After sadly putting aside countless job postings that require the applicant to be either a CPA or MBA (or sometimes both) and complaining on this blog about how unfair it was (I felt my work experience should out-weigh the fact that I don’t have either yet), I found something interesting.
I stumbled upon a collection of blogs on the Wall Street Journal‘s website called Laid off and Looking where 8 unemployed MBAs write about their difficulties in finding a job.
From a quick scan of their bios, I saw that one of the job-seekers was a former CFO. The CFO wrote that companies were turned off by the fact that he had worked at too many places in his 28-year career. How ridiculous that they thought 5 companies were too many! Companies go through so many transitions (being acquired, CEO changes) that sometimes create turnover in top executive spots. The hiring company shouldn't have dismissed this person because of something like that.
I think the rest of us that are unemployed may run into the same problem in the future. Right now, people understand the situation because of the economy and the job market. But I don’t think employers will be as understanding in a few years.
If someone was laid-off after working at a company for 1 or 2 years, will it look like the person was job-hopping? What if the same person found a job at another company and that company had layoffs after 6-8 months? – sadly, I have seen this happen to quite a few people. Will this situation cause a potential employer to question our loyalty?
It’s fine if you can get in the door and explain your situation during an interview. The problem is, if your resume is rejected, you won’t even have that chance. What do you think?
I saw something on CNN, I believe, yesterday that said something along the lines of 60% of this year's college grads will not be able to find jobs. 60%!
ReplyDeleteOne of the panelists, an older gentleman, said simply that new grads shouldn't worry, they'll find work "eventually" - you could tell that he knew better but was trying to be positive about the situation.
I seem to remember seeing an MBA grad taking a job as a door man because he could not find anything else - a door man!
Makes me all that much more grateful for my job and really sympathize for new grads and unemployed professionals alike :( I don't think HR professionals will question "job-hopping" on resumes from late 2008 - 2009 a few years from now, I think we *all* know what happened around that time, no explanation required.
Jr,
ReplyDeleteWow! 60% is scary! And "eventually" could turn out to be more than a year!