"You're a small fish in a big pond, why should we choose you?"

This is what our children have to face when they leave the nest and go out into the world. We are in a brave new world; technology, and societal norms are changing so rapidly that it seems impossible to keep up at times.

I get over ten emails a day with job offers. It is not that I am so special, or that much in demand. It is because quite a few years back, I placed an online application with Career Builders, and a few years after that, I placed one with Monster. I will admit that both Monster and Career Builders have served me well in the past, when I was looking for work.

Of course, everything has its pros and cons. One big con is that you get bombarded with emails with job offers, over half of them are not for the kind of work you are looking for, and you will also be swamped with the phone calls from the hungry head hunters and recruiters. However, this may not be true for much longer.

I got an email this morning informing me that a company was looking for someone with my skill set. It sounded interesting so I clicked on it.

I was surprised to read this:

Interview Format

As part of our hiring process for this opportunity, we will be using an exciting interviewing technology called Montage Voice to enhance our hiring and decision-making ability.

Montage Voice allows us to quickly connect and gain valuable information from you pertaining to your relevant skills and experience at a time that is best for your schedule. If you are selected for a first round interview, you will receive an email correspondence inviting you to participate in a Montage Voice interview. In this interview, you will listen to a set of interview questions over your phone and you will provide recorded responses to each question.

You should anticipate this interview to take about 15 to 30 minutes. Your recorded interview will be reviewed and you will subsequently be informed if you will be moving forward to next round of interviews.

I should not have been surprised. The application process is supposed to be about finding the best person for the job. How else would a large company streamline the application process, when they have over 1000 more applicants than they have jobs to offer?

I became curious about this process so I went to check it out. Here are some of the questions applicants said they were asked during the automated interview. I am sure each company chooses it own set of questions, and these are fairly standard.

1. You're a small fish in a big pond, why should we choose you?
2. Tell me a time when you changed someone's attitude about their health?
3. Tell me a time when the outcome was not what you wanted, and what did you do about it?
4. How would you respond if a new supervisor has come and changed the way things have to be done?
5. How would you describe why your previous experiences would be of any interest for the new position?
6. Describe a time when you had a challenging goal to achieve. How did you approach the challenge? What was the outcome?
7. What are your goals for the company?
8. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

It looks like even the hiring process itself will be automated. One such company Montage advertises:

On-Demand Voice Interviewing
Automate phone screening interactions with on-demand video interviewing from Montage: a time- and cost-effective way to broaden your talent search, hear from a high volume of applicants quickly, and evaluate verbal communication skills.

Live Voice Interviewing
Phone interviews are a necessary, but time-consuming part of the hiring process. Using Montage's live voice interviewing, recruiters can now schedule, administer, rate, record and share phone interviews effortlessly through one platform, reducing the time to fill positions. Experience how Montage is transforming the hiring experience through voice interviewing.
Request a demo today.

What disturbs me about this automated process is the mega jump from the personal human touch, to the automated, company first and above all else, dehumanizing feel, that I have watched creep into big businesses.

There is that rare company, and even rarer CEO, that understands the foundation that the business is grown on, and is smart enough to support, nurture, grow, and reward, his employees, quite handsomely for some. However, they are the exception, rather than the rule.

I keep hearing people speak of the all the jobs that are available for our young people, and that only the lazy, the unmotivated, the spoiled, and the entitled, are the ones that are without jobs, but it really is not that simple.

Our children are facing challenges that we can't even imagine. When I was starting out it was hard, but it was much easier than what most of our children will face. Though I was blessed not to, I knew people that slept in a tent or a car, and never once did they ever even think of being attacked, or robbed. When I was in college, I would call around to my neighbors to find out the dinner menu, so I could decide at which house I was going to eat that night. The neighbors sort of adopted all of us college kids. They looked out for us, and fed us a good hot, home cooked meal, whenever we needed one.

There weren't as many of us back then. In fact, my story is the same as most of my age. I was also the first in my family to graduate college. A college degree was almost a guaranteed well paying job. A High School diploma was a chance at a good future. That isn't true for our children. I have heard people in upper management say on more than one occasion, that employees are "a dime a dozen."

