Is Job Hunting in the General Workforce Absurd?

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Last point first: I can kind of see the logic behind it, but it has flaws, which you even pointed out - "In order to get past the first computer phase of the process make sure to tailor your resume to their job description. It's not lying. It's just using their words." Unless I'm just reading into that a little too much, sounds like a subtle criticism of their system which is why I think improvement is in order, because they'll get the wrong idea about my qualifications unless I tailor my resume to their exact specifications, which can be pretty damn hard to do when you don't know what they are.

Now the first point: I wasn't talking about these agencies charging me $316.50/month - I was talking about my college. And I have to get the first payment in by September 24, so my options are pretty limited I'd say. It's either work or disability at this point, although disability takes a long time to process here (I'm in Northern Colorado, and it can take up to 60 days and it's pretty meager).

Your next point: I did work in a Methodist Church in Alamosa as a baritone for almost three years, so that might be a viable option here...only problem is that I developed deep personal connections with the people with whom I worked at this church (like my professor from school who directed the choir, the pastor, and everyone with whom I sang in the ensemble, including fellow students from school - for three years). It would just be really tough for me, especially since I abhor religion, so I'd probably have to go to another Methodist Church, or a Unitarian Church, or just something, anything, that's more open-minded and tolerant than, say, a Southern Baptist Church. Also, on that note (pun definitely intended), I'm comfortable with performance...just mostly in a group (with maybe a solo here and there, but only vocal ones). I'm far less comfortable with instrumental performances, though.

Justin Bieber! Yes, you're right, I'm not sure he's capable of thinking for long enough to find life absurd - that's what so absurd about him. I was rather too general in my use of the word 'artists', because what I had in mind were the more reflective types, intellectuals of all disciplines, as you rightly say.

The Romanian philosopher, Emile Cioran, sums it up rather well in his book 'Pe culmile Disperāri' ('On the Heights of Despair'): 'The only happy people are those who never think, in other words, those who only think the bare minimum necessary in order to live'.

So he too believes in the concept of sheeple basically?

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Well as far as the cost goes, Obviously you need a job first. This is after that, because naturally you dont want to let some menial useless job impede your dream. You have to use them the way they are using you. Do a few tricks, dont piss in the kitchen, and get your check so you can make something happen that actually matters to you. There are people with home studios that charge reasonable rates. How would you do the drums, can you play those as well? If you have all your material ready to be played through on one or two takes per instrument, you could probably record it fairly inexpensively.

I'm not a drummer at all (although I am a bit of a percussion enthusiast, and some of my favorite rockers have been drummers, from Keith Moon to Mike Portnoy), so for me it would have to be vocals and guitar. I'm trying to compose stuff with WYSIWYG notation software like MuseScore and DAW's like LMMS, but I just end of scrapping a lot of it, then coming back to it later after having revised it in my head first (and sometimes this can take months - I've been writing the first movement of a symphony off-and-on for five years now, because I've scrapped it and revisited it so many times at months at a time). I guess sometimes I just don't think I'm good enough, but that's why, with your permission, I might like to show you this movement when I'm done with it. Telling me you'd like to hear my music really inspired me to finish this piece, since I had already started on it, but had lost the motivation to continue until now. I'll probably post it in the Art/Music/Literature section of this forum, so you can find it there and let me know what you think!

My two sons got their jobs through temp agencies. My younger son has been at his for over a year and my older one started with a better company a few months back from where he was. Both are working in factory assembly lines where they make car parts. It's all robotics and you just push a button. They said a rhesus monkey could do it, but they pay you very well. It's shift work, two weeks on 2-10 and two on 6-2. They work six days a week and get Sunday off. They are ballin' with those jobs. They make great money and the companies they work for will hire them on after they have worked there through the temp agencies for a period of time. Then they can get promotions and insurance, etc.

I don't know what you have around there, but temp agencies are great places for just general work. My boys had no experience in this kind of work at all and they train you. Those places hire for all sorts of jobs. I'm sure you could find something through one of them. You get the right one and while it may be boring and lots of time at work right now, you would be raking that cash in.

Thanks for the advice! I don't remember who suggested it (I thought it was beakybird), but he suggested looking into employment agencies, and so I did that yesterday. It's good to see that someone else also backs that option up.
In the meantime, I suppose I'll just keep looking, because I'll never know what I can find unless I do!

