Job hunting help

[jamers]

Hi, I just graduated with a degree in zoo animal technology and have been applying months ahead of graduation but haven't gotten any call backs yet for interviews.  I have had one interview with a place but they may or may not have a position open.  I only had an interview with them cause they do all the graduating seniors a favor and come to our school to interview us and keep our resumes on file....they may or may not have a job opening but they won't tell us if they do or don't.  So my question is can anyone direct me in what direction I need to go from here with applying everywhere?  for example, is there something wrong with my resume that I could change to get a better outcome or are there other places that I could be looking at for a job besides the places I know of?  I feel like i'm hitting a brick wall when it comes to finding a job in this field.  I know this is what i'm supposed to do with my life but just need some help and direction on how to make it work.  :)  Any help would be appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

[Celestial]

Hi, I just graduated with a degree in zoo animal technology and have been applying months ahead of graduation but haven't gotten any call backs yet for interviews.  I have had one interview with a place but they may or may not have a position open.  I only had an interview with them cause they do all the graduating seniors a favor and come to our school to interview us and keep our resumes on file....they may or may not have a job opening but they won't tell us if they do or don't.  So my question is can anyone direct me in what direction I need to go from here with applying everywhere?  for example, is there something wrong with my resume that I could change to get a better outcome or are there other places that I could be looking at for a job besides the places I know of?  I feel like i'm hitting a brick wall when it comes to finding a job in this field.  I know this is what i'm supposed to do with my life but just need some help and direction on how to make it work.  :)  Any help would be appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Hi Jamers! I know you have not specifically called upon me for a psychic reading so this will not be that but just a note, fyi. And I am not sure a psychic reading is what would be required here as much as a friendly "heads-up" on the matter.

You ask if there's something wrong with your resume' but since there is no way of seeing it at the moment and you may indeed have some personal information there that should not be opened up to the public, I am wondering if you have looked into the possibility of obtaining some good resume' creating software? There are some good products on the market that will even offer great tips in creating and maintaining a resume' and even provide several templates that can be used.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You just graduated and there will be great opportunities upcoming if you only stop to look for them in the right places! Perhaps even call back those folks who came to interview and pick up your resumes to show them that you are truly interested in their positions when they become available! Don't let them have to call you back to see if your interest is still there or is waning. Show them that you want a job and are serious about obtaining a job by calling them back and speaking with them as well as sending them a Thank You Letter for having interviewed you and given you the opportunity to apply with them.

Take care and many blessings to you in your effort to find a job!

[eye_of_tiger]

Hi, I just graduated with a degree in zoo animal technology and have been applying months ahead of graduation but haven't gotten any call backs yet for interviews.  I have had one interview with a place but they may or may not have a position open.  I only had an interview with them cause they do all the graduating seniors a favor and come to our school to interview us and keep our resumes on file....they may or may not have a job opening but they won't tell us if they do or don't.  So my question is can anyone direct me in what direction I need to go from here with applying everywhere?  for example, is there something wrong with my resume that I could change to get a better outcome or are there other places that I could be looking at for a job besides the places I know of?  I feel like i'm hitting a brick wall when it comes to finding a job in this field.  I know this is what i'm supposed to do with my life but just need some help and direction on how to make it work.  :)  Any help would be appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Jamers,

You have worked so hard and for so long and made many personal sacrifices along the way in order to earn your qualifications in zoo animal technology many times over, and I can therefore easily understand how terribly frustrating it must be for you not to be given the opportunity to apply your knowledge to earn an honest living, when you most want to prove to yourself and others whose opinions you value that you have what it takes to make a success of a career in this field.

Your reading only confirms your belief that "this is what you are supposed to do with your life". Or perhaps I should have said that it agrees with you that you are heading in the right general direction, even if it does not yet provide you with any exact details of the specific job or jobs you will eventually be doing in the future in zoo animal technology.

Your reading tells me that a zoo animal technologist is something much more than being an animal keeper. This is not intended to mean that animal keepers do not serve any useful purpose, or that people who do this valuable work should feel that their ongoing efforts are not appreciated and respected. It is rather that your academic qualifications suit you more for a job where you will use more advanced knowledge and work skills than the average animal keeper requires. Indeed I feel through this reading that the exact position which you are currently seeking is still to be created.

