How to get a job (or not)

I plan on going to basic training soon (i don't know the date), do I need to bring this up at an interview, or can I just say I'm in the guard and that's it? I'm hearing stories of employers not hiring guardsmen who have obligations which might prevent them from putting in time. I'm looking to go as soon as possible, but I shouldn't disclose this information?

It seems like not hiring would circumvent the law that guardsmen have flexibility with their drills and active duty.
 
I plan on going to basic training soon (i don't know the date), do I need to bring this up at an interview, or can I just say I'm in the guard and that's it? I'm hearing stories of employers not hiring guardsmen who have obligations which might prevent them from putting in time. I'm looking to go as soon as possible, but I shouldn't disclose this information?

It seems like not hiring would circumvent the law that guardsmen have flexibility with their drills and active duty.

Over here it's illegal to discriminate against someone for serving in the TA. If you're going to up sticks and ship out to Basic within a few months, you probably need to tell them.
 
I have about 5 fraternity brothers who now work for Accenture. Anything you want me to ask them?

Ooh. Yeah, help me ask them what they do on a day to day basis while working for a project. Thanks! :)
 
Do they have learner licences in Canada or USA (they do in UK) and if so would they work.

Yeah, we have a 3-stage driver's license program here, the first one being what you get after you pass an incredibly easy test and dish out $100.

But the point is that if you don't drive, or don't plan to drive, you won't have this license.
 
Yeah, we have a 3-stage driver's license program here, the first one being what you get after you pass an incredibly easy test and dish out $100.

But the point is that if you don't drive, or don't plan to drive, you won't have this license.

It's funny because I failed said "incredibly easy" test simply because there were multiple correct answers to several single answer questions.
 
Anybody work totally at home online like me?

I did for about 2 years.. My first job out of university. There were a lot of positives about the arrangement but also some negatives. I think the ideal setup is working in an office, with the flexibility to work from home from time to time. (my current setup)
 
I thought about renting some office space, but even though I can easily afford it, I prefer home. I'll go work at a friend's place(he works from home too) or the church if I really want to.
 
Church has DSL internet and I have the keys to the church.

*looks at your signature*

*sees tower defence site*

*now has a way to waste countless hours when I'm not feeling well*

:goodjob:

--

As a hopeful author, are you obligated to push a few funds to make it to city interviews and book signings, or can you pull it off by doing radio interviews at home via phone and live-streams?
 
I plan on going to basic training soon (i don't know the date), do I need to bring this up at an interview, or can I just say I'm in the guard and that's it? I'm hearing stories of employers not hiring guardsmen who have obligations which might prevent them from putting in time. I'm looking to go as soon as possible, but I shouldn't disclose this information?

It seems like not hiring would circumvent the law that guardsmen have flexibility with their drills and active duty.
I would tell them if you're going to be away from the office and unable to work for an extended period of time. If an employer gets burned like that once or twice, they're not going to hire any more guardsmen.
Anybody work totally at home online like me?

I've done it before...all of my writing jobs (sports and political reporting, and resume rewrites) have all been remote. The flexibility is nice, but I've found I need more structure and socialization for me to be successful. Warpus's setup (which is the wa my current company is) seems to be ideal. I could do most of my work remotely, but since im on the phone most of the day, I'd rather use my office phone than pay for those calls myself.
 
I would tell them if you're going to be away from the office and unable to work for an extended period of time. If an employer gets burned like that once or twice, they're not going to hire any more guardsmen.

But wouldn't that make me lose points in the beginning of hire? Let's say I got a pizza delivery job, and I say I gotta go to basic/tech school which will be about a year. The next applicant doesn't have this situation, wouldn't they get hired over me because the employer doesn't have to worry about the next guy? It hampers my marketability if I have to disclose this information. Like I said earlier I would only be able to get work at a seasonal job.
 
If you want a government job, be sure to visit USAJOBS.gov and learn to use the filters to quickly grab some opportunities.


A company I worked for is out of business. I have no way of knowing where to find any of the people who may remember me. How do I use that as a reference?

I'd try to look them up on LinkedIn. I've found people through that when Facebook was much less useful (and less cool to professionals). Found quite a few old school mates that way too.


As for references, should I find new ones via my current professors in the classes I take or still use my old references? As of now, I have kind of a very limited reference pool.

Somehow your mention of "Former associates/bosses" sent a chill up my spine. Have you ever heard from a candidate's former boss about his/her poor attendance issues?

While I feel a good work recommendation tops three teacher recommendations, you should always cultivate new references wherever you go. Plus the teacher references will be of greater value if you end up going on to graduate school, or a pre/post-bac internship based on degree. It's better to have too many references, as long as you have a strong understanding with your reference. A good reference is a program advisor, a teacher you had at least a few courses with (at least 2), and a teacher from an upper level course that had more student-teacher interaction.
 
