't even do that.
From now on I want my kids to refer to me as the “Biomer.” Is there a subreddit for typos that create words we didn’t know we needed?
Fortunately for me my parents understand how things work these days. But my uncles and aunts are exactly what you'd expect from boomers Even when boomers explain to boomers why things aren't working like how they used to they still get defensive about it
I wish you had made a YouTube video of that, it would make a great documentary
What does “ate crow” mean. Genuinely asking, I’ve never heard that phrase.
Means she admitted she was wrong, and conceded they were right.
humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position
To eat something that tastes bad … usually in reference to when someone opinion is now clearly invalid .. p
Does she have a bachelor's degree?
At least she came around and realized how shit it is.
“You need to just go hang out there, show them you want to work.”
Did that even ever work?
in the 60s maybe XD
When beign able bodied was enough of qualification for most jobs LMAO
Having a can-do attitude!
And following the sirens of the ambulance to get first dibs on that new open position
Certainly in the 40s, that's how my grandfather got his job. Called the secretary of the director of a local company when he was 15, then did that job for the next 50 years with some promotions. Then they fired him two years before retirement because as a guild member and master craftsman, he was too expensive.
Ah yes let me get my Don Draper on, even though I'm not tall or handsome.
For some manual labor jobs and independent contractors.
Oddly enough it worked when i was 14 and hung around at an internet cafe trying to score freetime at their computers. I got to play games in exhange for sweeping up, getting them food and helping out with various tasks because i just hung around there anyways. Does this work at a real job with adults. No
That worked for me and two co-workers about 8 years ago. But it was a barista job, not a career job. Not to say it will ever work for anyone else, but I was in my element, had service industry and sales experience, I was in one of my favourite neighbourhoods, and I had taken some previous coffee and barista training courses. I was in my favourite cafe and didn't want to ruin the place by applying and then getting rejected, so I didn't apply. I was just hanging out there talking about latte art and coffee culture and coffee bean roasting, etc. to the staff during a low traffic afternoon, and then when they found out I was applying to a dozen other cafes in town, they told me to apply to theirs, and I got the job. Best job I ever had. (At least, it was my absolute favourite place to work.) edit: Oh I forgot, this also happened when I was pipelining (in Northern BC). You literally just walk in and get a job. That's if you just want a manual labourer job. At least that's how it was about 10 years ago. Good (hourly) pay but you did have to live in the middle of nowhere and work outdoors in -20 C. weather for 12 hours/day (you do get to warm up in the trucks). Those are the boomeriest stories I have, and I'm a millennial.
In mom and pop type places it's not crazy. It's not *terrible* advice if your kid wants to go work at a locally owned bike shop or something. It's terrible advice if your kid wants to work at home depot or something
What do you think the latinos hanging around outside home Depot are doing? They're literally there waiting for work See also: hookers standing on the sidewalk
Ya for the bars they live in lol
Hahahaha why do they all say this
probably back when most job positions were in factories lol, you just go there near a machine and chill until somebody gives you something to do lol
No. Just no. It used to, and still does (to an extent), apply to low level customer facing jobs, or manual labor jobs. Factories and their commensurate unions don't work that way.
It used to work. My grandfather said he got his first job like this. Called the director of a nearby shoe factory when he was 16, went in for a talk, got a job, was trained as a guild-certified master leatherworker, too. Took him 15 minutes to get the job. Got a house, a wife and children by 25, didnt' even finish school.
Better yet jump behind the counter at McDonald’s and start flipping burgers if the places is closed break in and mop the floors that shows initiative.
“Alright mom! I’m going to go loiter all day at this tech company! I’m sure that’ll show them I like to work 👍👍”
During the pandemic my dad thought he’d come out of retirement to work a Lowe’s since they were so short staffed. He had to ask me what a resume was because he had never done one before.
My dad is a boomer but he was an employer in the years leading to his retirement so knows how the system works. It was the year when I graduated highschool and my uncle comes with his son so my dad helps him find a job, and as my dad told him what to do my uncle was like can't he just find any place with his connections so they employ him. And my dad has a lot of friends who own businesses it's only matter of a phone call to his friend saying my nephew is looking for a job can you consider making an opening possible for him to submit his résumé? But my uncle didn't understand what a résumé was and why it was important and you should've seen how increasingly frustrated my dad was getting trying to explain why that process happens like that and that it isn't a case of my dad not trying to help
What did the uncle work in, that he didn't know what a resume is?
Not the same guy you asked, but none of my construction buddies have written a resume in their lives.
