How Do You Job-Hunt If You Work Overtime? 442
Lord_Dweomer asks: "As a recent college grad, I took a job to pay the bills, but soon realized that it would end up sucking the life out of me. I work a lot of overtime in a high-stress, tight deadline job. Once you get into that kind of downward spiral, how do you find another job?"
"All my free time, during the week, is completely non-existent, and the weekends are needed to take care of chores, and preserve my mental health. Are potential employers typically sensitive to the fact that I may not be able to interview during the week or during standard work hours? Also, will having left here after a year seem like a real black mark on my resume? My reasons for leaving, aside from the overtime (I am non-exempt), would be that I've basically been promoted in work load and responsibilities -- and have even taken on another job role, IN ADDITION to my current one. All of this without a raise in pay, or new title.
I'd quit if I had a choice, but I really need the money, yet I'm unable to look for a new job because of lack of time. How am I supposed to job hunt under these circumstances?"
How about... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe not quite that.... (Score:5, Funny)
You must be new here.
Re:How about... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How about... (Score:3)
Re:How about... (Score:4, Insightful)
I finally got an MBA, but all my experience was in IT. I wanted to be an operations analyst.
I finally got a foot in the door at large footwear/apparel company - but I had to swallow my pride and go in as an "admin assistant". Sure I could make more in IT, but I didn't want to be in IT any more.
My first job was as an admin assistant and it lasted a month. I got transferred to another part of the company as basically an assistant to an operations analyst. 11 months later, I landed a permanent job, making pretty good money, and working as a supply chain performance analyst. It's a perfect job for me - I'm learning the things I want to learn, and am making great connections for my next job.
And by the way, I never would have gotten the job I have now if I had just applied from the "outside". It's all about getting in the door and then busting your ass to make a name for yourself.
If there's a company you want to work for, find out who they temp through, and work your way in. It's not glamorous, but it works!
Re:How about... (Score:5, Informative)
Good point, he's had lots of posts to slashdot...
Re:How about... (Score:5, Funny)
You don't (Score:2, Insightful)
Welcome to the real world. (Score:2)
Re:Welcome to the real world. (Score:4, Insightful)
he mentions how he's doing 2 different jobs without any sort of extra compensation but the overtime. maybe he should take it up with teh boss. maybe it would be cheaper for the boss to hire someone else at a lower pay rate than to be paying him all the overtime.
he says he's a recent grad... find a roommate, move into a cheaper apartment, don't go out drinking, don't spend money to have fun. if that's what your friends do, let them. if you can, move back in with your parents. i doubt you're tied down with family stuff being a recent grad. spread your chores out over the course of the evenings. laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc can all be done over time. hell, i haven't cleaned my apartment really well in months, but i pick up and vacuum every now and then. and i have lots of free time.
if you really want the job, you'll put in the extra effort and give up some of the quality of life crap and just deal with it until you find a new job. otherwise, you will have to learn to suck it up and deal with teh status quo. the words are harsh, but that's really what it comes down to.
Re:Welcome to the real world. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Welcome to the real world. (Score:3, Insightful)
You must be new to this industry. If you're salaried, you don't get overtime pay -- ever. That's standard industry practice. If you're hourly, you might get a package where they only pay overtime beyond 28 hours per month in exchange for paid vaca
Headhunter? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Headhunter? (Score:3, Interesting)
I used them to find my last job, i had 6 offers in 2 weeks. All of which were more than I wanted. I paid nothing, they got a % of what I made through the company that hired me. So the more I made, the more they made. Plus I told them exactly what I want and they found the jobs that fit my profile. It was great, I had to do no work. I will never go without using one again for future job searches.
Re:Headhunter? (Score:4, Informative)
Of that, I got about 12% of the markup for contract employees and about 4% of his salary for placing him.
Never pay a headhunter, and when you use them, use several. They work for the employer, not you, so use them as an extra networking tool instead of absolutely relying on them for your next position. I networked several hundred consultants in less than a year while I was working in that job. To a recruiter, no matter how special you think you are, you're nothing but another name, and you aren't irreplacable. Quit because I hated the grind.
