watercooler

Short-sighted.

In bad taste.

And frankly, the sort of thing that confirms my growing feeling of bad judgment on the part of the editorial staff at the Globe.

A couple of days ago, Canada’s preeminent national daily seemed to decide, enough with the depressing stories about rising unemployment that highlight the emotional duress and practical implications of being unemployed; let’s focus on a miniscule minority who have the mentality and resources to turn their unemployed status into an extended vacation.

What I find so offensive about the article is that its subjects (and its generalization of the trend) narrows in on the twenty- and thirtysomethings who are taking on the unemployment phenomenon known as Funemployment.

The result? The article essentially reinforces the (largely) false but pervasive mentality of older Gen X-ers and Boomers who believe ‘those lazy kids’ have no work ethic, no drive and no ability to put up with the dues-paying jobs and career tracks they themselves were forced to endure at the starts of their careers.

Clearly, I believe this is bullshit; it’s a reality lived by a few highly visible members of my generation, rather than the majority of us.

What made me so frustrated reading the article was that in the week leading up to reading it, I’d been trying to encourage friends (note: plural) who are struggling to stick with the vocations they love and aspire to make a living at because their second (and third and forth) jobs that pay the pills are sucking the energy from them. Not a secret to any long-time reader, I worked at an amazing debt-inducing total of four unpaid internships and I now know more than a few who hold spiffy titles with no paycheck attached.

In the media, and the consciousness of pop culture (if I’m being really melodramatic), this reality is underrepresented at best, ignored at worst.

**Let’s point out the obvious shall we: for a media entity to point out that so many young professionals are unpaid professionals would be like Bernie Madoff poo-pooing corrupt I-Bankers for ripping people off.**

A devil’s advocate might argue that I should point my frustrations to the subjects of the story, rather than the writer/editors, to which I say nuh, uh. The media is not an apolitical animal and its role is not un-thinking one; if it wants to claim to be a watch dog for the powerful and dominant, it must also acknowledge the responsibility it has as a disseminate-r of knowledge, information and goings on.

While I’m happy that the paper is starting to go beyond the obvious un(der)employment stories, why not address systematic challenges the recession has exacerbated, such as how many sectors, particularly those in creative arenas such as writing, advertising and design have an army of free workers, who are trading their abundance of passion, drive and energy for the opportunity to put an experience on their resume—but nothing else.

This brings up a whole other possible dialogue about inhibiting less-privileged folks from entering the creative sectors (since the only people who can really afford to ignore money while going after the ‘cool’ jobs are those who have a back up bank account, often not their own)…but I’ll save that rant for another post.

Back on point: there are many, many different employment-inspired angles to go after. But rather than shine the spotlight on a story that encourages dialogue about an issue with far-reaching consequences (see above paragraph), instead we got a story that upholds stereotypes and doesn’t probe beyond the surface’s dirt.

As much fun as complaining/venting is, being constructive should ultimately be the focus so here’s what I’d have loved/would love to see addressed instead of what was delivered:
•    The impact of employers’ greater reliance on contract positions versus full-time means is creating a pothole for young Canadians to fall into re: benefits and extended health coverage
•    The increased competition in graduate schools and the effects on admission rates/scholarship/grant money/administration costs when endowments have shriveled up and died; and if we’re really being ambitious, the long-term impact this will have on creating an over-educated workforce for the same service-type jobs that once required only a BA, and a high school diploma before that.
•    The crackdown on Canada’s internationally-ambitious professionals who are forced to work within national borders due to nationalist-provisions like Buy America wafting over into the services market, creating a reverse Brain Drain, weakening our capacity to improve our intellectual contribution on the global stage, something which we were already disadvantaged with pre-recession.

…this list of topics/questions could go on. Easily.

So Globe and Mail, step it up would ya.

