if this sounds like you, (or you're at least in the ballpark of this), hit me up via PM.

BA/BS degree in Accounting
CPA required
A minimum of 5 years of work experience in accounting
Prior SEC reporting experience and/or public accounting experience
Strong project management skills to establish and meet deadlines
High degree of accuracy and attention to detail

8/31/2010 3:42:50 PM

Quote :

"Professors Clair Brown and Greg Linden, of the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics and census datafor the semiconductor industry and found that salaries increased dramatically for engineers during their 30s but that these increases slowed after the age of 40. At greater ages still, salaries started dropping, dependent on the level of education. After 50, the mean salary of engineers was lower—by 17 percent for those with bachelors degrees, and by 14 percent for those with masters degrees and PhDs—than the salary of those younger than 50. Curiously, Brown and Linden also found that salary increases for holders of postgraduate degrees were always lower than increases for those with bachelor’s degrees (in other words, even PhD degrees didn’t provide long-term job protection). It’s not much different in the software/internet industry. If anything, things in these fast-moving industries are much worse for older workers. For tech startups, it usually boils down to cost: most can’t even afford to pay $60K salaries, so they look for motivated, young software developers who will accept minimum wage in return for equity ownership and the opportunity to build their careers. Companies like Zoho can afford to pay market salaries, but find huge advantage in hiring young workers. In 2006, Zoho’s CEO, Sridhar Vembu, initiated an experiment to hire 17-year-olds directly out of high school. He found that within two years, the work performance of these recruits was indistinguishable from that of their college-educated peers. Some ended up becoming superstar software developers."

http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/blogpost/8216386/

things will only get better more depressing in time

8/31/2010 9:47:47 PM

Quote :

" Job Title: Electrical Engineer Department: Department Of The Interior Agency: National Park Service Job Announcement Number: PH-10-JL-377777 COMP SALARY RANGE: $75,222.00 - $97,787.00 /year OPEN PERIOD: Friday, August 27, 2010 to Thursday, September 16, 2010"

Lowell, MA

9/1/2010 8:44:31 PM

Quote :

"an experiment to hire 17-year-olds directly out of high school. He found that within two years, the work performance of these recruits was indistinguishable from that of their college-educated peers. Some ended up becoming superstar software developers." "

that probably should have been me. i got pretty much nothing out of attending college and i'm pretty sure i was (academically at least) smarter back in high school

9/1/2010 9:17:37 PM

the uneducated developers i've worked with will never be anything more than coders

9/1/2010 11:48:09 PM

is that b/c they don't have a degree (and companies typically want degrees) or b/c they couldn't/didn't go to college in the first place? ie do they just not have the ability to be great or are they just held back by the fact that they don't own the piece of paper?

what do you mean by more than coders anyways? what's the next step after 'coder'? project manager? architect? CTO? nah i'm cool with not ever being any of those. might try it just for the experience and to broaden my skills, but from where i'm at right now, i don't want to stop being a coder. it's what i like doing best. i just want to keep getting better at it as my career progresses

9/2/2010 10:28:22 AM

Finally found a job in my field after being unemployed for 14 months.

Hang in there everyone!!

9/3/2010 12:11:50 PM

^ congrats

9/3/2010 12:28:03 PM

Quote :

""So I'm applying for jobs up in NYC but am still living in NC, should I bother putting this in my cover letter or could I use a friend's more local address?" Definitely don't want to fudge things, especially if they eventually run a background check... Are you having any luck?"

I completely disagree. If they ask, you truthfully explain. They're often going to ignore you if you are out of state.

I asked this same question here a few months ago when I was trying to move from DC to Raleigh.

9/3/2010 1:33:20 PM

^^thanks!

9/3/2010 3:44:32 PM

^^ How do you approach the out of state issue if you are still employed somewhere else? It wouldn't make sense to put my address as Raleigh and my current employer as in another state.

Also, what is the reasoning for companies only wanting to hire locally? Is it strictly that they do not want to pay to bring someone into an interview or for relocation? Would putting something in a cover letter about not needing relocation money help when applying somewhere that states local applicants only?

I ask because some of the jobs I have seen posted have specifically stated only local applications accepted and this is NOT for jobs where local expertise is needed i.e. real estate, advertising, etc.