Many don't value the employee anymore. They view them as expendable, and where pay raises were a yearly expectation, many businesses downsize yearly, and cut the worker's hours or pay, sometimes both.

We have failed our young. We have spoiled them. We have set them up for a world they are not prepared for, without the tools they need to succeed. We have created a new world where it will take a hell of a lot more than courage for them to survive. We can't point fingers because the majority of the fingers point right back to us.

Being a Senior Citizen comes with its own set of perks and quirks, but being able to see the handwriting on the wall and not being able to get anyone else to see it, is simultaneously a perk and a quirk. I understand that to advance and grow as a society that some things have to be left behind, but when we start throwing the baby out with the bathwater, in the end we all lose.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Maybe off point, but I think you've just described why and how its become the case that "work" in the US has become rather demeaning. People as employees have become commoditized and are viewed more as a liability than an asset.

Probably explains the low labor participation figures. Where I live no one works as an employee, they're all contractors and only work for as much of the year as necessary to meet they're needs, which in this rural area, aren't much. And most are working for cash/off the books.

Gone are the days when someone would hire you after "having a good feeling" after the interview.
You're a small fish in a big pond, why should we choose you?
This is just a ridiculously insulting question when you know you are just applying to be another cog in the machine.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Maybe off point, but I think you've just described why and how its become the case that "work" in the US has become rather demeaning. People as employees have become commoditized and are viewed more as a liability than an asset.

Probably explains the low labor participation figures. Where I live no one works as an employee, they're all contractors and only work for as much of the year as necessary to meet they're needs, which in this rural area, aren't much. And most are working for cash/off the books.

Very much on point.

Remember when they started labeling us as white collared workers vs blue collared workers? Pitting administration against the laborers?

They control your time at work, tell you what your are allowed and not allowed to do. They make more demands for your loyalty, while they take more and more from you, and leave you with less.

How many people remember getting a lunch hour? How many remember when you were rewarded for staying over to get the work done, instead of punished?

A place where I worked, not only forbid personal calls, but you weren't even allowed to charge you cell phone in one of their outlets. Oh, and you were not allowed to make your work space a personal space, because the space did not belong to you.

This is the legacy we are passing on to our children, and we are surprised that they are not thrilled about jumping into this kind of work environment?

We have failed miserably, and we need to stand up and accept that we screwed up, even if we are not willing to stand up and make it right.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

We are in a brave new world; technology, and societal norms are changing so rapidly that it seems impossible to keep up at times.

As a senior also, I concur. I think that for many who are still below thirty or even forty and certainly for those under twenty it is at least hard if not impossible to fathom the rate at which things are changing. Some of us seniors can see it happening while others just blame all the troubles of the young, on the young. This may have been the case in a time when nothing changed and the only way to survive as an individual was to just keep in line with the prevailing meme, which may or may not have changed at all over a score of generations.

It's not just that we seniors are getting senile, that our brains are turning to dust. It is that it takes time to re-orient to yet another meme, another tech advance and they, as you say are just flying by at to great a speed.

And yes, it does seem to me that the corporate world we let come into existence and even nurtured to a large extent by buying their products and working their offered jobs so that now it seems that the future will only allow all the promises of success to be fullfilled within their 'loving embrace" .

Yes, we failed our children. But I see that our parents generation those hearty warriors of the second world war failed us. They allowed the complacency of victory to be overtaken by materialistic values and abandoned us to the motto of more is good ain't the TV Greeeaaaaat.

The current job landscape is a reflection of our cultural devolution into complete selfishness and narcissism fueled by the ego machines Facebook, and the Television.

It's hard to find a job for many because without support going to college is nearly impossible for those who have to switch careers or have to pay their own bills IE no support from family.

Working full time while getting a technical degree is getting harder every year with rising cost of living and declining and stagnating wages.

Most community colleges do not offer programs that work around your schedule.

For instance I am taking a technical program in the fall, 12 credit. I have to take math 4 times a week but the only times scheduled for that class is between 8-10 am. The rest of my classes are in the middle of the day after that.

The jobs around here are either warehouse work or if you're lucky one of the manufacturing plants, if your lucky.