Don’t remind me there are people who get lucky, in terms of being born into a wealthy situation and/or who gamble on their savings and their taxpayer-sponsored EI only to end up with a decent job; especially when they are so very many people who are looking for a so-called lucky break after sending stacks of resumes out their inboxes and bleeding dry their hard-earned savings.

Because at the end of the day, I like reading you; I just want to read better from you.

About ten minutes ago, I walked into my apartment, dropped my stuff at the door, kicked off my shoes, walked into my room and dove on to the bed. Ahh, sweet, sweet bed. You little haven from the rainy, dreary world of office hours and lunch breaks.

In a weird, sick way, I missed this feeling, the sort of feeling you have after you’ve just worked 8 hours (or more), commuted back and forth and you’re just spent.

Don’t get me wrong, freelancing from home as I was in the Fall, writing in my pajamas and getting paid for it—there’s not a lot better than that. On the other hand, after four months of it I was missing the interaction that comes with an office job, not to mention missing the steady cash that comes with. After school finished up in April (I did great btw, thanks for asking) finding a job became a must.

Although freelancing was a viable option to make a living, for lack of a classier way to put it, I wanted something easier. I needed something easier. The last eight months of night school, volunteering, recovery — everything — gave me a lot to think about and I needed a job that would let me do that while being paid but not being paid to think about all that, if that makes any sense.

I wanted something that I could show up to, do a decent job and leave it there at 5 pm. Having the extra brain space and the free time that comes with a normal work week would allow me time to research schools, jobs, and *gulp* study for the LSAT (more on that next time).

So what did I do?

I seized on a little nepotism is what.

A friend slipped my resume to her boss for what’s essentially administrative-type work at a major organization. I interviewed and ended up with the job. Now, I’m a month and a half in, working at the bottom of the food chain doing the brunt of the monkey-at-a-typewriter sorta stuff and I love it.

I love the job because the people are great and the money’s not bad.
I love the job because the days go by quickly enough and it involves helping people.
But mostly, I love the job because it’s a job.

In this market, having a job to call one’s own is not for nothing.

Although ‘In this economy’-type lines have become as common as EI deductions on your paycheck (bad joke?), having a job at all, let alone one as ideal as the one I fell into, is an asset unto itself. Don’t believe me? So says Time.

Ranked as THE biggest idea for 2009 that’s changing the world, the idea that jobs are our major asset could hardly be called a revelation at this point but I do think it says something about the transformation of our work culture, which before last Fall was focused on better jobs, more flexible hours, creative benefits, fatter raises and faster promotions.

All these things are newly relevant in the grand scheme of the work-life-balance discussion but undoubtedly, the ideal job has taken a back to seat to having a job, even a job one likes enough or for now.

And that’s not just if you’re work is in manufacturing or somehow related to the car crisis. Apparently, this summer, youth looking for full-time summer work have a little less than 60,000 fewer jobs to vie for (for the life of me, I cannot find the source where I read this. But can you trust me that I’m not making this up? If/When I find this, I’ll link to the article).

Anecdotally, I have a number of friends who went from complaining about their jobs and actively looking for new ones who are now staying put for the simple security of having a job and not wanting to “chance it” by being the newest employee at a new company.

A few sobering examples in my world: there’s the magazine writer whose magazine closed, the law student who had ambitions of working at an American firm and who applied just as the U.S. economy fell off a cliff, leaving him with nadda, the research company that was responsible for a friend’s permanent work visa in Canada only to have to lay her off, the small business that was fast expanding but was forced to contract..the list goes on.

Point is that even though this job is not a career-related one or one that I’m particularly passionate about, I find myself working hard (and liking it), in no small part because I know I have it better than some by simply being able to show up—a feeling, which is apparently appreciated by most.

Let’s open this up, shall we?

Is any a job to go to a good one, all things considered?

Discuss.

Hello friends,

It feels like it’s been ages…and it has been!

