I just got this spam in my inbox:

Merry Christmas from Meridan Design

http://www.iwebrider.com

1-207-XXX-XXXX

dickhead@dickhead.com



My name is Cobby Drost. I'm a freelance Web Designer. I was wondering if yo=

u=20

had any work available in your firm, company or personal interest for a wor=

k=20

at home developer. I develop professional, attractive sites. It's been a to=

ugh=20

year and need the extra cash for Xmas for my family. No job to big or small=

=20

This is a one time mailing.

.
I blanked out the phone# and email address so as to not further this douchebag's cause. It goes on to basically whine about how they want a job, it's been a tough year... etc. My thing is, who is going to hire someone as a web designer who's spamming the entire world complaining that they can't get their cushy web design job? You know what? Jobs are out there. Everywhere I go there are help wanted signs. Are the jobs amazing? Some of them, no. You know what? There are a lot of good people who can't find the exact jobs they want now. The fact that someone would stoop to spamming in order to find a job is unbelievable to me. But I realize that it's coming to that. Now I'm going to start seeing my inbox piled up with every poor slob who gets laid off. Get the hell out there and find yourself a job, people.

Sigh.

I got this one today:

Hi, my name is XXX XXXX.the reason for this email is to

ask you if it would be ok with you if my grandson could have

one of your company t-shirts ( x-large ) with your  name

or "logo" on it? he has had a head injury  and stays close to

home because he has seizers. he is a big boy,and a very

private kid.  his best friend's uncle is  a salesman and sends

his friend a lot of different promotional t-shirts. so I thought I

would see if I could get my grandson a few from some

unique  companys. anyway, if you do have such a thing,and

would not mind if XXXX had one,that would be great.he loves

to get any kind of package with his name on it.if not I

completely understand. thank you for your time and have a

great holiday season . XXX XXXX--  XXXX XXXX,XXX

XXXXXXXXXX XXXXX,XXXXXXXX,OREGON 97470

I really like free t-shirts, but this is taking it too far.

While I agree about the spam part, I'll have to disagree about the availability of jobs.

I was unemployed from August 2001 to September 2002. I applied for just about every job I was even remotely qualified for. I did not apply to flip burgers, as that would have garnered me less money than I was getting from unemployment. During that time, I was required by the state employment agency to apply for at least two jobs a week. I usually applied to many more, although there were some weeks when I could find very few, and occasionally no, new job listings. Of all of those applications, I received approximately five callbacks. One of those got me two very-short-term (a few days) contracts. Another got me where I'm working now on a six-month contract, which will likely be renewed, but only after them hedging about the job itself (not me, that is) for about six months (I'm not kidding).

I have three friends who were or are unemployed and they all have the exact same experiences I do. Every professional I ever talked to at the unemployment office said the same things.

The employment market really sucks right now.

My goodness. Mankind is doomed.

What I'm saying is that there are jobs that, in between doing "what you're qualified for," will put food on the table. This guy in his email was saying he can't pay bills and what-not. If that's the case, there ARE jobs that might not be ideal, but are a step above flipping burgers. Retail jobs at the mall are all over the place during the Xmas season. I bet this prick has an $800,000 home that he's got to make mortgage payments on, and the Jag and the Land Rover both need new snow tires. There's a lot of people who were banking on their web design career taking them far, but you know what? Times change.

This reminds me of Patrick Ewing's famous quote, ripped off this month's Demotivators calendar. "NBA players are struggling financially on $250,000 a year. They make a lot of money, and they spend a lot."

Like Bitt, I was also unemployed August 2001 to January 2002, and I am again (since August this year) unemployed. I have not been awarded unemployment benefit despite having paid all tax and social security premiums at top rate in this country for the last 12 years. I regularly receive statements of eligibility for unemployment benefit, but when I need it, I can't get it.

Tony, whilst there is a gem of truth in what you say, I rather resent the tone with which you pitch it. Although I could "flip burgers" or go for a "Help Wanted", I would be unlikely to get much more than the national minimum wage. This means that in the even that I was awarded unemployment, the time working at minimum wage would be deducted, and the unemployment benefit paid would derive from the last paid income, rather than the normal salary level I have spent some 20 years in software and electronics building up. I admit to being pretty pissed off that a market collapse can abitarily devalue my skills so much that I am unable to earn at the level I started at in 1982

I have a family to feed, and the pressure I am under to find work in a depressed work sector is almost beyond what I can deal with: with the approach to Christmas, all the agencies and employers simply stop hiring and there will be nothing coming up again until after the hangovers have receded at the end of January next year.

