No Job

[VarsityPuppet]

Well, with this economy and people losing jobs and whatnot, here's a place for anyone who wants to rant about how it sucks to be out of work.

 

 

I'll start:

 

Unlike most people, who most likely have recently lost a job, my problem is that I can't get a job, and quite frankly it's depressing me.

 

Here's my main issues

 

-Can't drive

-No former job experience (really, NONE)

-Apparently I'm not an incredibly good conversationalist.

 

The third of course depends on the job route you take, but let me elaborate on the first two:

 

I can technically drive, but I don't have money for a car or insurance. Where would I get that money? Oh right, a job. So that limits my choices within walk/bike/bus distance for jobs. "Oh, you're not hiring? Well f*** me sideways..."

 

But here's the big one: I have no former job experience. WELL NO ****! If I've had no former job experience, then how the hell am I going to get that first job?

 

The way I see it, this is all just a vicious circle... and I'm only going to get out of it with a 4 leaf clover. This comes after a failed interview (at a bagel place nonetheless). I guess I just want to know I'm not the only one that sucks at getting a job.

[True_Avery]

My advise for what it is worth:

 

Keep trying for a job and, depending, ride school until the recession calms.

 

I'm currently trying to get into a prestigious art training center for the next 3 or so years and perhaps some after that. Getting a job isn't going to happen, especially in California where the layoffs have been pretty heavy. Don't really have job experience, so the next best thing if that falls through is polishing your resume/portfolio/schooling/etc.

 

Try to do some mentionable community service for example. If you can, take some classes while you're looking and at least give the illusion you're improving yourself. Multilingual looks really good, and so does martial arts.

 

Unfortunately, other than that, you're sort of forced to ride the recession for the next possibly 4 years. The market is currently flooded, and you're competing for a bag boy job with the former manager so...

[Jae Onasi]

Hubby and I both walked or rode our bikes to work for our first jobs--he biked 10 miles every day to work at Pizza Hut making pizzas while he went to his first couple years of college.

 

Volunteering looks great on a resume and it gives you access to the all-important good references. Just make sure you don't blow off the volunteer service. If you commit to volunteering, treat it just like you would a regular job--show up on time, do the work that's asked of you in a cheerful manner (obviously you want to volunteer at something you really _like_), and call in as soon as you know you can't make it in. Sometimes volunteer service leads to other jobs--e.g. volunteering at the local hospital or humane society can lead to a job in that hospital (especially if the staff likes you and puts in a good word for you) or at a vet's office. Plus, it'll help improve your people skills if that's a tough area for you, and give you something to do.

[Blix]

I know all too well how you feel I've been out of the loop so-to-speak going on 2 years (last job was on Nov 2008) and I think i've gone a little stir-crazy, not to mention moving into a miniature SO-Cal vers of the dust bowl doesn't help either.

[VarsityPuppet]

Sometimes volunteer service leads to other jobs--e.g. volunteering at the local hospital or humane society can lead to a job in that hospital (especially if the staff likes you and puts in a good word for you) or at a vet's office. Plus, it'll help improve your people skills if that's a tough area for you, and give you something to do.

 

That idea had just recently come to my attention. I suppose volunteering would be a good idea, if only to boost up my credentials for job-getting chances. It sucks that I'd be doing it for free, but what are you going to do really?

 

If I can find some place I like, then I will certainly do it.

[Jeff]

I don't know how old you are, but have you gone to college? Internships are great for experience and lots of colleges require them as part of your degree.

[VarsityPuppet]

I don't know how old you are, but have you gone to college? Internships are great for experience and lots of colleges require them as part of your degree.

 

I'm 19, I can't go to college if I ain't got any monies though. The problem I'd see there is maybe with transportation..

[Lynk Former]

Protip: Lie on your resume and get people you know who are reliable to referee/lie for you... and learn to lie well in your interview. The world is built on lies so you either gotta get with the trends or remain jobless... or become a janitor.

 

After you get that first job, make the people who hired you wish they had more people like you so that when the time comes, you can either progress in the company or have excellent REAL referees for when you go look for a new and better job elsewhere. After awhile you'll have real refs and real experience and your resume and refs won't be lies anymore and you can end up finding people who will want to hire you for whatever pretty easily.

[acdcfanbill]

...After you get that first job, make the people who hired you wish they had more people like you so that when the time comes, you can either progress in the company or have excellent REAL referees...

 

Ahh the most important and obviously most difficult step cleverly hidden away in the middle your post so it looks unassuming.

[Lynk Former]

1. Get job

2. ????????????????

3. Profit

 

 

It's not that hard to do your job well if it's a job you enjoy doing. On the other hand, if it's a job you hate doing it's going to be really hard motivating yourself to go on.

[Jeff]

I'm 19, I can't go to college if I ain't got any monies though. The problem I'd see there is maybe with transportation..

