Job hunters need different lessons

Like others who have become unemployed, I have had to make adjustments to my life and am living with the fear that I may lose my house and credit rating. Well, the house is just concrete and glass, the credit rating is just a number and I can get both back in time, but there are other losses – I mean my cats – that I may lose if I lose the house.

True, everything is just stuff, but I have my valuable board games and books to worry about.

But my worries are nothing compared to those less fortunate than I. My whining is a bore, even to me, when I read about married people with children, single adults with children and others with little or no savings who are suddenly part of their employer’s plan to reposition itself for the future – by laying them off.

It’s not easy being in the job market right now, and I worry that some folks are going into the realm of unemployment unaware that they are so very vulnerable to being scammed right now.

I visited the library on Wednesday, Jan. 28, and saw a number of people waiting to use the library’s computers. It’s almost a diabolical combination because the library’s hours are being cut back, limiting access even more. I’m there just to borrow books I cannot afford to buy; they’re there to try to find a job. At least I can sit at my computer at home and job hunt at my leisure, but they have to watch the big electronic board and wait their turn. It’s so unfair.

Those folks trying to find a job now are also at a disadvantage because they may not realize, as I have learned in the past several months since learning of my layoff and then being laid off, that many of the jobs posted on job sites are not actual jobs but “opportunities” to be a commissioned sales person, multi-level marketing or front person for an outright fraud. Not only commercial job sites but even Florida’s state job site is absolutely rife with fake postings. I mentioned earlier that Prudential real estate is mass-posting hundreds of identically worded jobs every day, and other companies are also mass-posting jobs, and drowning out postings by real employers.

I’ve read articles in the news media about people being scammed by postings they found on Monster.com, CareerBuilder, Craigslist and so on, getting themselves drawn into “secret shopper” schemes and other postings that promise good pay, benefits and a feeling of self-worth but deliver only pain.

I at least am experienced in terms of what to look for in a job posting, and am a bit more aware of the warning signs of a fake job posting. I am kind of harsh on employers, but the ads that I’ve answered and that have answered me back have mostly been on the level. I guess I’m just picky about what ads I answer. The old adage holds: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

These are difficult times. Scam artists know that people looking for work after a layoff may be sitting on thousands of dollars in cash from savings and severance (if any) that they need to survive the next few months, and the bad guys are eager to move that money into their column. Those who are inexperienced with computers, lack access to computers or are inexperienced with the complexities of searching for a job online are at a distinct disadvantage. It would be nice if Florida would help by making a job site that was significantly more user friendly and less open to abuse by pseudo-employers, but I suppose in tough times the needs of those in need are just not a priority.

On ‘Big Love,’ one gigantic ego

I’ve been a fan of the HBO TV program “Big Love” since the first episode, though part of it is my no-holds-barred crush on Chloe Sevigny. OK, the actress who plays Margene is also cute, but there’s something about that blonde hair …

Back to reality.

As someone who can’t even get one woman interested in me, it’s kind of unfair that Bill Henrickson has three wives, and a fourth in the hiring process, but I guess having money and a profitable (so far) business as well as a religion that pretty much gives you a free hand to do whatever you want to whomever you want does give you some leeway.

A lifetime renewal for your Viagra prescription doesn’t hurt, and it’s just a wonder that he keeps all those kids straight in his head, but then again Bill seems to be one of the few MBAs in the world who can seriously multitask.

I remember reading an article when “Big Love” started that mentioned why women would go for such a system. It’s better to have to share a well-off man with two or three or more other sister-wives, the logic goes, than to be solo with a less-wealthy man. Thus you have men with a whole covey of wives, and other men with no one.

What really is amazing – and not yet noticed – about “Big Love” is that Bill (played so well by Bill Paxton) is just about the biggest narcissist in the realm of fiction. It’s all about him, and I guess he’s into the idea that he has three luscious women (maybe a fourth) at his sexual beck and call.

It seems like the whole family exists to be a sideshow to “Bill Henrickson’s Flying Circus.” And when he can’t get his way, he’ll bend or break any rule out there to make sure he’s on top at the end. (Pun intended).

Lest anyone think I’m engaging in Mormon-bashing, it’s not that. In any case, Bill and Co. are rejected by the main Mormon faith. (I’m nothing; an atheist. To me, all religions are equal, and equally wrong).

Bill is off on his own tangent, and he sees religion mainly as a way to get what he wants out of life, and to get back to “traditional Mormonism,” which to him is having multiple wives. If the other, less-well-off guys end up alone, well, that’s just the way “God” (read: Bill) wants it.

You’ll never hear it said outright, but religions can pretty much be turned to operate in favor of whatever people in authority want. Most elite folks pay lip service to the idea of religion, and figure it’s good for the “lower” orders of folks, but the elite see it mainly as a tool of control.

Indeed, I had a friend years ago who said that most religious leaders will admit if pressed hard enough that they really don’t even believe in God, but it’s a good job with no heavy lifting, and no one argues with you about your biblical interpretations. Just keep hammering away that the congregation is filthy and evil, and they’ll be eating out of your hand.

Anyway, this is more about “Big Love” than the trash religion peddles nowadays. And Bill Henrickson is a walking indictment of the whole system.