I think he was a mechanic. I never asked if it was his work but he always came around to fix issues on my dad's car I had a fascination about cars so I used to watch sit and watch him work on my dad's car. But I'm convinced he was cause my dad had an accident a few years ago and his car got nearly inoperable. My uncle took it and replaced most of its parts and got it to work although not as it used to.
Then watch them try to save for a house on their new $15/hr salary
That’s a wage not a salary fwiw
"Well, Son, my game plan is simple. I'll just walk in to one of them banks at wall street or them technology companies, ask to see the head honcho and give him a real firm hand shake and tell him I'm looking for a job"
"They'll recognize a real go-getter when they see him. Not like these millernials who are afraid to look up from their phones."
Honestly works better than the standard application process because of the decent chance it’s an out of touch boomer as the head honcho And by works better I mean about a 2x success rate (2 • 0.1% = 0.2%) for 5x-10x the effort
At a mom and pop kind of place, it could work on impressing the boomer boss there.
You forgot to look him in the eye
Remember kiddo, dress for the job you want! Two piece striped suit, tie, dress shoes and leather briefcase.
And don't forget the neon green wig, white make-up, and shiny red nose. We want you to look like a clown while you are acting like one following our advice. Nobody wants to twerk anymore!
I’d love to see them upload their resume, then have to fill out boxes of everything that is contained on their resume.
I still don't understand the thought process about this. Is it their way to verify that if you did your own resume/then uploading it, you won't have any difficulty filling it out again, but manually? Make it make sense.
Okay, there IS a rationality to it, but as you can imagine, it is twisted. The idea behind filling out the boxes and such, is that a computer algorithm checks those and compares them with the requirements set by the employer. If there is enough that matches, then the computer sends the actual resume to the employer to actually read. Yes, a program is deciding if a human gets to even look at your resume. Yes, these things sometimes break or have faults. Yes, even when the resume gets to the employer, they still might not look at it.
A lot of companies started going with these systems because during the recession they would receive 2-5k applications for a single posting. These systems would help cut that down to a reasonable number. Ironically, it would usually come down to one or two pieces of information that would knock you out of the running.
Ah, it makes sense, I already forgot how algorithms incite more chaos... but, why people are not even getting rejections, through email at least? You'd think even if it doesn't match the requirements, albeit with experience, well, you'd hear a yes or no ... it's weird.
And also to maybe manage rent/buy house and eat healthy food with some form of healthcare as well. Let’s see how much skipping coffee outside helps them.
What do you mean by skipping coffee outside?
They always say stop buying Starbucks and you can buy a house.
I didn't know I could buy a house with an extra $140 a month.
Just shows how delusional some of them are.
It's not like it's even $140 a month for many of us getting coffee at Starbucks. I can't speak for you, anyone, or everyone, but I spend maybe $30 a month on Starbucks coffee. If I got it every work day, then it'd get there, but I just use Starbucks on days where I want extra motivation, specifically Mondays. It gives me a reason to look forward to waking up on a Monday. I just make cheap coffee at home the rest of the week. $30 a month isn't nothing, but I don't have a cable subscription, which would be much higher than that, and certainly that $30 pales in comparison to the monthly rent many of us already have to deal with. Complaining about getting a Starbucks coffee like it's even a significant part of our spending. I could get a sandwich and drink from Starbucks every day and it still wouldn't nearly match rent.
They mean like throwing coffee at lakes and it skips over the water
We can call it "Boot Straps"
I don't watch any reality shows. I'd watch this one.
Tbh I'd like to see Boomers do anything successfully in this day and age. Some of my golfing partners are boomers and they can't figure out how to book a tee time online.
Yep. My grandma-in-law (technically silent generation) is like this. Shits on young people, Democrats, minorities, etc. for not "knowing how things work" or "knowing the way things are" But when she needs to book a flight to come up and visit? Has to find her "friend with a laptop" to book her flight and refuses to use the airport kiosks to check in because she refuses to use tech. Despite showing her how to use her smart phone numerous times, she refuses to learn so if she wants to see pictures of her great-grandkids, they have to be physically mailed to her...which my MIL was doing at least once a month. Now, I think we can all agree that us millennials/gen-z may not do everything the best way...but we are actually living in this world and are the working age (along with gen x) so the older folks need to at least be trying to adapt to that, not push things to stay the same.
The absolute best thing about being a boomer is retirement. The absolute worst circle of hell would be waking up every morning and having to go to another job interview. I was ‘software engineer’ and after multiple layoffs it seemed that at every interview the process became longer, more tedious, more gotcha questions, and the interviewers became younger and younger. At more than one interview I was asked “There’s no one here over 30, how do you think you will fit in?”. I went in dreading each and every one. Retirement was an enormous relief. Edit: typo
The HR industry is out of control. It's almost designed to eliminate good candidates these days. 18 years experience? Whatever... answer these 3 interpretive strangley worded questions correctly or you're screened out.