Was supposed to have a phone interview today with a recruiter from a big consultancy firm. The recruiter didn't call. I left a message on his voicemail 30 minutes later. I called again an hour after the appointed time and he picked up, duly and unapologetically informed me that he was in a meeting and promptly asked to reschedule the interview to tomorrow at a later time slot.

I find myself pretty much dismissing this opportunity now. I think I was pleasant enough on the phone, but I'm not sure if this guy gave a damn to begin with. I don't feel like stressing myself in the lead up to the interview again tomorrow. It's like getting ready for a paper only to be told at the venue that the invigilator has had to reschedule. It's a huge anti-climax and I just don't care that much anymore after that.

Is this a normal experience? I suppose in this kind of job market applicants just have to be grateful that recruiters even deign to speak with them?
 
It's a normal experience even when you have a job that meetings get cancelled at the last minute, without any prior warning. Meetings nearly always over-run, people often get called up by their boss at short notice, or get swamped with work and simply forget to tell you that the meeting's been rearranged. The people the recruiter was in a meeting with were almost certainly more important than you are; I wouldn't take his choosing to talk to more important people in his company over someone who doesn't even work there as an indicator that he is uninterested in your application.

When I first interviewed for the company I now work for, they kept me waiting 20 minutes before sending down a pretty blonde girl to tell me that the men interviewing me were in a meeting, and could I wait another 10 minutes or so. I said okay. 20 minutes later, she came down again, said they're really sorry but can I wait a little bit longer. I said okay. I spent an hour on the train getting into London, so I wasn't going to go home without an interview. Anyway, an hour after the scheduled interview time, they finally took me up and gave me an interview. It was annoying, but at the end of the day, it was 3 hours out of my life. Who cares?
 
It was more the way he reacted (rather nonchalantly - I can't really explain it better) that put me off than the fact that he was late. Maybe he was a little bit caught off-guard or something, but I doubt that.

There's also the fact that the interview has to be rescheduled to tomorrow. I actually wouldn't really mind waiting at an office for a face-to-face interview. I've done that before. Besides, there would have been (and there was in your case) someone to update you on what was going on, rather than just being left wondering if the interview is happening or not. Besides, when you're there you know they'd have to see you, even if it takes a while, and you can just take the waiting time as more prep time. Postponing it to the day after just feels entirely different to me somehow. I guess it's partly that you don't even get brownie points for waiting when that happens.
 
Ehh, I'd much rather have waited at home, watching TV or internetting, than waiting in a room with no windows and literally nothing to do or read or occupy myself with. I didn't even have any music or anything. It was incredibly boring, compounded by the anxiety of waiting for an interview.

You're right that a proper interview is more difficult to put off than a phone interview; if they told me to come back tomorrow I'd have said no, because I had to take a day off work to come that day and I couldn't take another one off in a row without notice. A phone interview is much easier to put off, and it doesn't put you out anywhere near as much.

Anyway point is you're not important enough for the guy to care about. What he's doing is almost certainly more important than talking to you. I'm not surprised he acted nonchalantly, because at the end of the day, it's just a phone call.
 
Ehh, I'd much rather have waited at home, watching TV or internetting, than waiting in a room with no windows and literally nothing to do or read or occupy myself with. I didn't even have any music or anything. It was incredibly boring, compounded by the anxiety of waiting for an interview.

Watching TV or internetting before an interview? Really?

Well, I'd rather be mentally prepared. Even if it means extending the anxiety period for an hour, I'd rather be done with it than have to start all over again the next day.

But, anyway, I was reading up a bit about it while waiting and people were talking about interview etiquette (on the part of the interviewers) on other sites. I guess you're right that it's an employers' market and all the talk about etiquette is just BS. I'm not sure when HR people started believing their own crap about valuing people/talent/whatever buzzword.
 
Is this a normal experience? I suppose in this kind of job market applicants just have to be grateful that recruiters even deign to speak with them?

Of course it's a normal experience. Recruiters spend most of their day on the phone with other candidates. It's very easy for one of those interviews to go long, which messes up your schedule. Recruiters often don't have the final hiring decision, so they have to have meetings with the individual hiring managers about specific candidates, along with their own supervisors, etc.

I try my best to avoid messing up schedules, since I recruit across 4 time zones and getting everybody to match up can be difficult, but it happens close to once a week. I wouldn't get all worked up about it.

If the recruiter didn't care, he wouldn't have called you in the first place. If I don't care about a candidate, and I miss an interview, I don't always call back.
 
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