Also, realize that most keep regular hours and aren't going to set up an interview late at night or on weekends unless the client is a really good one or unless they're desperate for the dough. You need to make time to interview, so schedule your lunch around it.
Because many of them are liars. (Score:3, Funny)
I applied for a job with a software company some time ago. I was asking for 60 peanuts (peanuts is the currency of my parables) and in fact the advertisment stated that they were offering 65 peanuts.
I went through 3 rounds of interviews, I liked the company, then found my charming and capable (of course) and then we sat dwon to talk peanuts, I mean, money.
Knowing that they were offering 65 peanuts and keeping in mind I wanted 60 peanuts initially I asked for 62 peanuts (unsalte
Re:Headhunter? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Headhunter? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Headhunter? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Headhunter? (Score:3, Insightful)
My most amusing experience with a recruitment agency was 5 or 6 years ago when I had essentially no IT experience or qualifications and was trying to break into the industry. I went for what was supposed to be a chat with the recruiter but which turned out to actually be the first interview for pretty much my
Re:Headhunter? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Headhunter? (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't limit yourself to one head hunter and definitely make a note of everyone your CV has been sent to. In company getting your CV from two different sources will trash it, since it is less complicated then trying to work out who gets the comission. In fact you should tell your head hunters only to send your CV to companies you authorise for this sort of reason.
Re:Headhunter? (Score:2)
Cheers,
Gonna have to burn days off (Score:2)
good news & bad news (Score:5, Funny)
> may not be able to interview during the week or during standard
> work hours?
No.
> Also, will having left here after a year seem like a real black
> mark on my resume?
No.
Re:good news & bad news (Score:4, Informative)
See, of those 200 applicants, 180 are coming from people that shotgun the same resume to each opening they find. These resumes are easy to spot because: 1) there's no cover letter, and 2) the resumes are keyword soup (C++JAVAFORTRANPL/1LISPSNOBOLPOSTSCRIPTVIC-20!!!)
So, you're in the lucky 20. You wrote a cover letter saying who you are, and you wrote a resume that focuses on the strengths, interests, and experience that you have that apply to the company and the specific opening.
You're now in round 2 of triage. At this point, someone with tech experience will go through the 20 surviving resumes to pick out the best 5.
So you've made it to the top 5 - great! Now, for each of these five, an HR person (or someone filling in for this role) will either arrange for a phone interview or an in-person interview. If it's a phone interview, you should have no problem (you do have a cell phone, right? Put it on your resume so they can call you during the day).
The in-person interview will take up a great deal of the company's time. Even if you're only there for an hour, you might be interviewed by eight people. That's eight person-hours of time spent on something other than coding, QAing, or running the things. That's also eight people who have to sync up their schedules to meet you!
So the HR person goes down the list of five possible in-person, and one can't come in during the week. The other four will get interviews, and *if* none of them get an offer, you might get called back. Alternately, *if* you have a stunning resume or have demonstrated an ability to walk on water, you might get to meet with the hiring manager later in the day.
My advice is for you to take a personal half-day, even if you are an hourly employee, to do interviews. Alternately, either schedule a 1hr interview around lunchtime, and be prepared to do a second 1hr if more people need to interview you from the same company, or ask for a phone interview. Companies may prefer the phone option because they can get a sense for you without spending 8 person-hours. But if they like you, you will still have to do the in-person interview later.
One more thing. If you want your resume to be noticed, do your homework on the company. Spend an hour researching them - what they do, who they are - and think about what *you* can do for them. With that knowledge, write a 3 paragraph cover letter about why you are interested in what the company does, and how you think you can help. Also, make a customized resume for the company that emphasizes your interests as they fit with the company (this is especially true if you have a lot of experience - it helps you focus and helps the person reading the resume to fit you into their model of what they are looking for.)
Best of luck with your search!
--Pat
Quit (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't you do it after work? (Score:5, Insightful)
Take sick leave. (Score:5, Informative)
I used to just be really brazen about it, showing up for work in a nice suit, disappearing for three hours, and taking phone calls from recruiters in front of my coworkers. It got one employer to give me two huge bonuses, a nice raise, and hire a junior SA to handle some of the work. There's this old proverb about squeaky wheels and grease...