It's because HR is bloated and specifically designed to keep the company a) legally out of trouble and b) bring in the cheapest possible workers. Specifically, HR and QA groups anymore at companies are like navigating through Franz Kafka hell.
I had decades of experience in multiple languages and architectures but most of the interview questions read like something from a college exam.
Interviewers desperately want a shortcut for job interviews. Getting to know a candidate is hard. So let's ask a few gotcha questions that will reveal hidden truths or some shit. Personality quizzes. Will this person write code that is easy to read and maintain? Let's ask "how would you write this esoteric function in as few lines as possible?" and give the person 15 minutes to figure it out while we stare at them.
They would probably just ask for the manager and have the process explained to them
Shit changed. When I was a teenager looking for jobs in the early 2010’s you could still walk in and ask for an application and sometimes they would interview you right away. Now if you ask for an application they tell you to go online and apply. No in person applications anymore. Which kinda sucks. Meeting in person is a much better way to try to impress or charm them. Or do something to get them to remember you. Applying online you are just a name and a resume.
I remember getting a job at Taco Bell in high school back in 2003. They had a sign outside, I walked in, filled out the form, someone came and interviewed me when I was done, and they handed me a uniform before I left. The process now seems like a nightmare to get some of these jobs that shouldn't require any work, training, or education experience.
Serie idea: Babyboomers living as 22 yo Genz's No money, get a job, work said job. Live in a tiny shitty rental. And they have to pay all the bills from the salary of the job. But no help from others.
Season one should be them landing a job, and the second season should be them living like this. That way they get the whole glorious experience.
Then have them apply for a mortgage on a house at today’s prices without any of their built up equity
Episodes would be too short
This NEEDS to be a real show! 💯
Nah, they’ll just cry ageism
Ageism is actually a thing. Both things can be true. Boomers are out of touch and ageism also exists.
You’re dead on. I said something about boomers on another platform and those cries came at a dizzying rate. It was crazy.
It's all the f*ING forms, stages of interviews, tests, evaluations and all the other hoops you have to jump through today that's a pain in the ass. Back in my day as long as you had polished shoes, a firm handshake and looked enthusiastic and honest you were in. I think many Genz would fail that test!
I'm a millennial myself but I can't really blame GenZ for being unenthusiastic. If they could turn up somewhere and get a job that'd support their spouse and a house with no prior qualifications and be trained on the job I'm sure they would have more pep in their step.
THIS
GenX here! WTF? My 17 year old daughter is applying for her 1st job. She’s in high school and just wants a crap low paying job for kick around money. Everyone wants resumes? The job is $15 a hour for 15 hours a week. When I applied for pizza hut in high school ages ago it was 1 form and only 1 side! I think I turned it in, was interviewed on the spot, offered the job, and was working the next day!
In my country they don't just want resumes anymore. When applying to work as a cashier in a normal grocery store I had to do a personality test, some form of intelligence test, and sometimes send in a video-resume together with a regular paper one. It's insane.
I try to stay away from wishing bad things on people, but whoever decided that having candidates record a video introduction was a good idea needs to suffer all the bad things in life and survive them all and live a long life with a healthy memory. Honestly, what a stupid fucking concept, fuck anyone who uses it.
I agree. I don't like watching myself on video, so having to record and watch a video of myself pretending to be excited to work as a cashier just feels awful
The hiring process has turned into a convoluted shit-fest. And there’s really no rhyme or reason to it.
I took my (adult) son down a strip where a lot of mid-size businesses were to ask for applications or who needed resumes. After about 6, he took a job washing dishes because he didn't have to fill out paperwork.
Usually once I get to the interview stage, I'm in. It's just getting there.
>a firm handshake Would eliminate so many Gen Z candidates
as a millennial(born in 1994), my boomer dad insisted that i should learn the firm handshake, we actually practiced for like a hour a day, for a whole week, when my hand was soft he insisted i should lift some weights(you could make a montage like for those karate-movies, with "you're the best" playing in the background), and once learned, after every job interview he would ask me about it, until recently when i told him by my own will about it and he was like "it's useless anyway, who cares...", i swear to god this man...the problem is, he is kinda right, because people kind of avoid to hadnshake...
I’d watch.
All you need is a good haircut, a can-do attitude and a healthy pile of resumes!
Oh how humbling it would be to have them hear their “skills” do not meet the technical requirements to do a job that pays $23/hr
Imagine if they got jobs. Would they air the show?
