Get a Job: The Craigslist Experiment

[Skell18]

I was headhunted into my current position so I can vouch for the networking option. Talking yourself up and having something to back it up they can check pays dividends in the long run, Linked in is great for that.

[truthwolf1]

Microsoft got sued in a famous class action suit for having "perma-temps". Because of those bastards most companies won't let you temp for more than a year or so, because the Microsoft court case set the precident that if you work there for a certain period of time, even in a temporary capacity, that you constituted an employee and that they owed you all the benefits etc that employees get.

I remember my second temp job got terminated because of this, I worker for over a year and they said I had reached my time limit. Luckily I was able to convince them to hire me on full time, but if the opening had not been available I would have been let go just due to their fear of litigation.

Yes, I was part of that lawsuit. I received a check about 4-5 years later and used some of the money for a Macbook. It was actually pretty ridiculous that the Microsoft employees would get free parking, stock options, better healthcare and other bigger perks while the other half were just getting paid about half as much. It still was a great learning experience and my first real job out of school.

[sgreger1]

And in interviews, always frame everything in a way that makes it seem like you are speaking to their interests rather than your own. People have this tendencies to come into interviews and talk about what they want, what they expect, what they they they they. You get the point. Speak in terms of how you are going to better their organization, because that's all they care about.
Go read "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie. The basic concepts in that book apply to everything incuding interviews.

[halocog]

My first job was with a subcontractor for Apple. I can't say which company or what I was doing because of the hulking legal agreements and NDAs I had to sign. I was a permanent employee, but I of course didn't get paid as much as an Apple corporate employee because I didn't officially work for them. Basically, it was cheaper for them to outsource this particular type of work to a company notorious for treating their workers like crap and doing the bare minimum to stay legal. The Apple side of things are great, and they have an awesome corporate culture.

[sgreger1]

My first job was with a subcontractor for Apple. I can't say which company or what I was doing because of the hulking legal agreements and NDAs I had to sign. I was a permanent employee, but I of course didn't get paid as much as an Apple corporate employee because I didn't officially work for them. Basically, it was cheaper for them to outsource this particular type of work to a company notorious for treating their workers like crap and doing the bare minimum to stay legal. The Apple side of things are great, and they have an awesome corporate culture.

Yah Google likes to do this too. I have a friend who works for a contractor of theirs, and apparently they also find it cheaper to outsource certain things to companies who will pay less and slave-drive you into doing more, thereby accomplishing the same outcome without google having to be directly connected to it, as they are not the employer, they are just purchasing work from the contractors.