Re:Take sick leave. (Score:3, Insightful)
There's this old proverb about squeaky wheels and grease...
I believe there's also one about the person who sticks his head up the highest getting it knocked off... or something...
Re:Take sick leave. (Score:2)
It's really referring to the "virtues," if you prefer, of being conformist.
Re:Take sick leave. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Take sick leave. (Score:2)
My boss there tried to block me from visiting a school by citing how I had to be in the office.
Not to sound brazen (I was quite diplomatic about the deal), but, what was he going to do, fire me? That would have added a couple weeks of severance pay to my departure.
Re:Take sick leave. (Score:5, Interesting)
More importantly though is your current situation. You don't need time to interview for other jobs, you just need more time, period. Once you take a few 'sick afternoons' to go interview or leave for a long lunch interview, you may realize just how easy it is to leave you job at a reasonable hour. I had a job that used to make us stay late and work long hours. I was very unproductive. One day, because i hated that job so much, i left early (granted early=6:30, 8:30-6:30). I started doing it every day. One day, as i was leaving my manager stopped me and said 'i noticed you've been leaving at 6:30' (he dare not say 'early'!). I told him, matter of factly, that tonight i was meeting a friend and had to get ready. I made no excuses for the other nights. After that he learned to have more respect for the time i was in the office. He knew that i would be the 1st to leave the office and he would make extra efforts to make sure that i would have everything i needed to finish my projects before 6:30. He knew i wouldn't stay one second later, unless it was an emergency.
My coworkers were jealous that I got to leave 'early' and they had to stay until 9-10pm every night. I told them it was their own doing and they could leave when they wanted. When bonus time came around, my billing was on target and my bonus reflected that. I got more done during 8:30-6:30 when i felt good about my job, than i ever got done working 8:30AM-10PM and hating it.
This is one of my great revelations. It was beginning of restructuring my social life, getting physically fit, starting bike racing, and generally getting my life in order.
Re:Take sick leave. (Score:3, Informative)
Standard is 7.5 hours per day (8 hours with 30 minute lunch break), with a significant number of unionized workers having negotiated 15 minutes less.
In the private IT sector, it is fairly common to work 10 hours, even though that's illegal. The work environment inspection (Arbeidsmiljøtilsynet) check for this occasionally, and will fine both the employer and the employee heavily if th
Worked for me! (Score:5, Interesting)
Playing double-or-nothing is a great way to get a raise or get canned, but in my experience, if you're on-the-ball you'll get the raise. I know my workplace would be in a world of pain if I left, just because I know a little about how everything works.
Re:Worked for me! (Score:3, Insightful)
Well... (Score:2)
Just don't put "ethical" on your resume.
You have to take time for yourself... (Score:2)
If you have to use vacation days to attemd interviews but ultimately you may have to find an agency to find jobs for you.
Besides, the agencies usually get word of upcoming positions before any job hunter would. Another tip, it's easier to make your demands when you already have employment and thus aren't desparate for a paycheck.
Just my $0.02
Re:You have to take time for yourself... (Score:2)
And you know what else? Smart managers know this. They also know that it takes much more time and expense to hire new employees to replace the ones that quit from burn-out than it is to take some steps to keep the ones they already have mentally healthy. The poster may find that his employer is more than willing to provide some slack time to let him decompress between projec
Suck it up,. (Score:2, Insightful)
I call whiny bitch. If you really wanted it, you would skip on the "mental health" part of the weekends and spend the time getting a new job. Then, later, when you had a new job, you'd get the benefit of not being so stressed out all the time.
"How do I get something I want but not have to do any work for it?"
Welcome to real life, bud. No pain, no gain. And in this case, a little pain now seems like it could pay off big-time lat
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:2, Insightful)
Absolutely true (Score:3, Interesting)
Every agency or tech company I worked with had management and techs available who'd do weekend interviews if it was the only time some one could get together. Far more often an evening or morning phone call was arranged.