Almost four months since we last spoke and man, oh how I’ve missed you. All of you, especially those of you who emailed every once and a while, or who commented or facebooked me saying, knock, knock, you still in there? (I was! I am! I’m back!); even those of you who continued to spam me, I missed you, too, obviously a lot less than the others, but no love was lost, that’s my point.

But enough of the love-in, let’s get down to business: what to expect from now on…

Although the Fall edition of Watercooler steered fairly clear from my own professionally-related experiences, challenges, conundrums etc., this second go around demands a mild change of course.

Full disclosure: I could deliver the quantity and density of posts in the fall because that was my job. Fast forward through sickness, my own and the economy’s, and Watercooler has evolved from being a paid project to a passion project.

Such is life.

At any rate, now I’m doing this for the sheer belief in the project. And by that I mean, I’m writing in my spare time, which is pretty limited (more on that in the next post).

So what to expect? Posts will continue to focus largely on the articles I find around the web, worthy of your time and attention. At the same time, I’ll try to include you in what’s going on with me (hints: day job, standardized tests, volunteering, research on careers, the list goes on..and on).

The big point is that the frequency of posts is going down, way down. Think weekly updates, not daily. The focus is on quality, not quantity, and on dialogue and discussion not news updates as I was doing previously. To help make this dialogue a good one, I’ve found a few folks to contribute their thoughts, experiences and voices to Watercooler. It will still be mainly me, but hopefully with a few guest stars every couple of weeks.

After all, a dialogue with just one voice is nothing more than a soapbox.

To sum up: Watercooler is up and running again. Running means the same style of writing with more personal topics combined with the most pertinent news, all of which to be covered by a few new bright minds as well as this old one.

Oh and one more thing: Thanks for your patience over the last few months. All is better and I’m raring to get back to it.

Without further adieu.

*okay, honestly, the title doesn’t make sense but I heard the song the other day and it stuck. Bear with me, I’m just warming up.

I know what you’re thinking: this blog is dead.

Not true. So, so not true.

The blog is resting.

As per the last two posts, I have been/am tres sick. First came the medically-determined exhaustion, next come some super-human strain of influenza (which is actually a cold, not the flu < just a little factoid for ya) that knocked me even further off my normally-scheduled routine and now I’m back to just being plain ‘ol tired to the extreme.

Needless to say, 2009 has been less about being optimistic about the job market for new grads and discussing (what’s left) of the 9-5 world and all about taking care of the body and mind (cue: Oprah.)

I’ve waited to post mostly because I kept waking up hoping I’d feel totally normal and jump right back in, especially given all the change in events that we’ve been discussing these last few months: York part-time faculty and TAs were forced back to work, students still have no summer; Obama put his hand on the bible and then took ages getting his stimulus package pushed through the more of the same Congress and Senate; Harper delivered a budget with stimulus that may or may not be too little, too late and Flaherty may or may not be totally delusional optimistic about how fast Canada’s going to recover from this depression recession; the Liberal Party finally has a leader who doesn’t seem scared of his own shadow so while Canadians fear being dragged down with the sinking ship known as the U.S.A., at least we can all look forward to another federal election, maybe as early as the Spring; and oh yes, layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs.

The problem is that even though all that is going on, I made a deal with a higher power (she likes to go by ‘Mom’) that I would not blog and do school at the same time until I was back to my normal self. It’s quite shocking how powerful this Mom entity is, given that she’s in a different city and has no real way to enforce the regulations she proposed… Okay, I’m kidding. Well, half-kidding.

Sadly, I can’t keep up the blogging pace I was at before and do school, and since school is the required element in my life en route to a career of some social justice capacity, I decided to focus on that for the next couple of months. I know you understand.

I also know what you’re thinking again: but you don’t have to blog everyday, just do it sometimes.

And that’s the plan. After exams.

So keep Watercooler in your bookmarks, because I assure you - once I’m past this odd, exhausting phase of my life I will be back blogging again about all the inanities, absurdities, frustrations, downsides and upsides to wading into the working world.