9/4/2010 9:57:25 AM

I'll just link you to my old topic, which may very well have helped me land my current position in Greenville (and a hell of a lot of calls from recruiters around RTP):
message_topic.aspx?topic=588658

To summarize my own feelings:
1) it's not really lying if the address you list is a potential place for you to crash if you get the job
2) it basically is expensive to do an out of state search. also, you want people who are guaranteed to stay (it was easy to convince my current employers of this because my wife already lived where I was trying to move to)
3) yes, you could explain it in a cover letter, but recruiters just don't want to deal with the hassle. explaining your "situation" in a cover letter is a hassle; you should be explaining your value to employers
4) you won't be very searchable on job sites without a local address in your resume: using my real address, I got calls for jobs where I lived even though I was applying for jobs where I wanted to live



also, I was employed somewhere else at the time. Instead of putting the end date on my resume as "Present", I just put it as the current month. Recruiters assumed it was just a contract position (which is ideal for you). If they then ask, you explain. You've already got them on the phone.


[Edited on September 4, 2010 at 10:31 AM. Reason : asfd]

9/4/2010 10:26:33 AM

I'm fairly confident that I could have a job as soon as the next couple of weeks. However, in order to do this, I'd have to work for my half brother. There are a couple of big reasons why I'm resistant to that idea atm:

1) His company is in Texas. I'd like to stay as close to NC as possible, but I understand that I may have to move somewhere far away, and I'm not opposed to that. However, Texas is too far away.

2) He will, in all likelihood, work me like a dog. Yes yes, I understand that the economy is tight and that everybody's having to make sacrifices, but this guy works ALL. THE. TIME. In addition to working from home (even after a full day at the office) and working Saturdays (not really a big deal for me, I'd just prefer that I can either arrive later or leave earlier. Or both!), he'll put in a good chunk of hours on Sundays (not that I go to church, I just don't understand the concept of working all 7 days of the week). Hell, he'll even hook his phone up to his computer on the bus to and from work so he can work then, as well. In all fairness, he is one of the founders of the company, so of course he'd be saddled with a lot of work. However, he'll probably expect me to put in just as many hours as him, if not more, even if I'm only a lowly worker bee.

3) I have....issues with him. I barely ever saw him growing up, so when he did come visit us occasionally, he felt like a complete stranger to me. And he can be a bit of a know-it-all prick (though I think he may have mellowed out a bit in this department). Needless to say, I feel funny about accepting help from him.

The logical thing to do would be to suck it up, bite the bullet and take an offer from him. It's not like I have to stay there forever, I can wait for the job market to improve in NC, find something here and then move back. But before I do something that I feel is rather drastic, I just want to be sure that I absolutely will not be getting anything here in any reasonable amount of time. But every day I sit on my ass without a job, my parents get more and more impatient, and every day they're hinting at me even more to call the guy up.

[Edited on September 6, 2010 at 10:58 AM. Reason : blah]

9/6/2010 10:57:25 AM

ehh, i'm gonna go ahead and say the logical thing to me would be to NOT take it.

That's a HUGE move, which you don't seem that interested in. I don't know what the actual job is, but it sounds like you'd be miserable with the hours. And not having a great relationship with the guy could be a problem. Especially if he's one the only or one of a few people you know out there and you have to work with him that much.


I don't know what your situation is though; how long you've been out of work, if you were laid off and collecting unemployment, couldn't find a job out of college, living off of savings, purely off of family, what sort of bills you have, if you've looked for part-time jobs, etc. Depending on some of that stuff, I guess my perspective would be different.

Have you started looking for jobs in other states yet? I don't think going out of state is necessarily a bad idea. I'd rather go to a new state on my own than take a job I know I'd hate though. I mean, it sounds like a sure thing, but it sounds like it's a sure thing it will suck BIG TIME as well.

9/6/2010 1:58:34 PM

Well I've only been out of work for over 2 months now. I wasn't laid off, I left my job, and I'm most certainly not getting any unemployment benefits. Right now I'm living at home with my parents, with the only bills coming out of my pocket being cell phone and the occasional car insurance stuff. I've been expanding my job search into South Carolina and Virginia, although my last job was in Georgia, and although that's a tad further than I'd like to be it wasn't so bad and I think I could do it again. I would really like something full-time, but who doesn't?

