Job fair provides little encouragement

With low expectations, I went to a job fair Thursday at Wilson Community College. When I saw the military recruiters' cars in the parking lot, I knew my expectations were valid.

As I strolled through the employer exhibits, I was aggressively approached by a woman who directed me to an insurance company display and handed me some brochures. "I spent 33 years in the newspaper business," I told her. "Do you have any positions for editors or writers?" She asked if I ever considered being an insurance agent. "No," I said. "You don't understand; I worked for newspapers but I never sold anything. If I had had to sell, I would have starved long before now." "But all you have to do is show them this," she said, pointing to a presentation on a laptop computer. "It does the selling for you."

Ri-i-ight!

I talked to a Wilson County Schools official (who actually offered some useful and somewhat encouraging advice), someone from BB&T (who directed me to a Web site for a job application), and a representative from an Internet/phone/cable TV service out of Texas (who was really looking for technicians, not writers). I avoided the Marine, Army and Navy booths, which seemed to be doing a pretty brisk business. I was tempted to ask each of the military recruiters if his branch of service would take me as a lateral transfer at my old Coast Guard O-3 rank, but I didn't want to be laughed at.

I left the job fair without making a dent in my frustration. Finding a job, especially in this economy, is not easy. At the Wilson County booth, I pointed to a couple of the printouts of job vacancies, which I knew had been posted more than six months ago. "Why have these jobs gone unfilled?" I asked. "Is there a hiring freeze or you haven't found the right person?" "Haven't found the right person," the woman said. "Thanks," I said. I had applied for both of those jobs but wasn't "right."

Here's one lesson I've learned the past few months: Even if you find a job opening that looks like a good fit, you can be deemed unsuited for the job for any number of reasons — too old, too young, too experienced, too inexperienced, weak skills, wrong skills, under-qualified, over-qualified, too little education, too much education, etc., etc.

Once again, the odds of winning the lottery are looking no worse than the odds of finding a job.