Employers Advertising Jobs That Don't Exist in Reality

MystikMushroom
reply to post by wasaka

 

You mean jobs on the strip, not strip dancing/pole dancing right? Because if was the later I would assume it would be fairly easy to get a job as a stripper in Vegas if you're hot and can dance.

The Strip... not the other kind =)

Funny thing... I did a website for client who's business is strippers (escorts) in California he is telling me that his girls aren't making money. Yeah, a real sob story right? But don't assume it easy for anyone these days. Getting a job as a stripper isn't a walk in the park. In the past, maybe... but recently I was talking to a friend.... he knows a hot girl who used to do porn (he said, "it is ridiculous how good looking she is") and she was complaining to him how she can't find a job--even as a stripper! This same dude hired me and then let me go a few days later...THANKS DUDE! (now I'm out of work, again!).

My girlfriend works on the Strip as a cocktail waitress and in the past she was making $150 a night, but no more. Now all the girl she works with are struggling (getting second jobs, etc) and their hours are cut back to half-time. My girl is on call... and she gets a call about once every two weeks.... $150 a night sounds good, but not when it is 2 or 3 times a month. I got a job as a webmaster that paid $18 hour, but it turned out to be BS cause I was only getting paid for one hours work every day--and being charged $5 a day in rent on top of that! I'm telling you... people are strugglin' like never before.

Good luck trying to find a full time job in this economy.

Here's a classic example of this tactic being used to pit labour against each other to keep costs down. This occured in the town I currently live in now. Fortunately, I wasn't dumb enough to stand in line for this because I sensed that it was a scam.

taken from this source reubenroth.com...

TIGHTENING LABOUR MARKETS AND WORKER REBELLION

Our interviews took place shortly after a massive January 1995 lineup of 26,000 GM applicants in Pickering, Ontario (twenty minutes west of Oshawa). Applicants responded to GM advertisements in what were previously unimaginable numbers, during two of the coldest January days in a decade. Desperate to ‘share the wealth’ enjoyed by current GM employees, this event was noted in some way by almost every respondent interviewed. Harry, an assembler, summarized his own in-plant experience and the almost daily use of the "Pickering army of the unemployed" threat by shop floor management to intimidate workers who fall out of line:

I mean in our times right now ..with General Motors, you say something [they] say "Hey, you don’t like it there’s 30,000 people were lined up and freeze their butt to get in here." "You can’t do it, somebody else can do it."

reply to post by FissionSurplus


We formed unions and ticked off some major psychopaths in the recent past.
That much is documented history. But most people don't recognize payback
unless it's in the streets. But that is exactly what I see is going on.

The calculated and exacted revenge of " The Wicked ".

I don't post much on ATS, but I had to hop on this thread, because I am a recruiter for a living, and can give some insight. While it's true that some employers post jobs to build pipelines, there are other factors to consider.

Have you ever worked with a staffing agency? Staffing agencies get jobs from their company clients, but those companies also are most likely working with several other staffing agencies. When I did agency recruiting, there were times when our clients were working with over 10 other agencies to recruit for just one job! This obviously creates an influx in "fake" job postings, as 10 staffing firms are all competing to fill just one position.

As for pipelining... collecting resumes for jobs that may or may not open 3 - 6 months down the line is a bit ridiculous; however, depending on the industry, it is important to have a pipeline built for near future needs. For example, I work for a company that is a 3rd party vendor for telecom companies. Our business needs regularly dictate very short deadlines to hire large numbers. Right now I have 2 weeks to recruit 45+ people - all by myself. Luckily, I was able to cut that number down a bit because I had people who I interviewed a week or 2 who were in my pipeline and ready to go. That said, I am very open when it comes to discussing start dates with candidates, and I constantly follow up with them (we also hire at least one class per month, so candidates never have to wait too long before a start date comes available).

I have no doubt that reported job numbers are inaccurate; however, I don't think there is any "government conspiracy" going on... In fact, it is SO easy to get in trouble by the federal government when it comes to corporate hiring. You can get in trouble for false advertising, and there are strict laws when it comes to posting jobs (not that everyone follows them, but there are regulations in place, nonetheless - especially on the corporate side).

Just wanted to put my 2 cents into this convo.

It's almost like money there's money but it has no value , so there's actually no money at all..?

VoidHawk
Hi fissionsurplus, havent seen you around for a while!

