Apply to a Company that Previously Turned You Down

Job seekers are all around the country putting their best foot forward. No matter where they step it seems as if the doors are closed in many instances. There is an option which many people overlook in their hunt for the next employment position. Applying to a company that previously turned you down is a terrific way to look outside of the box.

This is a wonderful article outlining the pros of the method. It will also aid you in submitting a resume or application to a company you applied to and did not get an offer for a open position.

Send an application to a company that turned you down in the past.................

Take a second look at the same company. You will be pleasantly surprised in lots of cases. 

Drug Testing When Applying for a Job

There are more than a couple of things to make people uncomfortable searching for work. One of the biggest is the mandatory drug testing for applicants used by most companies. There are valid reasons why drugs, legal or illegal, should never be used in certain positions. Though, not all positions fall under this umbrella. Yet, the simple act of mandatory drug testing to get a job is not really that simple.

When you look for work you understand a resume is needed, an interview and possibly a credit check.  Companies are requiring anyone considered for open positions to submit some sort of bodily flood, blood or urine, to validate you are not on drugs as well.

False Positive Tests

With almost 40% of all Americans on some sort of prescription meds or using over the counter medications there are a lot of false/positive tests. These stats are detrimental to workers looking for jobs. Denied an offer for a job because you have cold or flu meds in your body is unfortunate. For some families it is the difference between living in a house or being homeless.

Separate Legal and Illegal Drugs

Mandatory drug testing for employment has come under fire in recent years for several reasons. One is separating legal and illegal drug use. Drug testing for most business entities is the bare minimum. There are a few substances being screened and lots of legal drugs, such as prescriptions, are revealed as positive for illegal drugs when tested. Over the counter meds like cold and flu remedies are positive. Imagine losing a $50,000 or $60,000 job because of the sniffles. Companies are not doing a very good job vetting out which are legal and which are illegal.

These same hiring entities typically will not take the time to advise the employee they didn't pass the test. The job offer is moved to another applicant. A job seeker will never know the circumstances in most situations. Some will deny you without a chance to offer an explanation for the positive testing outcome. When will businesses spend the money or resources for a better way of separating legal and illegal drugs when testing.

Does it hamper the ability to do the job?

There are some positions where understandably drugs, legal or illegal , will endanger the public. These are positions such as school bus drivers, heavy equipment operators or even pilots to name a few. Judgment, reflexes and response time must not be affected. The difference is life or death in lots of situations. Something as simple as over the counter medication will hurt judgment when using them.

Cold medications are even dangerous depending on the circumstance. However, there are also positions where prescription medications and other legal drugs an applicant uses will not impact their ability to do the job. Dumping trash cans at the local college is not impacted when I take a dose of Nyquil in order to fell better and make it into work the next day.

Does it matter if the landscaper takes anti anxiety meds? It should not, but through drug testing he is positive for an illegal substance and not offered the job.

Invasion of Privacy

More importantly his privacy has been invaded. False positives have been validated with prescription taken for anxiety, ADD and other mental health conditions. With a law in place to avoid anyone accessing any type of medical information about anyone else, how is this act legal?

Costing You More After Hire

Even after invading your privacy and promising not to discriminate against you, it could affect future employment opportunities. Infertility meds in a female employee signals a baby is on the way as soon as possible. Babies mean a maternity leave or even FMLA (Family Leave Act). FMLA promises an employee up to 12 weeks of leave. What if the pregnancy is difficult and leave is taken even earlier? All of these what ifs will cost lots of employees a step up the corporate ladder.

Worse a receptionist has been working in a company for a couple of years and recently started anti depression medications. Drug testing is legal before and during employment. Testing positive will cost her a job after passing the initial test because her medical circumstances changed while working at the company.

In conclusion

Law abiding citizens are needed in every company. When vetting employees for open positions, hiring managers or HR departments are searching for candidates who are not using illegal drugs. Mandatory drug testing is part of nearly every application process. Submitting bodily fluids to the unknown entity you hope will hire you is a necessary part of getting a job in todays market.

This being said, the business asking for the sample has some responsibility when vetting out unwanted workers. One of the biggest is putting a plan in place to separate legal from illegal along with keeping medical info private and not part of internal hiring. Medical info privacy is not only important, but it is a law. How to resolve this issue is a very sticky situation. Additionally, a plan in place to answer or request a review of a positive test is necessary.

Drug testing is right for all sorts of reasons. It has been in place for several decades and works in most cases. Though, a blanket immunity for a company to use drug testing is a license to steal. The details of the law need to be addressed, changed and updated. There is no black and white, there is a grey area not being taken care of.

This is another brilliant article surrounding drug testing for new jobs
Drug-Testing-for-Your-Job

 

How to Spot Resume Writing Scams

Writing a resume is not as easy as many people believe. There are millions of potential workers in any industry at this time searching for jobs. The number of jobs available are far less than the workers competing for them. This means the competition is stiff and having an advantage over others puts you to the front of the line for an open position.

The first step in applying for any job you want is submitting a resume. A terrific resume is the advantage needed to make a difference. A resume is the first contact a worker has with a company or hiring manager. Therefore, be very careful of the resume information sent to any potential employer. Tons of workers consider hiring a resume writing company to build one.

Numerous businesses have been created to craft these very important papers. They are advertising they will build one for a fee. Although a number of these are legit, there are resume writing scams as well.

These unscrupulous companies are in business to take your money for a bad product and possibly cost you a job in the process. This could be thousands of dollars in income lost because you relied on a fraudulent business for something extremely important to your future.

These resume writing scams are all around the web. Some are easier to spot than others. Though there are several things to watch for to make identifying them easier.


Resume Writing Scams