Job Hunting Sucks

[Rolent Tex]

I’ve been applying on and off since moving to a big city two years ago and have management experience in my field. I was at my last job for 17 years before moving here. I’ve applied at almost every restaurant local hiring and either can’t get a call back, the interviews I do get aren’t for what I applied for or I show up for my interview and get told all positions are full and a manager won’t even get off their ass to apologize for wasting my time.

It’s kind of what I’ve noticed (and knew) before moving here. They’d all rather just hire part time college kids that only want to work part time so they can duck paying for benefits. Then they constantly try scheduling said college kids on days they told them off the start they aren’t available and cry about it when they’re short staffed. They also still to this damn day tell customers it’s because of unemployment and lazy workers they can’t get full staffed. Bullshit. My old boss used to tell regulars that story all the time and they can see me rolling my eyes behind his head. They knew they all quit because of him and quietly asked me as such.

(Last drop of applications resulted in two interviews that I set up myself…only one interview actually happened and I don’t have my hopes up getting a call from the bar manager who was off that day.)

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

So when you actually find a job, what do you shoot it with?

[Rolent Tex]

Jun 9, 2023 2:18:31 GMT -5 Non Banjoble Tokens said:

So when you actually find a job, what do you shoot it with?

Potato gun.

[BlackoutCreature]

I remember when I was unemployed a long time back. It didn't matter what job I applied for, what the job responsibilities were listed as, what my skills or experience were, in the end they were all looking for the same thing - a salesman. Once I told them I wasn't good at interacting with people at such a level, trying to sell them garbage they didn't need, they wouldn't bother talking to me again.

[Bo Rida]

Loved this cartoon about the bullshit that is applying for jobs.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/11/to-all-the-bosses-ive-begged-for-a-job-comic

[tirtefaa]

I've been in the same boat.

I tried my hand at insurance, and man was that ever a big mistake.

They sell you on the idea that you are your own boss and the sky is the limit on what you can make for money.

Well unfortunately, the only actual benefit of this company was that the leads that you would call were provided for you, however the lists were so beat up that it didn't really matter.

I'm an excellent salesman, I have done it for many years, but I've never had such a low penetration rate when it comes to people answering, and at least 50% of the leads were disconnected. No one was doing list work despite the dispositions clearly stating multiple times that the line was disconnected.

To anyone who isn't familiar with how it works, we had office days and field days. Office days would essentially be just that, you would come in, call and build out the next day. Most of the time it wasn't bad. But since the week is only 5 days, you would have an office day on Wednesday where you'd need to build out both Thursday and Friday. If you average that out to say 8 appointments a day, that's 16 appointments you have to schedule in one day, and trust me you don't want to schedule them out any earlier. So Wednesday, I would be in the office from 7:45 am to usually 9:00 pm at night.

Seems like a lot of work for one person right? Well that's the thing, because I would be paired up with someone who was also supposed to be making calls. But because they were a vet agent, that meant they would claim that they would do the selling in the field for me as long as I set the appointments. And honestly? I didn't care, as long as we got something.

And that there WAS the issue, because we hardly got anything. Depending 100% on my appointments was detrimental because of the need to fill the day in the amount of time I had...and let me tell you, when I was calling people, I was trying to make as many calls as possible.

There was one day where I set 11 appointments for, knowing beforehand there was a chance that someone might not show up, so to double book it. The problem was was that they kept pairing me up with the one guy who just didn't seem to care, didn't want to provide any knowledge to me and wouldn't bother pushing it he got met with mild resistance. We got nothing that day, meaning the full day I did beforehand was stuff I didn't get paid for.

So you might ask, how did that other guy make money? Well, as a vet agent,what typically happens is they get repeat business that they themselves only go out on by themselves, meaning the field days where they go out with a rookie, they could care less about since it only nets them 50%. Why not get 100% from someone who isn't as tough of a sell? On top of that when someone leaves, a vet agent will take that former agent's clients...so there's zero incentive for any vets to do any office work because whoever nets a phone appointment, that appointment belongs to that person...meaning repeat business for the rookie, not the vet.

Most guys were great there, but I constantly got put with 3 guys who didn't take anything we did seriously. Most guys there seemed to try to be the Wolf of Wall Street wannabe types. They all loved gambling, golf and eating out at upscale restaurants, something I didn't want to waste money on. It didn't help that I was about 10 years older than all of them, most of those guys had gone from grocery stores to insurance, so obviously a step up for them with pay. If you're supporting a family, this is not the field to get into.