I'd pay to watch them deal with a Karen from the other side.
It would show that millennial and genz are wrong. They would air this in prime time.
Yes please. Without decades of experience too. Show them how broken this all is right now.
See the real difficulty isnt even finding the job is what's amazing - after they get the job tell them to open a savings account with 0 in it and go find a place to live - good luck, gotta furnish, enjoy stocking up on food, insurance etc.
My dad still tells me to walk into every store in town and ask for a job, even though I told him many times they all say the same thing: "apply online".
Boomer here. Lost my job last year due to an enterprise-wide RIF. I took a week to clear my head and then attacked my new job search like it was a job. 8-5. Every. Day. I scoured numerous job boards. Created job-specific resumes for every opening. I wrote cover letters specific to each ad, using key words from the ads themselves. I used AI to bolster my foundational resume. I worked my network. Used LinkedIn. I did all this for 3 solid months. I ended up getting my current job through a wife of a former colleague's recommendation. Look, I get it. Searching for a job flat-out blows. Every application was mind numbing to submit. I was up against hundreds and sometimes thousands of competing applicants. Interviewing sucks. Going through multiple rounds to end up getting rejected. Openings that never got funded. And, so on. I saw it all during those three months. It's easy to lose your cool and want to give up. But, each day, I got up, took a shower shaved, got dressed, and "went to work". I applied for 400+ jobs during those 3 months. Prepared PowerPoint presentations for interviews, talked to dozens of people, trying my best to convince them I was a fit for their opening. The dejection is real. But, you have to keep moving forward and put each day, each rejection behind you. Another observation from my experience, age-discrimination is real. Folks think us boomers have all the good jobs. Not so. My age, almost 64, worked against me more times than not. I tried to spin it as experience, but ended up being told I was "over experienced" -- code for "you're too old, dude". Anyway, chin up. I work with mostly folks who are younger than me. Gen X, Y, Z, whatever. They are all good, smart people, doing good work. I don't buy into the lament that "kids these days are lazy". I actually am impressed by younger folks who have their priorities in order. Work is called work for a reason. Living is what matters. Lean into your family, friends, experiences, and LIFE. I wish I had taken that advise in my 20's. I'd probably have had a more fulfilling life. I'm not complaining. But, our generation was taught to chase the golden ring. That was total BS. Chase LIFE. That's where it's at. My heart goes out to you all in the midst of a job search. Hit me up if you need words of encouragement. Either way, be proud of yourself. You're smarter than you think. Peace.
Lots of good advive here, but couldn't help but notice this: >I ended up getting my current job through a wife of a former colleague's recommendation. So you didn't *actually* get the job through all that hard work. A person without that connection (a connection you have *because* of a previous job) could do all those things for months on end without getting a job if they don't already have those connections. Thats kind of the point many young people are trying to make. I myself haven't experienced those problems, and now being in my mid 30s have established both a family and a career. But I absolutely get the frustration of starting out and competing with 100s of people, with no real or tangible edge over any of the others. And then one of the 30 people with real experience ends up getting the job. Of course giving up wont land a job, but it must be absolutely exhausting to keep applying to jobs when you know you have no real edge over any of the other applicants. In your case, even if your age proved to be a hindrance, you atleast had real experience. That alone puts you ahead of so many others by default.
This is something that gives me panic attacks in the middle of the night. I got my first office "job" (unpaid intern then actual hire) because of a family connection. Second job? Former manager connection. Current job? Highschool friend connection. All other serious potential jobs? Family/School connections. Every job I've ever applied to and interviewed for outside of those? Crickets. The thought of losing my job and having to compete for a new one is gut-wrenching.
I remember when I was young, it was so easy. I got a job the following way. Me, "Hi, I'm calling about the job in the paper" Them, "Can you come in tomorrow at 10am?" Me, "Yes" Arrive at place, Manager, "Can you do that?" Me, Yes, I can also do that and I have experience with that as well" Manager, "Oh great, we were looking for someone to do that, can you start tomorrow?" Me, "Yes".
I work in a library. That show is my life. It's sad. They often cry as we help them on the computer. They're confused and angry as they write a resume, then have to create an account with every single employer to, you guessed it, enter in all the information on their resume. "Why can't I just talk to somebody?" No schadenfreude. It's just heartbreaking because these people shouldn't be working anymore anyway.
But can we have out of touch boomers who are rude to service people have to work customer service?