Its the same here in the uk. Over here employment agencies are responsible for about 90% of the advertised jobs, and MOST of them are bogus. When I was out of work and visiting the jobcenter I was asked several times to apply for jobs. I asked them whats the point of applying for a job that doesnt exist? Each time the adviser sat back in their chair speechless. I'd then get them to list up the jobs on their pc and I'd show them the phone numbers were the same for nearly every job advertised, I'd then tell them to search for the last two months and sure enough the same phone numbers came up time and again.
This is a real problem for the unemployed, not just because it wastes their time, but also because it makes everyone believe there's plenty of jobs, so if you havent got one, it must be because your not trying hard enough.

That's what I saw too, around two years ago. I have really given up on job hunting in the UK for software engineering jobs. Many cases, the salaries on offer wouldn't cover the cost of renting a bedsit (< £12K/year). Then I would see adverts offering £30K plus and get lucky enough to go for an interview. Then I would find out that they were just looking for a body to fill a space "What can you do that graduates can't do?" or even "Well, um, we've got a bit of cashflow problem just now, would you be prepared to accept £20K?", then "Oh we just use a big number to winkle the bright graduates out of the research labs".

Using Internet agencies, whenever one job appeared, I'd get phone calls from a good dozen recruitment agencies. I noticed that they started playing all sorts of games with our telephone line where one of them would keep me on the line for a good half hour with waffle. Usually this happened when I was waiting for a telephone interview. I got used to that trick and would always pretend the mobile phone had lost signal.

There's a simple explanation - the universities make money from international students, and they are forced to stay in the UK by their home country employers requiring that they have two years work experience. That just drives down salaries.

The government loves it - it brings money into the country, the employers love it, it keeps salaries down, the international students love it - it allows them to escape their home country.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


I think there's tons of jobs. I can get a new one everyday.

The problem is it's impossible for a young person to get into a trade. The jobs out there are temporary or pay squat.

reply to post by TXRabbit


we need a programmer who can stuff their rcruiting inboxes full of fake applicants. that'd be the day.

FissionSurplus
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Again, it's west Texas, Furry! If people know you around here, and you're a good worker, you'll never be without a job. However....try being a newbie to the area, as I am. Not a member of any of the Christian churches around here. No network of people that have known me since I was a kid. I'm chipping away at a stone wall. I don't give up easily, however. Perhaps if I can claim a long lineage of Texas heritage back to the Alamo....but no, I'm a "Left Coast Side Transplant". From California, no less! With parents who were "foreigners". The horror!

I read about the things Texans say about Californians on other forums. It seems they saw what happened to California with all the high taxes on executive salaries used to pay for homeless people, only for the policy to actually attract more homeless people driving taxes up even higher. So they resent Californians coming over for fear they'll demand the same taxes are raised again.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Yep. Just as I suspected. Don't believe the numbers. Not the official ones anyway. its all in the name of maintaining order and control. I suspect that the actual number of unemployed in the U.S. is at an all time high and getting worse by the day.

Those receiving unemployment benefits are also dropping because people have already collected for the maximum amount of time allowed and lose those benefits. The only stat that matters is, how many people are jobless. I don't know if I would believe the official numbers on that.

Feels like something big is brewing. It scares me.

Great post. I just got through all the posts and saw that job fairs were only mentioned once. I have believed for many, many years that job fairs are totally bogus, as the businesses don't really have any openings, or maybe just one (unlikely).

Also, I knew from my mother that worked in HR at a big downtown business that the real job postings occurred in house and that personally networking was one of the few ways to get in to begin with. Going back to the beginning to give you a star and flag.

FissionSurplus
reply to post by Evil_Santa

 

You've touched on another issue......the ever-lowering wages while they want a superstar who can shoulder twice the workload and survive on a piss-poor salary.

Well done, and a bump to you both.
This also leaves open the door to a now 'customary' bonus structure for internal HR over at least the last 25 or 30 years, determined by how much they save the company.
In other words Surplus, if you can get a workaholic that will sweat for peanut shells you will get a piece of the payroll savings.
Nasty, and morally scrud-- but a very real dynamic as well.

To the original thread-- I was the first in line today for a job I'm eminently overqualified for, and at the low side of my former pay grade. Better you're one of the last, so you get more remembered at pre-screening time.

Finally, my contention that HR has outsourced all the tedium of candidate history/skill matching of sometimes complex job duties to relatively inexperienced marketing personnel.. is the main drawback of retaining advertising (oops, staffing) agencies.

This
was my number one go to site from 2001 to 2007. If upon rare occasion none
of my regular companies had work ? I just clicked the heading in my favs
and had my choice of five to ten glass shops in the Tri counties of greater So.
California. And I only had to speak to the superintendant for maybe five or ten
minutes on the phone. if he didn't know me. He'd tell me what job to be on in
the morning, sendthe least amount of paper work possible with one of his shop
guys. About ten minutes to fill it out. And I was back working for 31.00 bucks an
hour with a welcomed one day break in between.

