I've had it!!

[mlbrowninwa]

Please forgive me if you've already mentioned this and I missed it but if I had a break in employment I would go as soon as possible and file for unemployment and that would bring in at least some $$ while you were beating the bushes for a new job. A buddy of mine just got laid off after 15 yrs and he filed right away. It has kept him afloat and allowed him to keep the landlord off of his back while he searches for another. It's already been a few months and he is having a hard time also being about the same age maybe a little older than you but you got to keep praying and moving. Every one gets knocked down from time to time. Just don't let it keep you down, get up and out knocking on every door possible maybe even doing like you mentioned, going back to turning the wrenches at a lower salary. Having good mechanic skills is a very much needed thing as long as there are cars on the road and I do believe that will be for a while. God bless!

I did file for unemployment the day I was laid off. Took 10 weeks for the benefits to start, good thing I had some savings!! I have about 7 weeks of benefits left unless I get approved for the federal extension, which I won't know until about 2 weeks before I run out of state. Going back in the toolbox has been something I have been looking at for a while now. Actually, you can make a lot more money on the shop floor than you can in the office. Yet another reason to bail on management. Less headaches...more money.

The unemployment I receive is about 300 a week short of what I was making on average, not counting any bonuses I would get. We have cut everything to the bone and we can get by as long as nothing unexpected pops up. I'm going to take the advice above and try to tailor my resume to what I'm applying for. New job number out this morning show we lost a lot more jobs....even though things are getting better. A jobless recovery.

[MichaelCraig]

Well now that's good. You've gotten your focus a little better which means a WHOLE lot on remumes'. My wife had a problem with all of her degrees when she was applying for a particular job she had wanted a good while. They kept saying she was "too" qualified which is a lame excuse but once she explained the rules of how they hire I began to understand. Once she tamed her resume down and put more focus on the skills she was very good at that applied to that specific job she finally got it. She took a pretty good pay cut to get it but she has her foot in the door and as far as that management thing goes, that is exactly why she took the pay cut. It's way too much of a headache for the difference in pay you get. A high priced babysitter is basically what you are as a manager. Now she's back up to the pay she was at and although they have tried several times she is NOT a manager. Go get your hands dirty my brother!!! Good luck and God bless.

[MorningStar]

Customizing your cover letter/resume for each company will definitely help. They need to see that you are interested in them and that they are not just one of 25 jobs you applied for today. We put a lot of effort into my husband's one job application for this job - really stressed over it and the Spirit told me we could rest after submitting it. It took a month before the job interview came, then a week until we heard about a second job interview, then another week before he finally got it. It was really hard and my husband started to lose faith that he was going to get it, but I kept telling him he would.

Make sure you do a little research on each company you apply for so they know you are really interested in them. :)

[Mahone]

Personally, I always go through the job description and requirements and on my cover letter I will explain why I meet each and every one of those requirements, one after the other - basically just providing evidence I can do the job without the recruiter having to look for it (if they have 200+ applicants, they won't have time to look at your application for very long).

So far, it hasn't failed.

[mlbrowninwa]

Make sure you do a little research on each company you apply for so they know you are really interested in them. :)

I sure wish I could do some research on companies. One thing that I have noticed is so many of them are posting blind box ads with only email address, especially those on Craigslist. I guess that helps with keeping the phone calls down from people calling and checking. This seems to be the rule with the automotive shops.

I found a new ad this morning on Seattle's Craigslist in an area that I would really like to be in. Would be perfect for my son as the Bellevue, WA area is a big football school and one of the best high schools in the nation. I took my time and totally changed my cover letter and resume based on what the ad was asking for. We'll see if I fair any better.

[pam]

I applied for a few jobs from Craigslist and started getting pretty much the same answers. They wanted me to provide a credit report and sent me to a credit reporting site. It was nothing but a scam.

[mlbrowninwa]

I applied for a few jobs from Craigslist and started getting pretty much the same answers. They wanted me to provide a credit report and sent me to a credit reporting site. It was nothing but a scam.

Wow, I have never heard of that, although it does not surprise me. My last three jobs were from postings on Craigslist. I guess I've just been lucky so far. There are a lot of ads on there that make you wonder though.

[Mahone]

Wow, I have never heard of that, although it does not surprise me. My last three jobs were from postings on Craigslist. I guess I've just been lucky so far. There are a lot of ads on there that make you wonder though.

As far as I can tell from these types of sites, most of the jobs on there don't actually exist (or at least they don't exist in the way you think they do). It's not just scams either, agencies tend to "re-advertise" jobs that they see (without permission) and then publish them on free job websites such as craigslist. You submit your CV/Resume to them and they will then contact the company who advertised the job in the first place trying to effectively rent you out to them. Most companies will say no, hence why they didn't go to an agency in the first place. At other times the agency will just make up jobs in order to get a bigger database of potential recruitees - this is from the UK perspective of course, that is what they tend to do here. I'm not sure how it works over the pond.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Mahone

[jadams_4040]

For those of you that don't know, I've been out of work for about five months. I was laid off from a shop that I had worked at for two years in September of 09 and finally found a job at another shop in January, only to be laid off from that shop a week and a half later. I was talking with someone that still works at the first shop last night and found out that they were now trying to hire a service manager(I was not called back)due to the fact that one of their managers quit to go to work at the second shop I was laid off from!!! I can't believe I didn't receive a call back from either one!!

I have been sending out resumes every week to automotive shops in the Portland metro area and even to Seattle and surrounding areas. I can't even get a call back for an interview. I have over 20 years experience. I just don't understand how someone with my background can't even get a foot in the door. I have just about exhausted my savings. I'm having a very hard time keeping a positive attitude about things. I feel like I'm just not meant to work in automotive any longer, but through constant prayer I can't seem to get any direction on where to go from here.

I turn 40 in a couple weeks and it seems really late in the game to start over and train for something else. I'm just at a loss as to where to go from here.

Well that happened to me many years ago; and i finally had to come to the realization to accept a shitty paying non enjoyable job that was way below my normal pay and skill level.

[mnn727]

I took my time and totally changed my cover letter and resume based on what the ad was asking for. We'll see if I fair any better.

You really need to do that for every resume and cover letter you send out. Read what they are looking for and customize them every time

Quality over Quantity

[mlbrowninwa]

I've been doing it all along, just not to the extent of this last one. Hopefully the quality will stand out.

[mlbrowninwa]

Well it looks like the new format helped a bit. Got a call back from the shop that I sent info to this morning. He conducted a phone interview and said they would be calling people back for actual interviews later. At least that's a step further than I've been getting.