There are no more entry level jobs. Because the market is so competitive and they don't have to pay to train people they don't.

The skilled trades for the most part are not this glorious path to 50-60 grand a year like everyone paints them to be. The cost of running a business has gone up while the pay hasn't. Add on top of that all of the social welfare programs and other costs of doing business and you can't compete with the big construction companies so for many making the step from subcontractor to business owner is becoming harder and harder every year.

Taxes are putting a burden on our smaller manufacturing plants stifling wages and making them less competitive in the global markets.

This is just a few reasons why this is happening.

a reply to: AccessDenied

This is just a ridiculously insulting question when you know you are just applying to be another cog in the machine.

It is the new mind set.

You are supposed to be grateful that you even have a job. It doesn't matter that they aren't paying you enough money to pay off your student loan in thirty years, or that you have little hope, if any of making enough money, or having a enough time, once in their trap to to even look for a brighter future.

You can't be insulted. You are just the hired help. Unless you live on Elysium and are favored by the gods.

We did this. We accepted this. We have become this.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

A place where I worked, not only forbid personal calls, but you weren't even allowed to charge you cell phone in one of their outlets. Oh, and you were not allowed to make your work space a personal space, because the space did not belong to you.

Wait you mean there was a time when you could make a personal call at work or plug in your cellphone?

I've never experienced that.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Actually in case you haven't been paying attention it's the Millennials fault for not getting the right degree.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

A place where I worked, not only forbid personal calls, but you weren't even allowed to charge you cell phone in one of their outlets. Oh, and you were not allowed to make your work space a personal space, because the space did not belong to you.

Wait you mean there was a time when you could make a personal call at work or plug in your cellphone?

I've never experienced that.

Yes, my child. There once was a time when you were appreciated for the hard work you did.

There once was a land a long time ago where .......

I uploaded my resume to Monster a while back, and UGH.

I am a Veterinary Technician. I work with animals, medically.
Almost every single day for the last month I have gotten at least 1 call to sell insurance. They want customer service reps who will field calls all day and meet a certain quota of crap sold, or calls answered.

And it's always the same damn thing when they call, " I received your resume and I feel that you would be a valuable asset to our company."

HOW? I'm not a sales person, I don't sit behind a desk and sell crap, or field calls?
I literally wrestle dogs and other animals down and assist in surgery, and give vaccinations, and trim nails, and clean poop and look through microscopes. NONE of that relates to sitting on my butt all day.

I have been seeking "gainful employment"-Hahahahahah.....For some time.

I happen to be one of those people that read contracts and agreements, you know those things frequently referred to as "terms and conditions" that the more naive of us claim is not a contract, yet is?.

Some of these prospective employers demand that the application be filled out before one can even read their terms or contract or whatever they're calling the thing that day, and simply by sharing the information when you apply, you are putting your personal information out there to be used however those you share that information with see fit to use it.

They frequently state that certain subordinates or subsidiaries will be able to access the information you share with them, but when asked who these subsidiaries, or whatever, are, they can't answer. They claim not to know.

One big one I have read in contracts and work agreements is their asking you to grant them indemnity, when you sign the contract that is frequently one of the things you are doing by signing it, even digitally. You are agreeing to allow them to use your information how ever they please by making them unaccountable regarding how it is used.

If they won't allow me to read their work agreement or employment agreement or whatever they are calling it that day, first, I don't share any more information with them. They still have my email address though, and the majority of the spam I get which gets past the filters is from porn sites and dating sites, and the odd unsolicited job offer that isn't anything I have experience in or would be interested in doing.

Do some research regarding what is lawful for them to demand regarding information to gain employment. It is not particularly ethical to ask you your past wage history, they only use it to low-ball you if they offer you a job. A competitive wage they say?, ask them what they mean by that, I have gotten a lot of nonsensical answers regarding that one, and as I have always been told, it isn't ethical for employees to share wage info with one another, so why would businesses share wage info with one another to develop a supposedly "competitive wage estimate"....

Do your research. There are many professional head hunters online who recommend that you fill out real live paper applications -vs- online applications, and stick to real live actual face time interviews where you're actually breathing the same air in the same room.