Even if you're working 12 hours a day and commuting an hour each way, that's still only 14 hours. That leaves you 2-3 hours per workday with 7-8 hours of sleep. Your choice, but arranging an interview call might be something to consider doing with that time.
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been in this sort of situation before. Frankly, I find that it's hard to go through a good job search if you have a full-time job at all. I find job searches to be worse than any full-time job I've ever had, and having to do it after a long day's work isn't fun. Doing it after working 18 hours straight is pretty demoralizing.
And on top of all the rest, potential employers want everyone to be so goddamn chipper. That's what gets me, is even if your working hard and still looking for a job, you're tired and a bit depressed, which is exactly the wrong state to be in if you want to get hired. They want you to have the most beautiful resume ever, a personally-crafted cover letter, and a big smile on your face when you show up for an interview. Lots of them want you to tell them how they have the best company ever and the job you're interviewing for is your dream job. All this after they went through all the trouble of writing a 2 sentence job post for Monster.com.
Honestly, my theory is that there's a serious problem with the way we find work, in that the skills to find the job, the skills to get the job, and the skills to do the job are often not the same. Sometimes, they're contradictory. And we don't have help, and we treat people like their lazy idiots if they have any trouble with the process.
I mean, yeah, you have to suck it up. If you want a job, you have to do it. But can't we have a little sympathy for someone who works long days, has other things going on in his life (don't we all?), and is frustrated by the job-search process? When he asks for help, can't we offer something more productive than name-calling?
My advice (and others have said similar things) is to put limits on the hours for the current job. When they dump more hours and responsibilities on you, say no. Leave on time. Take vacation/sick/personal time for interviews. Do what you need to do. It won't make your boss happy, but you don't need him to be super-impressed if you're not trying to move up in that company anyway. Wait until you get your new job, then work your ass off to impress the boss. Work your ass off when you work for a good company where hard work will pay off.
*yes, before I got my current job, I interrupted my job search for about a month because I was working 20 hour days sometimes and I didn't have the energy to look.
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:3, Insightful)
How about giving the guy some constructive criticism as opposed to taking a crap in his hat? I know everyone likes to be a-know-it-all on the inter web, but truth is, we don't really know what is employment situation and personal life are like.
That said, he sounds pretty bummed out, and he probably doesn't have a lot of experience with handling these situations. He's fresh out of college. It's takes a while before you learn to deal with the crappy nature of real life.
If I were him I wou
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:2)
As an aside, I'm not HR, but I do work plenty of Sundays.
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:3, Informative)
I can't imagine a manager that wouldn't do the same.
Re:Suck it up,. (Score:4, Funny)
Try harder.
Or failing that, just heave a rock out of the window. You'll hit three of them. No imagining required.
start doing less hours (Score:3, Insightful)
If you live in Ontario (Score:2)
Not just how to get out. (Score:2)
Second: There are two ways out... Hook up with a temp agency to pay the bills and quit or save enough cash to cover a couple months of bills and quit. Either way, move toward quitting. Others have mentioned vacation/sick time but these may lead to "absenteeism" and burnt bridges.
Now that you're in your new job, communicate your workload better so you don't get piled on ag
How Do You Job-Hunt If You Work Overtime? (Score:2)
You have to back away from that requirement to give yourself the needed maneuvering room to refocus your efforts on something more palatable. It takes a lot less than most believe to lead a decent life. Choose your vector first before you start accelerating so hard in that chosen direction - inertia makes it hard to change direction in job and life style, just like it does in physics.
Re: How Do You Job-Hunt If You Work Overtime? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hi, story poster here.
Its funny that you said that...because while I've been thinking about other jobs, I have no idea what I want to do next. I have thoughts of law school, but I don't want to go through all of that if I end up disliking it as much. Although the rewards would be big...
Hell, part of me just wants to be a lazy ass and become some surf bum in Hawaii.
I guess that would be a good follow-up question...
Once you're in the real world, how do you get to test out jobs since you can't exactly intern somewhere at a certain point. Does anybody have any suggestions for a test or some guide I can read to perhaps gain some insight into what kind of jobs I might be interested in?
