Saturday, March 28, 2009

Economics of my Wallet

I am not generally inclined to comment on the current state of our economy, however struggling it might be.  Nor do I like to talk about how very little the new administration has changed things for the better.  That said, I fail to understand why I can't get even the piddliest job.

I have applied to a number of coffee shops and food places that have had "Now Hiring" signs out front for months now.  Without exception, every single one of them has either ignored me completely, or told me, as one general manager put it, "I think we're good."

This is pretty depressing.  I've spent the last 8 years of my life in school, doing research and making (I think) pretty substantial contributions to our body of knowledge.  (Maybe not on a global scale, but at least within my own little microcosm of scientific specialty.)  And now, after all of that, I can't get a real job to save my life.

On top of that, I can't get a piddly job serving coffee just to pay the bills.  Instead, my wife had to take a job managing a toy store, rather than in a library, which is her chosen career path (no openings there either).  The more places I try to get a job to pay the bills, the more I get rejected.

I wonder if this has anything to do with engineers and scientists having no "people skills."  Most of the positions I've tried for have obviously been dealing with people.  Do you suppose that the hiring managers took a look at my application, saw "engineer," and immediately discarded it based on the typical stereotype of engineers being introverted?

That's my guess.

I can't imagine somebody thinking I'm able to design spinal implants, yet can't serve a cup of coffee.

1 comment:

  1. That's a bummer - you're overqualified for the jobs available, and there are no jobs for which you are qualified. Stinks!

    ReplyDelete

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