oh, and I also meant to ask, is there anyone around here that does anything in the field of purchasing/logistics/supply chain/inventory/resource management?

quote:

I also did an interview for a placement agency yesterday, and it's kind of sad when they make a BComm do the simple test with basic math (using a calculator!), and filing (in which drawer would the following companies be filed? Ie, have you learned your alphabet yet?), and spelling (use the damn spell-check!). I understand that everyone has to do these tests, but it felt like a darn waste of time.

Don't feel too bad...I not only have a degree, but many years experience under my belt, and was in an agency for a mid-level position (def. not anywhere near entry), and I had to do math, SPELLING, word, ppt, excel, filing, and every other waste of time test you could think of. I was fully insulted, and needless to say, didn't do much work with that agency

I used to be in the field of distribution (healthcare/drug distribution, to be exact), and there are alot of logistics involved. I think a good company for that type of thing would be FedEx, or DHL or whatever you've got up in Canada. As far as resource management, a lot of agencies (i.e. design agencies) rely heavily on resource management to get their jobs done for their clients, so they are good places. Usually fairly creative and should pay ok (I work for one).

could you clarify what you mean by design agency?

I have nothing important to say, just that I hate looking for work.
in some places they are offering $9-15/hour for fast food labour/customer service/menial labour, and I'm picking through the crap, researching companies and industries, and feeling blah about it. the only thing I do know is that I'm not especially keen on oil/gas/heavy construction, and sales/service/retail. And I refuse to work in another call centre. And I have a degree, which should be worth something, except I'm not an accountant. or an engineer. Can't say I'm all that well connected either. I'm not very good at networking.
bleh. This just isn't where all the cool jobs are. Over time, I have found some pretty cool jobs out on the west coast, and definitely more industries there that interest me, but I don't really want to relocate at this time. I like it here. goodness knows why... (stupid redneck country)

Agencies like mine design websites/web experiences for our clients to help them better serve their customers. So, rather than do the design/programming/etc. in-house, many companies hire an agency to manage all that. Each project is pretty big, and pulls various resources (i.e. they need a designer, a copywriter, a programer, and an engineer), and someone has to manage the clients as well as the internal resources.

I went to school and majored in Accounting / Info Systems Mgt. After school I took a job with an accounting firm as a business analyst in their IT dept (reconciling data & building reports). The work was a little boring at first, but I worked diligently on every project I was given and asked questions about everything, learning as much as I could. I suppose it paid off because I was promoted fairly quickly into a much more interesting job.

Here's my career path thus far:
business analyst -> database administrator -> software developer -> team lead / senior developer -> project manager -> present job as an applications manager

Here is what I do overall right now, which still involves a LOT of project management:

• Gather requirements from our internal clients regarding the various databases, financial reporting tools, and data entry software that we develop in-house.
  
• Document these requirements in a way that software developers can understand them and then interpret the requirements for the developers when I fail miserably at this vain attempt.
  
• Document the endless flow of change requests that will come from the client after the requirements are "final." Argue with the development team about feasibility, priority and impact to the project timeline. Go back to the client with the bad news about the non-feasibility or the resulting product delay. Get guilt-tripped/begged/berated by the client and then later receive a mandate from on-high to move some mountains and make the changes happen anyway with no timeline/resource impact. Go back to the development team and promise my first born in order to get the changes approved.
  
• Monitor the design and development of the software and step in when things are progressing down a path that does not fulfill the requirements or otherwise detracts from the desired end-result. Argue with the development team about the necessity of the hard-to-implement requirements and insist they include them. Find out later that they ignored them anyway and instead put in "cool stuff" that was not requested. Arrange for training materials/classes to be developed.
  
• Coordinate functional testing of the completed product to ensure it meets the requirements. Interpret the requirements again, this time for the quality assurance team. Pass along the bad news to the development team when the product inevitably fails testing and does not meet all the requirements. Monitor bug fixes and pass the product back for more testing. Wash, rinse, and repeat until we have software that reasonably resembles the original requirements. Act as mediator between the quality assurance team and the development team when they fail to agree on what constitutes an acceptable defect. Promise my first born again, this time to the quality assurance team, in order to get a final sign off on the software.
  
• Arrange for client acceptance testing. Write up release notes summarizing the various known defects and work-arounds. Release the product. Provide third-level support to users. Find more bugs. Beg, borrow and steal time from the now re-deployed development team for ongoing bug fixes.
  

Whew! I work crazy amounts of nonpaid overtime and deal with tons of hassle and stress, but the pay and the company benefits can't be beat! I also get to work with some talented people and the technology we use is top-notch. There are days I want to run screaming from the building, but most days I like it pretty well. I plan to stick around for about five more years, or until the leadership team gets tired of my opinions, whichever comes first.

I used to work in an office but decided that I'd had enough of the corporate grind so decided to strike out on my own in a job where I could travel.

I have never looked back!

I do IT security for a multinational corp. Pay is great, as well as benefits, and really the vacation is decent for the US.

On one hand I've gotten a good amount of expereince and certifications after 4 years (hopefully I will get to take the big one ( the CISSP)) this year and then I'll see where things take me. All in all it's not a bad gig.