Your problem is partially related to the still relatively gloomy world economic outlook, the rapidly disappearing natural habitats for the animals people working in that area are planning to reintroduce these animals back into the wild, and above all this technology is under political pressure to make a maximum profit in the shortest possible period of time. Some of the more exotic and endangered species require a huge investment of money, time and long term effort on the part of many different people all working cooperatively together at the same time, and those who invest their money are looking for instant and maximum returns for it.

You are being encouraged to cast your job net wider and be more flexible in whatever job you get into first. You badly and urgently need to get your foot in the door of the zoo animal technology industry, to be able to later give yourself an above average chance of getting the specific job you are looking for now as a fresh graduate. It will probably be necessary for you at some point to compromise or accept a job of lower responsibility and pay in the short term, to give yourself the maximum chance of landing a plum position over the much longer term.

With the possible need to temporarily get a lower paid job at least to start out with, it is critically important for you to first get your financial house in order. Basically in the end it comes down to you calculating your weekly ongoing expenses, when compared to your income. Since you are as I understand it still an unemployed graduate (bar any casual work you can get to keep yourself out of poverty), your income is probably not going to be anything too exciting and well below adequate. Which places even more pressure on you to get into the workforce, as soon as it is practical and affordable (as having a job and traveling backwards and forwards each day between your home and work place costs money, plus special work clothes, union fees etc)

Do not interpret these obstacles being placed in your path as signs that you were not intended to do this type of work. You definitely always were, and still are intended to move in this general direction. Readings given on this board are only thought to refer to a period of approximately the next six months after your request was made, and while I would get great pleasure and satisfaction if I were later to be proven to be completely wrong about what I feel are your chances of getting the exact type of job you are looking for roughly between now and the middle of November (~ 6 months from now), my impressions are that you will need to temporarily set your sights slightly lower at the beginning.

Any job where you can earn a reasonably comfortable living and at the same time get yourself into a position where you can gain some valuable relevant work experience in working with some of the more exotic animals as well as the more everyday ones will count in your favour when you eventually go for the position which you are really waiting and wanting to get. I am still getting a strong feeling that the  exact type of job which you would excel at if given the opportunity, is yet to be created or come into existence.

Temporarily set your work sights slightly lower for practical reasons mainly of a financial survival nature during the next six months. Look for getting some useful work experience from a good and understanding teacher, WHILE WORKING ON THE JOB AND GETTING PAID FOR IT. The time for purely book learning is well and truly at an end.

This should give you a much better understanding of and perspective on what is happening at the ground level of the daily care and keeping of the animals themselves and each species unique needs, which should in turn make you more practical and effective in your approach to creating and designing the necessary improvements and developments in the underlying and closely associated zoo animal technology, when such a position finally becomes available to you.

Kindest regards,

EoT

[jamers]

Thanks Celestial!! I will definately have to look into the resume software.  One of our classes last semester was about building our resumes and we actually had to do one for the class.  Also a cover letter but I'm still not that happy with mine...at least not the cover letter lol.    And the not being hard on myself well thats a work in progress.  I'm not sure if i'm that capable of not being hard on myself lol.    I'm definately going to call them back but i'm going to give them about another week before I do.  A lot of places that I send my resumes too say right in the job posting that they don't accept any phone calls and if they are interested in us then they will call us.  I guess its cause theres so many people that are going out for these positions.   Thanks again for you help!

