sheltered workshops or sweatshops?

Glenda was born with a rare bone disease that crippled her body and put her into a wheelchair. She’s a feisty young lady and wants to lead a productive life but the people who run the organizations set up to help disabled people find work have let her down badly.

"I appreciate that these people do their best to uphold the hopes and aspirations of the disabled people who seek their help," says Glenda, "but in trying to help us become productive members of society these people are ultimately exposing us to more ridicule."

"I've been in a wheelchair for as long as I can remember," sighs Glenda, "and I've been treated like a second class citizen, too, for as long as I can remember."

"I live at home with my parents," explains Glenda, "but they are getting old. Dad recently lost his job and mom is desperately hanging on to hers."

"I worry about what will happen to me when they die. I dread the thought of ending up in an place where I'll become a vegetable because nobody cares whether I live or die."

It never ceases to amaze Glenda how those who start off life with a huge burden are often those who are forced by a largely uncaring world into bearing more burdens and facing more obstacles than ever.

She believes that the world is becoming more and more hardhearted towards disability and imperfection.

"When the cult of perfection has reached the point where fetuses are being aborted if the slightest imperfection is found," remarks Glenda, "it speaks loudly for the utter contempt that society has for people like me."

"Few parents these days," sighs Glenda, "want the burden of raising an imperfect child, but it is not just for their own benefit that they resort to abortion but for the benefit of the unborn child, too."

"They feel that in today's world such a child would have Buckley's chance of finding employment and becoming self-supporting, and would also have very little opportunity of joining mainstream life and shining in his or her own right."

Ultimately, Glenda believes that gene technology will make all of us ‘perfect’.

"But what exactly is perfect?" asks Glenda. "Is being physically perfect the only human perfection? Or the only human perfection worth prizing? What of the incredible talents of the deaf, blind, mute, paralyzed and so many other ‘different’ people in our world?"

"Most people have two able legs to get around, two able arms to do work, a pair of eyes that see well, two ears that hear well, a voice that is clear and articulate and good general health," says Glenda, "but very few people have special gifts."

"I'm not saying that all disabled people are gifted," says Glenda, "but I do believe that more of us have special gifts than the able bodied population."

Glenda believes that the cult of perfection will ultimately rob society not only of gifted people but also compassionate people.

"Let’s face it," she says, "no human being is perfect. The rosiest apple is often full of worms. Genetic engineering is not going to get rid of sociopaths and thieves and murderers. I really believe that society should look more closely at the special gifts that disabled people can bring to the world."

Having successfully coped with a burden all of their lives, Glenda believes that disabled people often have superb skills in areas that most able-bodied people fall short.

"Qualities such as patience, endurance, intuition and empathy are just a few of the special traits that can be utilized productively in society," says Glenda. "Who has more time on their hands to really care about the world than us?"

Glenda also includes the ability to ‘manipulate’ as one of the special skills because she feels that without being able to wheedle their way around, these guys would be more downtrodden than they are already.

Glenda is also critical of the people who run the organizations set up to help disabled people.

"I don't see a sheltered workshop as an opportunity to become a productive member of society," explains Glenda. "The whole notion of special employment for the disabled is humiliating and as far as I can see those places are little more than sweat-shops."

"More and more older workers like my dad," says Glenda, "are forced out of work at 50 even though they are 100% fit and want to keep on working. The rationale behind forced retirement is that there are just not enough jobs to go around and the young must be given a chance."

"In my world, the rationale is that the able bodied deserve priority in the workplace," says Glenda, "and that's OK with me because most of those jobs aren't worth having."

"What I want is a chance to shine in my own right, a chance to be accepted as a worthwhile human being," says Glenda. "I want to be seen as someone with special gifts that can do good in the world."

"I already help other people doing telephone counseling, but I don't get paid for it," explains Glenda. "Being disabled means that I'm not seen as someone worthy of a paid position as a counselor. That sort of job goes to smart women who drive BMWs and have rich husbands, right?"

"If older people like my dad are being forced out of jobs before their time and given a welfare check and told in so many words to go home and play with their rocking chairs," says Glenda, "then it won't be long before 30-year olds are given the same treatment."