So I haven't been out of work for real long. And my parents understand that it's not the best job market right now. I think they just want to see me be independent again as quickly as possible, and this potential gig out in Texas is looking like the fastest route. I don't want to be out of a job for too long, either; trust me, if I could get work tomorrow, I'd take it. But I feel that this thing is asking too much of me.

Ah hell, I don't know. Beggars can't be choosers, can they? But what's the point of working some place if you're just going to be miserable there?

9/6/2010 2:17:47 PM

going to be looking for something in Gboro soon.

9/6/2010 2:21:10 PM

^^so it was sorta like UNC's Coach Blake situation....he resigned also......

[Edited on September 6, 2010 at 4:59 PM. Reason : w]

9/6/2010 4:59:16 PM

I don't follow sports. I don't know anything about that. I'm guessing that he was forced to resign?

No, I quit my job. The company was going down the crapper financially, and probably because of this I was starting to get the shaft. Areas that I have absolutely no background or training in suddenly became my responsibility. Okay, whatever. But then my boss would get mad when shit wasn't getting done fast enough or done at his arbitrarily defined level of quality. He'd ask me to do things that I couldn't necessarily do, and then would get mad when I couldn't keep up. It's possible we were all just having a bad week, but I decided that if he could treat me this way once, he'd do it again. Combined with the uncertain future of the company, I decided that I had enough.

Another thing he did was that he had laid off a couple of my co-workers. By itself that isn't bad, the company simply couldn't afford to keep that many people anymore. But he decides that he's going to lay them all off the week after everybody gets home from a hard-earned vacation. The company's in GA and everybody is from NC, so basically they drove all the way to NC and back just to get told that they're fired. The least the jackass could have done was laid them off before the break. If he couldn't be arsed to extend them that much courtesy, how can I be sure he won't get rid of me at a really inconvenient time?

Either way, I concluded that the guy and his company were full of shit. And since I was making a grand total of $24000 a year, no benefits and the stock options were moot because the stock is worth more as toilet paper, I decided that it simply wasn't worth the hassle.

9/6/2010 5:37:49 PM

Quote :

"Ah hell, I don't know. Beggars can't be choosers, can they? But what's the point of working some place if you're just going to be miserable there?"

The point? Getting paid.

And you're right; beggars can't be choosers. I came out of college with some sort of choosy attitude that fucked me over pretty good. I probably could have found a decent job with some random company, but I felt like I was special and deserved a job with one of these 3 or 4 that I really wanted to work for. By the time I finally figured out that those guys didn't want me, nobody else wanted me either because I had a huge gap in my resume without any work.

9/6/2010 6:38:51 PM

^So what did you do to get out of that situation?

Hopefully I'm not trying to sound like I'm looking for the dream job. While I'd like to stay close to the NC area, I can deal with moving somewhere else. As long as I'm paid enough to pay for bills and basic utilities every month, money isn't really a big deal. But one of the main things I DON'T want to do is come into work every morning and hate it. I realize that I won't always get a workload that has the perfect blend of challenging, there will sometimes be bullshit that has to be dealt with. But I don't want to come in and be threatened into doing things I don't have the capacity to figure out how to do. I don't want to come in, spend several hours on something, and have it rejected in my face and have all that time wasted every day. I don't have to be best friends with my boss/supervisor, but neither to I want to come in every day and either be angry at him or be afraid of him.

So perhaps you're right, maybe I do have a sense of entitlement.

9/6/2010 8:22:08 PM

^ Still haven't gotten out of it.

9/6/2010 9:45:15 PM

i am about to be unemployed after tomorrow...got a promotion a month ago. never got promised raise. going to tell my boss where to stick it tomorrow. have another job lined up starting next month and im getting out of my hellish job asap

[Edited on September 6, 2010 at 11:16 PM. Reason : unemplyed...not employed]

9/6/2010 11:16:21 PM

I, too, am still in the search and I have a job interview tomorrow morning. The job is right in my field (not my dream job at all, but well qualified for it), but its pretty far out of the area for my liking and in a meh town. I haven't been out of the job market that long - had a summer internship in Europe and came back on August 3rd for an interview - and being supported fairly well. I haven't expended all my hunting resources in Raleigh, so I'm kind of hesitant to accept this job if they offered it. Almost feel that if I took it I would be limiting myself, since the market for me in Raleigh is really good, plus I can hit up NCSU for grad school very easily.