Re: How Do You Job-Hunt If You Work Overtime? (Score:2)
My friends who have been to law school have become, ah, lawyers, judges, investigators, and venture capitalists. Law school sharpens the mind and teaches analysis and discipline and ethics (yeah, I know - lawyer jokes).
One man I've never met except virtually via email exchanges is Glenn Harlan Reynolds [utk.edu]. He is on the University of Tenn Law Faculty, and writes (very well and) prolifically about techn
Call the WAAAAHHHmbulance... (Score:4, Insightful)
You just graduated from college yet you sound as drained as someone nearing retirement. Snap out of it, get your resume out there, pound pavement: you don't work 24*7.
Or... are you in over your head? It's one thing to get your degree, another to apply the theory to practical use.
Whatever happens, do not quit your job yet. It's easier to get a job while you already have one. A potential employer may consider you a hothead if you tell them you quit your job with nothing else lined up.
Re:Call the WAAAAHHHmbulance... (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Call the WAAAAHHHmbulance... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Call the WAAAAHHHmbulance... (Score:3, Insightful)
You mention you're a recent college grad. which leads me to believe you're young.
The description of your job fits a pattern I see regularly - young enthusastic worker just out of college not knowing how things work and being taken advantage of by a well meaning but highly ambitious small business boss for whom the business is everything. Usually with a short fuse. Eventually young enthustiastic worker burns out but because they don't have a lot of experience they're not sure what to do next. Does this fit
You have time (Score:2)
You have vacation time. Use it for intervi
In Soviet Russia Jobs look for you (Score:3, Insightful)
Network. Email everyone you can (and by can, I mean everyone who won't get mad at you for eamiling them that you need work). Try getting into some networking groups like Friendster [friendster.com] and LinkedIn.com [linkedin.com].
Get a Blog and start writing in it, and include the fact that your looking for work and your trials and tribulations etc. It worked wonders for Odd Todd [oddtodd.com] and who knows who might read your blog. Of course to advertise you're gonna have to read/post in others blogs. Do so wisely.
Most importantly -- believe that you can make it happen and you will. But the key is you have to make it happen -- otherwise it won't.
Learn to say NO (Score:5, Insightful)
You will end up working a little overtime (just to recoup the time you spend browsing slashdot at work), but things will become controllable. Working more than 10 hours a day and more than 5 days a week is unsustainable. So it only makes sense to do so if you need or want to do it temporarily, to, say, meet a deadline or to get rich in a startup. Pre-deadline crunches shouldn't last more than two weeks, though. If it's more - your management is doing something wrong and you should simply refuse to come in on the weekend or stay late.
well.. search and quit. (Score:2)
Save up and quit (Score:2)
demand a raise (Score:3, Informative)
Re:demand a raise (Score:4, Interesting)
Is this Russia? This isn't Russia. (Score:2)
What I did (Score:2)
I saw a t.v. show that taught you how to cut back y
Webmail, Cellphone, "Emergencies" & other advi (Score:2)
Cellphone - Anywhere access again. Keep it on vibrate, though. You can take a "dinner break" from your horendous hours and streach it out into a phone interview in your car if the weather isn't too bad.
"Emergencies" - If you have an afternoon interview, show up for a few hours and leave due to a family emergency. Come up with a good one. The point here is to use sick time so that they have
Re:Webmail, Cellphone, "Emergencies" & other a (Score:2)
Just make sure your email address isn't manwhore653@gmail.com
Yeah, that sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
Basically, you have to accept that it's going to suck, and you're going to be spending another 5-10 hours a week on top of your work week just sending out applications.
Also, I had to take some unpaid time off to go to interviews. After the second morning that I couldn't come in, my boss kind of caught on and wouldn't let me use any comp time. Fortunately, that third unpaid morning off was the one that landed me a job.
Nothing is more satisfying than knowing that it was your boss's making you work overtime that landed you a new job.
