Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with jobsearch

Propitious places to move to & unusual living situations for having 3 or 4 days a week free to work on personal project

cotesdurhone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:39:38 -0800

I'm working on a project that requires at least 3 or 4 full days attention each week. What are some places in the US or world I could move to, &/or unusual living situations, that would give me a good chance of doing this? Other considerations:

• Part-time job terminating Jan 1, and definitely want to move elsewhere (currently live in Boston)
• Have $5000 savings. Will probably also be able to continue receiving unemployment (about $1,000 month) if I move out of state (but not country, obviously)

• Age 30. US Citizen.
• Languages: English, Russian
• Skills: Writing and editing, visual art, Russian translation (but no graduate-level degrees to show this)
• BA from Liberal Arts college + semester (2 terms) at Oxford

Any and all reasonable options considered.

• Preferred urban environment: vibrant arts scene, inspiring architecture, not overrun with college students or sports fanatics, ethnically and age-ally diverse
• 'Ideal' destinations: Montreal, France
• Hypothetical order of preference: 1. Montreal & France (tie) 2. EU, Scandinavia, & Turkey 3. Eastern Europe 4. USA & Canada 5. South America 6. Asia 7. Australia/New Zealand 8. other

• Preferred rural environment: the more (interesting) people around, the better

• "unusual living situations" = housesitting - caretaking - living in some cabin - (earnest) meditative community - collective farm - kibbutz - teaching abroad - or anything else

• If it's helpful to know— the project is of a literary nature (a novel and other writings)

Finally, what are the very best resources (books, websites, magazines, etc) that might be of help?

How to find a small company, in another country, for a 1-year work term?

james.nvc — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:42:05 -0800

I'm currently a third-year Engineering Science student at the University of Toronto, majoring in computer engineering. As part of my program, I'm supposed to do a 12-16 month work term. While there are a variety of large tech companies that recruit directly from this program, I'm interested in working at a smaller, preferably U.S.-based technology firm. How should I go about finding a suitable place? For more background, I'm interested in a wide variety of programming languages, such as Lisp, Scheme, Haskell, OCaml, Python, Ruby, etc. I'm proficient in C and C++, but I prefer to avoid them when I can. I'm hoping to find some sort of web- or software-development firm, still in at a more startup-y phase, that would be interested in hiring a student for a year. Do I have any hope in this endeavor?

How to leave a small team for another job.

dorothy humbird — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:37:27 -0800

What's the best way to inform your employer that you're looking / have found new employment? Asking this for the bee eff:

"I've currently been employed at my current company for over a year. It's never been my plan to work here more than two or three years, as I miss living in the city and having easy access to the people I left behind there. However, this is my first "real" job. All my prior employment has been either grunt work, or student research positions that were, by their nature, of fixed length, so I don't have a lot of experience with leaving jobs for new opportunities.

I've gotten to like a lot of my coworkers, and we're a fairly small division within a fairly small company. I know it might be stupid, but I'm having difficulty figuring out how to inform them, when the time comes, that I've found new employment, because somehow it seems like a betrayal or abandonment. Weird, I know. Complicating matters is that I work for a software company with a roughly yearly release schedule. I definitely don't want to leave in the middle of a cycle, as that would really throw their planning out of whack.

With that in mind, what is the best way to inform your current employer of a change? Do you let them know while you're looking? I would think you'd only let them know after you've found another position. In that case, how much warning do you give? Two weeks notice doesn't seem like a lot of time to find a replacement, especially on a small team.

Thanks for any input."

Thank you notes AND e-mail follow ups after a job interview?

AceRock — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:37:43 -0800

Thank you notes AND e-mail follow ups after a job interview? Usually after job interviews I like to send handwritten thank you notes, but in this case I think they might make a decision before handwritten ones would get to them via the mail.

I am considering saying thanks by e-mail and ALSO sending handwritten notes. Any advice on how to smoothly do both and not seem desperate?

How to be considered a local candidate for jobs anywhere in the US?

ender6574 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:12:05 -0800

How do I make it clear to potential employers that I am literally willing to drive anywhere in the united states for a job interview, and instantly relocate there if I get the job? I would like to be considered a local candidate for open positions anywhere in the US. I am currently unemployed and looking for work (I do pharmaceutical R&D). Right now I live in Los Angeles, CA, but am going to leave town in 2 weeks. I have already made arrangements to ship my important possessions back to my parents house in Michigan, and to sell, donate or trash the rest of my possessions except what I'll be taking with me in my car. I'll be traveling with camping gear, food, clothes (including a suit for interviews) etc.

