I'm having a difficult time getting a job. Any advice?

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Theduck

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Seriously, no one is calling me. Do you guys have any tips for getting a job? I must admit that I am setting my standards very high, but after 2 years in retail I feel I have the right to. My last two jobs lasted a year each, and I left because they became dull. I've been applying at a few places but none call back. I am asking for 9-10$ though. I live in FL, if that gives any indication fo what I should be making. I come to the aid of CAG'ers to see if they have any experience.

Thanks! :bouncy:
 
You have anything to back your high expectations? I've worked two years in retail, and don't feel I deserve a thing. I got a life lesson out of the whole ordeal. But nothing more. In this world you need a piece of paper from a college, or know the right people to get anywhere.

They're not calling you back cause you don't qualify for the position.
 
[quote name='Graystone']You have anything to back your high expectations? I've worked two years in retail, and don't feel I deserve a thing. I got a life lesson out of the whole ordeal.[/quote]

Not really. I just don't feel like working for corporations that pay crap money. What do you suggest I do instead of working retail? I just need a job that pays fairly well.
 
[quote name='Theduck']Seriously, no one is calling me. Do you guys have any tips for getting a job? I must admit that I am setting my standards very high, but after 2 years in retail I feel I have the right to. My last two jobs lasted a year each, and I left because they became dull. I've been applying at a few places but none call back. I am asking for 9-10$ though. I live in FL, if that gives any indication fo what I should be making. I come to the aid of CAG'ers to see if they have any experience.

Thanks! :bouncy:[/quote]
Good luck. 9-10 dollars after only working 1 year at one place and another year at another is way too high an expectation. My fiancee worked 3.5 years at a Target and made it from peon to specialist. We had to move so he applied and he gets nothing close to 9-10 dollars at his new job, I don't even think he got that much at Target after working 3.5 years there, maybe close.

Maybe if you worked at a warehouse you could get that.
 
[quote name='Theduck']Not really. I just don't feel like working for corporations that pay crap money. What do you suggest I do instead of working retail? I just need a job that pays fairly well.[/QUOTE]

Without any college of any type. You're limiting yourself to the service industry. i.e retail food service, mechanic etc.

Some of those pay well but you've got to earn it. Your not just going to walk into a great paying job. Some people w/o college do but its a rarity.

The only thing that pays good around me $10+ an hour is factory work. But you end up trading $10 an hour for your body, and family. You'll work 12 hours a day in a 120 degree factory in the summer, and you'll get laid-off for periods of a time etc.
 
Specialized retail pays well without a college degree and can be gotten into somewhat easily.

I work automotive parts.. when I started (at an Advance Auto Parts) I made well over $10/hr... and if you can get into OEM parts, the pay is actually a good deal higher then you'd think.
 
Ask yourself this, why would they pay you $9-$10 an hour when they can hire ANYONE else to do the same job, but they're willing to do it at minimum wage? What can you bring to the table they can't. Figure that out and you'll be fine. Until you do that, stay in school.

ps. try a telemarketing job or some other job you'll want to kill yourself in a weeks time. They pay incredibly well (by no education standards) because of the mental health suicide rate.
 
[quote name='Theduck']Seriously, no one is calling me. Do you guys have any tips for getting a job? I must admit that I am setting my standards very high, but after 2 years in retail I feel I have the right to. My last two jobs lasted a year each, and I left because they became dull. I've been applying at a few places but none call back. I am asking for 9-10$ though. I live in FL, if that gives any indication fo what I should be making. I come to the aid of CAG'ers to see if they have any experience.

Thanks! :bouncy:[/quote]

Go here and apply to all of those, and then keep going around. Seriously, a job is better than nothing.
 
Whoa @ AngelicLulu. 3 and a half years at Target and didn't even make that much?

I started off at Circuit City with $9.25 in the TV dept. In a year I was making $11.50 then up to $13 before the second year. I technically didn't get any promotions, but I received two unscheduled raises. I quit back in January though and I would have been laid off in March for being paid too much for my position. Best Buy pays competitively high from what I hear too, I believe this is because both stores don't do commission.
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']Whoa @ AngelicLulu. 3 and a half years at Target and didn't even make that much?

I started off at Circuit City with $9.25 in the TV dept. In a year I was making $11.50 then up to $13 before the second year. I technically didn't get any promotions, but I received two unscheduled raises. I quit back in January though and I would have been laid off in March for being paid too much for my position. Best Buy pays competitively high from what I hear too, I believe this is because both stores don't do commission.[/quote]
Yeah that's California. Of course, you'd make that much, it's expensive to live there. Since the OP is in Florida like me...
In Florida though, where the min. wage was 5.15 up until 4ish years ago. It's typical for retail workers to not make above 10 dollars... until they hit management.
 
