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10 minutes ago, Nueces River Rat said:

My last job I was able to get through word of mouth and I didn’t even have to submit a resume, so I had no clue how the game was played today in corporate America.

This has been literally every job I've held post college.  But this thread has been eye opening about how fucked it is for some (presumably) very talented people at about 50.  Scary stuff.  Hope all of yall that are floating land soon.  

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21 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

This has been literally every job I've held post college.  But this thread has been eye opening about how fucked it is for some (presumably) very talented people at about 50.  Scary stuff.  Hope all of yall that are floating land soon.  

It’s just mind boggling thinking about the wealth of talent that is being sidelined because of  how hiring is conducted these days.   Firms small, medium,and large whether they be family owned or multinational are whining and bitching about attracting and retaining good people and they don’t lift a finger to fix it.
 

   Here’s a novel idea for HR firms across America and the world for that matter.   Turn off your Indeed, ADP, and Workday platforms and have resumes and applications emailed directly to an inbox so they bypass resume reading software .  Do this for month across most key positions.    If you get 100 resumes, randomly pick 40 and start making phones calls and setting up interviews.   Use Zoom if you have too,  but TALK to prospects.  You might actually find a diamond in the rough who might give you 15 years  and retire at your firm.   It’s not hard,  but I forgot. ……..Modern HR knows best…..
 

 

Edited by Nueces River Rat
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Just now, Nueces River Rat said:

It’s just mind boggling thinking about the wealth of talent that is being sidelined because of  how hiring is conducted these days.   Firms small, medium,and large whether they be family owned or multinational are whining and bitching about attracting and retaining good people and they don’t lift a finger to fix it.
 

   Here’s a novel idea for HR firms across America and the world for that matter.   Turn off your Indeed, ADP, and Workday platforms and have resumes and applications emailed directly to an inbox.  Do this for month across most key positions.    If you get 100 resumes, randomly pick 40 and start making phones calls and setting up interviews.   Use Zoom if you have too,  but TALK to prospects.  You might actually find a diamond in the rough who might give you 15 years  or and retire at your firm.   It’s not hard,  but I forgot. Modern HR knows best…..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Ask good employees if they have anyone they’d like to recommend for open positions  

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8 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

It’s just mind boggling thinking about the wealth of talent that is being sidelined because of  how hiring is conducted these days.   Firms small, medium,and large whether they be family owned or multinational are whining and bitching about attracting and retaining good people and they don’t lift a finger to fix it.
 

   Here’s a novel idea for HR firms across America and the world for that matter.   Turn off your Indeed, ADP, and Workday platforms and have resumes and applications emailed directly to an inbox so they bypass resume reading software .  Do this for month across most key positions.    If you get 100 resumes, randomly pick 40 and start making phones calls and setting up interviews.   Use Zoom if you have too,  but TALK to prospects.  You might actually find a diamond in the rough who might give you 15 years  and retire at your firm.   It’s not hard,  but I forgot. ……..Modern HR knows best…..
 

 

In today's world with email, they won't get a 100 resumes, they'll get thousands. We're a small company who hasn't hired in years and I still get dozens sent to me a week.  Word of mouth or referred almost always will get you an interview though when we do hire.

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2 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

In today's world with email, they won't get a 100 resumes, they'll get thousands. We're a small company who hasn't hired in years and I still get dozens sent to me a week.  Word of mouth or referred almost always will get you an interview though when we do hire.

That's probably a good bet depending on the size of the firm.   What might be an interesting research topic for someone working on their MBA or behavioral type science is to have a firm advertise a position and require the applicant to submit both a hard copy via Priority Mail and  one vs the HR software the firm uses.    Let the human(s) sort out the paper ones and the HR software do it's process of elimination and see where they both stand at the end of the process.  

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14 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

It’s just mind boggling thinking about the wealth of talent that is being sidelined because of  how hiring is conducted these days.   Firms small, medium,and large whether they be family owned or multinational are whining and bitching about attracting and retaining good people and they don’t lift a finger to fix it.
 

   Here’s a novel idea for HR firms across America and the world for that matter.   Turn off your Indeed, ADP, and Workday platforms and have resumes and applications emailed directly to an inbox so they bypass resume reading software .  Do this for month across most key positions.    If you get 100 resumes, randomly pick 40 and start making phones calls and setting up interviews.   Use Zoom if you have too,  but TALK to prospects.  You might actually find a diamond in the rough who might give you 15 years  and retire at your firm.   It’s not hard,  but I forgot. ……..Modern HR knows best…..
 