My first destination will be Seattle, WA, where I'll be staying with a friend for an indeterminate number of weeks. Then on to Denver, CO where I'll be staying with my brother for an indeterminate number of weeks. From there I'll make my way back to Michigan where I can stay with my parents or some close friends rent free for a while until I find employment.

In preparation for this I've been applying for jobs throughout the country but especially in Seattle and Denver, hoping to get interviews in both cities while I'm there.

The problem is that almost every job I apply for asks me for my address. I'm using my parents address as my permanent address, but a lot of companies only consider local candidates for their open positions.

I would like to be considered a local candidate for positions anywhere in the continental US because, if I were to secure an interview anywhere in the US I would drive myself (camping along the way or staying with people I know) to wherever I had the interview and either stay with someone I knew in town or put myself up in a hotel. If I were to secure the job, I would drive from wherever I was back to the the job location, find an apartment and move in, have my parents ship what I need back to me and use the money I have saved up to buy the furniture I need. Thus, I can become a local candidate anywhere in the US with just a few days notice.

The problem is that the system is not set up handle that. I've explained my situation to recruiters / recruiting agency's asking them to look for jobs for me anywhere in the US but they all say that they need my address, and that my file will be handled by their office nearest my address (looking for positions near that address). Jobs I apply for online ask for my current address.

I'm looking for any advice on how to overcome this problem. I've changed my resume so that it has no address, only my cell phone number and email address. The only solution I can think of would be to make a separate resume for each city that shows that I live at a fake address in that city so that I look like I'm local. This would probably work but it's dishonest and doesn't sit well with me.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[BigLawFilter] Just been no-offered at Nor Cal law firm, on campus interviewing is essentially dead for 3Ls. Experiencing hysterical panic.

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:18:15 -0800

[BigLawFilter] Just been no-offered at Nor Cal law firm, on campus interviewing is essentially dead for 3Ls. What to do? This is going to be long I think but I am on the edge of a panic attack. Coming from a T6 law school and top tier undergrad. GPA is above median but school doesn't rank so I don't know more than that. My no offer is technically a "cold offer" - I have been encouraged by this firm to tell other firms that I actually did receive an offer but have chosen to look elsewhere. This is so that they can attempt to mask what I believe is the real reason behind my rejection, economic difficulties. My discussions with attorneys at the firm now reveal that everyone (at least claims to have) liked my work and liked me. Career Services is skeptical of this cold offer business, as am I.

But I don't want to look like a psycho drunken unable to work freak to later firms who may consider me. I know that this is happening more frequently in this economy, but I am concerned that if I tell other firms that this one no offered me for economic reasons, when they call to check, this firm will give them the same bullshit reasons that have been mentioned to me: "fit" and on two occasions I had to be reminded to enter my time. The attorneys and the recruiting people I have spoken to since have indicated to me off the record that "fit" is not at all a problem. I'm a friendly, reasonably outgoing girl, and was regularly invited to lunches and after work events, even when other summers were not invited. Of course I'm aware that it's possible that someone I didn't speak to took a disliking to me and made that feeling known. Perhaps my yearning to pin this on the economy is me trying to deny this.

I know this market is very hard to break into, and that no one is hiring 3Ls. My Career Services office is not particularly helpful or optimistic. I am going to contact all the firms that were willing to give me an offer or a callback last OCI. Does anyone have any idea how state clerkships work, or how law firms view staff clerk positions or pro se law clerks, etc.? how does the transition from small/midlaw to biglaw work? throwaway: scared3L@gmail.com

How strictly is the letter of the law followed in reviewing job applications?

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:56:03 -0800

How confidential is confidential when applying for a job with a small pool of colleagues? I am going to be applying for a job in another city, and an employer at the place I will be applying to and likely one of the people making hiring decisions has a very close connection to place where I work now.

I am planning on putting down on the application to please not contact my current employer (there is a field in the online application to do this).