Well government couldn't leave well enough alone and seeing americans
had it go'in on, They've in my eyes commited nothing less then an all out
act of war on the lifestyles and cultures, of the american people. Our
corporate employed big gov. only supplies a great wage when they know
the money will bounce right off of us and right back in their wallet.

Just look at how many actual jobs are on that site now ? The truth is none,
but as a journeyman in the trade, I haven't been fooled once by this crap.
But an apprentice ? Or a youngster in any of the trades ? Facing this unbelievable
bullsh#t ? I see no future for them at all, where at least I had a colorful past.
So it's not just about me. I see this and feel total remorse for these kids today.
They are looking at a life of sh#t that has only totally flocked up the rest of mine.

And it makes me wanna war back. But only at the right targets.

reply to post by randyvs


Electrician in San Diego in around 2003, could walk into ANY electrical shop and say "hey, I can bend and pull".

owner would say "have your own complete set of tools?, then 36/hr. be XXx tomorrow at 5am"

2009- 12-18/hr if lucky to find steady.

FissionSurplus
reply to post by greencmp

 

in his field (IT), it appears that a lot of these are phantom jobs which don't exist....or if they do, as you said, the pay is pretty darned low.

This topic hit upon my biggest pet peeve. I also work in IT, and for three long years I was looking for a job while stuck in a low paying, miserable, high-pressure, dead-end job. It was the lowest pay I have made since the 80's, no sick time, vacation, or holidays. And even worse, night shift. I was taking home just a bit more than on unemployment.

In all that time, I'm sure I sent out over 500 resumes, and probably had 10 interviews, mostly with employment agencies who told me after the interview that "the client has decided not to fill the position", or "that position has been filled already, but we'll call you if another comes up", or sometimes they would tell me I'm more experienced and they'll find me something better in the future.

Yeah right, and you wasted my time and destroyed my hope anyway. Thank you so much.

After I got sick of being yanked around, when they called and asked me to come in for an interview, I asked them if the specific position that I applied for is still open. They would never give me a straight answer. One guy asked me "Why do you care about that job so much? Just come in and we'll discuss your options."

Employment agencies are absolute scum. You can't imagine the disgust I felt at every interview, even for "real" jobs, because my confidence was completely destroyed, and yet I had to act excited, confident, and grateful for those idiots.

Another thing that makes applying for jobs such a miserable task now is that every company forces you to create an account on their website, with all of your personal information in excruciating detail, and most of them won't just let you upload your resume - you have to enter the exact same data into text boxes a second time, one paragraph at a time.

I've applied for jobs online where it took me well over an hour to enter all the data they wanted. Not one of them led to an interview.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


A friend of mine quit the temp agency she worked for a few months ago. She was disgusted with EXACTLY the type of thing you're talking about. Every day she had to tell people calling the agency that there was no work available (though when work was available they would get a call that might be months and months later--if they were lucky) even though the agency had put out ads that they had hundreds of jobs available from office to warehouse to bakeries to factories to truck driving to medical transcriptionist and secreterial jobs. This type of thing had been going on for a looong time and she couldn't take it anymore. She told me 90 percent of inbound calls were like this, because the truth was for every hundred or so jobs advertised there were really only about 10-20 jobs available. Complete #e.

Well what did you think , HR has nothing better to do !
We call HR at our work , Department of Christmas party planners , because thats the only thing they are competent to do , and they can even f*ck that up, in most cases !

a reply to: VoidHawk

Wow, your story about the psychological changing of people's ideas on why they work is appalling. But what I saw in that is an attempt to inculcate the Marxist ideology without saying what it is. I see this stuff all the time, as in the journalist who insisted that children do not belong to their parents but to the State. This is abject Statism. So that is what I see in your example, an attempt to make people believe that they work for the good of the State and not for themselves.

When I was unemployed I tried to go to the unemployment office and look for jobs and never got anywhere with them. They just point you to some computers and tell you to search for jobs online - I once asked the lady at the desk if she had any information on job fairs in the area and she got all pissy with me, like I was trying to cause her problems. That set me off - I actually went online and filed an application to the NYS department of labor, and informed them of what I thought of their secretary, and told them at the least I would be willing to do research on job fairs and hand out fliers so I knew I could do the job better. Of course I didn't get hired...

I have a great job now, but I had to walk in and do the footwork myself to get it. IMO the unemployment office is not the place you should go if you want to get a job.