"Globalization is doing terrible things to little people in the western world," says Glenda, "and it's going to do worse things to disabled people."

Bearing in mind the high costs of training disabled people for employment, and the low wages they are paid if they do find work - often insufficient to pay for their special transport, medical needs and technical aids - Glenda predicts that a future government voted in by the grown-up perfect designer babies of today will treat disabled people with the same disrespect that is now shown to older workers.

"They will be given a welfare check and told quite openly to go home and play with their wheelchairs," says Glenda, "and those who now earn a living helping us will be out of jobs, too."

Glenda believes that with more and more disabled people being denied access to jobs and the independence that comes with an income, the burden on caregivers is going to become a worse problem than it is already.

She also believes that the burden on disabled people will be worsened by the development of emotional disorders in addition to the physical disorders they have already.

"Of course," laughs Glenda, "a future government voted in by the grown-up perfect designer babies of today will have very few disabled people to deal with."

"Ultimately, there will be no disabled people, no ill people and no old people."

"Imperfect fetuses will not be allowed to become babies; recessive genes will be eliminated; accident victims will be fixed up with spare parts; and the elderly will be youthanazed or euthanazed."

"Everyone will be physically perfect one day," sighs Glenda, "but they'll all be emotionally crippled because of it."

whistle blower in difficulty

Abigail has learned that rather than prospective employers hearing about her whistle blowing from someone who wants to destroy her career, it is to her advantage to be upfront about it from the start – even though her honesty is making her job hunting more difficult than it should be.

"As far as I can see," sighs Abigail, "my employment prospects have been shot to pieces by blowing the whistle on a former employer. Word has got around in the tight-knit business community, and I believe I've been blacklisted as a potential trouble-maker."

"OK," agrees Abigail, "it means that some employers are going to fear that their dark secrets are going to be discovered by me and I'll blow the whistle on them, too, but I feel that honest employers would welcome having a decent employee like me on board. Right?"

“And an honest employer is the type of employer I am looking for,” says Abigail, “but I haven’t found one yet and I’m beginning the think they don’t exist!”

Abigail believes that honesty at interviews is important. She believes that even if people have committed a real misdemeanor it should go in their favor if they stated right from the start that they made a mistake and have paid the penalty for it.

"Most employers are not going to employ convicted felons no matter how unblemished their record has been since the incident," says Abigail, "but some are going to be a lot more lenient and impressed with an honest approach."

Abigail feels that it’s important to be honest about anything that could be construed as being a bad risk to your future employment - sexual harassment, brawling, drunkenness, drugs, hacking, etc. But she doesn’t believe in overdoing honesty.

"It's enough to state the facts, and leave out the juicy bits," laughs Abigail, "especially if you were caught bonking the boss in the broom closet or found guilty of some other silly misdemeanors - most of which happen at workplace Xmas parties."

"If you didn't get fired for an incident," says Abigail, "there's really no need to spill the beans about this sort of thing at job interviews. But if you did get fired for something like this I'd make light of it because the interviewer would probably see the funny side of it."

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing funny about whistle blowing,” sighs Abigail, “and I’m just hoping that an employer appreciates the importance of what I did and above all wants an honest and patriotic employee.”

Read more by Abigail:

haunted by whistle blowing

what are referees saying about you?

The interview circuit’s grapevine

Democratic hacktivism?

Cyber wars and Chinese time bombs

what’s a CV?

Tahlia is 43 and now that her children are grown up enough to look after themselves she is enthusiastic and excited about returning to work and being able to build up a nest egg.

Putting the kids through school cost Tahlia and her husband a lot more money than they had expected.

"We have very little saved for our retirement," explains Tahlia, "so I'm eager to get back to work, make some money and start a savings plan to make up for lost time."

"I don't mind what type of work I do -- which is a great plus in my favor," says Tahlia, "but I'm having a lot of trouble finding work."

For starters, Tahlia had no idea that she would need a resume or a CV -- a
curriculum vitae -- in order to apply for a job. She thought only school leavers, starting their first job, needed to carry around a portfolio of their qualifications and references.

"The last time I worked, nobody needed a resume," says Tahlia, "and it infuriates me that I have to document my life on paper in order to apply for an ordinary old job."