Being picky? Yes, but I put a big focus on life balance more to where I don't want a meh job in a shit town away from all my people.

9/6/2010 11:39:28 PM

^^^^ I've been unemployed for over 4 months. With no income. I have rent, my share of cable-internet, gas, electric, water, my student loans, car expenses, etc. Pretty much paying it all out of savings that's I'd put aside just for this situation.

Having said that, I'd still be very hesitant about moving all the way across the country for a job that would make me miserable. --But I've also had job lined up for the past month, just waiting for it to clear some red tape crap. And may have another offer this week. So, maybe my perspective is a little off because I'm not in quite as bad of a situation as I was a month ago.

If I were in your situation, i'm not sure the Texas thing would be a consideration at all for me. I would consider getting a part-time job in the evening or at night to help contribute to my parents if I were living with them. That evening/night work would still allow me to interview for a full-time position during the day. Nobody want to go to a part-time position after working full-time in a "career" type position, but it's a means to an end.

I get your parents wanting you to be independent an all of that... but 2 months is nothing. I've talked to people (there may be some in this thread) who have been unemployed for over a year. If it's just that they "want you to be independent", I'd be very clear that you understand, but that you don't believe something as drastic as moving to Texas for work conditions that you'd hate is really necessary after just 2 months. Offer to contribute to the living expenses. But it's a drastic move after 2 months imo.


You're looking around here, you're looking at more local out of state positions. Texas should be a last option considering how you feel about the situation.

[Edited on September 6, 2010 at 11:57 PM. Reason : .]

9/6/2010 11:56:28 PM

That's more or less how I feel, especially after reading about other people's experiences.

My parents know that it's a rough economy, but I think they're having a hard time appreciating just how bad some people are having it. And of course, neither of them has had to put together a resume and apply for jobs in several decades, so they have completely zero understanding of what it takes today. I suppose their thought process is "you can potentially deal with this situation right now, what does it matter what your hang-ups are?" As much as I don't like my current options, I can't completely dismiss that logic.

And I misunderstood what you meant by part-time work. I'm not opposed to working some kind of minimum-wage position or a local job that's totally unrelated my field. My primary obstacle is that there aren't any jobs available in my home town. Believe me, if I could be chipping in for utilities and groceries, I would have done so already.

[Edited on September 7, 2010 at 1:08 AM. Reason : slight grammatical error]

9/7/2010 1:07:00 AM

I was thinking that I would start my new job today but I'm not. I get a call from my recruiter last Friday and he said that I wouldn't be starting until the 13th. I got another week to kill.

9/7/2010 12:31:19 PM

congrats anonymous, hopefully quiting the first job went well!

9/7/2010 12:39:10 PM

it was fun....my managers looked shocked, but claimed 'they understood' when i said i was done

9/8/2010 1:42:45 AM

Interesting.

I applied for a finance position and one of the competencies is expert Excel proficiency. I have that. But they wanted a sample from my previous work after my first interview. I've built complex budget calculators from scratch before in Excel but everything I have is highly confidential obviously. It's such a pain in the ass to go back and edit literally everything from numbers to client names to consultant names. I think it's taking me longer to do that than it took me to build it in the first place!

9/10/2010 11:12:22 AM

OK

Got another job, Project Manager for a marketing company downtown.

Hopefully I will not have to post in this thread again anytime soon

Good luck to everybody else out there!

9/10/2010 11:35:24 AM

Getting a lot of applicants here with a food service background. Most of them don't seem cut out for the corporate life.

So I see you have 4 years experience mixing whiskey and coke, and another 4 years writing down what people want for dinner while simultaneously filling their water glasses. Hmmm, not sure you’re qualified for the management position available.

9/10/2010 11:41:30 AM

Give me a job in your Raleigh office. I actually have relevant experience/education. Do it now.

** Also, I got an interview for an Analyst position with Duke. I've gone against any fiber of me being by applying for jobs with that University.

[Edited on September 10, 2010 at 11:48 AM. Reason : x]

9/10/2010 11:44:50 AM

I am underemployed in my field (meteorology) as I have a part time job in it. I am looking for something to supplement the income. It really sucks that it has turned out this way. I graduated from NCSU with a B.S. in Meteorology in June 2009 (after summer session I).