It isn't easy finding a job if there are charges on your record for misdemeanors even either, and it isn't ethical or legal to hold charges against you as they are not convictions and do not apply to anything. Why they stay there is a mystery to me, maybe legislation passed by corporate funded lawyers and politicians to penalize people for not staying in line when charges are dropped?.

Don't share any information with anyone, and learn what information you are not required to share with prospective employers.

They know you are probably not doing so well as you would like and are seeking another job to gain a better paying one, which means you probably cannot afford to secure adequate legal counsel to call them on their illegal activities.

That was a way bigger post than I originally intended to write....

Remember when companies actually had what was called a "Personnel Department"?.

Somewhere along the line, you became a "Human Resource".

Now go to the Smoky Mountains and look at how resources are utilized.

This is you in the future.

You are the barren hill.

An exploited resource.

a reply to: MyHappyDogShiner

They know you are probably not dong so well as you would like and are seeking another job to gain a better paying one, which means you probably cannot afford to secure adequate legal counsel to call them on their illegal activities.

A lot of businesses think that have you by the short hairs, so they think they can get away with anything. Unfortunately, my co-workers, time after time, have proved them right.

originally posted by: MyHappyDogShiner
Remember when companies actually had what was called a "Personnel Department"?.

Somewhere along the line, you became a "Human Resource".

Now go to the Smoky Mountains and look at how resources are utilized.

This is you in the future.

You are the barren hill.

An exploited resource.

You are quite correct, and they have been grooming us for a very long time.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

You quoted my post before I fixed the typo....

But yeah, people need to learn more about how to express themselves by keeping their mouths shut and solicit legal firms to represent them if they have grievances.

If one were to do the research, my identity could be discovered with tools that are easily available and free of charge online. An employer or prospective employer could hold what I say here or anywhere else against me.

One doesn't even need to have a "criminal" record any more to be "marginalized".

Not on topic, as is the usual for me, but then how can one stay on topic with so many factors at play.

Overload.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I refer people to this video all the time.

Of course they are too busy "much ado about nothing" , to sit still long enough to watch and absorb the massage it offers up.

It is quite depressing indeed, and offers up many potential reasons for some of the things that happen in this world.

I found it refreshing the first time I watched it, as it pointed out that this isn't so much my fault as those around me would lead me to believe or believe themselves to be....

originally posted by: Squirlli
HOW? I'm not a sales person, I don't sit behind a desk and sell crap, or field calls?
I literally wrestle dogs and other animals down and assist in surgery, and give vaccinations, and trim nails, and clean poop and look through microscopes. NONE of that relates to sitting on my butt all day.

Don't make the mistake that I made for way too many years. Career seeking is an art. Never sell yourself short. An employer is never going to value you more than you value yourself.

Companies today really are not that concerned about the actual job you are presently doing. They look at your experience and your skill set. A skill set is a particular category of skills or abilities necessary to perform a job.

Almost any skill can be taught, especially if the company is looking to fill a previously unidentified position or a new position. Most companies prefer an employee that comes with a unique set of skills that allows for versatility and innovation. Experience, innovation, and creativity, cannot be taught.

So don't be afraid to explore and move outside of your comfort zone when looking for a job.

a reply to: MyHappyDogShiner
Then you will probably enjoy this one also. IgnoranceIsntBlisss posted this video in another thread. I found it complimentary to the Human Resources video, just lot more in depth, and twice as long.

I watched it is one sitting, but I would recommend breaking it up into to shorter viewing times. It is a lot to process, research and digest.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

This is why I have never applied to a place where the manager or person hiring refused to speak to me before an interview.

It has limited my choices perhaps, but I grew up old-fashioned, raised by grandparents. I always introduce myself, ask questions, and try to make a friendly impression. It has almost always worked too.

Any place that refuses to meet for an introduction, I have never applied to with success, and eventually stopped altogether.

And you know what? It's a good idea to get an idea of who you'll be working for before accepting a position. I have turned down positions from managers who didn't have the time or courtesy to stop and say hello and answer a few questions. Imagine how they are with employees if they act this way with applicants (and usually are also customers at the same time.)

In other words, make yourself that big fish or find another pond.