1 Year is not an issue (Score:2)
As for finding the next job? Make sure all of your friends/family and their friends/family know you are looking for a job. It's so much easier to get a job when someone recommends you than it is to get your resume noticed replying to an ad. Wh
overtime (Score:2)
Create something of value to others (Score:2)
Well (Score:2)
Worst Case (Score:2)
Re:Worst Case (Score:2)
Stop working overtime (Score:4, Insightful)
So just stop working overtime. Or cut back on it. It won't take you too long to update your resume, and then maybe an hour a day to check the job sources and send out 2 or 3 resumes a day. And when you get an interview, take a sick or vacation day.
Become a Consultant (Score:3, Interesting)
Take time off when you want too, do the things that interest you.
And the kicker, get paid double what every other 9-5 Joe is getting.
its OK to search at work (Score:2)
Head hunters (if you're into that) are fine with calling you at work. Let me rephrase that. If you represent potential income, Head Hunters would be fine with calling you in an opium den.
Even many direct employers are fine with this. Most understand that you are expected to work overtime and that's where they ca
Is everybody working this hard, or just you? (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, I'm a little confused about your overtime situation. If you are paid for overtime, then you are non-exempt. If you do not get paid for overtime, you are exempt. (As in: Exempt from overtime laws.)
If everybody at your office is working this hard, then yeah, it's time to take some "flex" time during the day to do at least a phone interview. If they aren't paying you by the hour, then it is perfectly right for you to do so. (You aren't physically chained to your desk, are you?) If they are paying by the hour, just charge them for less OT.
Remember, you work to live, not the other way around.
SirWired
Re:Is everybody working this hard, or just you? (Score:4, Insightful)
Part of the problems faced in the first job out is the deadline. Yes, you had deadlines by the dozen in school, and each major one could potentially ruin several months of your life if missed, however real world work doesn't have to be like that. At least not to the same degree.
First of all, your not being assigned projects or tasks that have been carefully balanced to fit in an allotted time with a nice set of requirements. Your probably getting requirements that float all over the map and a "we need it yesterday" deadline. I sympathise, I have several projects in the air right now that are similar. However, the bonus on these projects is that you can apologize, tell the customer how much you want to have it done on time, and push out the date because such-and-such project takes priority, or because you "really want to give it the time to do it right". Better yet, if you have a good manager, they should be doing it. You have to manage your load instead of allowing it to manage you. Don't be afraid to sit down with your manager and talk about relative priorities of projects and which deadlines seem unhealthy. Remember, your customer wants a working solution in an impossible amount of time. You can either throw something together in a short time and take one step closer to mental break down or get your manager to help you make a realistic deadline that he can then go back and explain to the customer. It's in everyone's best interests that you don't have a mental break down and that you don't slap everything together as fast and dirty as you can.
Second, I had no second
In any case, good luck with your situation, been there, or somewhere closely approximating there.
Happened to me (Score:2)
quit now (Score:2)
What I'm doing (Score:2)
I dropped out of community college a few years back because of lack of motivation (laziness?). I then worked a shit job for a year and went back to college. Dropped out again, shit! Well now I'm going to try the online college route at Athabasca [athabascau.ca] and work at the same time. I guess my point (if there is one), is that you shouldn't give up. Eventually you'll find something you like, and you'll probably thank yourself in 30 years.
Suck it up, and do the best job you can (Score:2)
You have a few options (Score:5, Informative)
If you are working so hard that you are stressed to the breaking point, see your physician or psychologist, with the possibility of receiving medical clearance to go on sick leave
Recognize that your employer needs you more than you need them. I say this because if you are filling two roles for the price of one, your company probably cannot do without you. While this is tougher for people to do when they have less experience (aren't wise to 'normal' employee / employer expectations), know that you can establish boundaries and expectations. Advise your manager that you will simply not be able to fulfil the duties of BOTH positions and they're going to have to pick the ONE that you will be responsible for. If they won't play ball, tell them you intend to resign. They will do anything to keep a person that does as much work as you, including cutting your hours substantially.
