I have no control

Sigh. Finding a job in this market is difficult. I know that. I’m in the business of helping people find jobs. I’m the staffing agency. Most people don’t know what exactly it is we do. They just assume that since we are an agency, we must have a job for them. How I wish I could help every single person that walks into the office. How I wish I can give them the salary that they’re asking for. If it were up to me, I would grant all their wishes, and make their pain go away. In reality, I have no control over that.

The job market no longer belongs to the job seekers. It is now an employer’s market. There are many applicants and the employer can and will wait for the right person to come along. Hence, a dozen of interviews for one job and a dozen of trials that never amount to a full time job. And that’s working with one agency alone. Usually the employers are working with other agencies as well. It becomes a game of tug of war and I'm the rope. I have no control over that.

It feels like people who are in desperate need of a job blame me for not helping them. Sometimes I get nasty phone calls from my applicants because they’re not working and they’re getting kicked out of their apartment. Sometimes they cry because they can no longer pay their rent. Sometimes they get frustrated at me for not giving them a part time job to help them out in the meantime. But you see, I have no control over that.

The decision doesn’t belong to me. The employers have the last word. They decide who to take on board. They tell me who fits in with their family. All I can do is connect the applicants with the clients. I hold no guarantees to the applicants that I can give them a job. I wish I could but I have no control over that.