Sure man, anything you got I can check out whenever you like. As I have said, or at least alluded to, while a big music fan, my music IQ is like 4. I love what I like, but couldn't tell you the first thing about music theory (so just dont expect some insightful feedback because you're obviously many many levels over my understanding). I also have a very narrow band of taste. It just so happened that when you said the term "Prog Death Metal Opera" it piqued my interest because I'm certainly into similar styles and always love to hear different genres mixed together to hear what that would sound like. I also know however, that there are many people into that scene who ARE very musically literate.

My best friend for years is a musician, sorta one man project sorta thing (guitar, clean/growling vocals, keys, programming) self taught, but I've closely seen the struggle of someone who's heart is in creation and is choking on the useless s**t that is everyday life. So I encourage you to continue your struggle because it seems pretty obvious that's what you were made to do. It may be hard, but you are young and have time on your side for now.

Unfortunately for my friend life caught up with him (kids) before he had a chance to make significant progress. While he is an excellent songwriter, he just lacked follow through skills and got caught up in the idea of needing a band and playing shows instead of just creating, recording the music then getting it out there. He was very focused on the idea of having a band that toured and so forth. Of course it was much harder to start a DIY project 10-12 years ago than it is now. So when I saw your comments it immediately reminded me of my friend and if I could encourage you to not lose faith in your talents, and it actually helps, that would mean something to me as I empathize with that struggle in a personal way even though I may not have those abilities or inclinations myself.

And a side thought. About other people, and their seeming obtuseness. Everyone has a place in this world even though it may not seem like it a lot of the time. The simple minded. The unenlightened. The un-creative (if thats a word). Those people are naturally driven to the monotony you hate. If it weren't for those people, our cars wouldn't get fixed, our houses wouldn't be built, our groceries wouldn't be on the shelf. If EVERYONE, or even alot of people were wired like you, our society wouldn't run. Just like if there weren't some people wired with an analytical, observant, creative mind, the world would be a very uninteresting place for the rest of us grunts! Point is try not to let that fact make you bitter. You're outnumbered but not alone. And there's a very valuable place for this stupid game of the modern work world. For them it's survival, even personal gratification in many cases, for you it's just a resource to keep you afloat and get you moving toward something truly fulfilling. Think of your creation as your reward for putting up with the bs. You're an obedient creature for a little bit, and instead of a biscuit you get to record your music.

Yes it is absurd and down right awful.

Today you need to "have experience to get experience!"

Most jobs these days have high requirements for the most menial of job.
Getting through HR process to the actual people who work in that division or do the actual work, is very very hard.

In my awful experience, as I have stated repeatedly goes something like this:

Internship(s) require 2-3+ years of INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE , for practically every field now along side a laundry list of skills you need.
Oh many if not most now require said bachelors or masters degrees (I've seen the listings)

You want entry level work in a field, you need between 3-5+ years of INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE!
Oh you need the necessary INDUSTRY CERTIFICATIONS (which you can only get while being employed in an industry job), on top of the laundry list of skills.

You want to work retail, they now expect you to have X amount of years of retail experience and actual work references to be a cashier or sales associate (work on the floor).
Some even require college degrees,

Add this on top of each company has their own employment software system that requires you to create an account and take ~1 hour (or more) to fill out the digital forms and questionnaires, you just want to give up in the end.

Oh the economy maybe growing, but most states are not seeing decent job creation yet outside of West Coast, TX, and East Coast.

Oh and before someone tells you to go to a job fair, from my experience very few companies at them actually hire let alone take resumes at their booths. If they are hiring, they give you a card with a web address to their hiring site for you to apply digitally.
Those people at their booths don't see any of it.

Beware most companies use scanning software, which looks for keywords, though you don't know what they are looking for for the most part.
Those who hit the most keywords are looked at by HR for possible interviews.

Also the longer you've gone without work (even if you have been in school and/or applying at places), it decreases your chances of getting interviews (they think something is wrong with you).

There is a high unemployment rate for those 30 years and younger.
The unemployment rate for those 31-40 is upticking a people age into this group.

Remember you are probably competing against those in their 30s and 40s, who are also struggling to find employment even with valid work experience.