Realize that salary does not mean 'you will complete as much work as we tell you to, even if it means sleeping under your desk'. There are labor laws which govern this type of employee abuse. Spend a few hours calling local government agencies and find out what your rights are. Better yet, consult a labor lawyer. He may actually be able to extract money for all the extra hours you put in. Plus, the company basically can't fire you after this, because that getting fired for attempting to protect yourself from abusive employment practices is called 'wrongful dismissal', and is worth even more money to you in a lawsuit.
All in all, finally I can just tell you to look out for yourself first. Your company isn't looking out for you, so YOU HAVE TO DO IT. I would suspect that you have a strong work ethic, and want to do good for the company and it's clients, but at the end of the day, are you reaping the profits? NO. So always look out for #1.
Can't find time? Make time! (Score:5, Informative)
Lord_Dweomer asks: "As a recent college grad, I took a job to pay the bills, but soon realized that it would end up sucking the life out of me. I work a lot of overtime in a high-stress, tight deadline job. Once you get into that kind of downward spiral, how do you find another job?"
Leverage your time and connections.
All of those co-worker friends you have, all of those business cards you've been stockpiling at all of those work meetings? They're not just interesting pieces of paper used to convey notes and/or passwords. :) If you're on good terms with those folk, maybe it's time to take 5-10 minutes out of your lunch break to ring them up?
Alot of people I know post their resumes up on resume sites like Craigslist or to Monster/Dice/hotjobs/etc. Takes 15-30 minutes to post, then check on it once every few days. Not alot of time.
Another option is to have automated searches run for you through one of the aforementioned job sites.
Yet another option would be to get in touch with people through a business networking service like jigsaw.
"All my free time, during the week, is completely non-existent, and the weekends are needed to take care of chores, and preserve my mental health.
Okay... what do you do at lunch? Are you taking a lunch? Taking a lunch helps preserve sanity. Not to mention keeping things all legal in the employment law books.
Are potential employers typically sensitive to the fact that I may not be able to interview during the week or during standard work hours?
Depends on the employer and on your value to them. Personally, when I had a job interview, I made sure that the time we agreed upon was convenient to them, myself, and my current employer. Ie, during lunch breaks, at the start or end of day, or I take a personal day off.
The fact of the matter is, you are looking for a new job. If the new job is worthwhile to you, then you will need to invest something into getting that job. That means taking a day off sometimes.
Also, will having left here after a year seem like a real black mark on my resume?
Nope. Especially with the recent job losses in the market, it will seem pretty typical. If you are in the tech field, staying for around 1 to 2 years is, I think, around average if you are fairly well established at the company you are working for. 2+ years is if you are working towards a goal within the company. Less than that, you are building up your resume with projects, completed goals, and exposure to new technologies.
The other issue is that if the workplace doesn't work out, you really aren't obligated to stay. What's the point unless you have no other choice? If you are interviewing, you are engaging other choices.
My reasons for leaving, aside from the overtime (I am non-exempt), would be that I've basically been promoted in work load and responsibilities -- and have even taken on another job role, IN ADDITION to my current one. All of this without a raise in pay, or new title.
You really need to look at what you want here. If you want to get compensated for over-time, then you are looking at switching to an hourly wage. In which case, joining a consultant group (Taos, Kforce, ManPower, etc) would be a good way to go. If you just want a higher salary, but don't want to go hourly, then interviewing at a medium to larger sized business is the way to go. Small/Medium businesses and dot coms tend to have a small core of people who work extremely hard and long hours. Many of them are salaried. They are willing to do this because they probably either have stock options or don't feel the effort to switch jobs is good for them.
Whatever the reason, you need to look at your priorities. Want time left over for yourself, your family, your life, etc? Then add it to your want/need list. Want more money, add it onto the list as well. Which one comes first? Decide that before going into the interview.
7-step program. (Score:3, Insightful)
And Craig if you're reading this: A dog is nice but a pet rock is cheap.
Step 2. Okay, so your finances are reasonable. You have little if any debt and your core living expenses don't eat your entire paycheck. Cut your spending. Cut it to the bone. Dump the cable TV. Skip the chips at the grocery store. Don't even bother visiting Best Buy. You need to put enough money in the bank to pay your core expenses for about six months.