 

1.) Well-defined problem [Check]

2.) Solve with the Secretary Problem solutions https://simons.berkeley.edu/talks/robust-algorithms-secretaries-bandits

3.) Make best hire

4.) Profit

 

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Brah. 
 

Anyhoo, this white male just got rehired at his former job with a 25% raise because corporate America is broken and dumb. 
 

I came back as an “outside hire” and because of “the market” I got way more money. People who have the same experience as me are stuck with their 2-3% annual raises. 
 

Feels somewhat good to beat the system and it was due to some relationships I made in my previous tenure, but that doesn’t make it right. 
 

Fuck em. 

Edited by Biff Tannen
Also, they are offering this same salary to fresh out of college kids with zero experience. Shits borked.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Anything ya'll can tell me about contract work other than what I find on my own?   I had ruled this out initially but since my hunting has been so spectacularly putird I'm considering it.  

I know the following:

1.   Depends on whether it's W-2 or 1099.  That affects withholding.

2.   Little or no benefits and a day off is unpaid.  

3.  The obvious of no job security and having to look for something new every few months.

Curious what people around here have done. 

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6 hours ago, Macanudo said:

Anything ya'll can tell me about contract work other than what I find on my own?   I had ruled this out initially but since my hunting has been so spectacularly putird I'm considering it.  

I know the following:

1.   Depends on whether it's W-2 or 1099.  That affects withholding.

2.   Little or no benefits and a day off is unpaid.  

3.  The obvious of no job security and having to look for something new every few months.

Curious what people around here have done. 

You pretty much covered the key points.   Most are 1099.   It’s is a good way to get in the door for a potential full time or W-2 employee.  Hope you find something soon! 

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Anything ya'll can tell me about contract work other than what I find on my own?   I had ruled this out initially but since my hunting has been so spectacularly putird I'm considering it.  
I know the following:
1.   Depends on whether it's W-2 or 1099.  That affects withholding.
2.   Little or no benefits and a day off is unpaid.  
3.  The obvious of no job security and having to look for something new every few months.
Curious what people around here have done. 

I have done two contract roles, both were W-2. Both offered health insurance and 401k, however the insurance wasn’t cheap and neither contributed to 401K. One did give paid vacation after 5 years (lol). This last time, for a foreign oil company, they gave us all the paid holidays that their direct employees got. They didn’t have to, but since it wasn’t an American company, they actually cared about doing the right thing for employees.

I would do contract again, but would need a much higher rate. In fact, I wish I would have stayed at the last job and asked for the raise to offset no PTO or matching 401k.
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It can be a good foot in the door for sure. Depends on your situation obviously. Insurance 401k, vacation etc


I haven’t been in your situation in 25 years but I remember how much it sucks. But Keep pushing. You will find something good eventually and it will lead to greener pastures

Hopefully things pick up after the holidays. There never is much going on this time of the year.

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On 12/19/2023 at 11:37 AM, Macanudo said:

Anything ya'll can tell me about contract work other than what I find on my own?   I had ruled this out initially but since my hunting has been so spectacularly putird I'm considering it.  

I know the following:

1.   Depends on whether it's W-2 or 1099.  That affects withholding.

2.   Little or no benefits and a day off is unpaid.  

3.  The obvious of no job security and having to look for something new every few months.

Curious what people around here have done. 

One thing to remember about health insurance, specifically, is that it's horrifically expensive and as an individual you'll almost certainly be buying off the exchange, so not the best policies.  For reference, my company's health insurance costs roughly $1,800-2,000 per month for a family.  We subsidize it for employees, but that's the actual cost.  Make sure you're factoring that in.

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1 minute ago, Chewbacca said:

One thing to remember about health insurance, specifically, is that it's horrifically expensive and as an individual you'll almost certainly be buying off the exchange, so not the best policies.  For reference, my company's health insurance costs roughly $1,800-2,000 per month for a family.  We subsidize it for employees, but that's the actual cost.  Make sure you're factoring that in.

Fortunately for me I have another avenue for health care so hopefully I'm not in that boat!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Happy New Year, fuckers.

Anyone know of any Account Managment roles in Houston??  Industry doesn't really matter.

My latest contract role is expiring and am on the hunt for something more permanen/stable.

 

Happy hunting to those on the lookout to start 2024!

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  • 1 month later...

Been a month since this thread was updated. How is the job market this year? Thinking about looking around, but I know there were layoffs at the beginning of the year at a lot of places and probably lots of great talent on the streets still. Mac, did you end up landing something, even if only temporarily?