How could I not? I love you all so.

That, and I firmly believe the dialogue we started in the Fall will be just as vital come Spring, maybe even more so.

Before I forget: for those of you who aren’t already part of the facebook group, sign up. That way, you don’t have to worry about anxiously re-freshing your page come April - I’ll come find you, saying, hi, me again, I’m back, there’s stuff to read and you’ll like it, and you’ll comment, and we’ll be, like, totally, the way we were.

Trust.

In the meantime - visit the 411 page for your job-hunting resources, read the other blogs I’ve point you to before, and when every headline is screaming bad, bad updates just remember: one day you’re going to say ‘I remember when..’, hopefully on a lunch break from a job you love and a career you’re proud of.

Talk soon.

- JG

I hope a lot, like, A LOT because I’m still sick. Sick like mono-sick (except I don’t have mono), sick like the time my friend got pneumonia twice, back-to-back (no, she didn’t think it was possible either but it is, and she got it). She spent two months lying in bed, paying tuition and rent for what? All the hacking, sneezing, nausea and uncontrollable need to sleep one could fit in a Nyquil commercial. This is how I feel.

I thought I’d write a less vague explanation for why I’ve suddenly dropped off the posting-daily earth mostly because I’ve received a few emails, going, uh, hello? did you forget I read you every day so here’s the full disclosure: I’m medically exhausted.

Remember the car accident I was in back in October? Well it created beaucoup trouble sleeping, which lead to insomnia and insomnia on my schedule (blogging half the day, freelancing the other, school at night) created total and utter exhaustion and the holidays didn’t do much of anything to help. SO a doctor (okay, a few of them) said, (and I’m paraphrasing) woman, get your ass in bed and do nothing for a good long while.

So me, the person who loves to do too much, has to learn to do nothing for a little while (length of time: yet to be determined) but stick with me because I’ll be back and with a fresh brain raring to release all the pent up wit, opinion and insight that’s been sadly missing from your lives this January.

In other news, apparently Watercooler was nominated as one of the Top 10 Gen Y blogs.

I’d tell you to prove how much you love me by going to vote for Watercooler but the voting closed yesterday (go figure). Still though, thanks to Ryan for including Watercooler on the ballot (but ps, Ryan, Watercooler’s one word; I know spellcheck doesn’t like it but what can I say, I’m a rebel with a branding cause), and of course to everyone who’s been reading/ continues to wait to read what’s to come.

On a serious note: be kind to yourself. As I’m learning the hard way, jobs and careers can wait - you only get one body to enjoy it and it’s got to last you a good long while.

Talk soon.

- JG

I’m such a bad mommy. I’ve totally neglected to let Watercooler know (and you, my beloved readers) that I’ve come down with something wicked. We’re talking can’t lift head from pillow, bad.

Of course, that’s the way it goes - you get a couple of weeks off and then it hits. Let’s not talk about the havoc it’s wreaking on the school front, okay? Or the ability to work and pay off visa bills..aah life: you funny, twisty road, you.

Just know I’m doing my darndest to get better quick and when I do, I promise to get back to my snarky (yet intelligent) news-updating ways.

Many, many, many apologies for leaving you to read the rest of what’s out there without Watercooler’s oh-so-awesome filter.

Okay..back to bed, I go.

Browsing around Brazen Careerist this morning, I found Milena Thomas’ post on marriage as a means of simplifying life.

From the reads of it, assuming you’re in a relationship you like and committed to, she’s says just do it, go on, take the plunge: get married (or something like it).

Then she gives her case for marriage as the New Stability (my words). The Old Stability, in my mind, is living at home until it’s too awkward to mention to people you meet for the first time that your roommates wait up until you get home and the car keys are back on the hook.