Her problem is made worse by the fact that she has only done voluntary work in the past twenty years -- most of which was associated with various stages of her children's development.

Tahlia has the same problem as school-leavers -- most of whom have never worked, not even in a voluntary capacity -- and because Tahlia does have work experience in a voluntary capacity her resume is really not going to be much different from that of somebody who has been in paid employment for the past twenty years.

When Tahlia sat down to document her skills and the various community organizations she had worked for in a voluntary capacity over the past twenty years, the list was formidable.

"There was nothing that I hadn't done, or didn't have the capacity to do," laughs Tahlia. "But employers aren't interested in what anybody did twenty years ago, let alone five years ago, so my main objective is to concentrate on skills and voluntary work experience of the past two years."

Unfortunately, Tahlia hadn't done much voluntary work in the past two years, so she wracked her brains about other things she had done and realized that she had helped a lot of people with their taxation returns.

"From what I've read in the job ads," says Tahlia, "knowledge of accountancy and being able to understand complicated tax laws are skills that are in high demand, so I needed to stretch them out to the max."

"I gained earth science qualifications after I left school," confides Tahlia, "but such qualifications are far too old to be valid in today's world."

"I know that lots of how-to-get-a-job books say that even old qualifications have some value in that people who have applied themselves to gaining a qualification are seen as dedicated, organized and literate," says Tahlia, "but I don't think that's relevant advice for return to work moms."

"After I gain some work experience I hope to use my qualifications in a more professional resume in order to get a position more in keeping with my worth," confides Tahlia, "but until then I'm concentrating on finding a job -- any job -- and for this I just need a basic resume."

"The basic resume is just for basic unskilled jobs," explains Tahlia. "In it, I'm accentuating my people skills and mentioning my accountancy skills as icing. I don't expect to get a job as an accountancy clerk straight off, but I might get a foot in the door of an accountancy firm as a receptionist or administration assistant."

No matter what sort of job Tahlia gets -- in a shop, factory or office -- she appreciates that her ability to get along with people is paramount because she will inevitably be the first point of contact with customers. Most entry level, low paying jobs, are going to be in the customer service field.

"I gear my basic resume to whatever type of job I'm applying for," explains Tahlia. "For instance, if it is a customer service representative position, then I put telephone and communication skills at the top of the list and accentuate them. If it is a factory position, then I accentuate my manual dexterity and even my stamina!"

"If it's general office work, then I put typing right at the top of my skills list and fudge my typing speed," laughs Tahlia. "I can't type more than 35 wpm but most people are slow at typing when they first return to work and employers should understand that. Nobody is going to notice my slow typing and with daily practice I'll probably end up doing 100 wpm!"

Once Tahlia got her basic resume typed and started applying for jobs, she was thrilled to pieces!

"I had wasted so much time fumbling around looking for jobs without knowing what I was doing," sighs Tahlia. "It really makes a difference when you can call yourself a well-organized job seeker!"

She's a great communicator and has a good attitude and she should have little difficulty finding a basic job.

"It may not be the type of job that I want to do for the next twenty years of my working life," laughs Tahlia, "but it will be a start, paying money and that, after all, is my basic motivating factor for getting back to work."

"Money, money, money! I want tons of it for our retirement."

generic job ads

Tania, 49, is considering returning to work after raising a family and after checking out the job ads she is amazed at the incredible amount of waffle and political correctness that's out there.

"I see nothing discriminatory in wording job advertisements towards the exact type of person a company wants for the job," says Tania. "They aren't paying any extra for space on the Net -- like they do for an advertisement in a newspaper -- so they should put as much effort into writing a job ad as job hunters put into answering it."

"The job ads of my day were very clearly designed to deter unsuitable people from wasting their time applying for the job," explains Tania, "and that makes good sense to me."

"I don't want to waste my time applying for a job that's suitable for a 20 year old male -- not a 49 year old married woman with kids," adds Tania, "and I'm sure a young male doesn't want to waste his time applying for a job that's more suited for a mature woman."

"In that employers are bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of applications for every job advertised online," says Tania, "it makes sense for them to be as specific as they can be in their job advertisements -- and they should be able to do this without breaching legal guidelines regarding discrimination."

