Me ... a manager!

Today I got a call from Investors Group.  They offered me the position of investor manager.  

To say that I was surprised is putting it mildly.  Flabbergasted, more likely.  Me … a manager … dealing with investors?!  How on earth did they think me qualified for a manager position?

For most of my life I have been an assistant.  Whether it be an executive, administrative or legal assistant, assistant always was the operative word.

Ever since I was laid off in October 2011, I’ve been looking for work.  Whether it be full-time or temporary.  I’ve sent out resumes, registered with employment agencies, but so far no luck.

With over fifteen years of experience, some positions I applied for I was qualified, for some I was over qualified.  For some I got invited for an interview, but I have yet to hear the words "Congratulations, you're hired".

So, you can imagine my surprise when the position of investor manager was thrown at me.  A position I am absolutely not qualified for as I don’t have a day’s experience.

When I asked what the position entailed the woman who called me explained that I would be attracting investors and looking after their portfolio. 

To me, attracting investors translates into bothering people, hassling them to invest in the company.  As for looking after their portfolio … I’m at a complete loss there.  I wouldn’t be comfortable looking after other people’s money, I can barely keep track of my own.  As for investing … not a fan of that.  I prefer a safe savings account.  

My guess is, the position of investor manager is a scam.  No self-respecting company is going to approach someone like me, without a day of experience, and offer her the position of manager.  Something stinks, stinks up to high heaven. 

I wonder about other people though.  How many more out of work people did Investors Group approach?  What is their background?  Receptionists, data entry clerks, hair stylists, sales staff … all offered the position of manager.

I equally wonder about the people those "managers" approach, people with money.  What would they say if they knew they were dealing with unqualified staff?

Would you trust a data entry clerk to look after your $100,000 portfolio?  I wouldn’t.  I would want someone who knows what he’s doing.  Someone with a university degree and a few years experience.

Investor manager indeed.  If I didn’t smell a rat on this one, I would be ROTFLMAO.

When did we become a bunch of penny pinchers?

Are you too getting just a little sick and tired of all the advice about how to save money?  “How to save money when grocery shopping” ... “How so save money on clothes” … “How to save money on electricity” … When did we all become such a bunch of penny pinchers?

Thank goodness for Christmas.  Apparently Americans responded to all those articles about how to spend less with a big fat “Stick it where the sun don’t shine” and let their dollars roll.  ComScore, a leader in measuring the spending habits of Americans, reported that a whopping $35.3 billion was spend online, marking a 15% increase to last year.

The writers of the “How to save on …” will probably tut tut about this figure.  I applaud it.  This kind of spending will generate a need for more merchandise, resulting in more jobs.  It’s a shame Christmas comes around only once a year.  With that kind of spending, our economy would be back on its feet in no time.

Unfortunately that is not the case and more and more jobs are lost on a daily basis.  Statistics tells us that the unemployment rate is down by 8,5%.  Baloney, the unemployment rate may be down, but it’s not because all those people found jobs. 

Undoubtedly some will have found employment, but I dare say that the rest of those 8,5% simply lost their unemployment benefits.  I should know, I’m one of them.

I received no warning that my allocated weeks were nearly up, I received no notice that I had nearly reached the end of the line.  My benefits were canceled from one day to another.

I suspect that a mistake was made, so I went to the unemployment offices, but was politely sent packing.  I tried contacting them by phone by got the message “Our call volume is high.  Please try again later.  Have a nice day.”

(To be continued)