[jamers]

Thanks Eye_of_tiger!  I'm trying to look at a lot of different areas and not just zookeepers, I've been looking up wildlife rehab, sanctuaries, zoos, basically anywhere that I can get hands on experience with exotics.  Right now I do have a job at a pharmacy as a technician.  I don't get full time hours at least not all the time but its better than nothing at the moment.  Until I do find something I'm going to be going to this zoo that i've been volunteering at and keep doing that to keep my foot in the door a little.  Like you said though I need to get something that I can get paid and get experience at the same time.  There is one place though that I haven't tried to get into yet.  Whenever I go there I get a sense of saddness from the animals though and I don't like going there for that reason.  Maybe I should try it though?  Its a tiny state owned zoo that just runs off of the USDA standards for a zoo and the standards aren't the best.  And you are right on about the financial thing.  I have a bit of loan money left over but saving that for when I do have to move.  Lease is up in august and I'm really wanting a job by then.  I would hate to use that money to move into another place and then get a call back from a zoo and have to pack up and move again before my lease is up...not sure if I could afford that.  Thanks for helping!!  If I re read your reading and notice anything else that I can leave feedback with I will definately do that!

[eye_of_tiger]

Jamers,

You are most welcome, both for the reading and the friendly advice.

I am encouraged to read that you have cast your net wider with reference to the type of jobs you would be willing to accept as a temporary short time substitute for the job which you are ultimately looking for.

At least you still have the technician job at the pharmacy to help tide you over, financially and for the sake of your own self confidence and self respect.

There is one place though that I haven't tried to get into yet.  Whenever I go there I get a sense of sadness from the animals though and I don't like going there for that reason.  Maybe I should try it though?

Maybe your task is to go there to make a positive contribution towards making the animals happier by way of raising the standards of their care, but if the feelings of sadness tend to overpower you and could get in the way of you being able to function in your current position and keep job hunting, my advice would be to follow your intuition when making your decision whether to work there at all.

I would not wish to discourage you from applying to work at the sub standard zoo when your lease was about to run out, and I had with the best of intentions advised you to burn your bridges behind you,

But on the other hand too much of this negativity could drag you down, ruin your confidence and spoil any future interviews which you may be offered for the job you really want, which may not be that far off in time as you presently imagine that they might be (the interviews that is).

I would hate to use that money to move into another place and then get a call back from a zoo and have to pack up and move again before my lease is up...not sure if I could afford that.

I agree with these sentiments, and I also doubt that you could afford such a major reversal in your plans. And as the time for the lease to expire gets closer, the urgency of you making up your mind up about this only get worse instead of better. It is like you are gambling with your future, but you must take what are calculated risks if you are going to ever get anything important to you in this life.

I only wish that I could make the decision easier for you, but all I will say is that sometimes it is not what we know but rather whom we know that can eventually lead to us getting the job of our dreams.

I would appreciate you keeping me updated about any progress which you have made on the career front, under this thread.

Constructive feedback is also always welcome.

Take care,

EoT

[jamers]

just an update for you.  I haven't had any call backs yet for any zoos and hardly any job postings have been posted.  but just applied to one zoo down south for a hospital keeper.  I wouldn't be a vet tech but a keeper taking care of the hospital animals there.  I'm not exactly sure where else to look for jobs.  I know a couple of people who work at another zoo and one of them is trying to get some info for me and see if there are any jobs available there....but so far she hasn't been able to talk to the peoplle she needs to cause they are never around when she's there.  And i've been looking into other areas like vet offices, kennels, horse farms, ect.   but so far theres nothing that I can afford to live off of lol.  THey are all minimum wage and/or not full time hours.  I have that dori voice from Finding Nemo movie stuck in my head...'just keep trying, just keep trying.  LOL

[eye_of_tiger]

Jamers,

Thanking you for your update.

I am also wishing that there was better news for you on the job front, but it is certainly not through any lack of effort on your part that this drought of suitable positions is happening.

Widening the variety of jobs you are willing to apply for normally gets reasonably quick results, but when the alternatives are as low paid as the ones which you have been considering, it really does not motivate you to get off the unemployment queue as soon as it is humanly possible. It only encourages the development of a welfare culture, or a helpless victim of life in general way of thinking.

Even volunteering your time for no pay is better (if you can qualify as being eligible, and pass all the police tests) than not having any reason to get up in the morning and feeling that you are not doing anything seen by others as worth doing. We are social creatures and we need to feel that we can make a positive difference. Most people get this feeling through the type of job which they do in order to earn their daily bread.

