The Job Search, My Jobs, and Why It All Sucks

Like I stated in the previous post I was jobless for about a year. Everyday, Sunday-Saturday I would send out my resume, apply for jobs, look for jobs and play on the internet. I was on CareerBuilder, Monster, Hot Jobs, TeamWork Online (sports job database), Higher Ed jobs, looking through the local papers and every other job search database I could find. The only responses I got were from those fake sales/advertising/marketing jobs and insurance companies that don't care what your degree is in. I had already been warned about the fake sales jobs, they're all over the place, always hiring, always "opening up a new location." My sister went through the whole job search thing before I got there and gave me the scoop on those places. So a friend told me his job was hiring and I went on and applied not knowing what to expect and got hired.

The First Gig
My first job after college was with ABN Amro/LaSalle bank. I can't even tell you what my title was this job was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo insignificant soooooooo low on the corporate ladder. I'll just have to tell you what I did. You know when you go to the ATM and you deposit either money or checks in the ATM machine instead of actually going into the branch to handle your transaction with a teller??? Well I was one of the people who processed your deposit. It was located in this hidden building in a random city. It was just above janitor it was so low. The pay was terrible but it was better than not making anything annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd it was less than part time. I probably brought home after taxes maybe $100-50 every two weeks, maybe. It was one of those jobs you would get if you were straight out of high school, maybe living at home and needed extra pocket money while going to college. In my opinion it was not for someone with a degree, not even an associate degree!

The people I worked with all generally had kids early, not married, not really low expectation type of girls but really had no other options. Now, not all of them were like this and not all were part time. Some were actually full time and probably grossed about $18k a year. But, the job was wack. While there a position opened up at my sister's job and I interviewed for that....forgot about it til some weeks later until I got a call asking if I was still looking for a new job and that they wanted me if I was still willing. This job was full time and I didn't care how much they paid, it would have been more than I was making there and I was ready to go! So job #1 lasted all of 5 months.

Goodbye low paying part time terrible job. Hello still relatively low paying full time terrible job!

The New Gig
I started at the new spot in June of 2006. I'm always really hesitant to give my job title because I am so beyond ashamed of what I do that I just give a vague description. Like 'oh I basically do web tech stuff' when I really am a customer service representative. I started out answering the phones but was "promoted" to emails (whooppee!). Oh, I forgot to say where I work. I work for a magazine publishing company located in a relatively big city, I'll try to keep the company's name out of it so I won't lose my job for putting them on blast lol. We publish trade magazines that no one reads. I don't make enough to live on my own unless I wanted to starve or live in the hood but then my car insurance (on a car I can't even afford to get right now) would be ridiculously high! This is why I'm still at home :(

So the company is privately owned and could give a rats ass about diversity. So in other words us "darkies" are few and far between except in three departments: customer service (my department), fulfillment (they handle the incoming mail), and the mailroom. We're not the face of the company but we're definitely what keeps it running. So I get there and its a 5 story building, nothing on the first floor but elevators, a deli, and a small financial company of some sort, the 2nd floor was empty at first but was soon rented out, third floor holds two other " governmental agencies," and it held customer service and fulfillment for my company. The only two departments not on the 4th floor with the rest of the company outside of the big wigs who has the top floor. We were outcasts, or the black sheep of the company and they wanted us to know it and they wanted everyone else to treat us that way. We'd have meetings with other departments that rely on us and they'd be praising us to heaven's doors but as soon as that meeting is over and we're passing these same people in the hallway, in the bathroom or where ever they won't even look in our direction (with the exception of one person who always speaks).

Fast forward about 8 months after I got there, dealing with the racial tension that I'm sure a lot of minorities feel working for a white company and they had the audacity to move us up to the forth floor with the rest of the company, albeit we're in a back corner, isolated from just about everyone else but we're up there! lol and boy were they upset the niggers were coming! Since I have some people in other departments I knew what was being said about us and what they expected to happen once we got up there. You would think they thought we'd be bring a boombox blasting rap and barbequing in the hallway! The transition was cool nothing big happened, no boomboxes, no barbeque just regular business. But what gets me is if I'm in the elevator or bathroom and someone sees me that hasn't seen me before they automatically know what department I work for. They tried to get my sister with that "oh how do you like the 4th floor" and she works in the finance department been there for at least 4 years now, talk about working while black! Oh yeah it was about 6 months after being there when they "promoted" me to emails which I was so happy to do since I hate talking to people on the phone who just demand things they're not entitled to and like to vent to me like I'm the reason the post office sucks and stop asking about the damn weather!

Ok so that's work, lets tie this back into what I came here to blog about. So I am one of maybe three total who has a degree. With the new manager who came in about two years before I did she changed the requirements to you either needing to have a degree or relevant experience. So I got in with my degree, another person obtained her degree while there, and a third has a degree and a lot of customer service experience and is actually back in school to get another degree. BUT! I have an almighty Michigan degree! That was suppose to mean something. I was told by my manager and assistance manager that they didn't believe I'd be in this department 6 months and I'm working on two years.

I've continued my job search through the same avenues plus some more just not as aggressively. I've had two phone interviews, well no three phone interviews with other companies, and one in person interview and nothing. Maybe I interview bad :( I've even applied for other positions within the company and I got nothing. I've discussed the upward mobility, or rather the lack there of within the company with other people and the consensus is that other departments will not hire people from customer service. They think so low of our department that the glass ceiling isn't see through for us, its been painted black! Even within the department you can't move up and show any leadership skills to other potential employers or managers because the opportunities are not there. Another issue brought up is not only am I black and I work in customer service but maybe my degree is too fancy! Can you believe that, I apply for a position and because I graduated from a great school I'm a threat because of it! I didn't really think much of that thought the first few times I heard it but it has come up a lot so I'm starting to give some credence to that.

I'm not going to give up though. I have a boyfriend whom I love so much but lives in another state. He's ready to take it to the next level and he wants me to move in with him. I'm ready to do that but other issues are hindering that possibility, though its going to happen regardless of whats stopping me! But his location doesn't appear to be any better job search wise and his location can and will change (he's military). And that's a whole nother can of worms! I'll save that discussion for later.

I'm tired now

So til next time....