9/10/2010 11:49:37 AM

I got an official offer from Wake County Public School System yesterday.

And I'm expecting to hear about another job this afternoon or first thing Monday. If I'm offered the second job and the compensation is close, that's my preference. But I'm just pumped to be coming out of 4+ months of unemployment either way it goes.



if anyone is ever interested in applying to WCPSS, let me know and I'll tell you what to expect of the hiring process. It's absolutely horrible. I'm glad to have the offer, but the process has been ridiculously drawn out.

9/10/2010 1:05:44 PM

If things work out my job may be available but as of now thats a pretty big if haha

9/10/2010 7:26:05 PM

ive had a temporary position at a company initially doing silly interny work, but my scope has expanded to doing some hard core stuff... and now, theres talk of bringing me on full time as an 'engineering assistant'... im going to be pissed if thats what their offer is, instead of a full engineer.

ugh

9/12/2010 4:46:10 PM

The company I work for http://www.endeca.com is looking for a lot of people something like 40-50 positions.



[Edited on September 12, 2010 at 6:09 PM. Reason : .]

9/12/2010 6:08:28 PM

Quote :

"theres talk of bringing me on full time as an 'engineering assistant'... im going to be pissed if thats what their offer is, instead of a full engineer. "

maybe that's just the hierarchy of job titles? my company used to be assistant engineer, associate engineer, engineer, etc (but now it's engineer i, ii, iii)

9/12/2010 6:36:09 PM

the employee they brought in from out of school has a title of engineer.

[Edited on September 12, 2010 at 6:52 PM. Reason : i'll listen to their offer, regardless, but am prepared to hold out.]

[Edited on September 12, 2010 at 6:55 PM. Reason : plus assitant engineer is better sounding than engineering assistant.]

9/12/2010 6:52:03 PM

well are you an engineer or are you an engineering assistant? what are you trained to be? if you're doing interny stuff right now maybe you're expecting too much.

9/12/2010 7:03:39 PM

i'm an engineer. had an engineering job, lost engineering job. stole an interns job because i knew the head of HR, with the intent of making at least something, until i found a job, make contacts, etc. was set to finish up at end of august, but they extended me a month. I started doing interny stuff, and within a month the other engineers realized i knew what the hell i was doing... so, i've been doing your regular engineering work and getting paid like shit.

Problem is im not sure my direct manager knows what any of us do. The plant manager knows what i can do, and I've had him bring me onto specific projects.... so i've got that going for me. I've also got the support of the rest of the engineering staff, some of them are actively lobbying.

I just cannot continue doing this work for much longer at the pay I'm getting. I went through the term of my original scope, and more than exceeded expectations and responsibilities. It's just going to really suck if I keep getting pats on the back, and then get offered a ridiculous position.

fortunately, i've got guys that have said they'd make calls around to people they know and try to get me something.

9/13/2010 12:35:17 AM

Had an interview at a company on Thursday where it was blatantly evident they didn't look at my resume at all the interview. As they were scanning my resume and asking generic interview questions (where do you see yourself in 10 years) most of them said "Wow, you have a ton of nanotech experience and have worked on some pretty complicated projects...why are you here? We make paint."

It was for a chemist position that I was going to take just to have a job and continue my search part time while being paid, and I think it was pretty obvious. So yeah, don't think I'll be getting that one.

Sucks, because my resume has really pigeon-holed me into nanotech and research. Which is great on one hand, because that's what I want to get into, but bad on the other because I only have a BS and there's not a lot of openings in the area for someone like me.

9/13/2010 11:06:51 AM

I am HURTING for employees now

too bad none of you want to work in a tanning salon

9/13/2010 3:16:05 PM

How much will you pay me

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

9/13/2010 3:30:10 PM

7.50/hr + commission

9/13/2010 4:08:33 PM

well no wonder

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

9/13/2010 4:22:01 PM

it's part-time

and most of the employees are 18-20 year old girls

9/13/2010 4:53:54 PM

Sounds like perks to me, when do I start?

9/13/2010 4:54:41 PM

UNC is looking for tutors if anybody is interested

9/13/2010 10:08:20 PM

sworn in as an attorney yesterday. working for free for a firm to build experience and hoping someone hires me soon.

9/14/2010 10:04:34 AM