Does anyone have an idea of how strictly this request is generally followed? I would rather my current employer didn't know I was searching for a new job, but considering how close the person I know at the position I'm applying to is to my current organization, I'm afraid that word will get around.

So, if you are in HR or had experience in the past hiring people, can you tell me how strictly you followed the letter of the law here? Or if you have any general knowledge about this issue, I would love to hear thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

what to do with an ee degree

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:28:48 -0800

What can I do with an EE degree (either as an engineer or in another field) in and around New York City? I'm a woman who's hoping to return to the workforce after several (too many) years outside of it. At the time I left, I had two years of experience in Systems Engineering (writing technical requirements - not the IT kind of SE which, from my understanding, is something completely different). This was in software. It was practically the perfect job for me. As part of the development team, I needed to have a strong technical understanding of the product, but I also worked closely with sales and marketing, which I also enjoyed. If it required calculus (like much of my coursework in college), I think it really would have been the perfect job for me

So, now, years later, I've searched for "Systems Engineer" job postings online, and the few matches I get require 5+ years of experience. I know I have an EE degree, but I'm not sure I remember enough of my coursework to go for a hardware job, even though I would be more than happy to work in hardware.

What other options are there for me, both within and outside of engineering? I'm looking for something that requires a good mix of analytical skills and people skills. Long working hours and/or lots of travel are fine. So is a steep learning curve as long as an employer is willing to hire me with the understanding that I'll work hard to catch up. I'm sure (OK, I hope) there's a job out there for me. I just don't know what to look for.

I won't pay ya, no way, why don't you get a job?

b33j — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:53:56 -0800

18 year old Australian introverted indoorsy uni drop-out seeks employment in recession. No qualifications (a business cert from school), no drivers license, no skills (maybe typing), no experience, no references, limited public transport. What now? This is for my son. I want him to get a job now that he's dropped out, and he understands that he must, but where does he start?

Can he access (Australian) government job placement assistance even though he's supported by his parents? Who's that with? (A long time ago, it was the CES.)

He's certain that he would be bad at anything involving people, ie customer service, sales, waiting tables. I tend to think this attitude would bugger up his interviews but I don't know how to change it, or if I should even try.

I'm prepared to help pay for him to upskilll, but I'm worried he will drop out (again) and waste my cash. It's all very well to say he can pay me back, but without a job, that's just funny.

Suggestions for his action, and for me to encourage him without demoralizing him, please?

How should I send out my resume?

little_c — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:01:39 -0800

When looking for new job opportunities, what is the best way to get my resume in the hands of potential employers? I currently have a good job, but I am looking for something more/different. I'm a university administrator with two degrees in art history, and I'd like to bring my administrative skills to a not-for-profit organization, arts foundation, cultural institution, etc...I'm not TOO picky, I just want something that is more challenging than my current position, and at a place where I feel like I am really doing some good (I work at a big private university, in the philosophy department, so I am feeling sort of "ivory tower"ish).

I'm lucky enough to be able to search leisurely for a new job from my current position. What I'd like to do is just get my resume "out there," even if a particular place or organization is not hiring. Couldn't hurt, right?

When I apply for advertised positions, 100% of the time I am asked to email a cover letter and resume. With this approach (sending out resumes when no specific position is advertised), should I send it in the regular mail? Would that look ok? If I should only email to places, to whom should I send the email? My approach was going to be compiling a big list of places I think I could be of use and sending resumes and cover letters on out.

I'm sure everyone has lots of advice for this type of job-hunting in general, which is great, but if you have specific advice about mailing out resumes, that would be even better!

Thanks!

How should I write my adjunct faculty cover letter?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:21:39 -0800

I'm applying for an adjunct teaching position at a community college, but I only have experience with teaching elementary school students. I've also tutored high school students who are much closer in age to the students that I would be teaching at the CC, but the majority of my teaching experience comes from what I've done with the younger kids in schools and in art centers. I know that I have the necessary educational background to teach at the CC now, because the job posting says that candidates just need to have a master's degree in that language. It also says that teaching experience is preferred, not required, and while it doesn't specifically say that it has to be teaching experience in that language, the problem is that I've never taught the language before.

