Once, when I got really bitter about not being able to find a job, I joked to my friend that it was because I had an unpronounceable name. I was qualified for the jobs I applied to, yet there were no call backs no matter how many jobs I'd applied to. Now, I'm not suggesting that my name was the reason for that but it's what I said in anger when I felt really horrible about not being able to find work.

I was watching the CBC news the other day and this story was on: Job Applicants with Foreign Names Have Lesser Chance for Interviews: UBC Study. The researchers sent out 6,000 similar mock resumés where the "job seeker" had either a foreign-sounding name, an English-sounding name or a mix of the two. It was discovered that the resumés with the English names had a 40 per cent higher call-back rate than the ones with the foreign-sounding names, and the mixed names had a 20 per cent higher rate.

I did find a job eventually. And, to be perfectly honest here, it was a person with a foreign-sounding name who hired me. Probably just a coincidence and I know I do have a tendency to get paranoid but still ...

ttyl

Jowita Bydlowska

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Many years ago there was a local campaign to introduce the 32-hour work week. A shortened work week might enable people to spend more time with friends and family. It could allow parents the time to actually parent their children and it could give workers with ailing parents more time to spend with them. It could also spread out the work, providing employment for some folks who are laid off. Perhaps the economy might recover faster.

Thirty-two hours divides nicely into four eight-hour shifts and a four-day work week would suit many of us just fine. The environment would benefit from fewer people commuting and workplaces might feel more relaxed as workers would be less stressed due to increased "me" time.

Of course, the argument against a 32-hour week would be that productivity would diminish, people would have difficulty living on a smaller weekly salary, and companies would be less able to compete. I bet that a shorter work week would not make any real noticeable difference.

Maybe we need to start a new bandwagon.

Susan Stone

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I remembered another funny episode that occurred at the National Job Fair. A young woman approached our booth and asked to explain what we're all about. I went into our regular spiel, talking about 211 (a community service funded by the United Way that provides free, confidential, multilingual access to information on community, social, health and related government services) as well as poss.ca. I was talking away when suddenly she pulled out her cell phone and started texting someone. She held up one finger -- I guess telling me to pause -- and continued pressing the buttons. Seriously. So I turned to the next person who had a question. The texting woman was obviously done (texting) because she interrupted us and said to me, "You were saying?"

Um. No. This is not cool. It was not a job interview, so I can't really say that she would've behaved similarly during one, but I had no problem picturing this woman doing something bizarre like brushing her hair or answering her cell. Most people know to use their common sense and put their cell phones away when they interact with others. I think it's almost always rude to multi-task when you deal with others and it is disrespectful.

ttyl

Jowita

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The other week I went to the National Job Fair where findhelp.ca (our magazine, poss.ca, and 211) had their own booth. All of my colleagues attend this event and we take turns in the booth. Some of us go for more than one shift (I only did one) and do a really fantastic job of telling people about our services. This year the event was really well attended, which is not necessarily a good thing -- everyone's feeling the economic crunch and more people are looking for work. At the fair we spend a lot of time explaining that we're not actually offering any jobs but that we have lots of helpful services. We love talking to people to let them know what we're all about and to explain how we can help. People are usually grateful and enthusiastic; we make some great contacts and overall it's a pleasant experience for both sides.

Occasionally, however, we encounter situations where it's not so pleasant. These are rare but they do happen. I only had a couple of tricky encounters this time. In one instance the person visiting our booth refused to speak to me. I am not sure why. She looked at me and at my belly (I'm pregnant) and then just waved her hand, saying, "Never mind." She waited till my colleague was free to answer her question. She asked about finding employment with information services, nothing too difficult for anyone to answer, but perhaps my condition indicated to her that I was incapable of addressing it.

But, as I mentioned earlier, for the most part, attending job fair is a great experience and most people are friendly and polite. Politeness is more than welcome at our booth.

ttyl

Jowita

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All of my life I've been envious of those who can walk into a roomful of strangers and strike up a fascinating conversation, leaving with a raft of phone numbers and email addresses. Me, I avoid big parties and usually end up talking to the host's children or hanging out with their dog. Those personality profile tests administered by guidance counsellors indicated that the ideal career choice for me would be Forest Ranger. Instead, I became a techie.

