WTF - Responses to Craigs List AD

I have a Master's degree in History, but got burned out on school a couple years in to a PhD program. I started surveying as a rodman because I was interested in Urban Planning, and wanted to work in a related field, and have since worked my way up to PLS. Don't be so quick to dismiss those with advanced degrees. They may turn out to be your best employees

The economy, from what I hear, is not as actually as good as we are led to believe. Some sectors are still suffering substantially.

A director of a museum I know has said that he can get folks with advanced degrees for rock bottom wages.

I worked on a landscaping crew where everyone, except myself, BA or better.

It was the lowest paid landscaping crew I ever worked on, the foreman was leading a 4-6 person crew, operating equipment and interfacing with clients for about 1.5 times minimum wage.

How about an Attorney Rodman?

When I was working at my fathers business, we had a attorney apply for a rodman's position once. I think my father deemed him overqualified.

I was a double major in English & Political Science, toying with the idea of grad school in political philosophy, and working for a PAC as a media analyst when I turned down a job on Bob Dole's 88 primary campaign and instead took a $5/hour rodmans job.

A company I worked for once had a rodman with a master's degree in civil engineering. He didn't stay around very long, though.

Don't discriminate based upon what you perceive as over-qualification.
If they can perform the work and accept the pay offered...
How many "kids" (the ones you were expecting) showed up?
I've been a rodman both as a kid out of high school and as one with three university degrees in geomatics. Either way, I was happy for the work.

> So I run an ad in Craigs List, looking for an ENTRY LEVEL position for a Surveyor Helper. - I explicitly spelled out that the position is low level and requires working outside digging holes, pounding stakes, holding the rod and getting dirty.
>
> No exaggerating here - of the resumes that I have received, three of them have Masters Degrees. (Economics, Chemistry and Computer Programming). Another guy double Bachelors - BA in Psychology / BS Earth Science. Another guy, a middle school teacher w/ 12 years teaching social studies, looking for a career change.
>
> What the heck,
> I'm just looking for for some kid that will show up each day and help.
>
> I don't get it~

Lot of people out there looking for a career change. I for one would be thrilled to work with someone educated and hungry to try something different. That was me twenty years ago.

Anybody that thinks this economy is back to normal is delusional. Real wages are about half what they were ten years ago and lots of folks don't have good paying jobs. Things seem to have picked up a bit but normal, no we don't really remember what normal is. The educational level of your applicants shows just how non normal things are.

It just seems to me that it might be a little embarrassing to offer a guy with a masters degree in chemistry $12/hr with no benefits.

But the reality of hiring an individual with a higher degree, it that they are no dummy, they will understand quickly, but probably leave to another position just as quick.

>
>
> But the reality of hiring an individual with a higher degree, it that they are no dummy, they will understand quickly, but probably leave to another position just as quick.

In my case, and plenty of others I have heard about, there is absolutely no way to tell that unless the person is asked flat out.

There have been lots of jobs I have been interested in that I would have been happy to take and stay with if only I were given the chance instead of a blanket assumption being made about what I want to do.

There are lots of reasons people want to change to fields which have little, if anything, to do with their previous lives.

What could also be read is that all of these applicants have shown to be able to show up, and stay at it until very difficult goals are met.

When I had employees, the ones who stayed the longest and were the best at starting from the bottom and working up came with degrees but saw the word "outside" in the ad. The skills they learned at school kicked in to propel them upward.

ww CO PLS

There are times when I remind myself, while standing on my head digging out a monument 30" deep through asphalt and base material, why it was I took 16 hours of calculus, 10 hours of physics, 8 hours of chemistry plus three or more hours each of circuit theory, soil mechanics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, instrumentation, computer programming and that 800 level class in Economics of Land Utilization.

I would say you have a better understanding of what's happening when you dig that hole and the economic impact to the community. How many of us can say that?
Seriously, I think education in any field can be a plus. I use my seminary training on survey problems all the time. My counseling education makes client management much easier. The fact is I am an all in surveyor who took his time realizing it. They are out there...

> > So I run an ad in Craigs List, looking for an ENTRY LEVEL position for a Surveyor Helper. - I explicitly spelled out that the position is low level and requires working outside digging holes, pounding stakes, holding the rod and getting dirty.
> >
> > No exaggerating here - of the resumes that I have received, three of them have Masters Degrees. (Economics, Chemistry and Computer Programming). Another guy double Bachelors - BA in Psychology / BS Earth Science. Another guy, a middle school teacher w/ 12 years teaching social studies, looking for a career change.
> >
> > What the heck,
> > I'm just looking for for some kid that will show up each day and help.
> >
> > I don't get it~
>
> Lot of people out there looking for a career change. I for one would be thrilled to work with someone educated and hungry to try something different. That was me twenty years ago.

This sounds just like my experience. I was a rodman through high school and college. I earned a BS in Biology and an MS in Biology. I taught middle school for a couple years and realized I was not cut out for urban, middle school. BTW, I respect teachers now more than ever.

I am now a KY PLS and am sitting for the IN test next Friday.

I got out of sales and support and spent six months being told I was overqualified for positions I applied for; it's very frustrating. Thankfully, I landed in my current position, thus providing further proof to my theory that things happen for a reason...