I can't speak as an expert since I am not in the same situation but most community colleges are not expensive and you can apply for federal grants and loans to basically pay for 100% of your education until you graduate. Going to college is probably the most important step in people's careers especially in today's society.

[True_Avery]

I can't speak as an expert since I am not in the same situation but most community colleges are not expensive and you can apply for federal grants and loans to basically pay for 100% of your education until you graduate. Going to college is probably the most important step in people's careers especially in today's society.

This.

 

Community is dirt cheap. If you cannot get a job at all, then you need to do something other than laying around (not that I am implying you are). Go for a grant or something. You'll find jobs much easier to get if you at least have your general education out of the way in Community.

 

When the job market grows, I can assure you it'll be the college grads, even community, being picked over you in nearly every field of work.

 

Plus, well, its something to do for a few years until the market actually picks up.

[Darth Avlectus]

Hey, been there before. Not fun after awhile. I know just what you're saying.

 

Others have already mentioned it so I'll just echo again: Internships if you're taking classes, and volunteering which may branch outward. In fact, I have a hard time believing it won't.

Also, getting someone to BS for you: Priceless. I myself have BS'ed a few employers looking to hire friends. Trouble is coming up with a convincing enough getup to get them to bite the bait. But I have succeeded and failed in this. It all depends where and who you're applying to, what degree of hyperbole you're looking for, and also believability aside if they are looking for a business license or whatever else.

 

You may well have people in vocational rehab centers and college assist you here as well as trusted people in your life.

 

You may have to just do the walking door to door, place to place, with resumes in a pile (proofread by peers and if you possibly can, professionally fixed up).

In the meantime, you might consider what talents you already do possess that could be applicable.

 

Ever thought about working as a handyman/oddjobber? I'll bet there are more than a few apartment owners looking for a dude to handle fixes and yardwork. Work entails all kind of stuff. Possibly more than that.

Suppose this is fair warning what you'll encounter: Not that I'm suggesting you actually do anything that would necessarily break the law, but...y'know... it comes up. Tread carefully.

 

Others:

 

Stables and shoveling manure, like a local/regional 4-A club. Not much pay, but steady work lineup. Pretty self explanatory. Just keep dignity and the pace. Hope you have some clothes you don't mind mucking up and making beyond dirty.

 

Construction jobs while you get bus tokens. Just watch out: if it isn't ego on the edge of picking fights from a coworker (or hothead boss), it may be you're working for a company that works with the gov't to rehab ex-cons. Otherwise it's not too bad. On the bright side, you get in real good shape (it's heavy, arse busting work) and you learn a lot of skills which are useful in getting other jobs or even just fixing up around the house. Who knows, maybe selling power tools at the hardware store will come of it.

 

Out in the fields: lots of reaching, leaning, bending, picking up, carrying, sitting, standing, etc. while you prune and trim to pick fruits or veggies. Your coworkers may not speak much english. Not the best pay but always someone needed.

 

Though out of the question for you now...there is car repo. This is a dangerous line of work, however.

 

Also, as bum as it sounds, I'm afraid collecting cans for $$$ is a feasible bare bones approach. Similarly, there is finding scrap metal in just about everything and looking for a center where they pay you for that. I.E. discarded cable and power wire, industrial/welding junk.

 

Fast food: Take your pick. Big franchise or mom and pop corner joint.

 

Stage Crew worker: studios are always looking for some guy to put on the bottom of their totem pole. This isn't really hard work, but it can get tedious, and perhaps thankless depending where you work.

 

House Keeping: Hey, there is ALWAYS a sucker who is too lazy to clean their own place (toilet, bathroom, kitchen, trash, workshop) etc. and are willing to pay for it. I know it ain't the coolest job around but it pays the bills and on average it seems to go smoother than the others I have mentioned so far. What, you're a guy? Big effing deal. Dudes can scrub toilets and floors and clean nasty stoves and dirty linens just like the lady folk. Aka Janitor--though there is the self employed route as well as working for services or places.

 

Push come to shove: TEMP AGENCY...it really SUCKS...but it's worth a try if you're down on your luck!

[VarsityPuppet]

Lie on your resume and get people you know who are reliable to referee/lie for you... and learn to lie well in your interview. The world is built on lies so you either gotta get with the trends or remain jobless... or become a janitor.

 

LYING!?! The world is built on lies?

 

People that know me say I'm too honest. It's done me only so much good in the past, so I probably need to start getting good at it, eh?

 

I can honestly say though...

 

It's not that hard to do your job well if it's a job you enjoy doing. On the other hand, if it's a job you hate doing it's going to be really hard motivating yourself to go on.

 

I take pride in my work. Be it cleaning toilets or flipping burgers, I can do it and (at least seemingly) happily too. THAT'S one of my special qualities.