"I've seen some job advertisements that get their message across quite nicely," says Tania, "so it's not impossible to do. They don't have to cover all angles with a stupid generic ad."

"If employers don't want to hire smokers or older people or fatties -- as most don't these days -- they simply state in their ads that employees enjoy a smoke-free working environment, a vibrant young working team or a junkfood-free canteen. Sure it's discriminatory, but it's legal and truthful."

"If an employer specifically wants a male employee, the advertisement will use a lot of strong male words or company perks such as company football or golf teams -- which may or may not deter females -- and the same goes for an employer specifically wanting a female employee, only perks such as child-minding facilities and afternoons off for shopping will be emphasized."

"Except for single fathers," muses Tania, "I think that few red-blooded males would want to respond to a job advertisement offering such obviously female slanted perks. So it can be done and I want to know why it's not done more often."

"The online job advertisements I really hate -- because there are so many of them -- are the wide open ads that do not actually say anything."

"These ads are always placed by the recruitment agencies and I can't believe that any real job exists where skills and experience are not specified."

"Instead of the usual requirements -- must be able to type 80 w.p.m. or be proficient in a particular computer package -- these advertisements rave on about character traits."

"In that just about everyone seriously looking for a job is going to be friendly, enthusiastic, or have a can-do attitude -- or imagines they do," laughs Tania, "this type of advertisement must get hundreds of thousands of applicants."

"I honestly feel that this sort of wide open advertisement is specifically designed to attract a mass of applicants for no other reason than to build up a recruiter's database of job seekers."

"Yes, it does happen," says Tania, "and so does the practice of placing bogus advertisements for jobs that do not exist."

“There is a trend these days,” says Tania, “to place an enticing job advertisement and then direct all applicants to a particular website or recruitment agency where you will be run through the mill and possibly charged for services you do not need.”

”Nobody in their right mind chooses a mate from an advertisement,” laughs Tania, “so I guess the smart thing to do in order to avoid the pitfalls of job ads, in newspapers and especially online, is to find a job the same way we go about finding a mate."

"I found my husband through friends," confides Tania, "and I'm pretty sure that family, friends, community organizations, clubs and all manner of people out there are going to be ready, willing and able to help me find a job when I am ready to get serious about looking for one."

"And the first thing serious job contacts are going to want to know is what I can do -- not how nice and enthusiastic I am," laughs Tania. "So if any return-to-work mom out there wants my opinion it's to avoid any job ad that raves on about personal character traits because it's a trick to get your personal details on a database and there's no job!"

out of work, out of friends

When Polly lost her job, she wasn't too upset because she had a huge circle of friends and was pretty sure that one of them would help her find a new job quickly.

"I started networking straight away," says Polly, "and let everyone know my circumstances and how much I'd appreciate their help in any way towards finding me a new job."

"In the first month of being unemployed I contacted over a hundred people," says Polly. "Most I contacted by telephone, but some I wrote to because they lived too far away and I didn't want to run up a huge telephone bill."

"In the second month of being unemployed I relaxed a bit and looked forward to my efforts reaping a bit of reward," explains Polly, "but I sat by the telephone day after day and checked the mail and only four of the hundred or so people I had contacted bothered to catch up with me."

"Of those four people," sighs Polly, "only one was helpful in being very happy to keep an eye out for any job openings she heard of and to give me a job reference should I need one."

"The other three people who responded to my request for help in finding a new job turned out to be more of a hindrance to my job seeking efforts than a help," sighed Polly.

"Frankly, the ninety-six people who didn't bother to do anything to help me were more honest about their interest in helping me than the three people who pretended to care and made my job seeking efforts more difficult than ever."

"I was vulnerable and eager to please everyone in the early months of being unemployed," explains Polly, "and these three people took advantage of my circumstances to serve their own ulterior motives."

"One was a guy I had worked with in a previous job who promised to put in a good word for me with his present employer but all he really wanted was to wear me down with endless telephone calls in hope of getting into my pants."

"This guy ended up telephoning me every day," says Polly, "and he'd waste so much of my time talking about rubbish that I had to tell him not to telephone me any more. I had asked for his help in finding me a job and I wasn't going to allow him to twist the situation into one where he was trying to form a romantic alliance with me."