The only way to make real money w/o a degree is to go into a trade- electrician, plumber, carpenter, etc. And the only way to do that is to start at the bottom and learn.
 
[quote name='spudypresto']The only way to make real money w/o a degree is to go into a trade- electrician, plumber, carpenter, etc. And the only way to do that is to start at the bottom and learn.[/QUOTE]

"Only way"? I think not.

It is however a way to make decent money without a degree.


I've made the majority of my money through flipping houses and I'm fairly sure there's not a degree for that.
 
[quote name='Graystone']In this world you need a piece of paper from a college, or know the right people to get anywhere.[/QUOTE]
Don't let society lie to you.
 
Since the so called Twins Tower thingy people attitudes have changed and so have the system.

I know what you mean. I fill out the online resume. They pratically can see everything else I filled out online in some big database and pass judgement on me in a flash.

Sometimes middle men ( or women ) might see your resume and pass judgment without even handing it to the person you are going to be working for.

Exprience in any feild is important. Without some kind of exprience you are going to be standing in line with a bunch of people in front of you who went to a pee-wee Summer job center who never ever did any of the work your applying for.

You need people to refer to you. I go to store job and the manager cross out my only job exprience the fact that there was no number. Without people to refer to you especially from a previous job you will never get no where.

This is the meat of the resume. You need people to lie about your exprience when you was working at some place. Like ask a freind or person who you know to lie and say that yes your name worked for me.

Looking a certain way might get you the job or even talking a certain way. People like people that they can reflect on or rely on.

Women just need to be polite, sound nice, and look good. Most empolyers feels sorry for women or just wants a nice piece of stash to look at.

Men have to look freindly and talk freindly. Also the thing about men they look at us and say " that guy is going to spend it on drugs" or " this guy is going to waste on games when I could hire jeff who has a family" and even the original " I don't like this guy he might be dangerous or rob my store when I am not looking and browse pornography" .

So on your resume or " Last employer section" find somebody who is not of your family name to lie about you working for them and to say yes. Maybe when they ask when they was working for them.

Agian the truth about jobs in most cities in America it starts from you going to Summer job camp, internship during HS, or even being apart or leading clubs.

However the club thing and real exprience never matters anymore thanks to the computer system server.

I understand very much what your up against. I myself need work but the thing nobody is going to hire anybody even if you have exprience thanks to that terrible questionare system.

I hate the fact that I have put in my social security number over the internet just to get a job and even to get a credit card.

I feel you. I would also try craigs list.
 
If you have no college ambitions your best bets are the military or some sort of job with a union.

I worked at UPS for a little over a year, crappy hours (only part-time) but the benefits were decent and eventually, if I had wanted to stay, I could've become a driver and made good money for working a typical 40 hour work week.
 
You're asking for too much money for your current level of work experience, if you want to make that kind of money try to find a position in a warehouse or with UPS/Fedex or you can always continue to work low level retail and pick up an associates degree.
 
That is another problem when you have something in your head that your good at but have no money to pick it off the ground or no Degree to back it up your pretty much stuck.

The problem with union jobs is filled with people who don't like to work or don't have anything in there heads. Basically a bunch of no nothings with no pride for anything.

Then Military jobs put you in harms way and people in the military try to get out as many ways as they can from messing with there commanding officers to becoming disabled.

Then can you ever imagine taking somebody life knowing what you are doing could easily be negotiated rather then fought over. Then with this war and commercialism I would end up making retarted rules eqaul rules to make amends for all the lonelness I caused. Have you even seen how these people are inside the military. Then nobody is happy and you have a whole new generation of hatefilled people. We are not Israel and we have no right to be killing inoccent people no diffrent then us.

Also hey these poor people my brothers and sisters of an entire generation dying for stinking people over here. If I ever have to take a life I don't know what I going to do.

Then when you do get off duty they try to rehabilitate you and turn you into a civilian/norme and the people here don't care at all. I see Vets all over the place crying out saying " It was just sappose to be a desk job" and "There is no God" .

Another oppertunity is that you can become a driver. I have been looking for jobs and the only job they want to give me is the driving job. They want me to also use my own money to pay for gas:dunce:
 
I appriciate all the of your feedback!

Currently I am trying to get a Bach degree because I realized in my last job that life is pretty mediocre without a degree. You also have to take more shit from customers without a degree.

To those who recommended me a degree, is there any benefit to getting an associates degree? Or should I just go directly for my Bach's?
 
[quote name='Loyaltist Shinra']
Then Military jobs put you in harms way and people in the military try to get out as many ways as they can from messing with there commanding officers to becoming disabled.
[/QUOTE]

In 4 years in the Marine Corps I sure as shit never tried to "mess" with my commanding officers or become disabled.

