So, I visited a resumé guru today because I can’t get through the HR filters of most sites and can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. I’ve tried matching my keywords and writing the damn thing over and over and OVER again to meet the most demanding filter but, no go. Anyway, the guru worked it out, or so he assures me. It turns out I have to apply some sleight of hand. Think of it as CV SEO. I think I’ve got it now. What a royal pain in the ass, as if spending a couple of hours per application wasn’t painful enough.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve learned today:
1.) There really is such a thing as ageism. It’s not just your imagination. It’s probably due to some cocky young thing thinking you don’t know how to use technology, as if your diligence in filling out the ridiculous, lengthy, everything but your bloodtype online form wasn’t proof to the contrary. If you’re over 45, you’re probably too old. Thank you New York Times.
2.) In the last three years (hmmm, let’s pause to meditate on the significance of three years, shall we?), an increasing number of employers have been hiring temp positions and not direct to position employees. Sometimes, these temp positions turnover to permanent positions, but consider that first year a very long audition- without benefits. And there’s no guarantee. So, the assignment can end at any time. Depending. On what? No idea.
3.) Obamacare is too damn expensive. This came out of the blue. Yup. And it makes perfect sense. If you are employed in this economy in a temp position and you have to carry the weight of that premium without a subsidy (because you make too much for Medicaid or live in a Medicaid expansionless state, but make too little for a subsidy because you are a lowly temp worker), it’s just too expensive. You will spend substantially more of your paycheck than the blessed employee with the employer coverage. But you’re less likely to become blessed because see #2 above. I am now beginning to wonder what the purpose of Obamacare was. Because if it is just a matter of getting kids covered who had serious pre-existing conditions, there was SCHIP and Medicaid before Obamacare. Soooo…? Bueller?
Malice or stupidity? Before the administration gave a pass to the employer mandate, I was thinking “stupidity”. Now, I’m not so sure. Let’s just say there was a loophole big enough to drive a train through.
The guru says the tweaks should be enough to get me through. I remain optimistic because, frankly, what is the alternative? I don’t think I can sell my body at this point, even if I wanted to. Thank goodness for the part time work and the no-mortgage thingy. Still, no fun at all. And I may live to be 92, which troubles me greatly. Who’s going to hire me when I’m in my 90s? Come to think of it, there will likely be a LOT of tail end boomers in our 90s, shlepping around the office, retail outlets and construction sites. That should be interesting.
Stay tuned.
Filed under: General | Tagged: ageism, CV SEO, full time, HR filters, Medicaid, Obamacare, part time, resume, technology, temp employees, unemployment |
The Confluence 
I’m thinking it’s malice and stupidity
Generally, not just with O care , if one cannot pay, they don’t give a damn.
Resume gurus. I had no idea such an occupation existed. What are the qualifications?
You will have sifted thru hundreds of resumes per job posting in a previous life.
{{shudder}}
Good luck, my husband is going through the same thing but he’s much older than you, RD.
Baby, it’s cold outside.
Meanwhile, my dad has been in and out of the hospital since Sunday (he seems to be fine now) and I’ve become addicted to browsing Angie’s List. Also, hovering on the edge of scheduling a plumber to repipe our house. Yikes!
I didn’t know he was in the hospital! What happened?
I hope you didn’t fork over too much money for this “guru”. The only thing that will get an over-50 person a job in this market is networking. The HR machine filters you out for a reason (age). And if your resume does make it through the filters, they will soon reject you as an over-50 candidate….or worse yet, they’ll bring you in for an interview with no interest in hiring you, for the sake of filling some quota.
Been there, done that.
Yep, he recommended networking- heavily But you still need to submit the forms.
Happily, there are some institutions and companies around here that are hiring older workers. But there’s more to it than obfuscating your age. You have to rejigger the resume in such a way that the reader sorts you into the “keep” pile.
I trust the person I saw yesterday. He was a lot more positive than I thought he would be, even if he was realistic. I have a lot of highly sought skills, esp wrt technology.
And even though he is a professional, it didn’t cost me a thing. I’ll let you figure that out.
Malice or stupidity? I’ve considered it malice and lock-in subsidy for Big Insura for several years. The point was to create these Ocare marketplaces and then work on destroying employER coverage and then destroying Medicare after that so as to force 150 million more people into the high-priced low-coverage Ocare extortion plans. People dismissing Obama as MEREly a corporate schmooser and a post turtle miss his deep forward-thinking evil. That aspect gets well covered over at Naked Capitalism.
I tried reading a book once about why so many aspects of computers are so hard to use. The book advanced the theory that much programming is done by digital snobs to discriminate against the non-cool analog majority . . . in essence to create a digital apartheid society with themselves as the high digital priesthood.
Take heart. Those smart young resume’ filterizers will be dejobbed by “artificial intelligence” machines in due time.
I look at user interfaces and new technology in the same way that some people like to work crossword puzzles. I just need to play with it for a few hours and make some mistakes until I figure it out. Maybe people who consider themselves not tech savvy give up too soon or think they have broken something.
The hardest thing I had to learn was a program called COOT for solving crystal structures. It took me months to bend it to my will. I don’t think it was the intention of the developers to make it hard. It’s just that the underlying science is hard. Once I got the hang of it, I couldn’t put it down. I was as hooked as an adolescent on a Xbox.
So, really, I think attitude has a lot to do with it. You need to be as curious as a kid and willing to get sent back to the beginning, over and over again.
Hmmmm . . . well . . . I’ll think about that. Up to now I have felt like a lost analog refugee in this digital world.