I have been applying for 3-5 jobs per day for several months now: with phone follow ups (which cost a fortune, incidentally), I have had - guess - a total of 8 positive submissions, of which all have failed. Not a good return ratio, eh? Given that I have two degrees and various post grad qualifications, plus some 20 years experience, doesn't this tell you something about the job market?

I agree, spamming for fun & profit is scumbag territory - but don't patronise the people who are out of work for reasons that may be out of their control.

You are probably one of the lucky ones in a decent job, who can relax over Christmas with a pint and the TV. Me? I'm going to borrow some more money off my family to try and buy the next meal

Well, first off my comments were kinda focused on the slumping U.S. economy, which is probably in a different state of recession/depression than the economy of your country. I'm not saying that everyone in the world who's ever had an IT job should be able to easily get another. I just know around here, there are a lot of people who are unwilling to take a step down on the totem pole now that our conditions have changed.

Secondly, I just see too many people who DON'T have the skills and expected the dot com boom of the nineties to sustain their ridiculous spending habits for years to come, and are now all of the sudden caught short, and upset that they can't get a cushy job. Here in America, there might not be super-duper IT jobs for those of marginal qualification like there used to be, but there ARE jobs that will give them a reasonable living. My mother is a research chemist with high credentials, and right now she's got a retail job lined up until she can get something better. And this prick is sending out spam so he can get his kids the new X-Box instead of the Super Nintendo. (Yes, I'm inferring and jumping to some conclusions.)

You are clearly NOT in the category of "marginal qualifications" like a lot of the people I see around here, and you're in a different job market than the one in my area of the U.S. All I can speak for is what I see, and I see a lot of people who were in the right place at the right time, got a cushy IT job, and now that they're out of work, have bills to pay, and are unwilling to accept a lesser job, thinking they're "overqualified." If I lost my job tomorrow, and truly had exhausted all options in terms of cutting expenses, etc., I could find a job that would get me by.

I guess I should have attached the whole Spam mail I got, because it makes this case for this poor guy who can't get his kids anything for Christmas, etc. Maybe I jumped to a conclusion or three, but I was made ill by the concept of someone sending out spam to get a web design job when they could be out there getting a real job (not necessarily IT related) and working on getting an IT job via more ethical means. I didn't mean to put down anyone who's been out of work, and I don't believe I have done so. I just call things the way I see them, and you guys are/were clearly in different situations.

Anyway, can we all agree spam sucks?

I personally find it hard to believe that people can't find jobs. I guess its just because I'm not seeing it where I am at. So far this year we have hired about 30 people and still have reqs open (even though part of the company laid off a whole BUNCH of people).

One of the major problems seems to be that people really don't want to move to find work. One of my friends lives in Boca Raton and might be losing his job. I told him that we have openings here, but he just bought a house and doesn't want to have to sell it. Priorities I guess. My mother is a bio-environmental engineer (with 20+ years of experience in the Air Force). The only place she could find work doing that after retirement was in Sunnyvale, CA. She didn't go with it (at a salary of over $120k/year IIRC) and now works where she retired (Omaha) as a clerk in the courthouse. Like I said, priorities.

But yeah, spam sucks

I applied to many non-local jobs during my search, and they were all amongst the did-not-respond category.

In addition, after a few months of unemployment, moving becomes nearly impossible. No one wants to pay to relocate you and you no longer have any money left with which to move.

In addition, after a few months of unemployment, moving becomes nearly impossible.

I guess I could see how that happens. Its just sad though. One of the guys we just hired (starts working middle of January) is getting roughly $85/hr + plane tickets to and from Monterey Bay each week (since that is where he lives) + per diem cost of living here. Not a bad deal...

While I agree about the spam part, I'll have to disagree about the availability of jobs.

It depends on the city/market, but maybe I can offer an example that will help put this in perspective: I held a systems analyst position from 1992 to 1995. When I applied for that job, I was one of 20-25 applicants. A friend of mine remained as an administrator in that department. When they opened the exact same position earlier this year, they had more than *500* applicants.

yeah, the jobmarket in the Bay Area is hosed. I have WAY too many friends out of work in the IT and Tech Art fields. I'm incredibly glad to be employeed at all at this point... especially with a company that doesn't have a history of layoffs unlike most in the game biz.

The employment market really sucks right now

I know. I wouldn't ever stoop so low to spam people about it though.... I was just laid off a month and a half ago and am now just realizing how bad this could get. Plus, the holidays are about the worst time of year to be looking.

Unless you are willing to live/commute in and around DC and you have a security clearance, you're screwed. There are actually a fair amount of tech jobs at various govt. contractors but they all require security clearances. But moving to DC or commuting there - well I would rather shoot myself in the foot, because that is what I would be doing every day in traffic there.