"The second fair weather friend in my job searching period was, surprisingly, an old school friend," says Polly. "She had a very high profile government job and could quite easily have found me a short-term contract job within her department to tide me over until I found a permanent job, but she behaved abominably towards me."

"She rang me back about a month after I first called her," explains Polly, "and we went out for lunch but all she wanted to talk about was her marital troubles."

"I paid for lunch," laughs Polly, "and sat there for three hours listening to her marital woes and whenever I raised the subject of job opportunities she acted coyly."

"I got the distinct impression that she actually enjoyed my discomfiture," confides Polly. "and this really disturbed me because you really don't expect an old school friend to play power games with you."

"I had never really been in a 'down' situation before losing my job," explains Polly, "so I had no idea how any of my friends would react when I asked them for help."

"If adversity sorts the wheat from the chaff and separates the good friends from the fair weather friends," laughs Polly, "then I suggest that everyone should manufacture a crisis very early in life in order to test their friends!"

"The third and final fair weather friend was a girl who had done some temp work at my old company," says Polly.

"We had gotten along great together," explains Polly, "and when she said she'd put in a great reference for me if I signed up at her temp agency I went ahead and did so."

"I smelled a rat when the agency never called me," laughs Polly. "My friend was boasting about all the temp jobs she was getting, and refusing, and saying things to me that made me feel bad - such as, 'haven't you found a job yet?' and 'maybe you should lower your sights and work in a shop or something'."

"I don't believe she put in a good word for me at all," sighs Polly, "and I wouldn't be surprised if she actually told the agency not to hire me!"

"No, I'm not being ridiculous," says Polly. "I trust my gut feelings and accept that some friends are helpful and some friends aren't, and other friends can turn out to be downright nasty when the chips are down."

"One helpful friend out of a hundred doesn't sound much," sighs Polly, "but one helpful friend is all I really need and I'm grateful for her."

"When we're down we need friends to pick us up and help us - not drag us down further than we are already," laughs Polly. "So from now on I'm adopting a tough stand with the people in my life - if they're not helping me, they're hindering me!"

Polly's story first appeared as job hindering friends

female job applicant risks

Debbie is angry that male job applicants can get away with things at interviews that females can't, and that women have additional difficulties when they're interviewed by males.

"Unless the guy is gay - and more interested in your clothes than your gender - the male interviewer is more likely to be checking you out as a bedmate rather than a valued employee," says Debbie, "and the guys old enough to be your father, happily married with four kids, are often the worst."

"That's not to say, of course, that female interviewers don't act in the same lascivious manner towards male job applicants," adds Debbie, "but there is a significant difference. Let's face it, female job applicants are going to feel a lot more intimidated being ogled by a man in a position of power over them than a male job applicant would be in the reverse situation."

"Also, a woman's appearance is far more important than her credentials," sighs Debbie. "If a guy has good credentials he can front up at job interviews with a day old stubble and smart casual clothes and get away with it but women are always expected to be immaculately groomed and wearing the dreaded interview suit, whether or not the job requires formal clothing."

"And while some men can get away with outrageous behavior at interviews - one guy I know jumped on the interview table and danced his way into a tech job," says Debbie, "women are always expected to behave themselves."

Debbie is at the stage of her job search where she is reaping the rewards of laying a solid foundation before she presented herself to the world. She took time off to enjoy herself after leaving college, and then she set about a very systematic job search.

She wrote a great CV, networked like mad and targeted the jobs she really wanted. The interview calls came in thick and fast. In the first week she had four interviews, the second of which was absolutely awful.

The job was advertised as a personal assistant to the manager of a golf distribution company. It was a small company and Debbie liked that. Plenty of opportunities to take on responsibilities, become indispensible and earn big money.

"As I left the elevator and walked up the corridor to where the office was situated," says Debbie, "I noticed a very small man who leered at me lasciviously as I passed by. His eyes went up and down my body like he was measuring me for his bed."

