I really hate job hunting. I spent about three hours checking out various sites like careerbuilder and Monster without finding much of interest. I categorize jobs into a few basic categories. The "Been There, Done That, and don't ever want to do that again." These are the jobs I've absolutely hated: food service, hotel housekeeping, retail sales. Then there is the 'Haven't been there and won't go there." These jobs are those which heavily involve tasks I know I don't like or that I find repugnant for any number of reasons. I hate driving and do it only because, without public transportation, I have to. I hated receiving telephone calls from people trying to sell me something they thought I simply couldn't do without. So telephone sales is out. I have at a couple of times in my life been on the receiving end of calls from collection agencies. It has left, even after several years, a bad taste. I won't persecute someone else as I was once persecuted. Unfortunately too many jobs are in these areas.

I have seen a couple of postings in the "Sounds Interesting--let's explore the possibility" until they say their ideal candidate must haves specific degrees or other credentials, or must have 5+ year of experience, or must be able to lift 40 lbs. repeatedly. I recently switched to 25 lb. bags of cat litter because the 40 lb. bags every month were too much. That is also why hotel housekeeping and the cleaning services are out. I know how hard that can be on you physically. I was ten years younger when I did that job and I still remember how my back, knees and feet ached. I have done a lot of different jobs but none continuously for that long so the kind of experience they want I don't have. Degrees I have but usually not in the field thy want.

The process of job hunting has changed somewhat also. I noticed some of the changes since the last time I was looking. My last job I got through the newspaper want ads. Since then the jobs section has gotten skimpier and skimpier. My local newspaper serves a four county area with several good sized cities but even the Sunday paper almost never has more than four pages--less than half what it was even five years ago. The last jobs I applied for were on-line. I have seen no one and heard from no one concerning these jobs. I only found out about them because in one case a friend found out from a friend of theirs or because I do business with the firm and saw the sign on the building. Most of the businesses in my area just hang out such signs or put them or their marquees. They don't advertise in the papers or with the employment agencies.