All I can speak for is what I see, and I see a lot of people who were in the right place at the right time, got a cushy IT job, and now that they're out of work, have bills to pay, and are unwilling to accept a lesser job, thinking they're "overqualified."

I would pick your words carefully before making these broad generalizations. Not all jobs out there that were cut could be called cushy... the job I had I would not label as being "cushy" - I was even told by one of the higher managers that they wished they could have paid me more or given me the opportunity to move up (I was fighting the front lines of IT). But the result of poor upper management decisions, and buying about 10 companies in about a year and a half resulted in many many layoffs. Who did they lay off? The people at the bottom that were doing all the work. There are still over 30 VPs in a company of about 500 people now. And after I graduated from school - it took me 3 months to find this job.

That is not to say that there are those that basically stumbled into nice cushy IT or development jobs and spent a lot and are now finding themselves out of work. The problem is that I have tried applying to jobs that are a step or 3 down from mine only to find that I am overqualified and they dont want someone like that.

It is a sensitive issue, and my anger is centralized on the poor management of the piss bag of a company I worked for.

I personally find it hard to believe that people can't find jobs. I guess its just because I'm not seeing it where I am at.

Where might this be?

Holy [censored], $85 an hour. I'm only making $7/hour. And you said you're still hiring? I don't care where you're located. I'll move to the North Pole for $85/hour. I'll be making in a week what I am right now making in a year.

$85 an hour. I'm only making $7/hour. (...) . I'll be making in a week what I am right now making in a year.

As long as the job doesn't require math skills...

Well working full time and overtime for 7 days, I could make about $7000. Working part time 5 days a week at $7/hour, it'd take me about a year to make $7000.

Ah, okay.

Mother of god, what is that man's job? $85/hour plus all that. Sheez. I couldn't be that guys friend on principle.

Where might this be?

Arizona. I know Intel and Motorola and the startups have had a rough going here, but in general I think everything else is doing OK. Honeywell, Raytheon, Boeing, and I think General Dynamics (not sure about that one) are all hiring.

Mother of god, what is that man's job?

As far as I can tell, to sit around and think He's a comms guy who just retired from the Army, and a LOT of our work just popped up in that area.

There are two empty desks back in my end of the aisle (two of us in an area for four) and we just hired two PhDs fill those desks. I asked my boss if I could move my desk so I could keep getting work done

I'll move to the North Pole for $85/hour.

How about the South Pole?

I am totally with you. As the market began to turn sour, managers at my company raced to hire all of their friends into management jobs, sometimes creating new management jobs for them, and not bothering to hire any of the people who would actually do the work. As a result, every org chart looks like an "inverted pyramid" with a dozen paper-shuffling managers at the top, and six or seven poor saps like myself who are doing the work. As the equation goes, more work done by the same amount of people = more efficiency. Damn the morale of the employees... It fell from 54% to 27% since last year and the message to us was "be glad you have a job."

So I get your point. But I'm not making generalizations about anyone, I'm talking about direct experiences I've had with people who are living way beyond their means just because they thought they had a spot reserved on the gravy train.

Well, it's a lot colder there and there ain't a Santa or any little elves to keep me company. I'd do it for $90.

That's pretty cool that they're actually hiring down there. I wonder how much they pay.

On the plus side, there's solid land, so you wouldn't be floating around on a floe.

And don't forget the penguins.

Peter

or the lack of polar bears

"inverted pyramid"

Haha, I'm glad you mentioned the inverted pyramid - I've used that to make fun of my former employer. That is so true though, so many managers hired their friends - and then proceeded to collect the hiring bonus. You might think that a manager hiring their own friend and then collecting the bonus might be a conflict of interest, and I would agree with you, but it happens.

Heh, I might become a locksmith. Over the summer we moved a lot of crap around... and this one storage closet we used we wanted to move the lock over to another door. It was one of those locks that has 5 buttons and you have to hit them in the correct order to open the lock (mechanical, not electric). Well, we decided to change the combo - the guy that came out charged $90/hr, and it took him only 15 minutes to do his work (still charge for the 1st hour...). Now, I know not all of that $90 is going into his pocket, but my old boss (from many years back) was a computer/network consultant and didnt charge all that much more than the lock guy.

every locksmith and TV repairman i've ever met LOVES their job and make a damn good living at it. YOu can work as little or as much as you like and charge a hell of a lot doing it. Though the TV repair field might be sluffing off due to the cheapness of electronics... it's usually a better deal to replace than repair.

I heard that there was actually a decrease of people with trade qualifications in things like locksmiths, builders, plumbers and electricians. Mainly because most people are getting 'professional' qualifications. We could see a rise in payrates for trades while the corporate types are actually earning less because there are so many, they'll work for almost anything to keep their job.