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Re: Unemployment compensation and self-employment (was Re: Laid Off)
Subject:Re: Unemployment compensation and self-employment (was Re: Laid Off) From:Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net> Date:Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:08:37 -0800 (PST)
This is the last time I'll publicly post anything on this thread (yes, that's a promise). Lauren, you raise an interesting point. The psychological state of a potential employee is a valid concern.
To make a counterpoint, I think a hiring manager who is worth his salt needs to be concerned not about whether someone vents on this list, but *how* they vent on this list. Humans need to vent now and then. In any pressurized system, if you tie down the safety valve, all you're really doing is guaranteeing a blowout. Yes, people need to be able to remain calm when necessary. But the time and place to be calm about dealing with EDD or any agency like it is when dealing with EDD. Later, in a venue like this, which is sort of a "just us chickens" place, it would be perfectly normal and natural to do some venting. (That's exactly what the hiring manager does when he has a bad day, unless he's a robot.) I think any hiring manager who has any understanding of human nature would realize this and allow for it in his evaluations. And the post that started this thread, if it can be considered "venting" at all, was mild even by Sunday school
standards.
The question that really should concern a person making a hiring decision is whether the venting is of a type and a magnitude that are reasonable given the situation. I believe any reasonable person would think that, for an unemployed person, being unable to even contact an agency which can make the difference between lasting long enough to find work again, or being unable to pay the rent, is a perfectly good reason for feeling the need to vent.
Yes, people who boil over can be dangerous to be around. But history has proven it's the people who live like monks who almost invariably cause the ugliest surprises for other people, who are always left to say things like "He was such a quiet, polite young man."
As a half-humorous footnote...So, it's normal for people in California to feel so pressured by economic necessity that they are scared into censoring themselves when they converse with colleagues on email lists? Mental health-wise, it would make more sense to flee for the hills. Good luck out there. :-)
________________________________
From: Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
To:
Cc: Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: Unemployment compensation and self-employment (was Re: Laid Off)
Employers are picky about who they will hire in California. Unless an applicant is in San Diego, Los Angeles, or the Silicon Valley, or is in the medical field, the job market is very bleak. There are more applicants than jobs, so employers can be very choosy. Incidentally, Mexicans have most of the labor jobs, like roofing.
There are also quite a few cases of "popped a sprocket and wound up on the news" types, so looking for people who can remain calm under pressure is important now. Many online applications contain questionnaires that include screening for how people handle stressful situations. As I see, it is best to avoid red flags, especially those that indicate a person may have stress from dealing with bureaucracy and administrative processes that do not work well.
As far as "prying squint" is concerned, I seriously doubt that there is *any* employer who will not search a person's name or email address in Google or on Facebook. When an applicant reaches the point of being considered for a professional position, someone on the employer's behalf will search the name and email address. Employers know that their employees represent the company online and in public, so they will make certain that image is safe with new employees.
Also consider this, employees have to deal with state issues for various things, like filing unemployment, but companies must also deal with the state. If a personal issue with the state raises stress, then how will the employee react when the employer has similar issues with a "dysfunctional state government agency"? What if the employer *was* the state? What if the employer had significant dealings with the state? One thing in California that people cannot avoid is the state.
On 1/21/2013 8:00 PM, Keith Hood wrote:
> I understand and to some extent agree with your thought. But if a potential employer is so much of a prying squint that he'll peruse this list on the off chance he might see a job applicant's name, and is so petty that he'd refuse to hire someone because that someone vented a perfectly understandable frustration over being tied into knots like beelia has been, I personally wouldn't want to work for him anyway. I'd go back to roofing houses. Better to not get hired by him in the first place, then to find yourself too late in the kind of twisty office hell that is to be expected by a boss with that kind of personality.
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