How to Get a Job in the Worst of Times

By Jay Michael Schechter

SUMMARY The purpose of this book is to how to pursue employment when the economy is in transition. As I stated in my Preface, this book is intended as an experience from a person who has 85 jobs and counting. I dont pretend to be an expert, I am serving as a guidepost from experience. The only way to learn something is by doing; and, as far as obtaining a job, I have a wealth of knowledge.
The book is intended for the unemployed as well as the employed, veterans and college students; as well as advice and a warning to employers.
Finally, I point to the foreign based employers as possibly a trend which can remake the American job market. I hope these chapters can lift your spirits, and use it as a primer to staying employed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477125236

Jay Michael Schechter

BIOGRAPHY Jay Schechter was born and raised in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb outside of Chicago. He attended and graduated from Indiana State University with a BA Degree in Liberal Arts. In between teaching positions, he served in the Army during the Vietnam Era. After the Army, Jay started on his journey working for all types of companies both in the private and public sectors and learning valuable lessons on what employers were looking for in employees and what motivated the employer to hire one person and not the other. In total, Jay worked a total of 85 positions, some with the same company, and with different companies. He retired from the Federal Government with a pension, but he still is not through working, and he is looking to attach himself to another job in the private sector. From his work experience, Jay wants to share some information for the employed and unemployed on how to endure the job market and to stay employed in increasingly trying times.

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Copyright © 2012 by Jay Michael Schechter.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Long-Term Unemployed

Short-Term Unemployed

Currently Employed

Veterans

College Students

Note To Employers

Employment At Foreign Companies

Both Domestically And Internationally

Appendix: List Of My Jobs Since College

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of Michael and Glenn Boutté. I am glad both of you guys put up with my long readings over the phone and became the cheerleaders for my persistence in finishing the chapters. You were there from the beginning encouraging me to write this book. I owe a great deal to both of you. A shout-out goes to Gerald Williams for also encouraging me to write this book and for emphasizing the need of this book for all those hard-core unemployed out there. You reminded me of all the experiences the both of us went through, and as I was writing this book, I kept those thoughts in mind. In addition, all the people who thought it was necessary for me to write this book in the first place: the people I must mention—Mark Boutté, the people at the Tacoma Social Security Office, and, finally, everyday people who I run into on the streets. You are the inspiration for this book. I also wish to thank Xlibris Publishing for editing and publishing this book.

PREFACE

There are three types of people in the world. Those that make things happen. Those that watch things happen; and finally, those that don’t know what’s happening.

—John Madden

We’re not in a recession; your brain is in a recession.

—Glenn Boutte

An expert is a person who knows less about a subject longer than anyone else.

—Anonymous

This book is not a primer on how to get a job. There is no such book out. If there was such a book, it would be on the top of the best seller list, and everyone who has read it would find a job to their liking, and the United States would be close to full employment. I do not claim to be an expert on employment, nor will I give you a lot of facts and figures.

What I am saying is that those who take the initiative, don’t dwell on events (whether they are good or bad), and don’t listen to the so-called expertise of others are generally more successful in their employment pursuits.

If you want to confine yourself about other people’s ideas on cracking the job market, go right ahead. I am not claiming to be the sole authority on obtaining a job. What I am claiming is that due to my own history of pursuing and obtaining jobs, I feel I can give you some pearls of wisdom. I am imparting my wisdom as a lifelong pursuer of jobs, having not been unemployed for any long period of time. In about forty years of being a veteran of the job market, I have worked eighty-five different jobs and counting. Granted some jobs