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45 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Been a month since this thread was updated. How is the job market this year? Thinking about looking around, but I know there were layoffs at the beginning of the year at a lot of places and probably lots of great talent on the streets still. Mac, did you end up landing something, even if only temporarily?


go to tiktok, it’s very opening and sad 

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On 2/20/2024 at 10:47 AM, BeardIP said:

Been a month since this thread was updated. How is the job market this year? Thinking about looking around, but I know there were layoffs at the beginning of the year at a lot of places and probably lots of great talent on the streets still. Mac, did you end up landing something, even if only temporarily?

The job market still sucks, at least from my perspective.   There may be a ton of jobs but estimates are that 25% are ghost postings.  A study from October shows it could be 50%.   Companies post jobs to collect resumes (this is appears to happen more in the tech world), to appease current employees that the company is "trying to help staffing issues", etc. Around 50% have been posted for longer than 30 days.  Related to jobs that I have applied to and gotten contact with the HR recruiter and/or hiring manager it has taken on average 24 days from application to getting the no go.   

https://mashable.com/article/ghost-jobs-survey

Of those surveyed, 43 percent of managers said they post job openings online in order to give the impression that the company is growing. Another 43 percent said that they posted job openings to keep current employees motivated. And 34 percent took that one step further and said they kept online job posts active in order to placate overworked employees.

So basically, nearly half of the hiring managers surveyed said that their company posted jobs with the intent to bolster their company's image, or provide false hope to their understaffed workforce that help was on the way.

I have three open reqs that I applied and interviewed for in the last 60 days but have not been told no or been given an offer.   I applied on 1/8, 1/14 and 2/16 respectively for those jobs.   The app on 1/8 is with the company I was laid off by in September.   I have known the hiring manager for 20 years.   We're friendly, have worked together before and all interviews went well.   But the last 2nd round interview was in January.  For the app on 1/14, my last 2nd round interview was on 2/7.  HR recruiter told me on 2/15 to give them until the end of the month to finish up their process (read: finish interviewing candidates.)   Last minute edit before I hit submit:   Just got the thanks but no thanks email on the app from 1/14.  43 days from application through the interview process to a no.   Fuck me.  

I know that from decision to offer can some times take a few weeks as approvals from up on high take time.  At Corebridge, all hires regardless of level go all the way to the top and can take 2-3 weeks for that to happen.  But the longer it drags out the less confident I am that anything good comes out of it.  I have interviewed for too many jobs that the process has stretched to 45 or even 60 days with multiple rounds of interviews only to get a "thanks but no thanks."

One of the most frustrating things has been jobs I have applied to as a referral.  I have had almost 2 dozen direct referrals and in none of those cases have I even gotten an interview.   In several of those cases, I have still not even gotten a "no thanks" and all of those were 90+ days ago.   In each case, I have spoke with the friend before they submitted the referral to make sure that it's a good fit for my skills and not just a waste of everyone's time.   

I sure as fuck don't know what I'm doing wrong.

 

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Oh, and one more thing because I lost my fucking train of thought with that last no thanks just now...

Several friends have told me that projects I created and implemented in my prior job and talked about in interviews have materialized within the departments of places I interviewed.    Two friends specifically told me that the hiring manager got the idea from "someone they interviewed from Corebridge."    

I know this kind of thing happens but it sucks when it's your ideas and projects getting pilfered.  

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4 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

Oh, and one more thing because I lost my fucking train of thought with that last no thanks just now...

Several friends have told me that projects I created and implemented in my prior job and talked about in interviews have materialized within the departments of places I interviewed.    Two friends specifically told me that the hiring manager got the idea from "someone they interviewed from Corebridge."    

I know this kind of thing happens but it sucks when it's your ideas and projects getting pilfered.  

That’s probably the real reason for the interviews and not a job or resume library. 

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Counterpoint, MFG is still starving for people.i still have 20+ openings in my dept, site-wide we probably have 100 openings for engineering, process guys, automation, and assembly. And we lose candidates to other local companies regularly. Everyone is fighting for people.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wife is applying for jobs (I think mostly copywriter, coming from nonprofit grant writing and development) and is having me review her resume. Content wise it is fairly good but is a whole canva thing with all sorts of formatting, picture in front of a tree, etc. Are the scanning systems still too dumb for that/has the guidance for super simple formats and fonts remained the same?