I think it’s safe to generalize that the Boomer generation graduated high school, (in many cases) went to college, and never lived with their parents again. They busted their assess creating their own lives, which became substantial, fruitful and ultimately, comfy. That mixed with the psychological trend for Boomer parents to provide for their children (us) what their parents didn’t provide them equals a generation of people living at home for more than just the summers in between semesters. (proof: my super scientific opinion, based on all the people I know and all the Oprah I watch).

But lately I’ve noticed a shift in the numbers of friends I have who live at home to the number of friends I have shacking up. Not necessarily by means of marriage mind you, but people in long-term relationships saying hey, I like you, I spend a lot of time with you, I don’t see either thing changing, let’s move in together.

These under-one-roof couples are a total team, just like Thomas describes of her and her husband. One person takes care of the bills, the other cooks. One goes to school, the other brings in the bacon. It’s not even the big ticket-items that are striking, it’s that there’s two people to run house-related errands; two people to sub-in waiting for the Cable guy to show up somewhere between 9 and 5. It seems to have all the comforts of your parents’ place with the added bonus of making that other really huge adult transition, creating your own home.

Whether I’m hearing about it on the phone or watching it in action, it’s a lesson in maturity.

Most impressing of all is that by sharing the domestic duties, each individual is able to focus on their own goals because less time is taken up thinking about the routine stuff. Not only that, but they have their very own life coach, cheerleader, support system and sounding board sleeping right beside them. Not to mention, the joys of sex with this set up. But that’s a whole other post..

Before I cause my boyfriend to have a brain aneurysm as he waits to see where this is going, I’ll say that Thomas’ post didn’t inspire me personally; it reminded me that although it can feel impossible to think of anything other than the current economy and our careers given the not-great-state we’re collectively in right now, life in your twenties (or thirties, or whatever age) is not just about setting up a career, but about building your life and living it large.

And if that means going halfsies on the rent, well, bonus!

(How’s that for a little schmalcy glass-half-full pensivity? Details on unemployment stats and EI news to come Monday. Promise.)

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you’re living it: with another, with your parents, or somewhere in the middle like the rest of us. In my case, with a roommate whose newly free Fridays means I may take a little longer getting the latest and greatest on jobs news to you.

I’m off to go wait for my inbox to fill up with job offers from Hallmark.

First, there was the lawyer who lied.

Now comes word that there’s an army of retail associates who cheated their way in. Maybe.

The WSJ has a lengthy (read: good for mid-Friday-afternoon reading) article looking at major retail chains’ use of a test called Unicro, which is supposed to determine an applicant’s temperament and how well-suited they are for the job. It’s basically a filter to determine who gets an interview. Green gets one, yellow rarely, red, we’re happy to serve you as a customer sorta thing.

The test is a series of questions like “You would like a job that is quiet and predictable” or “Realistically, some of your projects will never be finished”, which the applicants must answer by checking one of four boxes: agree, disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree.

Seems a bit much for a retail job, but okay, I guess for some of these bigger retailers its time well-spent compared to flipping through piles of resumes. Apparently, 16% of all major retailers in the U.S. use the system, one major benefit being lower turnover. Finish Line, a sports store in the US, adopted it 2003 and apparently saves about a $1 million a year as a result. Best Buy estimates it saves 250,000 to 300,000 hours of labor annually thanks to the test.

Okay, useful it seems.

The problem is that the retail industry is shrinking, retailers are desperate for the most productive staff and applicants are desperate for a job, giving the test a greater significance. So significant that people are cheating to get the green light.

People are trying to cheat by getting their friends’ help, practicing the test at a location they don’t want to work at and then doing it at the place they do, or even finding answer keys online.

It’s to the point where one person told the WSJ, the test process, he contends, just “weeds out people who are honest and selects those who lie.”

The creators of the test are confidant the test’s safeguards thwart cheating more than people think and that all this talk of answer keys and tricking the test isn’t worth an EI check. Plus, in most cases applicants who get the dreaded red or yellow result can re-take it again, if they chose.

