[anarkisst]

I have been recieving emails everyday from Jobcircle.com for any graphic design positions out in my region for about 4 years. For the past 2 I have not gotten much (economy and all) but when I do, I see familiar postings from specific corporations. They seem to be the same damn position (full-time not part time) and seem to be posted again and again...say...3-6 months at a time.

I've sent my resume as instructed and get no response. Then 3-6 months later...there they are again.

Is this just the typical way corporations do hiring? Hire then fire, then repost? Seems pretty redundant. Oh, wait...we're talking corporations...

Still, any thoughts on this? I'd honestly would like to know if its really a waste of time sending them anything anymore...

[godzookie2k]

job hunting online via the job search engines is really more of a waste of time than anything else considering the vast, VAST, number of responses, simply put, the odds aren't that great. It is a good judge of how the economy (read: hiring situation) is in your area. The corporate revolving door is a way of life in that world. At our company we actually have a secret board listing everyone who has ever worked and still works with us, and a list of how long we think they'll last, weather the quit or get fired. Our editorial dept for example went through 4 people in three months. Our design dept has had more than a few instances of people working for a day, or a week and then going to lunch and not coming back. The corporate world is really hard to work in if you are the creative type, corporate work is very stifling in most cases, and usually drives the creative types crazy, thus resulting in a high turnover rate. The companies you see always looking for the same position proabably aren't the best places in the world to work, considering their high turnover rate. That is usually one of the questions I always ask in an interview, as its a great reflection on the work environment and "expiry date" on your position. My job often frustrates me to no end considering how stifling it can be, but in this market I cling to my position like a---well, something that clings to something really strongly. And I get my creative jollies off doing personal work and freelance on the side.

uhm...ok I now re-read that entire paragraph and don't really know how much sense it makes or how much it contributes, so...disregard or something.

/me awards himself the incoherant rant award for the day.

[anarkisst]

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
uhm...ok I now re-read that entire paragraph and don't really know how much sense it makes or how much it contributes, so...disregard or something.

/me awards himself the incoherant rant award for the day.

Makes sense. I have to ask this question everytime I see one of these carbon copy job posts...and your explaination is on the mark...thanks.

I'm also one of those who, if the time came when a complete overtake of the corporate world and redistibution of their wealth to the masses comes to fruition...I'll be first in line. Corporations for the most part are ruining the whole economy and the employment base in this country...

...Wal-Mart...here I come...

[dadder]

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
My job often frustrates me to no end considering how stifling it can be, but in this market I cling to my position like a---well, something that clings to something really strongly. And I get my creative jollies off doing personal work and freelance on the side.

uhm...ok I now re-read that entire paragraph and don't really know how much sense it makes or how much it contributes, so...disregard or something.

/me awards himself the incoherant rant award for the day.

This is soooo true. Particularly the part about doing personal work and freelance on the side to keep the fun in it and to explore. People often ask me, 'You mean you take work home and work on it?' They don't understand that in our field and being a creative, that you have such passion for what you do that it is just as much an enjoyable hobby as it is work. I don't think there are many other industries like that. Unless your like a snowmobile designer and you build custom sleds on the side or something.

[MikeM33]

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
At our company we actually have a secret board listing everyone who has ever worked and still works with us, and a list of how long we think they'll last, weather the quit or get fired.

God that sounds so creepy, as-if they're taking bets on peoples jobs Is this an official thing or just someones amusing little pass-time?

I'm into my 3rd job in the field and it's interresting seeing how so many companies do things. My first job was in pre-press for a pretty big printing company. There was definitely a certain way things had to be done. Eventually I learned thier procedures. You couldn't just go from "A to Z" without following all the inbetween steps. I worked there for 5 yrs. Left on crappy terms over an issue I brought upon myself with my boss there. I was definitely on my way up there (until that happenned). Damn good job, I just screwed-up. It was too bad a thing to stick around so I had to leave. I just up and quit one day and that was that.