Being a techie seemed ideal for me. I loved the problem solving aspect of Computer Science and I could work for hours on code without interruption. Best of all, my colleagues were mostly introverts like me. But being good at my job earned me promotions and eventually I became a manager. Being introverted suddenly seemed like a bigger handicap than ever. Managers must chair and speak up at meetings, represent the group and even speak at conferences, give performance reviews and speak every day with their staff. Every year my own manager encouraged me to speak out more at meetings. But I just couldn't do it. I spent many a conference hanging out in my hotel room -- you guessed it -- writing code.

I finally decided to fake it. I began to practise. I'd give myself some silly small talk assignment and do it. At first I sounded really false but eventually I found out that people really do like to talk about themselves and I just had to get them started. And people are actually pretty interesting. I started cautiously speaking up at meetings. I went prepared with a question, comment or idea and waited for the right time to insert it into the meeting. My timing wasn't great at first but my input was respected and well received which gave me the confidence to do it again. Eventually, I was able to feel comfortable and confident even with strangers. As long as I was well prepared, I was not nervous. My next step was presenting at conferences. I figured I couldn't be any worse than some presenters I've seen. Again, being well-prepared was the secret to success -- that and the desperation of some conference organizers, more than willing to take a chance on any volunteer presenter.

I'm still an introvert. Some days when I've been in meetings all day I go home exhausted. My idea of the perfect vacation is sitting on the beach with a pile of books. But I'm able to enjoy my job and have even fooled some people into wishing they could be more outgoing just like me.

Kathy Kelly

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My mantra is: if you feel cheated, find out your rights and use them. Welfare worker holding your cheque? Speak to the supervisor and if you're still dissatisfied go to client services. Application for CPP denied? Appeal the decision. The door falling off your apartment and the kitchen crawling with cockroaches -- call the tenants' hotline.

I'm so into citizens rights I'm surprised I'm not a Ralph Nader groupie.

So, it's not a huge surprise that my ears perked up the other day as I was listening to an interview on CBC radio with Paul Dubé, Canada's first taxpayers' ombudsman. Dubé, who's been in the position just over a year, reviews mistakes and other service-related complaints about the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

I could have used Dubé's help two years ago when I found out that the CRA expected me to pay taxes on money that had never touched my hands. (I was being taxed on money that had gone directly to my lawyer for helping me get a long-term disability settlement.) This felt grossly unfair to me. So I called up the CRA to complain. I ended up speaking to four employees, all of whom said that that's the way it was, there was nothing I could do.

There were no people like Paul Dubé back then, but I am never one to back down from a bureaucratic challenge. So, I walked over to my MP's office and told my story. Within a matter of days, an unnamed contact in Ottawa discovered that a new law was in the making that would allow me to deduct legal expenses from my employment income. I ended up saving big time. But I wouldn't have saved a cent if I hadn't pushed things.

kathyo

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One summer, many years ago, I worked at many different jobs -- from waitressing in a dive, to hosting in a family restaurant, to assisting a Ph.D. psych student, to painting portraits on commission. All those jobs added up -- more or less -- to a full work week and since I was younger, I was full of energy and just had fun with it, plus, I had student loans to pay for (so that was motivating too).

I recalled that summer when I read about the new trend of scouting Craigslist and other job posting sites for temporary gigs in the article, Seeking Employment: Short "Gigs" Create Patchwork Jobs for Workers. This is not an ideal situation but rather one that is due to the recent economic crisis. Unfortunately people working this way remain underemployed in the long-term. But it is better than nothing and it does help get new experience and develop more contacts. And, as one of the interviewed people said, "You don't have to leave your apartment, and in the time it takes to go down to the job centre, on Craigslist you could have applied for 10 different jobs, found a new roommate and bought a ukulele."

ttyl

Jowita

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I can't say enough about how much I like listening to music while working. My work mostly involves writing so I like having something that is relatively non-distracting and won't make me stop and think about the lyrics. I listen to music without words, so lots of electronica and some classical.