So now I'm trying to decide how to write my cover letter. I have plenty of great examples to use when explaining my teaching philosophy and approach, but these examples are all in the context of elementary school. Even though I've also tutored high school students, I don't really have as much to say about that experience because I was nowhere near as involved with determining the content and structure of the classroom as I was with my elementary school students. I've thought about what other factors could potentially be relevant in the CC setting, such as emphasizing group work in the study of the language, but other than that, I'm stuck.

I've read a few articles that discuss how to address the lack of teaching experience in a faculty cover letter. Most of them said that instead of writing about what you've already done, you would write about what you would do if you were in that teaching position. Fortunately, I can say what I've already done with my elementary school students. I've also thought about saying what I would do as a teacher of this language, based on my experience with studying it in college and grad school, but I'd just like to get some more input, especially from people who may have been in situations like this before.

Here's my question: What are some tactics that I can use in my cover letter to convince the search committee that my academic background and elementary school teaching experience make me qualified for this faculty position?

If you'd prefer to answer by email: anonymousadjunctmefi@gmail.com

Thanks!

Maybe he is my way in?

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:28:28 -0800

The research director at an institution where I applied for an entry-level research position happens to be an alumnus of my university (same school, too, except four decades earlier). In our alumni career center, he has indicated that he would not mind being contacted. Should I contact him? How? I am a girl who graduated a month ago, with no contacts in this city, and I've been unsuccessful in my three-week-long job search so far, even though I remain convinced that I am a terrifically qualified candidate for all the positions I applied to. By the way, I applied to two other positions at this place, and was not called back for either.

He is more than 30 years older than me, holds a PHD, and appears to pretty much run the research department at an institution I would absolutely love to work for. In our limited-access, opt-in alumnus career network (separate from the alumni directory), he indicates that he would like to be a mentor and gives his home phone number as a preferred way to be contacted. He was hired on less than two years ago, so he has taken the time to update his contact and professional information in the directory. I could probably easily track down his email address, or find out who his assistants are.

I know that I have nothing to lose by contacting him, but I realize that he is incredibly busy, and I want to approach him the right way. Any advice, hive mind? Should I call or write? Or try to contact an assistant of his?

Part-time work, full-time position

ask me please — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:38:56 -0800

I wish to apply for a job that is advertised as full-time. At which stage should I mention that I would prefer a part-time job? I live in a place where the job market is still very much in favor of employees, even in these difficult financial times. For that reason, and because of my skills, it's quite likely that an employer will consider taking me on as part-time even though they have a full-time position available.

However, I'm not sure when the best time would be to raise the subject. I don't want to waste anybody's time, either mine or the employer's, by leaving it until the interview if that's really not going to work for them. But I'm not sure where to put it in my application letter.

What would you suggest?

(Please, don't respond just to snark 'don't apply if you don't want a full-time job'. I know the job market where I live, and my skills are in short supply, so part-time work is definitely an option).

Resume follow-up

NormandyJack — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:14:14 -0800

Sent resume 3 weeks ago, follow up 2 weeks later. No response positive or negative, whats next? I've checked online and asked friends and have gotten inconsistent advice.

Background:

I sent my resume+cover letter for a professional position at a smallish start-up via e-mail about 3 weeks ago and then a follow up email last week. I still haven't heard anything.

Question:

I'm wondering what the next step is. Since I would like this job, I'd like some sort of response. Do I send another email? Call them (no phone number is given w/ the job posting, but they do list one on their site).

In case it matters:

The position is in eastern US. It's not in my current city, just slightly too far to commute. I'm fairly likely going relocate to the city where the job is though, even if they don't hire me (I never mentioned this to them, though some of my friends feel I should have, and that when I contact them again, I should--do you agree?).

I'm confident I'm qualified, and I'm pretty confident this sort of position isn't overloaded with (qualified) applicants; also the job posting has been up at least since February. (The point being, they probably didn't see a HUGE influx of resumes right when I sent mine in).

Pink Hair & Green Money

Juliet Banana — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:21:14 -0800

If potential employees find my Flickr page and find out I have pink hair, will it hurt my chances at getting a job? I'm moving to Chicago in a few months and am planning to dye my hair natural brown before I leave so that I'm looking all fly and professional for interviews.

However, I'm slightly worried that they're going to find the four thousand self-absorbed photos of me out there on the internet and go hire someone more normal looking.