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Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, Celery Man said:

Wife is applying for jobs (I think mostly copywriter, coming from nonprofit grant writing and development) and is having me review her resume. Content wise it is fairly good but is a whole canva thing with all sorts of formatting, picture in front of a tree, etc. Are the scanning systems still too dumb for that/has the guidance for super simple formats and fonts remained the same?


resume nerd. sign up for a month then cancel

get rid of formatting, as much as you can. all is best 

Edited by tx 3 putt
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Wife is applying for jobs (I think mostly copywriter, coming from nonprofit grant writing and development) and is having me review her resume. Content wise it is fairly good but is a whole canva thing with all sorts of formatting, picture in front of a tree, etc. Are the scanning systems still too dumb for that/has the guidance for super simple formats and fonts remained the same?
Use chat GPT and jobscan.com to help with resume and job KSA matching. Both are very under utilized tools.
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On 11/17/2023 at 6:40 PM, Chewbacca said:

Those poor, oppressed white guys.  When will they ever catch a break?

I used to have this routine I’d do with a friend from Niger when we were working. He’d say how easy the white man has it in America and I’d jokingly retort back how hard it is being white in this country. “Don’t you know the struggle is real for the white man? We have always had it rough and never can catch a break. It’s rough being white in a country not built for us!” 
 

If we were out in public doing mockery like that I think some people would think we were being serious. White people, men in particular, have the easiest existence in this country economically. I had and have more respect for that man ascending to a position where he made so much money that he could let his wife go to medical school and have no monetary issues at all for his family while she finishes up. White people making great money? Yeah we’re a dime a dozen.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/10/2024 at 1:15 PM, Mother mopar said:
On 3/10/2024 at 7:57 AM, Celery Man said:
Wife is applying for jobs (I think mostly copywriter, coming from nonprofit grant writing and development) and is having me review her resume. Content wise it is fairly good but is a whole canva thing with all sorts of formatting, picture in front of a tree, etc. Are the scanning systems still too dumb for that/has the guidance for super simple formats and fonts remained the same?

Use chat GPT and jobscan.com to help with resume and job KSA matching. Both are very under utilized tools.

I've used jobscan versus just eyeballing it myself and have gotten about the same success rate with getting past the ATS systems.   

I applied to and interviewed with my old company for a near lateral move (salary and responsibility wise) in January. 

- Application was sent in on 1/08. 

- Interviewed on 1/23 with the hiring manager then 1/26 and 1/30 with others for the 2nd round.   I have known the hiring manager for 20+ years.

- She called me on 2/5 to let me know that there was an internal candidate that she wanted to talk to but that was most likely just going to be a courtesy interview for that person.   

- I followed up on 2/20 via text to find out that those interviews hadn't even happened yet.  I also foudnd out independently that the hiring manager's mom had just passed away the night of the 19th.  Ugh.   

- We talked on 3/7 and she confirmed that I would be her choice and they she would be meeting with her boss on Friday to start the process.  

- I followed up yesterday (3/20) via text.  She told it was still in approval limbo.   FWIW, at my prior employer, req and candidate approval go all the way to the CEOs desk before they get green lit.  

- Got another text literally just now as I type that the approval is sitting on here boss's boss's desk.   Then it goes through 3 other people before final approval.  

In conclusion, the corporate hiring process absolutely sucks ass.

On the plus side, I have been substitute teaching since early Feburary.   I have learned that I never, ever want to teach middle schoolers.   High school has been pretty decent the freshmen are something else too.  

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5 hours ago, Macanudo said:

I've used jobscan versus just eyeballing it myself and have gotten about the same success rate with getting past the ATS systems.   

I applied to and interviewed with my old company for a near lateral move (salary and responsibility wise) in January. 

- Application was sent in on 1/08. 

- Interviewed on 1/23 with the hiring manager then 1/26 and 1/30 with others for the 2nd round.   I have known the hiring manager for 20+ years.

- She called me on 2/5 to let me know that there was an internal candidate that she wanted to talk to but that was most likely just going to be a courtesy interview for that person.   

- I followed up on 2/20 via text to find out that those interviews hadn't even happened yet.  I also foudnd out independently that the hiring manager's mom had just passed away the night of the 19th.  Ugh.   

- We talked on 3/7 and she confirmed that I would be her choice and they she would be meeting with her boss on Friday to start the process.  

- I followed up yesterday (3/20) via text.  She told it was still in approval limbo.   FWIW, at my prior employer, req and candidate approval go all the way to the CEOs desk before they get green lit.  

- Got another text literally just now as I type that the approval is sitting on here boss's boss's desk.   Then it goes through 3 other people before final approval.  

