Category: work

Via Zeldman, Dan Benjamin talks about what it’s like to be unemployed and he describes it so aptly:

When you consume food, you do so not to enjoy it, but rather because your physical body requires it to create the energy you need to talk to recruiters, potential employers, go on interviews, read and post to the job-boards, or perform the work which generates the money you need to pay bills.

There is no rest, no breaks, no cigars, no enjoyment, no hanging-out, no weekend, there is only this: find a good job or project as soon as possible. […]

If this piece were made into one of those spoken-word songs, I wonder what music might be chosen to accompany it. Classical guitar, perhaps?

I have a several-day gig at Rapp Collins (in Irving) as an HTML Developer to cover for one of their regulars who is going on vacation (they found me through Monster). It’s not full time, but it’s a good start. For those who haven't heard of them, Yahoo provides this concise summary:

Rapp Collins Worldwide can rap about direct marketing better than most. One of the world’s largest direct response agencies, Rapp Collins Worldwide is a division of #3 advertising conglomerate Omnicom Group. Stan Rapp and Thomas L. Collins (widely credited with inventing direct marketing) founded the eponymous firm in 1965, capitalizing on the shift from mass marketing to individualized marketing (customer relationship management). Rapp Collins advises clients on sending marketing messages directly to customers via mail, telephone, TV, and the Internet. The company also tracks customer responses and recommends appropriate changes in marketing campaigns.

They tell me that they often hire freelancers full-time after a few gigs, so maybe something can work out here.

If you’re looking for an XHTML/HTML & CSS coder, I’ve recently revised my resume. I made the changes over the weekend and uploaded the new version to the various job sites (there’s a changelog at the bottom of this post).

I’m now current in: Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Flipdog, Dice, ComputerJobs, Techies and Dallas Morning News’ JobCenter. Am I missing any?

I made no major changes to my resume — most of the changes were rewordings or rephrasings:

• Changed the phone number listed to my cell phone to increase my availability to potential employers.
• Removed the “e-mail address” label in the header as it was obviously an e-mail address.
• Professional Profile section - Removed first bullet as it read too much like a press release.
• Professional Profile section - Reworded second bullet (well, it’s now the first bullet) to include the phrase “adhering to W3C-established web standards”
• Professional Profile section - Reworded thid bullet to make it read less like a press release.
• Professional Profile section - Rephrased “parallel and distributed computing” in third bullet to “distributed and grid computing” for buzzword compliance (HHOS).
• Revised wording to read “usability metrics” instead of “usability-driven mindset”.
• Renamed “Computer Experience and Proficiency” section to simply “Skills”.
• Renamed “Professional Experience” section to “Experience”.
• Reworded second bullet in Hybrid section of Experience to deemphasize my lack of enthusiam re: frames ;).

As mentioned on Salon, fuckthatjob.com lists overdemanding job postings found on job boards:

Fuckthatjob.com, currently making the rounds of the unemployed, provides a good window onto the dismal reality of the current tech job market. If one needed any proof, the jobs on the site — as well as interviews with several people now looking for work — indicate that we’re now in an employer-dominated labor market. Employers will ask for the world from their employees, and often they’ll come close to getting it, and for very little money. […]

In this sour economy, I found some of the postings rather amusing. Here’s one example from the Salon article:

Or there was a marketing firm in need of a “team player” to work as a copywriter. The applicant, who would be an unpaid intern, had to know HTML, Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, PHP, JavaScript and “search engine optimization.” The company wanted this person to have four years of marketing experience, and work for about 20 hours a week. The position was perfect, the ad said, for people who had “a desire to keep their skills polished during a lapse in employment. In other words, if you haven’t been able to find a job and want to stay ‘in the marketing loop’, this is a great way to do so.” […]