If you want to work in retail (despite what I noted yesterday), forget worrying about the test*; go right up to the store manager, say, Hi, my name is _______ you need someone who will be a great sales associate and I’ll do whatever I need to keep a job.

That, or start thinking nepotism.

PS, here’s an interesting fact that I liked but had no real reason to include in the post: retailers processed 29 applications for every opening in 2008, compared to 22 in 2007 (source: the WSJ)

*Not that I’ve worked for a mass retailer, I’ve never heard of the test in Canada. However, it stands to logic that Best Buy in Canada would have the same practices its American counterpart does. Then again, maybe these giant US corporations think Jimmy from Thunder Bay knows Sally from Thunder Bay and says she’s sweet and that’s all the proof the manager needs.

Ed note: my roommate would like to apologize to all of Watercooler’s readers for distracting me endlessly with a fashion show of clothes I planned to give to goodwill, that is now simply moving to the next bedroom.

I love me my lists this week.

There’s some not-so-fun news today about unemployment in Canada and how the government is discussing reforming EI so that people in different provinces aren’t penalized for where they live, and basically it just feels a little heavy for a Friday so I’m going to postpone my writes up on those and instead give you another list.

JobsRated.com came up with a comprehensive list of the Top 200 jobs list, based on five criteria: stress, work environment, physical demands, income and outlook

If you’re curious about how these criteria were measured and how they compiled the ranking, you can read up on their methodology.

Why care about the ranking of jobs? Assuming the abundant reasons aren’t obvious, there’s knowing what you’re getting yourself into, what to expect salary-wise, considering what else is out there similar to your field but may fair better in terms of stress level and other factors. Really, the list of reasons ‘why’ is as long as you want to make it.

The list’s actually surprising to some. Law is Cool was surprised to note that paralegals have a better job than lawyers do. Despite making oodles more money, lawyers, like stockbrockers, have way more stress. So all you burned our junior partners have a job to aspire to, if you want.

Any guess on the number one job before I tell you?

You sure?

Okay..

The number one best job is a Mathematician. An actuary, statistician, biologist and Software Engineer round out the top 5.

Any other BA-er re-thinking why they dropped math when they got to university right about now? One important note that leaves me all fuzzy inside is that common among the Top 10 best jobs is that a university-degree is required, if not a graduate degree.

(JobsRated.com says ‘college’ but that’s because they’re American… those cooky Americans and their lack of nuance in the post-secondary system.)

Anyway not to worry on the math front: sociologist, historian, and philosopher made it in the top 15.

Here’s the complete list to see where your job/aspiring job lies.

I’ll be honest: I debated whether to add this one to 411, only because it seems exclusively American. Then I remembered that hasn’t stopped me before in the case of entry-level job search help websites (see: CollegeGrad.com).

Plus, I figure it couldn’t hurt to point out to the ODOJ folks (Hi, Willy) that Canadians looking for entry-level jobs could benefit from the same service that Americans are getting.

So what’s One day, One job?

The gist is that every day the site profiles one company that has great entry- level jobs and then proceeds to offer up job search/research advice to help get you in the door.

The site basically does your job-search homework for you.

Nice touches include a blog as focused on pointing out the company’s expansion as it is on the job market itself, and links to LinkedIn and Facebook, to see if you can find a connection between yourself and the company (though let’s be clear: I’m not advocating the use of Facebook as a job-help tool. Let’s not forget what Lauren from TE said.)

I’ll assume your second thought about One Day, One Job was the same as mine (the first being, Sweet idea): only one a day? That doesn’t seem very broad. The ODOJ people thought of this and going through the archives is as easy as clicking on “Past Jobs*”.

As for whether you have the visa status to apply to any of the companies profiled, clearly I can’t help with that but it’s the job-search advice that comes after the description of the company that’s the site’s MVP tool.

Yeah, yeah, I say it every time but I mean it! – visit One Day, One Job now or know 411 has it saved for you for next time.