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I personally gave up and went to my state agency that deals with people with disabilities.
I'm just waiting to hear when my next appointment is (They have to get my medical records to see if I am eligible).

Thanks, man. That's exactly what I needed right now. I'll try to finish the piece to send to you, but I got in a fight with my mom again this morning, so I really need to step up my efforts in this job search (or just move in with my dad in PA), so it might be a while. After all of these posts on this thread though, it occurred to me what is truly absurd about my life: self-pity; making my mom break down and cry (something she seldom does instead of just yelling) simply because I don't have enough faith in myself to get a job or in others to hire me; believing that some Deus Ex Machina is just gonna sweep outta the f***in' sky and save my sorry ass; dwelling on the past and how I could have just "done well in school and gotten a degree, cuz I wasn't paying for it - my grandpa was!"; and even just obsessing this much over the absurd. It's kind of like the concept of how a life too much observed is a life wasted, because it cannot be fully appreciated, only scrutinized and dissected. I just want to live life and not worry about its absurdity, but sometimes it feels like I have to drive a railroad spike through just the right part of my head for that to happen!
Anyways, I don't remember if it was you in particular who gave me this suggestion, but I went ahead and submitted my resume to an employment agency. Hopefully they can help resolve my issues a bit, but in the meantime, I'll just have to continue the job search.
I just thought of this, but another absurd thing about my life is that I seem to like making excuses about things, no matter what it is - there's always an excuse coming from my mouth. I told my voice professor a few semesters ago that I was writing a progressive metal song that I thought could have some potential in the mainstream, and I said that I wasn't sure about recording it, because I'm not great at playing the acoustic guitar intro I wrote for it, and she simply said that one of my friends, a guitarist at school, could probably do it. And then I just rebutted with "Sure, but there's also some really high vocals in this song - as high as a C#5 - that I can't exactly pull off!" and she simply replied that some of my tenor friends in this voice class could help with that, or that I could just train myself to do it over time - I would just have to be patient. At some point, this excuse-making has to stop - I realize that now.
Anyways, thanks again my friend, and I hope to get this first movement to you ASAP!

Yeah, I just sent my resume to an employment agency and am awaiting their reply, because that seems alot more proactive than my mom's method of just "applying anywhere and everywhere, and, like a lottery, just waiting to see what happens!" - in the meantime, though, I'm still gonna do precisely that, just to get her off my back about it.

Not so much absurd, but more lacking in support.

Freelancing Scriptwriter, Videographer and Video Editor here, and graduated October 2013.

With the exception of 3 weeks pushing a buffer machine in an Iceland Supermarket, I have been 'on the dole' and 'looking for work' since.

I'm aware I'm not going to walk into any old job related to Television or Film Production, but I can only survive on a 'survival job' if I'm provided the support my brother is for working with the council.

I can't conform, I'm unintentionally rigid and continuously persistent in getting my foot in the door and my leg up the ladder into the industry. A sustainable (as freelance does not cut it, no pun intended!) job in an area I'm actually good at that can help pay my bills, and help me move into a house to rent with my partner and child.

Incorporating my 'family' into what I want to do appears selfish, but my partner is encouraging me, behind me every step of the way.

By hook or by crook, I will continue to fight for the career I studied for at university, after attempting to conform and grab a 'survival job'. Yes, I'd appear like some sort of benefit 'scrounge' 'leeching off the estate', but I wasn't put into these circumstances by choice, I actually signed on as a last resort.

So I wouldn't say 'absurd' for my circumstances, as nailing jelly to a tree would provide more 'benefits' (again, no pun intended!) than being on the DSA 'Workload' at the job centre.

Hope sharing my experiences helps.

Just explain to her if not show her how god awful the process is currently.

The employment agency should work better.

The support and just taking the time to post certainly helps, but I don't wanna lie to you and say the content of the message helps. I don't know, maybe I just need to do more stuff, and re-read it a few times before it really starts to help me, but for now it's just not clicking.

Yeah, but the problem is, I've got a deadline: Sep 24. That's when my first of twelve payments of $316.50 is due to my school (that's the whole reason I've been even looking for a job). And my mom just seems so fixated on that that if I tried to show her how crappy the "process" is today, she would just think I'm making excuses and that I just don't "want to work".

Well then do the best you can.