Are they even going to find my Flickr page, or how can I keep them from doing so? Everyone always says potential employers find everything you've ever possibly posted to the internet. However, I'm not sure they actually will. Pretend my legal name is Juliet Banana Smith; searching the Juliet Smith (which I am using on resumes) doesn't bring up much, searching Juliet Banana brings up my Flickr site and every time it's ever been linked. Only a few applications require me to tell them my middle name.

Should I try to show them I'll be less weird looking? Katala suggested putting a photo of yourself on your cover letter here. It sounds kind of vain, but I was thinking of sending snail-mail follow ups to jobs I've applied to online to make it seem more personal anyway. I do have professional, well-lit, modest portraits of myself with normal hair.

Would you not hire someone because you found out they had pink hair? I'm fully aware of how shitty the economy is, and fashion is not worth unemployment. Preemptively dying my hair or disabling my Flickr account seems kind of extreme, but if that's the smart thing to do, I'll do it.

The real world approaches!

showbiz_liz — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:26:58 -0800

This time next year I want to move to Chicago and get a job. Like, a real job. What do I need to do NOW to set things in motion? Next year I will be a senior at UNC, and I'll graduate with a double major in advertising (through the school of journalism) and anthropology. What I want to do is move to Chicago and get a job. Ideally, said job would be in marketing, hopefully for a nonprofit of some kind. But, basically, I want to get a job, any job, where I use my advertising degree, even tangentially. (Why Chicago? My boyfriend lives there and I intend to move in with him when I graduate.)

I know it's hard out there right now- that's why I want to get my foot in the door early. When the economy recovers I'll be in my mid-20s competing with fresh graduates, and if I've been working at a call center all that time, I will lose out. I don't care about money at this point in my life. I care about building skills and experience I can use in my career.

This summer, I have an internship in marketing at a Chicago museum. I'll be in the city from June through August. I want to know what I can do during that time, and during my senior year, to prepare myself to find a job.

Should I approach it like I approached looking for an internship- by doggedly applying to every place I can think of? Or is there something more I need to be doing? I hear a lot of talk about networking, but how do I approach that when I have no experience to sell myself with yet? How about special skills- is there anything I can learn in a year that would set me apart?

Alternately, if I am unable to find a paying job, I would be willing to do free or low-cost work in marketing on the side if it meant I could keep my skills up- how do I find such opportunities?

I realize this is a fairly broad question, but any advice would be much appreciated.

Maybe I should interior decorate.

the NATURAL — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:23:10 -0800

Help an ISFJ brother out. I'm a guy 20-going on 21, fresh out of college, and looking for guidance. I'm a Myers-Briggs personality type ISFJ , which I feel fits me well (but, of course, I would not limit myself to these career types).

I'd been seriously considering secondary school teaching in the Bay Area, but after taking in the various outcry in response to previous posters (myself and bullox), I'm more than a little discouraged -- especially since my degree is in the humanities (poli.sci and philosophy), and I'd have to teach subjects as such. Still, I'm madly in love with the Bay Area, and would like to settle there.

So, in addition to what's listed on the aforementioned website, what other careers should I consider and look into?

Of course, bonus points if it requires a college degree and/or pays better -- and further bonus points if you yourself are an ISFJ (or something similar.)

All the best.

Should I include a failed startup on my resume?

lenny70 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:32:47 -0800

Should I include a failed startup on my resume? I am finishing up my Masters in CS, and have started the delightful process of polishing the resume and looking for a job. Before I started graduate school, I worked in the industry for two years, so I already have some work experience. Some time during the fulltime work, I co-founded an e-commerce company with a friend of mine. To be clear, I did this by working long nights and the weekends, and it did not affect my day job. This was a pretty small company (ordering and delivering a certain service for university students), but we did develop a pretty impressive "Web 2.0"-ish online ordering system. Anyway, the company was not very successful, and we closed shop after 3 months. My question is: should I put this experience on my resume? Is co-founding a failed company, especially while working fulltime, more likely to help or hurt my chances at getting a job?

Hire me! Or, you know, convince someone else to do it for you.

