It's been awhile since I had written anything about my search for a new job or better yet, career, so I thought I would update the situation as it now stands for those of you who have been asking.
Following the holiday break, I knew I had to step things up even more than beforehand, as my contract term at CFBU-FM ends in late May and at that point I will have no income of my own whatsoever coming into the household. One thing I did do over the holidays was to rethink my career path somewhat and expand my horizons, or as the hackneyed saying goes "think outside the box."
In addition to my long years of service in the radio industry, I have been lucky enough to gather many years' service in the retail sector as well, working at various retail establishments as well as with my own online music business, A Web of Fine Music, which continues to this day. So I felt that is an area I could move into if the right opportunity came along and the future employer chooses to look beyond my age and see the experience and talent available to them.
Many resumes have gone out, both online and the hard-copy variety, but so far have met with limited response. But there is interest out there, so I think it is only a matter of time...I hope!
There have been several job or career fairs lately and I have attended all of them. The first, February 13th hosted by the Job Gym, had about 50 businesses set up in the auditorium of the St. Catherine Collegiate. Many were offering summer work for students or part-time work, so I thought it best to cherry pick the best prospects first and then go visit with each of them with resumes in hand. Overall, I felt the response was positive, but so far only one of those contacts has resulted in a job interview after the fact. That was this week and so far I have not heard back yet if a job will be offered at the business location in Niagara Falls.
What I found a little surprising with this job interview in the Falls was they actually asked me to bring my high school diploma with me! I confessed I had no idea where it is now and was about to quip it is likely chiselled into a stone tablet somewhere when they said they could do a back check on my behalf to retrieve it. Whew! I thought working steadily for as long as I have might suggest I had in fact completed high school in this day and age but you just never know.
The second job fair was earlier this week at the CAW Hall on Bunting Road, this time hosted by BEC Niagara. Again, a good selection of businesses to talk to, but for me, rather limited choices. I did zero in on a couple of specific businesses, with one hopefully to result in a follow up interview shortly for a fresh job posting in Welland. I am very hopeful this one prospect from that job fair might bear positive results very soon.
In both cases, these job fairs were well attended with people from all walks of life and educational backgrounds, all sharing a common goal to find gainful employment in a job market that is to put it bluntly, bleak.
Yesterday I joined hundreds of other job hunters at the career fair held at Niagara College's Niagara-on-the-Lake campus, directly across from the new outlet mall going up and scheduled to open May 15th. Ads for the fair indicated 1,500 jobs are available, so I knew interest would be high for yesterday's event.
I decided to wait until the afternoon before heading down, a thought reinforced by a comment I heard from someone at the St. Catharines Farmer's Market in the morning. One lady's daughter headed down first thing in the morning and called her to say the wait to get in to the career fair was three hours. So much for retail sector jobs having limited appeal in this part of the world where the unemployment rate is the highest in the province, eh?
I figured waiting until after lunch would be a shorter wait and I was right. It was down to about 2 hours at that point, although if you had waited to 4 pm, the last hour, there would have been no wait at all. I arrived at 2 pm and joined the lineup with two ladies there to find work, but not looking for anything in particular. We all knew we were basically part of a labour cattle call, but we swallowed our collective pride and waited patiently in line.
Again, the mix was people young and old, male and female and literally from all walks of life. Men in track pants to, like myself, in a suit and tie; women in everything from jeans to proper business attire. All had one objective in mind: find a job in a marketplace with more people than jobs available to them.
It was nice to see spirits were high and everyone seemed in reasonable good humour, even after seeing the long lineups snaking around the campus leading in to the gymnasium, where about 60 of the vendors were set up for the day.
You are always told at job fairs to be prepared to be interviewed on the spot, but I have yet to see that happen. In this case certainly the sheer numbers of applicants prevented that from happening. The best you could hope for is a good first impression and a chance to drop off your resume or fill out a job application.
What struck me as interesting was the diversity of the screening processes used. The first booth I visited requested you fill out a detailed application on the spot, basically duplicating the information contained in your resume. Others simply accepted your resume, while still others had you fill out a simple application card.
Once again I cherry picked from the list of vendors available, avoiding the longest lineups for obvious magnets like Bass Pro Shops Outpost and Gap Factory Store in favour of the few higher-end shops there I felt would attract a clientele I could relate to and who would appreciate someone with a few miles on the odometer.
One of these, with no lineups whatsoever, made the trip worthwhile for me and resulted in a follow up interview this coming Wednesday afternoon. It was one of the main reasons I went yesterday, so that was great. We'll see how things go this week.
Two vendors I visited annoyed me somewhat: the first, with three people at the table, continued to sort through papers and talk amongst themselves for a very long time before finally granting me a moment to talk to them. Not too enthusiastic about being here, perhaps?
The second, Nike, was just plain wrong in their approach. You were handed a card with a site to go to for applying for a job online, which anyone else could do as well. So these people are standing in line for up to three hours only to be rewarded with a request to go home and apply online. How arrogant that response was!
So what do these public displays of people clamouring for jobs - any jobs - say about our economy here in Niagara? Basically, it sucks, if you will pardon my bluntness.
Those who have the power to make positive changes in Niagara need to look at these events and ask themselves why so many people are lining up for what could be only part-time minimum wage jobs? Because that is all there is right now, and some job is better than no job.
Let's hope all these people lining up for hours on end yesterday do not get too disheartened if nothing comes of their wait in line yesterday, as will certainly be the case for many of them. And I know many I applied for myself will not take my application seriously either.
We need jobs here in Niagara and we need them now. With an election coming likely later this year, I hope those running for office here in Niagara pay heed to what really matters to the vast majority of people in Niagara. The economy is the number one election issue, and it is about time they get the message: better economy translates into better jobs which translates into better economy, and so it goes.
It is so simple, and yet so very hard to achieve.
For my part, I remain optimistic that given time and the right circumstances I will land that new job that will make it all worthwhile. It is going to happen, and it will be through my own perseverance and desire to succeed. Either retail or my chosen field of experience for so many years, broadcasting and communications, I am applying for them all.
But a little help right about now would be nice. Late May is not that far off.
March 2nd, 2014.
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