I need a new job. Because I need a new job, I’ve been slowly, surely, digging my way back into the want ads. Unfortunately, not much has changed during my most recent stint in the non-profit ghetto.
Employers still seem to want to hire across discipline lines and they place ads that reflect this, like this one from Washingtonpostjobs.com:
Summary: The manager of graphic and Web design will report directly to the vice president of public affairs and will work with all departments such as media outreach, education and marketing, membership, public affairs and legislative affairs. He or she will provide exceptional and professional print designs for all external and internal communications from conceptualization to completion. This individual will be in charge of design and appearance of 15+ Web sites, which include issue-specific and consumer-related sites. The ability to successfully manage dozens of open projects and ensuring timely and accurate delivery is a must.
There are a couple of things misleading about this description, one of which is the title. “Manager” implies just that, management of other staff actually undertaking tasks. It’s reasonable to expect a Manager to have at least a vague idea of standards and practices in the various disciplines she’s overseeing. But this isn’t really a management position, it’s an implementation position.
“He or she will provide exceptional and professional print designs for all external and internal communications from conceptualization to completion” is the sentence that tells you that this person will actually be working with Adobe InDesign or Quark Express to layout print publications as well as all of the ancillary tasks – like getting bids from printers, choosing paper, arranging for print runs – that go along with print materials. This isn’t just a print designer job, though. No, these people want someone multi talented to “…be in charge of design and appearance of 15+ Web sites…,” responsibilities which use a completely different skillset than the one used by a print designer.
The presence of both of these responsibilities in the same job description tells me one of two things: either they have two full-time jobs but only want to pay one salary, or they have no idea what skills are required for either set of responsibilities. And truthfully, no matter how much I need a new job, I’m entirely too old for either of those possibilities.
The other thing I’m too old for is the ridiculous double standard of job hunting: you as the candidate have to be not only highly qualified but you have to be creative, original, and memorable with your cover letter and resume. Oh, and you have to be letter perfect while you’re doing it. But while you’re being letter perfect, potential employers get way with things like “Candidate will be in charges of new medias stratergies.”
I know it’s useless, particularly in this economy, to gripe about double standards in the employment game, but how do you expect me to take you seriously when you can’t even proofread your own ad? And I don’t want to hear any bull shit about transcription errors, either; all online job sites allow the employers to post their own ads directly so any mistakes are a direct result of inattention in the employer’s shop. But none of this is really what I’ve been concentrating on lately.
One of the side effects of working in the non-profit ghetto is that my “professional” wardrobe largely consists of jeans and thermal overshirts. It’s kind of hard, after all, when you pay your employees at least 20% below market rate to expect them to come to work in $200 suits and $65 shirts every day.
But since I’ve got a formal event to go to in a couple of weeks, and since I need to get out in the world and start interviewing for a better quality job, I went out and bought a suit. None of this short jacket, no real pockets crap. No, an actual, honest to goodness suit, sadly not the one pictured. You’d think in as conservative and overdressed a town as DC it would be fairly easy to buy a suit. While it wasn’t as hard as I expected, it was a learning experience.
My buying trip started at Jos. A Bank, a men’s clothier with a fairly long history. Even though its current incarnation only goes back to 1905, one of the founding members of Bank is related to the tailor who sewed Lincoln’s assassination coat (OK, so the tailor thought it was just going to be another night at the theater).
Unfortunately, the staff at Jos. A. Bank isn’t quite equipped to handle a woman buying for herself. That is the only thing I can conclude based on the absolute lack of service I got in the 25 minutes I wandered around the store. It didn’t take me much longer than that to find a retailer willing to treat my needs seriously. I’m also fairly lucky in that stature wise clothes for an average American man fit me. And now, thanks to a friendly salesman, I know what size suit I need to buy, it will be a lot easier for me in the future when I need to find decently looking business or formal clothes.
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