Job Frustrations

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virgil
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Job Frustrations

Post by virgil »

So, I was unemployed for two years, looking for work fairly heavily. I got more and more desperate to get something so I wouldn't be on the street. I got a total of three interviews that all blew me off because of my lack of experience, until after I moved in to my mother's place and got a pity hire by a friend of hers at a gas station for minimum wage. I had eight months to find a better job or things would get difficult, as I was going to be moving out of my mother's place by that point (job or no).

Two months later, still applying all over the place and ignored, I finally landed a job as an engineer at this axle manufacturing plant nearby and have worked there since.

My frustrations are the fact I'm still searching for another job. This one pays 35k. In this economy, this region, and with my experience, I should be getting 50K at minimum. I really doubt I can negotiate for better in this place, as we've been searching for two months for a second engineer and I've seen at least 8 come through for interviews and never come back because their pay would be comparable to mine and they have a lot more to offer (all have years experience) as incentive for better pay.

I still have yet to even get a call-back from any of the other local engineering places (L-3, Raytheon, etc). And I'm afraid that this job is going to damage my income in the long-term more than if I were not working for this place; except it's either here or nothing right now.
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Have you looked at government work? http://usajobs.gov They're a little pickier about hiring now because of the economy, but the base pay should be better than what you're getting and there are benefits on top of that.

[/edit] I don't know what your skills and qualifications are, but you might like to widen your horizons as well - plenty of positions looking for a "tech writer" want a techie that can write rather than an English major.
Last edited by Ancient History on Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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erik
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Post by erik »

I hear you. When I got out of college I had to cashier at Target for 9 months due to nobody considering hiring anyone with no experience, until I lucked into a decent job purely via connections, which I held for a good duration before getting screwed recently.

Now I've been on the hunt and had a few interviews, and it looks likely that I am going from $40k/yr to doing about the same exact job at another place for maybe $25k/yr. I hate leading them on by accepting and then continuing to look for a new job, but I need income. Unfortunately they pay crap.
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Post by Maxus »

I'd try the US Army Corps of Engineers, in your shoes. Worst they can say is 'no'
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Post by fectin »

What area of the country are you in?
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virgil
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Post by virgil »

East Texas, about 45 miles east of the Dallas metroplex.
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Post by sabs »

Actually the US Corps of Engineers .. worse they can do is say yes, and then assign you to a warzone.
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Post by fectin »

That sure sounds like Lockheed Martin or Raytheon to me, if you want to stay in the area. I can take a look at your resume, but basically everyone I know is in Southern MD.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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erik
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Post by erik »

Well, I don't have to feel guilty about continuing my job search if accepted for the $25k job, I just got turned down for it too. Probably because of my previous salary. Oy.
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Post by Ted the Flayer »

Tell me about it. I work in sales. Money is adequate, but I am not pleased with the percentage that goes right to student loan repayments. Luckily, I owe less tham 20K, so I have only 4 more years of that happy horseshit.
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Post by K »

You can always just not talk about your current salary. New employers ask so that they can lowball you, but you can simply refuse to answer (politely, of course). They can't legally ask your old employer about your old salary.

That being said, getting a job in a rough economy is always about contacts. Are there any engineering organizations nearby that you can join?
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erik
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Post by erik »

I dunno about Virgil, but on the online application for the latest job they had a form slot where I enter what pay I was expecting and I believe it was required to proceed with the app. I just foolishly didn't lowball myself down to poverty-level salary.
Last edited by erik on Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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virgil
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Post by virgil »

Oh, when it comes to pay expected, I put myself down for what I should get for the job; roughly what Payscale says I should get for my education/experience/location.
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