Step 3. Okay, so you have enough money to live off of for six months. Quit. Give two weeks notice set to expire in the first week of the next month and walk away. Note that the two weeks notice is very important. Your next employer probably won't call your last one, but wouldn't it suck if you missed out on a great job because they did? Leaving shortly after the start of the month is important too. You don't want to show a large gap on your resume but nobody counts the days.
Step 4. Sleep. This'll take about two weeks. Kick back, let your whiskers grow, shower if the smell gets too bad but mostly relax and recover.
Step 5. Take a two week vacation. Somewhere dirt cheap 'cause this'll put you a month in to your six months of saved money. Heck, go visit some relatives. That's always cheap. It doesn't really matter where you go as long as its away.
Step 6. Come back fresh and start looking for jobs. Apply for anything that looks vaguely interesting. If you're lucky, 1 in 50 will respond with interest. Don't worry about the response rate. Just keep applying for jobs. Go on interviews and if it looks like a suck job, turn it down. You have five months to find a job. Don't sweat it.
Step 7. Accept one of the jobs. Hopefully you found one you liked, but if you ran out of time then take what you can get and go back to step 2. Do make sure you take the new job before the money in the bank runs out. You absolutely don't want to go in to debt in the hopes of holding out for the right job. That'll just land you back at step 1.
Your mileage may vary, but this worked great for me.
Join the Army (Score:3, Informative)
You must work in a call center. Have you thought about joining the Army? I hear they are looking volunteers. Since you have a degree, you could go for officer candidate school. It's not like you'd go and fight in an unpopular war and work in a high-stress environment.
You can save time if you... (Score:3, Funny)
Get yourself a good book (Score:4, Informative)
Works for me!
You're only one person - not 6 (Score:3, Insightful)
Secondly, if you have decided to look around it means you have mentally already left (lesson 1 of staff management - missed by many idiot managers). So you're going to feel even worse now - get on with finding a job.
Having no time is an illusion - it's your choice.
No Fightin the Man (Score:3, Funny)
1) A Dilbert desk calendar
2) A Tatoo
sincerely,
The Man
Be good to yourself, first and foremost. (Score:3, Insightful)
I probably should be posting as an AC here, but who knows, you may want to follow up with emails. What to do when you're worked into the ground without so much as a thank-you?
Some background first: My wife got her MBA, while working full-time, in a 2-year program. During her last year, she was not only working (for a company whose name I can never divulge), but asked to fly all over the globe (Asia, Latin America) in her role, and was putting in weekends -- time she should have been using for the degree. (She still managed to graduate with honors, by the way.)
Her management team was so fraught with cronyism, however, and so dictatorial that she could never get past their bullying. She never did crack the glass ceiling there, even after trying every strategy in the book to succeed, including writing up new business plans. The plans were in fact implemented, but she never received credit for them.
Instead, her manager told her that the object of employment at this company was to do your job, take orders, and retire. (Nice place, huh?)
It got worse: During a celebratory lunch for her group, her skip-level manager never even acknowledged that she received her MBA from a top-flight B-school. He instead chose to heap accolades on a colleague (who, incidentally, was and is a lazy sack of shit).
She's scarred to this day. She has a new job, and it's pretty nice, but she's still wondering what she really wants to do with her life. Can you blame her?
The moral of the story: No matter how hard you try, there are some management teams that will, for whatever reason, ignore or denigrate you. If you find yourself in such a position, you do two things:
Hope this helps. Good luck with whatever decision you make..
Easy (Score:3, Insightful)
Once you've got enough in the bank, start leaving on time every day. Just plain flat ignore requests to stay late. Eventually they'll fire you, and you'll live off your savings while you look for another job full-time.
Any potential employer who doesn't understand your frustration at being death-marched is probably somebody you don't want to work for anyway, so the fact that you left your previous employment before you had a new job won't hurt you.
Re:Mandatory or Voluntary "Overtime"? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Mandatory or Voluntary "Overtime"? (Score:3, Interesting)