I did however get in the best shape of my life, learn the value of following through on things, bought and paid for a new car and learned how to lead. Don't believe the hype.

In other news... everyone has an associate's degree. There are some decent opportunities with it but nothing I'd want to do for the rest of my life. I'm personally about to get mine but I'm not stopping until at least a Bachelor's. Even then I'd rather push on, get the Master's degree and teach college rather than high school.
 
[quote name='Theduck']I appriciate all the of your feedback!

Currently I am trying to get a Bach degree because I realized in my last job that life is pretty mediocre without a degree. You also have to take more shit from customers without a degree.

To those who recommended me a degree, is there any benefit to getting an associates degree? Or should I just go directly for my Bach's?[/QUOTE]

If you can get an associate's degree on the way to getting your bachelors degree without taking on a lot of extra cost/work, I would do it (why not in that case).... But the bachelors degree should definitely be what you are shooting for. There are just so many people with bachelor's degrees out there, and if they apply for the same job as someone with an associates degree(without the guy with the assoc degree having awesome work experience), they are going to knock the assoc degree guy out of contention 99% of the time.
 
[quote name='DT778']You can't get a bachelors without getting an associates.[/QUOTE]

You most certainly can.... I would bet that at least 90% of people with bach degrees do not have assoc degrees
 
[quote name='zzl365']You most certainly can.... I would bet that at least 90% of people with bach degrees do not have assoc degrees[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm just getting mine randomly on the way to my Bachelor's. If I wasn't doing community college ---> regular college it probably wouldn't have gone down that way. My saying "everyone has an associate's" wasn't meant literally, it was meant in the sense that ideally, you should have more than an associate's degree to get far in your chosen career field.
 
You need a degree to be a mechanic now too. :lol:

Unless by mechanic you mean those guys at Jiffy Lube. Around there they're all Ethiopians working for $5/hr.

[quote name='Graystone']Without any college of any type. You're limiting yourself to the service industry. i.e retail food service, mechanic etc.

Some of those pay well but you've got to earn it. Your not just going to walk into a great paying job. Some people w/o college do but its a rarity.

The only thing that pays good around me $10+ an hour is factory work. But you end up trading $10 an hour for your body, and family. You'll work 12 hours a day in a 120 degree factory in the summer, and you'll get laid-off for periods of a time etc.[/quote]
 
[quote name='Theduck']
To those who recommended me a degree, is there any benefit to getting an associates degree? Or should I just go directly for my Bach's?[/quote]

Well with the associates degree alone you should see an increase in the positions available to you, plus if you go for a bachelors and drop out after 3 years you've got almost nothing to show for it.
 
What about freindly fire, medical officer not being giving the correct orders, fellow men trying to kill each other, and the rest of this bettle baily nonsense I keep seeing everytime I type in the Iraq, military, or soilder.

Is it really worth it knowing that thousands and thousand or even millions of people around the same age as you who you probably grewed up with or was lucky enough to chat with on AOL back in like 1994 or even 1999 when the internet was just E-mail and chatrooms is dying all over the place and will never have a family, there own boat, a yard, or even anything for there families that they are born into.

Some of our lives never went perfectly or in such a way where we can join a
military and achieve our dreams and hopes within the same lifetime as our youth.

I did however get in the best shape of my life, learn the value of following through on things, bought and paid for a new car and learned how to lead. Don't believe the hype.
Click to expand...

They need you to be in the best shape of your life and complete objectives in order to do whatever is needed of you. The so called new car is just the bonus you get during your carrer.

What is the point when everything just goes back to sqaure one after all the hard work our predisesors have struggled for goes down the drain?

Great health and money is great but I don't want to be in the cross fire between to nations just because somebody gave the finger to many times on the table.
 
Whatever Captain Broken English.

Is the military a great choice for everyone? God no. Was it the best choice for my wandering, broke, lethargic ass in 2002? God yes.
 
Use contacts to find a nice job. Parents can be a great resource for finding something like this. I completly agree with you. I can't stand retail or working a job that pays shit. Don't sign up for a job just because it's available, make sure you find something you won't absolutley hate. The best jobs out there if you're young and not living on your own yet (from what I've seen and hear) are local independent business's, the food service industry (waitering), and the cinemas. My friend has an awesome job at the movie theatres. He Can go to the movies for free whenever he wants and can also get us in for free, even if he's working and not coming in with us. Just make sure it's a good theatre with cool people, not some obnoxious megaplex at a crowded mall or something.
 
[quote name='porieux']Yeah but it is also one of the most expensive places to live...first hand experience here.[/QUOTE]

I grew up there, don't have to tell me.
 
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