A few years ago I worked in an office with someone who had horrible taste in music. It wasn't the music itself that was horrible -- although I'm not a fan of country -- but rather the lyrics. They verged on being sexist and racist ... it was impossible to work in that atmosphere. And this person listened to it loudly! Finally some of us complained, he was reprimanded and started bringing headphones to work. Still, it was upsetting to have to share an office with him, knowing what he was banging his head to. Plus, he cranked his music up so that we could still hear some of it. (I quit eventually and so did most of my colleagues -- this guy was one of the many reasons.)

In the article Listening To Music at Work -- Dos and Don’ts, one of the interviewees, Vincent Paciariello, an account executive at DM Public Relations who listens to Internet radio, says that music "really lightens up the day and makes the time go by a bit faster. And most importantly, you are entertained for a long stretch of time doing a job that may not be so entertaining."

I wholeheartedly agree with him, but please be mindful and always, always listen to your stuff on headphones -- especially if you're sharing an office with other people -- and keep the volume down.

ttyl

Jowita

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There were many times when I felt like throwing my computer out the window (I don't mean here at Possibilities, seriously, boss). In my last job, I worked with a manager who was eternally confused and I directed my frustrated thoughts (about her?) at the poor Mac that stood on my desktop. I lost that job and so did the rest of the team including the confused manager. When I read about the Unemployment Olympics, I couldn't help but laugh. The games played were gems like the Office-Phone Skee-Ball, where participants had to throw a black phone toward chalk goal marks on the pavement. The attendees were people who lost their jobs in the recent economic downturn.

The participants talked about how anxiety-making their job losses were and how this silly event allowed them to relax for a change and just have fun. I thought of how I had wanted to punish my poor computer at my former job and I felt a little less worried about that -- it seems that getting angry at office objects is a common reaction among frustrated workers. I also remembered a very funny movie, Office Space, in which there's an amazing scene of office workers taking revenge on their equipment. You have to see it!

ttyl

Jowita

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Our office is a nice, clean space where the biggest infestation problem is perhaps some extra paper (which we recycle). The office is cleaned in the evenings. In the past, I certainly worked in places that could've used some extra cleaning, like the bar in London, Ontario that always looked to be on the verge of crumbling.

There is a fascinating article What Germs Lurk Inside Your Keyboard? that talks about office hygiene. A lot of points are common sense -- don't keep fruit in your desk, clean your keyboard -- but there are some surprises as well. For example, did you know that a "Send" button on the fax machine may carry "some of the highest concentrations of harmful microbes." Or that women spread more germs than men (read the article to find out why -- not such a bad reason, actually). The article gives some useful advice on how to keep it clean in your workplace and, therefore, avoid not only spreading germs but also the diseases that come with them.

ttyl

Jowita

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Once in a while, when really bored, I take online quizzes. Lately, I've been wasting a lot of time on Facebook quizzes. They are short and to the point (not really). Some tell me what kind of painting I am, others decide that my punk rock personality is Debbie Harry, and others, yet, return with results such as this: "Jowita took Your Ideal Job quiz and the result is Teacher. You were an ace in school and have the brains to study anything. You enjoy having control over people and wouldn't mind teaching a class of 30 odd monkeys, as you believe you can control anyone!"

That's funny. I’ve never had any inclination to teach nor do I like to have control over people. In fact, I'm very happy working on a team or on my own and I don't think I'm much of a leader. It's important to take those kinds of quizzes with a grain of salt.

When I was a little girl, we had to take quizzes like that to indicate what we'd be good at in the future -- I remember there was a lot of drama over the results as they pegged us in the weirdest categories. And, based on the results we were split into three different groups -- musically inclined students, "science kids" and the rest of us. It was so silly! We ended up having one of the kids to grow up to be one of the most brilliant scientists in Europe in our musically inclined class and one of "the rest" kids became an award-winning photographer.

ttyl

Jowita

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