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:47:54 -0800

I'm applying for post-grad school jobs. One of them, a bit of a long shot, is within my close-knit current office. Others are elsewhere in and outside of the organization. Difficulty: my two best references are not only in this office but running the first job search. How in the world do I manage this? I work for a university and have worked my way up within the office. I've been in my current position (graduate assistantship) for several years, doing a lot of work with our department head. It's the best place I've ever worked, and if I had my druthers I'd stay right here. But I'm finishing school, and as they've been very supportive of me through school we're all reluctantly planning for my departure into some unnamed Job Of Excitement And Loads Of Money. As you might imagine, the economy is not being great, but we're working on it.

Then an internal job came up. It's under a colleague who has always been very complementary of my work and attitude, even more than I've been of myself. He's been a great reference for me in the past. My other top reference is the aforementioned department head. This job is not exactly in my area of expertise, but I am known for being very ready and willing to do anything, and I have the everyday experience and institutional knowledge that few others have -- something that's crucial in this position.

Basically, I have two questions here.

1) How do I manage this internal job thing when everybody involved knows exactly what I have been up to -- good and bad? I am known for my great attitude, doing things immediately and my great commitment to the office and our work, but I also have a well-deserved reputation for losing focus on non-immediate things (ADD issues). I'm very honest and I've worked really hard to overcome it and get better at knowing myself and what I need; I know my colleagues have seen me work and learn, and I think that the extra structure of the position would be really helpful. But I've also made some self-deprecating side comments (before I knew this position would be open) when I was expressing some of my personal worries "among friends" that might lead them to doubt me and my ability.

I also don't have the three years of subject-specific experience they might want. (For reference, this is in a discipline where it could be overcome, but there are definitely people -- including my own fellow grads -- who are very into it.)

Mostly, I worry that my department head, who is a great friend, will nevertheless ace me out before I even have a chance to interview. (She's caught me playing FreeCell one too many times...)

2) How do I handle this when the people I most want to impress internally are also probably my best chance for getting other jobs outside the office? Everybody knows I'm applying for other jobs, and in fact they're worried that I haven't applied enough. But I just feel like my loyalties are really back and forth here, especially depending on what happens in the first search. (I know I'm probably not as qualified as they'd like, so I'd be okay, but personal perceptions have gotten in the way before, and I reeeeally hope they don't again.)

Anonymous (but probably still recognizable anyway) because this is a job search; throwaway e-mail: jennyjobseeker@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Lawyer job search conundrum

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:59:37 -0800

I am a lawyer who has spent my entire career (10 years) in solo general practice, mostly family and criminal law. Now, due to one of my kids' ongoing medical needs, we need to move to a larger city with a major medical center, preferably Seattle. Never having gone through the job search process before, I am at a loss as to how to proceed. Ordinarily I would consult my law school's career services office, but I don't think that is feasible in my case, as the law school is located in my small town and my job search would become known to everyone within a matter of hours, seriously jeopardizing our current income. (Please just trust me on this. That's also why I'm posting anonymously.)

Although I am one of the more successful lawyers in my area and enjoy a very good reputation, I am not the kind of lawyer that a headhunter is going to have any interest in. I went to an obscure state school, and don't have any of the specialized skills that many of the large employers are looking for (IP, tax, bankruptcy, etc.). I am looking for a position similar to what I'm doing now. I'm already licensed in Washington.

Networking is not much help to me as I don't have any contacts in the cities that might work for us, and can't openly talk about this issue at home for the reason cited above.

What are the best job search strategies for me? Can you recommend a good law job web site? Should I just identify firms that I'd like to work for and contact them directly? Any and all advice is welcome.

Does this seem scammy to you?

dejah420 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:36:24 -0800

Recently, I've had recruiters asking for SS#s to submit my resume for positions. My husband has had the same thing happen, as have some friends. Is this the newest scam on the block? (as always...more inside) Recently, both my husband and I have gotten phone calls from recruiters who speak heavily accented English that have jobs which sound tailored to our public resumes. The recruiter has then asked for data which I consider ridiculous to give out, including birth date, social security numbers, place of birth, etc. This sounds like identity theft scamming to me.

The company that most recently asked for my SS# was itlogix.com, which has no contact information on their website, and the site is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.

I think this is a scam being attempted on folks who have publicly posted their resumes on job search boards, as I've heard about it happening to a lot of people with Monster profiles.

Does this sound like a scam to y'all? If so, to which government agency should this activity be reported?

Not to be confused with NannyStateFilter.