Needless to say, I worked there several months and only made about $3,000. There were some weeks where I made zero money, despite putting close to 60 hours in, and yes I did sometimes work Saturdays just to try to give myself an edge. Commission sounds like a nice thing, and it probably is for those guys who have a lot of free time and the ability to stick it out for a long time. Like, I knew I wasn't going to get rich from commission, but it's an absolute crime with how little most people make. The washout rate for agents is apparently 95% within the first 2 years. Maybe it's the business model?

[salz4life]

Jun 9, 2023 11:50:15 GMT -5 tirtefaa said:

I've been in the same boat.

I tried my hand at insurance, and man was that ever a big mistake.

They sell you on the idea that you are your own boss and the sky is the limit on what you can make for money.

Well unfortunately, the only actual benefit of this company was that the leads that you would call were provided for you, however the lists were so beat up that it didn't really matter.

I'm an excellent salesman, I have done it for many years, but I've never had such a low penetration rate when it comes to people answering, and at least 50% of the leads were disconnected. No one was doing list work despite the dispositions clearly stating multiple times that the line was disconnected.

To anyone who isn't familiar with how it works, we had office days and field days. Office days would essentially be just that, you would come in, call and build out the next day. Most of the time it wasn't bad. But since the week is only 5 days, you would have an office day on Wednesday where you'd need to build out both Thursday and Friday. If you average that out to say 8 appointments a day, that's 16 appointments you have to schedule in one day, and trust me you don't want to schedule them out any earlier. So Wednesday, I would be in the office from 7:45 am to usually 9:00 pm at night.

Seems like a lot of work for one person right? Well that's the thing, because I would be paired up with someone who was also supposed to be making calls. But because they were a vet agent, that meant they would claim that they would do the selling in the field for me as long as I set the appointments. And honestly? I didn't care, as long as we got something.

And that there WAS the issue, because we hardly got anything. Depending 100% on my appointments was detrimental because of the need to fill the day in the amount of time I had...and let me tell you, when I was calling people, I was trying to make as many calls as possible.

There was one day where I set 11 appointments for, knowing beforehand there was a chance that someone might not show up, so to double book it. The problem was was that they kept pairing me up with the one guy who just didn't seem to care, didn't want to provide any knowledge to me and wouldn't bother pushing it he got met with mild resistance. We got nothing that day, meaning the full day I did beforehand was stuff I didn't get paid for.

So you might ask, how did that other guy make money? Well, as a vet agent,what typically happens is they get repeat business that they themselves only go out on by themselves, meaning the field days where they go out with a rookie, they could care less about since it only nets them 50%. Why not get 100% from someone who isn't as tough of a sell? On top of that when someone leaves, a vet agent will take that former agent's clients...so there's zero incentive for any vets to do any office work because whoever nets a phone appointment, that appointment belongs to that person...meaning repeat business for the rookie, not the vet.

Most guys were great there, but I constantly got put with 3 guys who didn't take anything we did seriously. Most guys there seemed to try to be the Wolf of Wall Street wannabe types. They all loved gambling, golf and eating out at upscale restaurants, something I didn't want to waste money on. It didn't help that I was about 10 years older than all of them, most of those guys had gone from grocery stores to insurance, so obviously a step up for them with pay. If you're supporting a family, this is not the field to get into.

Needless to say, I worked there several months and only made about $3,000. There were some weeks where I made zero money, despite putting close to 60 hours in, and yes I did sometimes work Saturdays just to try to give myself an edge. Commission sounds like a nice thing, and it probably is for those guys who have a lot of free time and the ability to stick it out for a long time. Like, I knew I wasn't going to get rich from commission, but it's an absolute crime with how little most people make. The washout rate for agents is apparently 95% within the first 2 years. Maybe it's the business model?

I tried insurance as well.... I HATED IT! I lasted a month and made 1 f'ing sale.

[tirtefaa]

Jun 9, 2023 13:02:16 GMT -5 salz4life said:

I tried insurance as well.... I HATED IT! I lasted a month and made 1 f'ing sale.

It's the kind of job that benefits everyone except for the person who needs the money the most.

The guys I worked with the most were there just going through the motions, thinking they were big stuff, while sitting on previous sales to maintain a steady income.

The thing that annoys me is the clients I didn't pick up are going to be inherited by those guys who only picked them up because I sold those people on the appointment. Sure, they made the pitch when we were there, but I'd say 90% of those commitments were lay downs.

The real kicker is because I was an "independent agent" who "owned his own business", I had to file taxes and owed more off of making $3,000 than I would have, had I simply gone to a job where I made $20,000.

Commission work is one of the most manipulative systems of work out there. You better luck into some big sales, otherwise you're going to have to work insanely hard to barely break even.