 

I can't speak as an expert since I am not in the same situation but most community colleges are not expensive and you can apply for federal grants and loans to basically pay for 100% of your education until you graduate. Going to college is probably the most important step in people's careers especially in today's society.

 

Not entirely true. Around here in Minnesota, you can get about half of it paid for. I did the whole Financial aid thing (forget what it's called) and I was qualified for.. I think it was somewhere around $2,000 unsubsidized loans. That's about 3 classes where I go, but I suppose it's better than nothing. Then there's the whole paying off the student loans when all is said and done... not fun, but I guess that's what I'll have to do.

 

I agree though. College is very, very important for anyone who wants to get anywhere in this world.

 

When the job market grows, I can assure you it'll be the college grads, even community, being picked over you in nearly every field of work.

 

Yeah, I've heard stories about people who just graduated college and couldn't even find a job in their respective area... One guy I know, it took him almost a year to find a job.

 

Hey, been there before. Not fun after awhile. I know just what you're saying.

 

Yeah, you should have seen me 1.5 years ago:

 

"Eh, I'll just play Super Nintendo roms until this whole recession thing is over" That, of course, got old.

 

oh, and thanks for the other suggestions GTA.

[Q]

I can't speak as an expert since I am not in the same situation but most community colleges are not expensive and you can apply for federal grants and loans to basically pay for 100% of your education until you graduate. Going to college is probably the most important step in people's careers especially in today's society.

Just do some research first to make sure that you work towards a degree that will actually make you money. A lot of degrees turn out to be completely worthless.

[JuniorModder]

I'll be praying for you VP. Seeing as how well you mod, I'm sure you could find work programming or something.

 

JM

[Astor]

The way I see it, this is all just a vicious circle... and I'm only going to get out of it with a 4 leaf clover. This comes after a failed interview (at a bagel place nonetheless). I guess I just want to know I'm not the only one that sucks at getting a job.

 

I know it's difficult, and I have many of the same problems as you (no car, previous experience, etc), but you just have to stick at it.

 

I've been unemployed for eight months since leaving college, and never even heard back from many of the companies i'd applied for vacancies with - not even a 'sorry, we're not interested' letter.

 

Today, I had my first interview since becoming a 'statistic' - and this is after eight months of applications, speculative letters and searching. I was nervous as hell (seeing as i've no real experience of interviews), and I was sure i'd dropped the ball by sweating and erring my way throughout the interview, but within two hours I'd recieved a call saying that i'm the candidate they've chosen.

 

I hope you don't think i'm trying to rub that in your face, however, as that's not my intention at all - I guess what i'm trying to say is that although it seems bad now (and there were plenty of times when I felt exactly the same), things will pick up.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

If you're in shape, construction is probably the best paying job you could find at your age/education level.

[Darth Avlectus]

^^^Bart is right.

It pays well, though it is hard and heavy and not everyone can do it.

 

If you want some tips and info, PM me and I'll share whatever I can to help you out. There's some stuff about the construction field that some here on LF can hel with.

 

I myself am an electrician. And after visiting San Diego for vaca last week, I daresay it has a HELL of a lot of opportunity. Where you are, so cal is a happening place even in this recession. Well, so does Sacramento and Reno NV. But still, you're in *hugely* a populated area; the more rural areas are quite dead right now.

 

My electrician friend/boss can scarcely find work for himself out in the middle of nowhere. So, I'm about to start studying for state and federal exams to get my own certifications and a contractor's license or two for the states I want to work in.

 

Admittedly it has taken me several years to decide where to go and actually get here. Essentially, I plan on furthering my education now as well. --I stagnated before b/c I had some family and financial issues and was just...really aimless, which is the worst thing for having any kind of direction or purpose in life. Buuuut, ya gotta discover who you are and there is no rushing these things. Some of us come around a little later, others seem ready from the get-go out of high school. No shame if it takes you a while. Actually I notice people who take their time are a bit more savvy.

 

But I still admire the talent all the same. Just remember it's the persistent hard work that succeeds where talent refuses to work hard. If you can put the two together, you are amazing.

[Blix]

Protip: Lie on your resume and get people you know who are reliable to referee/lie for you... and learn to lie well in your interview. The world is built on lies so you either gotta get with the trends or remain jobless... or become a janitor.

 

After you get that first job, make the people who hired you wish they had more people like you so that when the time comes, you can either progress in the company or have excellent REAL referees for when you go look for a new and better job elsewhere. After awhile you'll have real refs and real experience and your resume and refs won't be lies anymore and you can end up finding people who will want to hire you for whatever pretty easily.

 

 

This is so true, just make sure your mouth doesn't write any checks your butt can't cash (i.e. don't overhype yourself).

[VarsityPuppet]

I've been unemployed for eight months since leaving college, and never even heard back from many of the companies i'd applied for vacancies with - not even a 'sorry, we're not interested' letter.

