I Just Applied for a Job....Eeekkk

I was talking to my friend today and she said that she had just put in her husband's job application for temporary positions that will be coming up with the big, eight-week World Series of Poker Tournament which is starting at the end of the month here in Las Vegas.  That sounded like an interesting way to earn a bit of money so I decided to apply too.  Yikes what a pain applying for a job these days is!

• First I had to make a resume.  I haven't had to make a resume for about 20 years since I have been mostly self employed all of that time and the couple of other jobs I have had during that time were basically handed to me.  I make resumes for other people but never for me.  It's easier to make resumes for other people.  Also, my conundrum was whether to write up my real resume or lie.  Even hubby said I shouldn't put in my actual resume because then they wouldn't choose me because I was overqualified.  So I thought about it and decided honesty is the best policy and I put together a resume with my real work experience and I hope they will see that I just want a fun, temporary job to make a bit of extra money and that it doesn't matter if I am overqualified or have been MIA from the work world during the last year and a half that we have been traveling.
• Then I had to apply.  A lot has changed in 20 years!  Seems these days all applications for jobs are done online which is quite a change because 20 years ago I would just walk into a place, ask if they are hiring, chat with the manager, and walk out with a job.  Now I have to go to the website, upload my resume, then repeat all of the information from my resume into their application form and hit submit.  The problem with this is that I can't chat with the person doing the hiring, I can't explain why I would want such a simple job, and I can't "sell" them on how good I would be at the job since applying is all done by filling in or checking little boxes on the form.
• Then I had to apply for each job separately.  I ended up applying for eight jobs, everything from cashier, to food service worker, and various types of these two positions.  I didn't apply for cook (I can't really cook very well) and didn't apply for janitor (I'm squeamish about cleaning up messes).  Since these were temporary positions there was no waitress or bartender positions which probably pay a lot better (thank goodness, the waitresses wear lace teddys for their outfits and I would look frightful!) so I just applied for low-paying menial work which actually I think will be fun (and of course which I will blog about because I kind of think working for minimum wage may not really be worth it after taxes, etc but we shall see).
• I hope they pick me!  I'm not sure if they have an overabundance of applications or are desperately seeking more applicants (I'm thinking it is the former with a jobless rate of 20+% here) but it would be something fun to do and hubby will be there playing poker for the duration of the tournament anyway so we can ride to and from the casino together which would save on gas.

Maybe it is just me or maybe I am getting old but I don't really like applying for jobs online.  No wonder people seem to have such a difficult time getting jobs.  Of course these are difficult economic times for finding a job, but the old fashioned way of having people give you a job because you look capable and responsible has apparently gone by the wayside.  Hmmmm