Thinking no more of it, Debbie entered the office and presented herself to the receptionist. She was then ushered into the manager's office and told to wait a while. Passing the time, Debbie picked up some golfing magazines and tried to figure out why it's such a popular game for guys. She then got up and tried a swing with one of the clubs that was lying around the office, and just then the door opened and the manager entered.

"It was the guy in the corridor," laughs Debbie. "The slime-ball took my hand and caressed it rather than shook it, and then motioned for me to sit next to him on the sofa. It was going to be one of those intimate interviews!"

"He was not at all interested in my credentials," says Debbie. "He told me he needed 'mothering' and looked at my chest to see whether I would qualify. I nearly died with embarrassment."

Realizing that she could never work with this man in a million years, Debbie excused herself from the interview and made a hurried exit.

Unlike Debbie, most male job applicants would take it as a sign of success if a female interviewer flirted with them, or looked them up and down, even if the lady was old enough to be their mother or grossly unattractive.

Female job applicants, on the other hand, want to be judged on their merits not on their their looks - unless, of course, the job depended upon physical attractiveness and socializing with the boss was an expected part of the job.

In Debbie's case, the advertised job did not say anything about social activities, event management and that sort of thing so she had no reason to expect that it was going to be anything other than a regular job.

If that were not bad enough, then a female-female interviewer-interviewee situation is fraught with difficulties, too.

"Not necessarily worse than a male-male interviewer-interviewee situation," laughs Debbie, "but it often is because female interviewers are notorious for noticing those little slips in grooming in other women and asking those highly touchy questions that male interviewers overlook. They are are also likely to be less courteous than male interviewers."

"Frankly, even with the prospect of being ogled by old men and accepted or rejected on my attractiveness," says Debbie, "I prefer to be interviewed by males."

"Female interviewers know our secrets," explains Debbie, "men don't!"

online job applications ignored

Brooke is 18, the eldest of three kids from a broken home, and she's eager to find work after what she claims to be a wasted high school education, and she's trying hard to stay positive despite lack of response from employers and lack of encouragement from her mom.

"My mom is forever nagging me about why it's taking me so long to get a job and start contributing towards the household expenses," says Brooke, "and she's driving me mad."

"She thinks I'm playing around on the Net and setting a bad example for the younger kids," says Brooke, "and now she's threatening to cut me off the Net - but I am serious about getting a job!"

"She just doesn't understand how different things are today," sighs Brooke. "And not only different, but a lot more difficult too."

"There are no local jobs available - they all go to the 15 year old high school drop-outs - so I have to use the Net," explains Brooke, "and what my mom doesn't understand is that employers and recruiters who advertise online are being inundated with 100s of job applications."

"What chance do I have?" asks Brooke. "I don't know why I bother but I suppose it's because it's a lot easier and cheaper than sending a job application by snail mail."

"And just in case you're wondering, I'm not missing out on anything because I don't have a college education," says Brooke. "None of the jobs I apply for specifically require a tertiary education - and it's pathetic that girls older than me who've been to college and gained some fantastic degree are also applying for these jobs and getting rejected."

"My mom can't afford to send me to college - and actually thought she was doing me a favor to keep me at school for three more years, if only she knew what a waste of time that was," says Brooke, "but I don't want to go on to higher education in any case."

"My boyfriend wants to be a doctor and has to keep on studying," says Brooke, "but I've had enough of school and studying. All I want is to be rich, but I can't even earn a bean when I'm stuck at home without a job and not much hope in getting one."

"The twelve years I've spent at school already have mostly been a total waste of time. Colleges are just like schools - baby-sitting centers - I just want to get a job, get some money and get out of here! I'm fed up with my mom nagging me and my kid brother and sister annoying me."

"I'm doing a lot of reading about what to expect from my first job - and I'm really looking forward to the experience - but first I've got to find a job and I'm beginning to believe that the whole online job market is a joke," says Brooke. "I take great care with my job applications - and although I don't have a job resume I do have good references - but I have grave doubts about whether anyone reads anything I send."

"I show my mom all the job applications I sent out," says Brooke, "and still she doesn't believe that I'm trying hard enough. She complains that she's had to raise us on her own for all these years and she can't afford to support me any longer. As if I want her to support me! I can't help it if I can't find a job. What is she going to do? Throw me out into the street? It's not my fault that dad left her - she probably nagged him to death, too!"