 

I know that feeling all to well. It's really sad when even McDonald's doesn't even respond.

 

I hope you don't think i'm trying to rub that in your face, however, as that's not my intention at all - I guess what i'm trying to say is that although it seems bad now (and there were plenty of times when I felt exactly the same), things will pick up.

 

Not at all. If anything, I'm happy for you (as happy as I can be for knowing you as only a picture next to a box of words). It's nice to hear I'm not the only one out here and hearing of people getting jobs gives me hope too.

 

Just do some research first to make sure that you work towards a degree that will actually make you money. A lot of degrees turn out to be completely worthless.

 

Like environmentalists.

 

Actually, I was wondering the other day.. what do business degrees actually consist of? I mean, if you get a degree in business what exactly does that mean? Anyone know?

 

I'll be praying for you VP. Seeing as how well you mod, I'm sure you could find work programming or something.

 

But I can't just jump to programming like *snaps* that. And actually, I can't do s*** without a degree anyways. But I'd be a fool to refuse prayers.

 

If you're in shape, construction is probably the best paying job you could find at your age/education level.

 

I had heard that construction workers get pretty good pay, but how do you become one?

 

It pays well, though it is hard and heavy and not everyone can do it.

 

I'm definitely used to hard work, so I could probably pull it off.

 

If you want some tips and info, PM me and I'll share whatever I can to help you out. There's some stuff about the construction field that some here on LF can help with.

 

If I find myself with an opportunity, then I will surely PM you. Otherwise, is it fair for me to assume that I can PM you for any other job advice? I've been here awhile and you seem pretty knowledgeable about quite a bit of things (and many others too).

[Darth Avlectus]

Like environmentalists.

 

Well yeah, but it seems as though even they manage to cling on tightly enough to BS people for a living when science doesn't necessarily definitively support them.

 

But I can't just jump to programming like *snaps* that. And actually, I can't do s*** without a degree anyways. But I'd be a fool to refuse prayers.

 

There is a ton of info out there for free on it. Check out Sun Microsystems and Java programming (Not to be confused with javascripting!). Learn Binary and hexadecimal counting systems. I.E. for hex editing I have used a program called "ResEdit".

 

I had heard that construction workers get pretty good pay, but how do you become one?

 

Either through private businesses, or unions. You have to inquire but there are ads out there. Also it never hurts to check a phone book or the papers.

 

As for the work itself:

 

Caution about unions: they are nice and comfy to work in pace wise and money wise, but they, too, are clique-ish in some areas and it would be best if you didn't talk about politics unless you happen to agree with them, and even then I'd refrain. They are overwhelmingly Democrat, so if your views are otherwise then simply refuse to comment. Also, complaints about most things do you little to no good b/c there is often reprisals of sorts and it seems their higher ups don't care about that. Not that all unions are that way mind you, but just as a caution I advise you to keep it in mind. I'll elaborate further in private if you wish.

 

Private companies don't necessarily have that clique thing going on BUT may indeed be more competitive-minded and perhaps vicious...or in the other extreme case, lazy. Most people I have worked with have been reasonable with varying degrees of work ethic.

Often times private sector is about maximum effectiveness and efficiency: Customer's bang for the bucks. At a fast pace you can charge more, but when you rush, mistakes tend to be made more often. You may charge per hour, but people look for both $$$ range and time taken to get a job done. Be aware of your competitors. There is a lot of undercutting going on to bidding the jobs, plus with impatient owners watching the clock sometimes, it's nipping at you from both sides.

Also private business is more likely to specialize in an area. Electrical, plumbing, heating and airconditioning, insulation, framing, foundation, landscape, tiles and ceramics, etc. Otherwise it is just general contracting.

 

The sweet bonus here: you get to know a lot of people for networking purposes, and your skills and tools have other applications outside work. I.E. I used to solve "problems" for a kitchen and got free lunches by trading work. Also, it is nice to have around the house when something goes wrong.

 

I'm definitely used to hard work, so I could probably pull it off.

 

Just be aware your physical limitations though you will have to push yourself to keep up the pace with some people. I have some cautions about certain types of people I've run across. (In private.) But otherwise, most bosses don't have complaints so long as you keep busy and don't horse around or chat too much.

 

If I find myself with an opportunity, then I will surely PM you. Otherwise, is it fair for me to assume that I can PM you for any other job advice? I've been here awhile and you seem pretty knowledgeable about quite a bit of things (and many others too).

 

Yeah, go ahead. I have most my experience and advice in unorthodox jobs, sure. I'm afraid I only have average advice and experience for the 9-5 'chugging away' jobs like office work (bleh) or cafeteria (actually IN the kitchen food prepping, rather than fixing it) though.

 

I'm a sort of Jack(ass) of all trades with intentions of specializing.