Are you really hiring, no really?

Rhino Rollover

There I was working in parts at a Toyota dealership a few short months ago, content and worried at the same time. After 11 years working in a wholesale/retail parts house I finally reached that next step I thought. Working at a dealership, especially at Toyota I figured I would have years of growth and financial security, boy was I wrong. It happened to me on September 30 2008, my wedding anniversary of all days, I heard those evil words “sorry but you’re being laid off.” Did I just hear that right?? I thought “no way could you be talking to me”, I was constantly being praised for my hard work and ability to adapt to a world that was completely different from where I started from. See I was there for 8 months and things we’re going quite well I thought and I was settling in quite nicely. I was a parts counterman working the back parts counter; this was a dream for me as I only had to deal with mechanics and service writers. Even though they could be quite demanding it was nowhere near as bad as retail parts. I am a people person but sometimes dealing with the do it yourselfers could be downright maddening.

Well reality just jumped up and dropped a load on my head. I responded back with “you must be joking.” But my boss was not. As he handed me my last check he told me “well due to the economy unfortunately we have to downsize all departments, this has nothing to do with your performance.” Upon leaving his office the thoughts that flooded my mind were “great, what am I going to tell my wife??” As it being our anniversary and money being tight I was unfortunately unable to get an anniversary gift, not even a card for my wife. (ladies please don’t hate me, story on that wonderful episode to follow at a later date.) Lets just say that phone call to my wife went over like a turd in the punchbowl but the bottom line was this was really happening.

So the next morning I got on the net and got my unemployment rolling so at least I’ll have something coming in. After that I went ahead and revised my resume and updated my cover letter. I hit the job sites with a thunderous pace and applied to anything I deemed reasonable and what I thought I could do or learn fairly quickly. I must have applied to 70-80 jobs in the first month of being unemployed alone with virtually no call backs. Some of the things I was told when calling or going to some of the places I applied to downright aggravated the hell out of me. “You have to apply online.” “You’re over qualified.” “Sorry, our budget has been frozen we are no longer able to hire.” Last time I checked you don’t put your budget in the freezer in the first place!! My personal favorite is “If your qualifications meet our needs we will call you.” (insert sarcastic chuckle here) I figured if you have a relatively intelligent person who at least will show up everyday the employer would have half the battle won right there.

One thing I recently learned is that a lot of employers that post ads for jobs use what is called word selective software. This from what I was told is that there are certain key words that are set so if there is a match with words in your resume then your resume gets put in the “keep” file. No matches, then no living, breathing, brain in the head person even reviews your qualifications!! I never got that friggin memo!!! Well here I am still in the great quest for employment just like a lot of other people are as well, the only advice I can give is to keep your faith, keep your head up high, and may this struggle propel you to understand a greater meaning of things. That’s it for now.

-AngryDago-