"Honestly, I don't believe anyone even reads my job applications. There are too many of them and most HR departments would just skim them, if indeed they bother to read any of them."

"Also, my mom tells me to get up early and get in first with my job applications but with the Internet there's no time in the sense that she knows it," sighs Brooke, "and it's a myth that getting in first gives an advantage, an edge over other job applications."

"I never rush my applications because I know that everybody else is rushing like mad to be first in and by doing so they rarely bother to check what they’ve written."

"As many as a hundred email job applications can arrive on the first day a job vacancy is posted," says Brooke. "I time my application to arrive up a few days later in the hope, probably misguided, that by then all the shoddy applications have been trashed and mine will stand out because it arrives late and is pretty good."

"I have no illusions whatsoever about the job market," says Brooke, "and it makes me angry when my mom - who hasn't job hunted for 20 years - looks at all the thousands of online advertised jobs and thinks I'm not trying hard enough if I can't score one."

"What would she know about the job situation today? Her generation was practically headhunted from school. If anyone understands my situation it's my grand-dad who tells me about how bad it was for his family in the Depression."

"I get on much better with my grandparents than my mom and I wish I had been sent to live with them after dad left," confides Brooke. "I particularly love my grand-dad because he's been more like a dad for me than my own father ever was."

"As far as I'm concerned, those who are not in the position of a current job hunter have a totally misguided and over-rated view of what's going on."

"Jobs advertised online can reach millions of job-seekers worldwide within minutes, and sometimes I wonder if any of the jobs are genuine."

"I honestly believe that 99% of job applications never get read," says Brooke. "If I receive an auto-response saying that my resume has been received, I consider myself to be lucky."

"It’s widely understood that employers only acknowledge receipt of applications that pass the resume cull and the rest get trashed, but an auto-response means nothing."

"As for online resumes," laughs Brooke, "they were probably a great idea when somebody first thought of them - and in some cases they might have been a nice money-spinner for the recruiting agencies - but I have never heard of anyone who gained a position by posting their resume online."

"And, now that everyone all over the world is on the Internet applying directly by e-mail to online job advertisements, I'm hearing less and less about friends getting lucky applying online for jobs."

"Employers do a great deal better than job-seekers out of the online job market - and I also feel that the speed and convenience of applying for jobs online leads many job-seekers to make the mistake of mass marketing themselves."

"More is not better and I always target specific jobs."

"The whole online job market is like a lottery or a magical trick," laughs Brooke. "One day an employer may pull me out of the hat like a white rabbit - but I'm no bunny and I'm not banking on advertised jobs."

"I do hang around a lot in chat rooms," confesses Brooke, "but I don't think I'm a chat room addict. Like I tell my mom, chat rooms are where I'm likely to learn where the real jobs are."

"I'm young, smart, good looking and a Leo," laughs Brooke, "and the time I spend in chat rooms talking about my job hunting efforts is not wasted - I'm confident it will pay off soon. And when I do find a job I'm leaving home. I've had it with my mom nagging me."

"More than anything else I want a place of my own," confides Brooke. "I've had it with little kids annoying me at home, taking my things and messing my room up."

"All I need is a job," says Brooke, "and then I've got what it takes to get a place of my own and a life of my own."

"I think the only difference between my family and those that have both a mother and father at home is money," says Brooke. "But my dad is a loser, a drifer and a spendthrift and I doubt whether we'd be any richer had he stayed with us -- more likely we'd be poorer."

"Anyway, since rich kids from intact homes are having as much trouble as I am finding a job," laughs Brooke, "I don't think coming from a broken home is much of a disadvantage in the long run."

job competing with daughter

Ingrid, 45, is a single mom with four children who gets by doing temp work. She would love to have a proper job and depairs that her age forces her to compete for jobs with her daughter and girls young enough to be her daughter.

"I really despair of ever reaching the interview stage with any of my job applications," sighs Ingrid. "Sometimes I wonder why I bother, but while there's life there's hope I suppose."

Ingrid has a professionally presented resume and writes fantastic covering letters, but she just cannot score an interview for the type of job she wants.