I can only echo Dori's encouragement to continue to try, try and keep trying, but in the meantime I will try to keep you motivated enough to do that, while recognising that my ability to do so is limited by me not being physically there with you in person to provide a shoulder for you to cry upon, but only able to be with you in spirit through the internet.

What else can you be expected to do about this situation than your best, even when you suspect that your best might not be good enough? You have a natural gift or flair for working in your chosen field of employment, but if you stop believing in yourself for more than a day at a time (we are all entitled to have our bad days now and then), then all your natural abilities may come to nothing.

I am with you Dori,

EoT  :smt006

[jamers]

Just an update for you.  Haven't heard back from anyone yet but there are a few other jobs that have been posted since then that i've applied for.  I went ahead and renewed my lease for about another 5 to 6 months.  My hours at my pharmacy job have went up a little bit so thats helping out a lot.  Anyway, just an update. Hope you are doing well eye of tiger!

[eye_of_tiger]

Jamers,

As is usual this most recent update is a mixture of some good and bad news, but the increase in your pharmacy hours does at least offer you more breathing space and time to find the job which you are looking for, without having to also worry if you will have enough money left over after paying your bills to be able to live reasonably comfortably upon.

Renewing your lease for those extra five or six months is an encouraging outward sign of your faith and sheer determination not to allow this to defeat you. Let us both hope and pray that your wait for this next job will prove in hindsight to have been worth all your anxiety and effort.

Take care,

EoT

[jamers]

Hi Eye of tiger! So i'm learning quickly that I think it really is all in who you know in this field!  But good news is that I just found out one of my friends has a husband that works in a zoo and knows the curator and the veterinarian.  He told me to send him my resume and he would hand it to them personally!! Soooooo, i'm really hoping that even if they don't have an opening at this moment that they will definatley think of me when a position does open!  Just wanted to update you!

[eye_of_tiger]

Jamers,

Yes the it is not what you know but rather whom you know who has influence over the company which you are interested in working for factor that often in the end operates most in your favour, and helps you to get a specific job ahead of your competition.

I just found out one of my friends has a husband that works in a zoo and knows the curator and the veterinarian.  He told me to send him my resume and he would hand it to them personally!!

This gives you every reason to feel encouraged and more motivated not to give up on ever working there, simply because you may not have every single qualification being asked for in the job description.

And luck or a stroke of random and entirely unexpected good fortune may also have a role to play in boosting your chances of becoming a successful applicant, when the job becomes available again in the future. You will already be near to the head of the queue when the interviews are being handed out?

Keep up the good work, and fight the good fight,

EoT  :smt038

[jamers]

I just emailed back the HR department of the city that the zoo is located in because they are the ones that does the hiring for this zoo.  IF there is a job that becomes available in the future it will definately be stroke of random and entirely unexpected good fortune! lol  She explained to me in the email the entire process of hiring someone....lets just say that if I get a job there it will be a freaking miracle! lol  

Do you see any good news coming my way for any zoo job anytime sort of soon...doesn't have to be soon as in tomorrow but just sometime?  


btw, how have you been??  Hope everything is going well for you!!

[eye_of_tiger]

I just emailed back the HR department of the city that the zoo is located in because they are the ones that does the hiring for this zoo.  IF there is a job that becomes available in the future it will definately be stroke of random and entirely unexpected good fortune! lol  She explained to me in the email the entire process of hiring someone....lets just say that if I get a job there it will be a freaking miracle! lol  

Do you see any good news coming my way for any zoo job anytime sort of soon...doesn't have to be soon as in tomorrow but just sometime?  


btw, how have you been??  Hope everything is going well for you!!

Jamers,

To answer your final question first, things have been relatively steady as you go health wise for both my wife and myself since we last conversed on this forum. So far her cancer is still in remission, at least according to all the tests which just keep coming. Neither of our energy levels however are anything wonderful to write home about.

Do you see any good news coming my way for any zoo job anytime sort of soon...doesn't have to be soon as in tomorrow but just sometime?

Your question immediately posed a double problem for this reader in that it is asking me to predict the future (which is difficult to impossible even at the best of times), and it is also one of those YES (you get the job) or NO (you miss out on the job this time around) readings which tend on average to be highly inaccurate and unreliable, and to give more than their fair share of false positive and false negative results to make matters that much more worse.

