There was a job posting I saw the other day for a Word Processor. Cool, I thought, I can do that. I can type 83 WPM. I know my WordPerfect. It was for some industrial company and while the job looked good (for a just need to get by until I get a job kind of thing), I read the fine print and noticed it didn't look so good. They were looking for somebody who was not only an expert in Word, but also had experience doing technical manuals and had knowledge of mechanical engineering. Because it's so important to have a background in engineering when you're worrying about margins and tabs.

Which brings out another fun component about looking for work these days (and aren't y'all happy that it's nothing but unemployed angst these days? It's kind of like U2 going back to the basics and coming out with "Beautiful Day"). It's that for whatever reasons, companies are being really, really picky about whom they're hiring.

Like one job I didn't get. They hired somebody who quit and then decided not to hire anyone else they interviewed because they couldn't find somebody who, like the guy they hired, not only did project management, had print production experience, worked at non-profits, and happened to have studied opthamology. It doesn't matter that it took them like eight months to find that guy in the first place, they're just convinced, dang nabbit, that there's tons of guys just like that out there.

Or it's like Temp Agencies these days. They have work, but the places that are hiring are looking for like file clerks who are not only good at filing, but also experts in European Immigration policies of the 19th Century and are fluent in Flemish. Or they want data entry people to help enter medical records who are not only fast at the 10 Key but are also experts in Medicare policy arcania and have Master Degrees in Public Policy. Oh, and who'll also work for $12 an hour.

It's like when the economy was really, really bad (as opposed to now, when it's merely just really bad) they all got lucky and got Grad Students who had degrees in both Law and Psychology and were fluent in five languages and then just naturally assumed that the market was full of people like that. So where does that leave the rest of us?

Oh, and I sent in a resume to be a File Clerk. Cause I really know my A-B-C's. Today, I got an e-mail with an attachment from the company. It's a two-page questionnaire I'm supposed to fill out before they bring me in to interview, with questions like: "In an effort to get a better sense of you as a professional and a person, share with us a few unique experiences, challenges, successes, stories etc. that are not evident in your resume. (In your response, please reference the context of the event: employer, size of company, year, and people involved; the tasks involved; the actions taken; and the results.) Provide as many job relevant experiences as you deem appropriate, but we recommend three to five." Or "have you ever been a member of a company with less than twenty employees?" Not to mention the ever popular "what type of career growth opportunities are you looking for and within what time frames?

This is for a friggin' File Clerk position. What kind of answer can you give for the "career growth opportunities" question? "Umm, I hope to move up to Administrative Assistant position someday" or "I want to move up on the rapidly expanding field of filing because I really enjoy alphabetizing?"