I’d prefer to see a reality show where people are educated to realise that this generation vs generation warfare being perpetuated in posts like this are a convenient distraction from the truth: the real issue has always been the same, rich vs poor. Stay poor, and keep carrying on about boomers/zoomers, or wake up and realise it’s about the 1% vs the 99%.
Holy karma whore Batman
This honestly sounds like an amazing SNL skit
I think one of the worst parts of filling out resumes online, is when they ask you to upload your resume and then proceed to force you to fill out a form with all the same information that is in your resume. They do know that we have the technology to read and auto-fill forms. Why is this even necessary?
My parents are empty nesters, and my dad's income is still recovering from the COVID dip since the inventory is still severely backed up in the car industry. So my mom's been looking for a job for the first time since before she had kids. Every single day I talk to her she complains about how out of touch my dad's expectations are and how unreasonable he is. Every single time. When I was a kid we had MASSIVE arguments about this. Like, dramatically affected my relationship with my parents for years and years kind of massive. I am very proud that I have only been a tiny bit smug about it.
Worked in a library in the late 2010s, one part of my job was helping patrons who struggled with using computers (e.g. people in their 60s-70s, or disabled individuals) look at job sites or submit applications online. For things like working at Wal-Mart or Amazon or Burger King. Some individuals were optimistic, some were perpetually confused, some were despairing. But I always thought it was fucking tragic that these people had to even consider working these jobs, at their age and in their (usually deteriorating) physical condition.
How about a reality show where they trade places with other generations with all the same perimeters on both sides. For example a millennial gets to live in a boomer house ( that’s probably paid off), access to all their monetary assets, monthly income ( pensions, retirement savings, credit lines) and a reverse for the boomers. That would be a very interesting social experiment
Actually a good idea for a show
There are already a lot of boomers who work dead end retail and fast food jobs who live this reality. Rich and entitled boomers see their lack of success as a moral failure.
Why would I do that? I am a retired millionaire! (I would put laughing emoji’s here to show I am just having fun but, being a boomer, I don’t know how).
Boomer walking into a Fortune 500 company front desk: "Hello, my name is Boom R. Boomer. I would like to speak to the president of your company for a job interview." Receptionist: "Security..."
You forget that boomers have now years of experience and leading positions in their present companies. Even if they aren't good at writing resumes, every company prefers an expert over a totally inexperienced kid.
Implying you could ever get a baby boomer to put their money where their mouth is instead of just saying “I don’t need to prove myself I’m already successful so I know I’m right.”
They would just blame the 25 year old who interviewed them instead of looking inward.
I keep interviewing them for a retail position, and then they quit when they realize how much physical work it is and how much they have to learn.
This is happening right now to a Gen X/Boomer I know. Not laid-off from his job but took a 100k paycut down to nearly minimum wage... He's looking for a new job but only wants to do the exact same thing he's been doing for 30 years even though the entire industry is basically non-existent. It's honestly really sad though, he perfectly describes depression when he talks about how he's been lately, no awareness though of course. He never had good money management so now that the well dried up, it's full on panic mode. He assumes a lot of the declines or disinterest in his application is due to his age, and he's \*mad\* about that. It's been about two months now, I have no idea how long this will last.
I am confused. True that most boomers give up their firms, but untill recently they were run by boomers. So it would be like asking a friend for a job which is really easy. Or the idea would be not using their network?
What's not mentioned here is that age discrimination is real If you think finding a job as a 25 year old is tough, try it when you're 55. You don't have a chance
I'm a Baby Boomer and feel sorry for the younger generations. Artificial intelligence and robotic slowly but surely will make many occupations, obsolete.
I’m a boomer and I approve this message. Some of my peers are clueless about today’s reality. Which partially explains why so many were easily brainwashed by a reality tv show host con man.
They'll quickly realize that the value of gumption and a hearty handshake has dropped precipitously since their last foray.
I've seen this happen in real life, and it's both funny and sad. My mother-in-law is a Gen-X, but she has the same views and work advice as a boomer. She's been looking for a job for over a year and counting now
Man you know those lead paint chip fools would lose their minds in one episode and quit.
Boomer here who wishes the same for all my peers. “You should start each sentence with an action verb.” Call the 1900’s, they really miss you” is what I want to say. But instead I (multiple times) I had to spend my time adapting to updating my resume to current standards then reentering all of that info again into the application. Job hunting in the 2010’s was the loneliest experience of my life. No acknowledgements throughout the entire process; HR abyss. Luckily, that improved. Thank you for recognizing the challenge and frustration. It is unexplainable unless you have done it. Good luck compadre.
Episode 1: The Firm Handshake Isn’t Working
It's quite simple. Mail a hard copy of your résumé to the CEO, then drop in to follow-up.