In conclusion, the corporate hiring process absolutely sucks ass.

On the plus side, I have been substitute teaching since early Feburary.   I have learned that I never, ever want to teach middle schoolers.   High school has been pretty decent the freshmen are something else too.  

Fingers crossed. I've mostly lurked on this thread but I know you've been through it. 

I know it's frustrating but if you can end up with more or less a lateral move after this entire saga, it is a win.

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I left Patricio Swazie a message with a job lead I think he might be interested in.  Does anyone know if he is still around?  Doesn't look like he has posted in a while.
Per the Gone psoters thread, Dead Shank said this

"He’s fine.  Taking a break from Surly and bbq while adjusting to his new set of 38 DDs.  They’re incredible.  

He sends his best to all you malcontents, buttholes and meatheads."
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19 hours ago, Macanudo said:

I've used jobscan versus just eyeballing it myself and have gotten about the same success rate with getting past the ATS systems.   

I applied to and interviewed with my old company for a near lateral move (salary and responsibility wise) in January. 

- Application was sent in on 1/08. 

- Interviewed on 1/23 with the hiring manager then 1/26 and 1/30 with others for the 2nd round.   I have known the hiring manager for 20+ years.

- She called me on 2/5 to let me know that there was an internal candidate that she wanted to talk to but that was most likely just going to be a courtesy interview for that person.   

- I followed up on 2/20 via text to find out that those interviews hadn't even happened yet.  I also foudnd out independently that the hiring manager's mom had just passed away the night of the 19th.  Ugh.   

- We talked on 3/7 and she confirmed that I would be her choice and they she would be meeting with her boss on Friday to start the process.  

- I followed up yesterday (3/20) via text.  She told it was still in approval limbo.   FWIW, at my prior employer, req and candidate approval go all the way to the CEOs desk before they get green lit.  

- Got another text literally just now as I type that the approval is sitting on here boss's boss's desk.   Then it goes through 3 other people before final approval.  

In conclusion, the corporate hiring process absolutely sucks ass.

On the plus side, I have been substitute teaching since early Feburary.   I have learned that I never, ever want to teach middle schoolers.   High school has been pretty decent the freshmen are something else too.  

Damn, are you applying for something with Top Secret clearance? What's the deal?

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Nothing to do with vetting. Corporate layers means slow decisions 

The same exact scenario happened to a referral of mine. He kept texting me asking why it was taking so long. I worked at the company so I would go talk to the team, the manager, etc and everyone kept saying oh yeah, they’re getting hired, it’s been sent to XYZ for approval. It took 4 months from interview to hire letter IIRC

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Nothing to do with vetting. Corporate layers means slow decisions 
The same exact scenario happened to a referral of mine. He kept texting me asking why it was taking so long. I worked at the company so I would go talk to the team, the manager, etc and everyone kept saying oh yeah, they’re getting hired, it’s been sent to XYZ for approval. It took 4 months from interview to hire letter IIRC
Sounds like the process we have to deal with to get a contract with a new client.
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Posted (edited)
On 4/1/2024 at 1:04 AM, Firemans4Horn said:

Anyone with a CFP or at a minimum series 7/66 licensed interested in a job PM me. I’m looking to hire in the near future. Rather start here than on the World Wide Web. 

You may have misheard - you're probably looking for a fiduciary.

Edited by Celery Man
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey everyone,

Long time lurker (for football reasons, obviously) but today I come to you with the real pickle I'm in.

I'm a 2x UT grad (MA and PhD) and lost my job suddenly last year (I was a professor at Trinity in San Antonio). Since then, I've been working odd jobs and freelancing, thinking I'd slip into the private sector somewhere quite easily since I have interesting experience (I'm an Asia specialist), high degrees, and am generally a smart and with-it person. However, I thought wrong. It's now been almost a year of mostly unemployment. This has caused serious strain as I've also now entered into divorce as well.

I don't live in Texas anymore (living with family to save) but thought there might be a small chance somewhere here could help me out. I know it's pathetic and desperate but I know some of you have legit good business connections. Not only am I having a hard time brainstorming _what_ to do next, everything I've _tried_ to do has failed (including starting my own business).

In any case, for a fellow UT grad, does anyone have any connections that might be able to help, or know of companies that are hiring directly? Yeah, I stupidly went into the Humanities but to be fair I was a professor at some top schools for 7 years. Just the new horizons in academia are not benefiting me and I've been pushed out.

Any help or advice would be much welcomed. I can provide more details in DMs or by email, of course.

Thanks!

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