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:46:18 -0800

NannyFilter: What agencies are best to work for, from the nanny's point of view. My work-children are about to outgrow me. It's time to find a new gig. I found the first one via Craigslist, and that was cool, but I'm thinking that this time, I'd probably be fiscally better off going through an agency. (The money and gradual lack thereof has been the one disappointment of my job.)

I'm wondering what agencies are best to work for, if there are any that are shadier than others, etc. Any experiences welcome, but I'm ONLY asking about the experience from the NANNY'S point of view. If you got a great nanny through an agency, that's awesome, but I'm already a (hopefully) great nanny and I'm really interested in hearing how nannies have experienced agencies.

I'm looking for jobs in Providence, RI. I do not currently, but will have, my own car. I am certified in CPR, I have a BA in studio art, 10+ years childcare experience, solid references, clean criminal background check, I'm up on all of my vaccinations, etc. I'm used to the normal "screening" of nannies and meet all the criteria and yes, I'll provide a DNA sample in the baggie. ;)

SAT score on my resume?

thebazilist — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:52:29 -0800

Should I put my SAT score on my resume in this situation? And if so, how? I applied for a job posted on Craigslist about a month ago.

The staffing agency has just relisted the position, and I'm going to resend my stuff. The job posting is exactly the same except now besides a good GPA they want good SAT scores. The fact that the posting was edited to include SAT scores makes me think that that's significant somehow. Should I list my (good) score? And if so, how? After my GPA? In the cover letter?

Also, my score was good in the old system, but I know they changed the scoring system recently. I'm young enough and applying to jobs at a level low enough that I might be mixed in with people who took the new SAT. Assuming I'm not overthinking this, how do I account for the difference? I've heard that the new score just includes the SAT-II Writing score -- should I add mine in?

How to double-check my job references?

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:34:27 -0800

I recently got turned down for a job I thought was a slam dunk, and am now really concerned about the quality of my references. Going forward, is there any way to check the quality of what people would say about me, or negotiate to improve whatever negative opinions they might have? The job in question was for a full-time position at the same place where I'm currently employed part-time, and while I know it's a tight economy, I believe I had equivalent paper qualifications to most of the other applicants, plus substantially more experience (one of the key listed criteria for the position). So, given that I wasn't even selected for an interview, the only thing I can think of is that there might be a problem with my references.

All three were from supervisors in the field, and I'd checked with everyone before listing them (all agreed). I also thought I'd performed well in all three positions, although in anxious retrospect I can definitely think of imperfections (an unresponded-to email here or there; a single negative comment on a performance evaluation, etc.) that I guess could have been expanded into a negative or lukewarm rec, depending on the person. Since I was hoping to use all these people on future applications, I'm wondering:

Is there any way to get more specific info on what kind of reference each of these people would give me? (All three supervisors are fairly passive, nice-guy types, so I'm wondering how to get a straight answer from any of them). Can I ask for individual meetings to discuss it more specifically, or would that just be awkward? Any alternative options for getting the straight dope on the issue?
In the case of people with whom I have an ongoing relationship (my current supervisor, for instance), is it fair to ask for feedback on what (if anything) I could do to change the quality of the reference in the future, or would I be wiser to write it off as a lost cause, assuming anything negative does come up?

How can two Seattle residents best go about looking for jobs in London?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:46:37 -0800

How can two Seattle residents best go about looking for jobs in London? My wife and I have been talking about moving to London for a while. Ideally, we'd like to both find jobs in London, live there for 2-3 years, then move back to the U.S.

We would like to have jobs and be living in London 1 year from today. We love Seattle... we just want an adventure before we have a baby.

- What has been your experience with finding (or not finding) a job in London?
- What should we expect with regard to potential time lines, snags, red tape, and pitfalls?
- What tools to job searching/networking have you found useful?
- What government agencies/government connections did you use in your quest? (i.e. if your Senator/Congressman was a good friend, could he/she help speed things along, side-step hang-up, and/or
- We want to live in London... not a 1-hour Tube ride from Central London.
- What have I not asked that I need to know?

Our employment backgrounds:
She is 26, I am 28. My background is business (primarily sales & marketing) and I've been fairly successful, despite my age. Her background is architecture, though she's looking to switch her focus to humanitarian efforts. Potentially working with organizations as a project manager for different efforts.

Our current combined income: $105,000/year (pre-tax)