jobs thread

[disl]

how do you find a job with no "in"? i apply to things on craigslist all the time and never get any response.

also, what do you do for a living?

right now, i work part-time as a night receptionist at a commercial editing house. i'm trying to find another part-time job to supplement it and it's impossible, i can't even get a response from retail places for some reason. maybe because my availability is only 8am-5pm on weekdays since my night job is 6pm-? (mama, i don't know when you can come get me) and i take classes on the weekend. anyway, it's very frustrating. i have a college degree, for christ's sake!

[Osquip]

I have the same problem except I live in Los Angeles. I did finally have an interview this week at a great company after sending out 80+ resumes over the past two months.

[Keith Whitener]

I'm a freelance writer. I like sending out my resume for fun. Sometimes I get biters, other times I don't. I end up doing a lot of stuff just for free, but it builds my resume with more credits and, slowly, higher profile interview subjects. How do people contribute to glossy magazines or places like the AV Club, I wonder. I wouldn't even know who to email about that.

[Siggers]

I worked at a grocery store for two years; let me explain to you guys it was the worst two years of my life. My Job was to get baskets outside all day long, rain, sun, heat mainly the heat. I had to walk and get at least six baskets at a time while the sun made the baskets hot and burned my hands. I worked outside in the Texas heat for seven hours straight one hour off.

Then i had to ride my bike to and from work which is two extra hours out in the Texas heat. I was spending ten hour days outside.

Had a gay boss that heat on me a few times. Telling me i am cute, saying he wanted to see my belly, saying he loved me, saying why did i not just turn gay for him.

The managers was disrespectful as well called me curse words.

I soon was injured on the job and had to leave the job without any help.

I now work for myself on this website. i get paid way beyond my old job it is more fun and i love every bit of it. I have a lot of plans for my future that i hope to bring into reality.

[Lil G]

disl,

I just moved up here and I've had the same problem to some extent. Be aware that 99% of retail companies will not hire you if you're not willing to work nights and weekends. A good temp agency should be able to help you with a 9-5 day job. Also, send out a fuckload of resumes. If you send out 25, odds are you probably won't get a bite. If you send out 400, you should get at least a few.

[nadsat droog]

I couldn't get an internship while in college. I couldn't get a job after graduating from college. I've pretty much been stagnant for the past two years, not really applying for anything while working outside my field. I'm fucked. And I don't know what to do.

[disl]

if you still live near your college, you might want to contact them. they may be able to help. why don't i take my own advice, you ask? well, i did last summer and my school (rutgers) only had temp work at the school to offer me, which i'd actually take if it didn't cost me almost as much to take a train there and back as i'd make in a day of work (hence the 'live near your college' comment).

[Keith Whitener]

What field is that, Nadsat?

[CaptainBreakfast]

I work in a garage at a catering company, and I've had the job for two years now. Everyone who works with me drops acid from time to time, shows up hungover or high, blows half their paychecks on stripclubs and various drugs. Me? I'm 18, never touch drugs, and I dislike juice bars.

I have no schedule, I can not go to work for a month, then work a couple weeks with no complaints from anyone. I love that part.

[Mindyjoy]

I had great experiences with temp agencies. I worked retail right after high school and after a couple years decided I wanted out, so I went to a temp agency who sent me to a great office job I really liked and luckily they liked me. If you want something permanent then just tell them you want temp-to-perm jobs, so they wont send you on temporary assignments.

I've worked for two different companies over the past 8 years and they both found me through my resume on Monster. A lot of recruiting offices search Monster and CareerBuilder all day long. Monster is great too because you can create a job search agent that will send new matches to your email on a daily basis.

Another thing I did when I was searching for a new job last year was take a resume writing class. I learned a lot and I helped a bunch of my former co-workers (at Countrywide Home Loans) redo their resumes and it helped them get interviews.

So if anyone wants me to read over your resume I would be happy to give some pointers based on what I was taught in that class.

[nadsat droog]

What field is that, Nadsat?

Journalism. A field that, by the time I fell out of love with it, I was far too close to graduation to do anything about it. That didn't deter me from applying for various writing jobs before and after I graduated because I knew I had loans to pay. It didn't help that I had no experience coming out of college and it also didn't help that I was somewhat selective about where I wanted to work. Even when I eased up and applied to places I would hate to work at, I struck out. The closest I've come to landing something was when a family friend's brother set me up for an interview at his publishing services firm. Beforehand he made it seem like a lock and when all was said and done it felt like they were just doing me a favor by interviewing me.

Writing all of this and making it sound like a sob story makes me feel like a pathetic broken record, when it's really all my fault. I'm paying for the mistakes I've made. I've been in a holding pattern since graduating two years ago from a college that I thought might get my foot in the door at some places based on name recognition alone (Penn State). A lot of resources have been exhausted and I just became sick of trying to land something so I've pretty much given up.

My current job is extremely laid back and pays enough of the bills, but there is no vertical movement for me within the company. Going back to school isn't really an option for me because a) I'm already in a good deal of debt with my school loans and b) I have no idea what I'd go back for.

I'm 24, and because of the dumb decisions I've made and my disdain for a paper pushing 9-5 desk job, I'm not able to do anything with my life right now. Every single one of my friends that I graduated with are on their own and I'm still at home with my parents. I hate seeing them sometimes because I know I'm a failure and I have nothing to say for myself.