There are simply far too many factors both known or still unknown which could potentially affect the final outcome of your wait for that job, the biggest of all likely to be any other applicants who are competing with you for the position. The further restriction of not being able to directly read the respective qualifications of each of the other applicants through a third party reading makes any form of prediction into a reader's worst nightmare.

But as long as you are willing to accept the severe limitations of any method in using a reading with the intention to predict something as important as whether the job might be yours during the next six months thought tom be covered by it, I performed the psychic equivalent of rolling a pair of dice or flipping a coin in order to determine whether your chances of being hired by the zoo are above the 50% level which is normally expected by random coincidence alone.

Logically it would seem to be a miracle (freaking or not) if you did eventually land this job based more upon who you know rather than what you know, but what your reading asks is a miracle? It is my understanding that a miracle is an event which according to statistics is most unlikely to happen according to all visible factors, which obeys laws of which we have a very limited understanding at this point in time. Just as many things in science fiction have later become realities, eventually and hopefully we will better understand the laws which underpin miracles and they will probably no longer be regarded as such which in my opinion is a pity.

I believe that to a certain extent we need the admittedly slight possibility of a miracle in our lives in order to give us a sense of hope and faith for the future, but that at the same time we cannot just sit back and do nothing to help ourselves, and depend entirely upon a miracle happening to us anytime soon.  The HR department which does the hiring have made it patently clear to us that theirs is a policy of "don't call us but we might call you (but only if we cannot find anybody who we feel is better suited), so I would not if I were you recommend that you should get on the telephone each day to call them to check if they are still considering you as a future employee. But that having been said I would regularly say once a fortnight show them that I was still interested and available to begin working for them at short notice.

You could miss out if you try too hard to put yourself out there as the preferred applicant for the zoo position and endlessly make a nuisance of yourself, just as you could equally miss out if you do not do enough to sell yourself or more specifically your services indirectly to whoever currently operates and/or owns the zoo. You need to keep up a balanced approach to putting pressure upon them to take you on their payroll. Too little or too much pressure upon them, and your chances of being under their employ will approach but never quite reach zero?

Your focus card for this reading was the Wheel of Fortune. Unlike most other Tarot cards which emphasize that we are constantly helping to create our future through our own efforts, this one introduces the element of seemingly random chance or good luck into the equation. If the qualifications and eligibility of all candidates including yourself were equal, it is felt that what you might understandably call a miracle could turn out in hindsight to merely be the result of a stroke of especially good luck or good fortune.

Putting aside all of the possible factors which could potentially get or lose this job for you (at least the factors which we already know about),  I would presently assign a 50 - 60% probability score for you being hired by the zoo during the next half year. In other words your chances are seen as being above average, but not far enough above the average to be super confident of success.

But at any point along the six month time line it is felt that it would only take a very small push in either direction to make your chances fall well below the 50% level, or alternately see the level increase to over 75%. Some apparently small and trivial on the surface factor could at the 11th hour either tip the scale in your favour or torpedo your chances of being hired, and there is frustratingly for the both of us very little or nothing it is felt that you or I can practically do to make the probability of this miracle happening significantly increase from what it already is.

Perhaps the only miracle which we can depend on in the final mixture is our faith and belief in ourselves, and in our abilities to do our jobs well and on time. Any other miracle than that might be too much to ask of the Universe at this stage, but only time will tell if a larger miracle is in your cards.

The very best of luck to you in getting this job: all other factors being equal.

EoT

[jamers]

Thanks so much eye of tiger!  What you are saying is what I was concerned with about contacting them to ask them about the job.  Didn't want to seem like I was pushing them too much and then get on their last nerve.  But I did email them just to make it known that I was still interested and just left it at that.  Even though its impossible to say a complete yes or no to me landing a job this reading still gives me my faith back that theres still a slight chance so thank you for that!  

Glad to hear that your wife is still in remission!! and keeping you both in my prayers that you both will stay healthy and get your energy back!