Observations on Job Searching

Well, to my mind, there’s nothing more effective for making a person feel worthless than job searching in a job market like Detroit’s. And it doesn’t help matters knowing that for the part time jobs I was applying to yesterday, my competition consists mainly of college students trying to earn a few extra dollars.

• I started out close to home. The first ad was for a Weekend Attendant at my town’s Community Center. Okay, good enough. I went to the Community Center. They had a zombie answering the door. Okay, he wasn’t really a zombie, but his voice sounded very slow and deep, like Lurch from “The Addams Family.” And then they wouldn’t even let me apply there; they sent me back to City Hall to fill out the application.
  
• Next on my list was a Patient Care Aide at a nursing home. I went. There was no nursing home. I double and triple checked the ad. The address listed was an ordinary house. There’s no phone number in the ad. The home isn’t listed in the phone book. So, I’m supposed to apply to this place…. how, exactly?
  
• Then came Activities Aide at another nursing home. This could actually be kind of a cool job. The unfortunate thing was that in the lobby there were also several interviews going on for nursing assistants. So it was LOUD in there. They also have a very loud squawky parrot. Frazzle, frazzle, frazzle!
  
  
• Next up was for an Appointment Setter at a place called Dialogue Marketing. After a great struggle trying to actually find the building (it looks like it’s on a different street than the one they list for the address), I went in through a maze of hallways to discover that they aren’t really hiring; they’re just taking applications. They won’t be hiring for real until sometime next month. Now, I ask you, why go to the trouble of putting out an ad if you aren’t even going to hire anyone?
  
• The one I thought of doing next was to be a Kennel Attendant (evening and weekend care) at the veterinary hospital where I used to take little Colin. This would be a good one, except I’m allergic to cats, which of course would be a serious detriment in a veterinary job. So, no go on that one.
  
• Finally I headed home, but stopped on the way at Meijer (ack), Home Depot (double ack), and Wal-Mart (infinite ack) to fill out applications at their “Employment Kiosks.”

All in all, a rather depressing day, and now I’m at my real job, a day behind and with no discernible gains from it. *sigh*