"My eldest daughter actually applied for one of the dream jobs I applied for, and got it," laughs Ingrid. "That was sufficient evidence for me to accept that it's not my education, experience, location or just too many applicants applying for the same job - it was my age that had disqualified me."

Up until then, Ingrid had considered all the other factors and reasonably expected at least 10 resume rejections before scoring her first interview.

"After 120 resume rejections," says Ingrid, "I've reached that stage where I accept I'm on the wrong track altogether."

Ingrid is now assessing herself and the type of job she's been applying for.

"The right job for me may not be the job I want," explains Ingrid. "Like most things in life, jobs are a two-way street and if the job I want doesn't want me, then I need to move on, change tack."

Ingrid accepts that the type of job she wants has a preferred age range of 21-35. It is never stated in the advertisement, though. For women under 21 it is simply a matter of time before they qualify for these jobs, but for women over 35, like Ingrid, rejection on account of age may not be discrimination, per se, but simply a fact of the job being better suited for a younger person.

A company may want someone without too much experience so that person can adapt easily to the particular management style of the organization.

The job Ingrid's daughter got hired for involves working alongside people under 21. Ingrid would have been out of place in that job. She would not have fitted in.

"Having once worked at a place where I was older than everyone around me, including my boss," laughs Ingrid, "I do appreciate that this is not a good situation for all concerned."

"I came along ten years after my sisters and brothers," explains Ingrid, "so I know what it is like to feel out of place. I was one of those 'accidental' babies and I grew up knowing that I was not planned like my sisters and brothers were."

"My childhood experiences have left me feeling very sensitive about 'belonging' and 'not belonging' and it's just as bad being the oldest person in a job as the youngest person in a family."

Demographers say that the Baby Boom generation (born 1946 to 1955) is the largest age group in the workforce, but from what Ingrid can see it is the children of the Baby Boomers that are not only most predominant, but also most favored in the workplace.

"And that," concedes Ingrid, "is perfectly normal and natural and right and proper."

There is no way Ingrid can overcome her age, and she says there is no reason why she should.

"I wear my age with pride," laughs Ingrid. "But I accept that I do need to come to terms with the fact that the type of job I've been applying for and rejected for is not right for me."

What other alternatives are there?

"Many people change career direction in mid-life," says Ingrid, "and I may decide to enter a new career field - a field in which age is no barrier; or I may start considering self-employment. What? I don't know. But I'm told that there are many opportunities out there."

She is aware that some jobs actually favor mature women. A recent advertisement for a prison guard gained her attention. Her children were horrified that their mother would consider such a job, but if that is the only thing available for mature women then Ingrid is willing to consider it.

"At least I would be working with mature women like myself and I wouldn't feel out of place," explains Ingrid. "But I guess I would feel out of place in a prison!"

What Ingrid will not consider is a new career field that requires qualifications additional to the ones she already has.

"Bearing in mind the intense competition for jobs," says Ingrid, "I have no intention of re-training or joining the thousands of hopefuls trying to gain the highest educational qualifications possible."

"I don't believe that qualifications necessarily guarantee anybody a job," says Ingrid. "My daughter got the job I wanted and she's just left school!"

Ingrid could never be rejected on account of her experience. She has tons of it and in a wide variety of industries, too.

"I was very surprised when my daughter gained the job I wanted," says Ingrid, "because employers generally prefer someone with at least two years of experience in the field, or a related field. Josie had no experience whatsoever so it must have been her youth and looks that got her the job. I'm happy for her, but it's a slap in the face for me nevertheless."

"It just goes to show," says Ingrid, "that no matter what employers state in ads or tell you what they want - they choose candidates primarily on age, and to hell with the rest."

As far as location is concerned, Ingrid lives in a big city and has no transport problems. She is prepared to look further away for a job, but doesn't see why she should have to.

"I live where the jobs are," says Ingrid, "but nobody wants to employ me."

"In the old days when parents were too old to work the children kept them," laughs Ingrid. "I don't see my daughter showing any signs of wanting to keep me now that she's got the job I applied for - even though I would have been keeping her had I won it!"

"It's strange how society changes values in one respect but not in another, isn't it?"