-c_b

Thanks for all the info/advice. After a month+ of looking, I have finally found what may turn out to be the perfect job. *crosses fingers*

Since they say that about 80% of the job market is hidden, or not well advertised, I decided that surfing through crap and applying to ads was one way, but that I would likely be happier if I could seek out a (smallish) company in an industry that interested me. So I did. I started in publishing, put out 2 resumes to publishing companies in town, and voila! after about 3 weeks of back and forth with this guy (I really didn't know if he was up for it or not), I start tomorrow!

it's a tiny 3 (now 4) person company, right downtown, that does publishing/design for local organizations - you know the people who publish those little religious pamphlets, or the info booklets you get when you go to some presentations, or the community league bulletin, or that poetry book that you just wrote for your boyfriend... that's them.

It's perfect for me - I'll get to do a little bit of everything on the business side, so I'm not just a glorified secretary (no offense to secretaries - the work just isn't enough to keep me interested). And there's oodles of opportunities for learning! I'm just not happy if I'm not learning.

YAY!

Oh, and it actually starts at a reasonable hour! (great for someone who is not typically a morning person)

Congrats to you!

Finding a good job that you're happy with can be tough. Glad you stuck it out and found something worthwhile.

yeah.
so, I quit that job after about 6 weeks, as the books were so behind and such a mess, that I just didn't have what it took to fix them. The owner was incompetent and couldn't run his own business.
So I went back to the placement agencies. December is a terrible time to be looking for work.

I have been doing data entry and reception since mid-December (through and for the agency), and finally gave my notice for that position. I should be out of there by the end of the week, mid-next week at the latest. The lead admin quit at the end of December, gave two weeks, but they let her go with pay instead. The second admin promptly gave her notice and today was her last day. We now have no admin, and the poor receptionist has been trained so that she can train the next admin team. Which they still haven't hired. Isn't that sad??

In addition to all of this, I've been firing off 4-7 resumes /week, spending at least an hour a day on the job boards, checking out companies, etc. I've registered with Monster and Workopolis, and so far the only potential offers that I've received are heavily admin and reception.

I feel so dejected at the moment it's not remotely funny.
I've got extensive training, a degree, enough experience to be at least mid-level admin, or entry level management...
And I'm getting absolutely nowhere.

I'm not even getting interviews. I've had 3 interviews since early December, two of them for placement agencies. And I'm totally broken that I had to decline the one offer that I received for personal reasons (too long a story to get into, let's just say working for this organization could have caused personal grief on more than one level).

Help!

Am I really expecting too much? Should I really be aiming for admin jobs at this point in my life/career? After some of the interesting and intellectual work that I've done, pushing other people's paperwork just feels like a huge step back.

Sorry to hear that, TW.

It took me over 6 months to find my current job. I hit a similar point of frustration where all I was interviewing with was placement agencies. The catch with the job search is, it is a job within itself. I would put in my full workday, and then spend at least 2-3 hours an evening looking for other opportunities. One hour a night may not cut it. (in my experience, it absolutely doesn't)

I would also bug the shit out of the placement agencies. I used to call them almost every day, or email them, just to keep me top of mind.

I am not sure if you guys have craigslist in Edmonton, but that is a great way to find jobs. Refresh your resume often on Monster, HotJobs, etc. so that it stays at the top of the pile. Use networking sites like LinkedIn to reconnect with others and find people at companies you want to work at.

I totally know where you're at and it sucks. But keep at it. Network your hiney off!

Hey, I totally understand your frustration. Completely.

I think the hidden job market is the way to go. Totally. My experience with recruiters has been ok for short term stuff, but bad for permanent positions. Although there may be exceptions, they will generally go for the easiest fit rather than the best one for you and they tend to be more conservative in their hiring practices than the companies themselves. I have also found that the wages have been really low.

As for posted jobs, the catch is that you have to stand out amongst a stack of resumes.

In Vancouver right now, we are in a labour shortage. Maybe you should cast your net wider? Just a thought.

Sky Annie - I am in Edmonton!!


The trick is that the shortage is in certain industries, for certain positions, and entry level management type stuff is not really one of them. outside of retail, that is.

yes, I know about the hidden market. I tried that in the fall and totally got burned. time to get over that and try again. there are a couple of potentials coming up this week, I'll see how they go.

more later.

so I've poked around a little bit on that LinkedIn site; looks a fair might better than Orkut, for my current needs. I was getting annoyed at people randomly teen-speak spamming me to request that I friend them so that they could boast having the largest network. or telling me how pretty I am.
(not that I don't appreciate that, but that's not the kind of networking I'm looking for).
My Orkut account no longer exists.

So how do you (personally) use LinkedIn? has it worked for you? how did you get started building your network? so far I've found only one person on it that I know, and I've invited 4 others. who may or (more likely) may not be interested.

is it not possible to get recommended by a friend, does it have to be a professional recommendation?

so much for taking part of the evening to relax and read a book. that just doesn't seem possible these days.

quote:

Originally posted by Sky Annie:
In Vancouver right now, we are in a labour shortage.

Out of curiosity, Sky Annie, what sort of labour shortage is Vancouver in right now? Is it just mostly entry-level/retail positions ?

TheWanderer -- I work as a wildlife researcher for an international ngo here in Borneo. Sounds like a dream job, it is really, for me but office politics wears me down.

Most of my work is in the field -- when I'm in the office, I have to write up on my research.