That’s a wrap folks. The last time I was unemployed, it was for 2 years. This time, it was only for 2 months. I didn’t blog much more about my unemployment since I felt like it was depressing.
The job recruiters became more of a waste of time between wasted trips into Manhattan dripping in sweat and no job results coming from them. In fact, I’m making a vow that I’m never using job recruiters again and recommending that nobody asking advice about being unemployed to never use them either.
The Rest of the Interview Process
After the interviews I mentioned and the useless job recruiter meetings I went to, I had other interviews including:
- Johnson & Johnson: The only job recruiter that came through got me an opportunity to interview as Communications Specialist I (better than II or III I suppose). The woman was really nice and I was excited since this was for a recycling initiative J&J has. It was a temp-to-perm position that didn’t pan out.
- Gaspari Nutrition: This one was hell since my GPS took me to the wrong place entirely. Add in the fact that there was construction & I had to call Donna (the woman I was meeting with), I wound up being almost an hour late to the interview. We met about the social media-heavy position and I even met Rich Gaspari, a famous bodybuilder.
- Johnny on the Spot: This was a phone interview for a Marketing Coordinator position that I felt went well and I had good chemistry with Marvin. Of course, I never heard from him again (as most employers do).
- Proskauer: This was a Website Coordinator position that I felt good about. I met with 3 of their employees and got really excited about the position. I wanted to take on that challenge, but it wasn’t in the cards.
- Imperial Bag & Paper Co. LLC: The woman reached out to me to interview me, I reached out back to her a few times to schedule & never heard from her again.
- Wyndham Worldwide: The hotel chain was looking for a Search Engine Optimization Strategist and upon meeting with Rich, he wanted someone with more of a technical SEO background that I don’t have.
- Manning Advertising: This was the most in-depth interview I had. Or should I say interviews. Meeting with Thomas Van Sciver and talking with him about automotive SEO was a great conversation and I felt like we really hit it off. The proof is there, as I am now the newest member of their team.
After I got the call, I had to tell companies including the ASPCA, Inflexion Interactive and GameChanger.
Why Going to Unemployment is Useless the 2nd Time Around
It’s true: I learned absolutely nothing from going down to unemployment. It was honestly the biggest waste of my mornings. Here’s why:
- Changing Employment Landscape/Job Search Skills: This pretty much told you where to look for jobs online. This would be helpful for older people who have never job searched using the Internet, but I have plenty of experience doing that.
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Résumé: They highlighted putting together a résumé and the key points of it. Same thing as above.
- Interviewing: This one reminded me of high school because of the ridiculous video they showed of an exaggerated guy who did everything wrong. The highlight was us interviewing each other and the only guy who said he wouldn’t hire his partner was the sketchiest looking one in there.
- Networking/Skills-Based Volunteering: This pretty much told you the dos and don’ts of networking, which is a little helpful, and gave some ways to use your skills as a volunteer while being unemployed. My skills don’t do much in the latter, so nope.
Ding dong, the witch is dead.
The In-Person Interviews
We talked for about an hour about my talents and what type of roles would be ideal for me. Although the in-person application process was long, it was thorough and relevant to the job.
The Funeral
The good job recruiters out there include ones who provide a job that actually exists and lets me know my chances of getting it based on getting to know me. One case is Jessica Lester of Vitamin Talent, a division of Aquent.
Another good example of a recruiter is Mike Ziegelbaum at Infinity Consulting Solutions. Similarly, we also talked for about an hour and got to know what I was looking for.
There are other recruiters that aren’t as good. Let’s take JumpStart for example. I spoke with Amy Lackie on the phone briefly since she wanted to meet me face to face to get to know me, which was fine.
The first one was NetCom Learning, where I met with General Manager Yang. The emails were signed by Yang, so I thought that her business card would have her last name. Nope. It’s Yang, just Yang. I know that from looking at the NetCom Learning website that her name is Yang Tuan, although the site has her listed as the Chief Marketing Officer.