My last job was totally procedure-less (this is not to say they didn't have a certain way of doing things, but it wasn't so set in stone). "Okay here's your mac, you have to color correct files to print to fabrics by any means necessary, now get to work". I'd never done that sort of work before either. There really wasn't much to it either. To be honest it was actually "too simple" very un-challenging. 50% of the time we were tending these huge ink-jet printers. It felt more like work, and there really was no room to "advance" there. They had a really high turnover rate also. The guy who co-owned the company was a real bastard at times, thrown to fits of rage and chewing people a new a-hole in front of the whole crew. I lasted 4 months there. I called in sick so much they canned me. I just didn't like the job much at all. I did learn some stuff there, but it wasn't much. As I said, I like a challenge.

Now I'm working for a service bureau that paginates phone directories. Quite a bit more actual design work involved in creating some of the ads. Totally new stuff to me (but it's print to paper again like my first job). It's a smaller firm though. Not the big corporate environment of my first job, but also not the "we've only been in business 5 yrs" and "fly by the seat of our pants" environment of my last job. The art department here consists of 2 people (myself and my co-worker, or the woman who hired me for this job and has been training me). Now, don't get me wrong when I say it's totally new to me. I've worked on similar projects in the form of business forms at my first job. I've just never done books before. I mean, I know how to use the software and the Mac and so forth. That's the basic stuff. The un-known part is the way they do things as opposed to simply using QuarkXPress or Photoshop or whatever.

So suddenly I'm back in a very "structured" environment where procedure is golden. All these ad's I work on eventually get merged into the final phone book along with all this data and so on (very cool interresting stuff, seriously). Name one file wrong and it tosses a monkey wrench in the whole process. The most frustrating part of the new job (I've been here going on 3 months this month) isn't using the software, it's learning the way they do things. I admire my co-workers patience at times, but sometimes she seems like she's going to bite my head off. But she's cool about it. She's been doing this stuff all by herself for a long time and even said so. She's just not used to having to "baby-sit" the "new guy". Over-all though so-far so good. I believe I'm doing well (and if I'm not they're also not mentionning it). I just don't want to be the victem of not knowing that I'm not working up to par and then suddenly and abruptly being "sacked". Not being given an opportunity to improve or whatever. I've even told her to keep me posted. If I receive no feedback about the way I'm doing my job, I just assume I'm doing well.

The worst thing I've actually seen is people getting fired over some issue or another who were never given an opportunity to correct whatever they were doing wrong. These people will just drift along on the assumption they're doing fine when they're not. I know I would too. Then there's corporate cut-backs, but I wouldn't feel as badly about getting canned because the company simply can't afford me anymore. That's not as personal.

The biggest company I worked for (which was my first job) did some real crappy things. They hired one guy as an artist, kept him on a whole year, then sh_tcanned him when his first revue was due. Then they did the exact same thing to someone else. One guy was out on leave for a prostate operation. This guy had worked for the company for 8 yrs and they sacked him one fine day too (although I could sort of see they're reasoning in that case because the quality of his work had really bottomed-out). Still 8 frikkin years?!?!

Anyway my feelings are this; A company that has such a high turnaround obviously doesn't care about putting an honest investment into the people they hire. This can only have a poor effect on the quality of thier efforts. I wouldn't ever seek a job with a company that's running ads for new people so often. It just screams to me of high turnaround and "we don't care about you" mentality. A good company keeps it's employees long enough so they can make a quality contribution. The first company I worked for had this practice of only hiring kids fresh out of college, and subsequently paying them much, much, much less for the "opportunity/honor" of working there. Once you started making above a certain amount of money there though, you really had to watch your ass. There'd be some 21 yr old kid waiting to take your job at a fraction of the cost. The only reason I lasted so long was because I accepted alot (ALOT) less than the average starting pay just to get my foot in the door in this field.

Oh well, I guess I'm sorta rambling a bit here too. I apologize if this post comes off as a rant.

MikeM