My dad wants me to talk to one of his cousins about working at his credit card transaction service or something. The guy lives in the Hamptons and is rich and all my cousins that work for him make a ton of money. Hell, one of my cousins got a business degree from Johns Hopkins and left his job to work for him. I'm close to checking it out but fuck if I want to be a salesman. Is it wrong to not want to have a shitty job? Of course I want the money, I'm not stupid. Or maybe I am.

Have I written enough crap yet? I'm sorry, back to the topic. My job is that of a professional complainer/time waster. I think I'm done here.

[GodHatesFlags]

After graduating with a degree in Economics I worked a high paying desk job for three years. Then I realized I was living the cliche life (see American Beauty). So I quit, started to travel and do stand up. Now I work part-time at a comedy club in the box office, I barely make enough to survive, but I've never been happier. I am looking at picking up a few shifts a week at a local co-op cafe.

This plan works well for me as long as I plan to die before I retire and Canada continues with the free health care. (oh and if I get my girl pregnant then I will be forced to get back to adult life)...

any who, don't feel at 25 your life is over, I've been there, it gets better. Relax, and remember; It's just a ride.

[Itslikeimsayin]

I'm a freelance writer. I like sending out my resume for fun. Sometimes I get biters, other times I don't. I end up doing a lot of stuff just for free, but it builds my resume with more credits and, slowly, higher profile interview subjects. How do people contribute to glossy magazines or places like the AV Club, I wonder. I wouldn't even know who to email about that.

In the pre-Internet days, there was a book called the Writer's Market that had addresses, names of editors (iirc) and all the info you needed to pitch features to magazines. I haven't used it for years, but now there seems to be some sort of online companion at writersmarket.com. The book will teach you how to write a pitch letter and who to send it to. Then you wait to hear from an editor. I used this method to get a few freelance writing projects that paid quite well (such as a travel article for Golf Magazine that included all expenses paid plus about $1,200 for the article). I'd recommend you check it out: 2009 Writer's Market.

[Theyear2525now.]

I found my job browsing the part time employment section of my local craigslist. This is tedious work, as the lists are normally filled with scams and nonsense. I started out making decent pay working for a transcription firm. After three months I was asked if I had a computer set up at home, and they offered me a stay at home position. I now do contract work for several major companies (Pfizer, Bellsouth/At&T), I get paid per file and it is the best job I've ever had in my life. I had always heard about these mystical stay at home jobs that pay well, and now I'm proud to say that they do exist if you have strong typing skills (I can type well over 100wpm, but the job only requires a minimum of 60wpm) and know what to look for.

Once I invested in a decent keyboard, I started advertising on Craigslist as a freelance transcriptionist, and have had a few decent bites. I will also transcribe the occasional audio interview for guys like my buddy Keith Whitener, and I'm always open to help anyone who needs something typed quickly for a reasonable price!

[angryrobot]

Nadsat, can't you use living at home to your advantage? Go become an intern and work for free at some newspaper or magazine just to network. I know 24 seems incredibly old to you but it's not. Your twenties should be a decade of experimentation and attempts to find out what you really want to be in life. The fact that you can still live at home gives you opportunities that your friends cannot afford. When I was your age I desperately wanted to move out of my house and I remember I had an opportunity to work as an intern at an obscure cable network called the Comedy Channel which at the time was in talks to merge with the Ha! channel. I too had friends who had apartments, jobs and discretionary income and I wanted in. So I eschewed the intern job for a salary. Who knows, that road could have led me down a path of underemployment and frustration - I have a bunch of friends who 15 years later still haven't established themselves in their chosen field. But if I had the chance to do it all over again I think I would have taken the intern position. I make decent money now but my work life is devoid of passion and that's just no way to spend such a huge chunk of your day.

[nadsat droog]

Nadsat, can't you use living at home to your advantage? Go become an intern and work for free at some newspaper or magazine just to network. I know 24 seems incredibly old to you but it's not. Your twenties should be a decade of experimentation and attempts to find out what you really want to be in life. The fact that you can still live at home gives you opportunities that your friends cannot afford.

The fact that I owe tens of thousands of dollars on a couple different loans doesn't allow me much freedom.

[Manboobs Crackerbag]

I work event security/command post for various venues in and around Columbus, OH. I am writing this very post from high above the Nationwide Arena where the Jonas Brothers are playing. I am currently suicidal.

[karyrogers]

I'm a UNIX and network admin and would like to relocate from Mississippi to NYC. I've applied for somewhere between 15 and 20 jobs in the last couple of weeks. The only one that has gone anywhere so far was a personal referral that I got because of me asking for job leads on twitter. If anybody knows anybody in the IT field in NY, I would like to talk to you. I'm not in a position to help anybody out at the moment unless they're looking for a job in MS or maybe Alabama.

Manboobs, don't die.

[Keith Whitener]

You know, ILIS, I've never actually tried using the writer's market to find gigs. I will give it a shot! I'll post back when I see how this plays out.

[Finnegan TG]

try indeed.com

it consolidates a bunch of job search sites. craigslist isn't one of them though, so make sure you go to that one directly.

nadsat, i think you should at least try that sales job. you might like it and/or it might lead to something else.

my story: i hated my roommate one year in college. i took a shitty part-time internship during the school year just so I could stay busy and avoid him. i hated the internship. it was at an advertising agency and i had zero interest in advertising. i still hate advertising BUT that internship on my resume helped me get a really great internship a year later, which then lead to a pretty great job. the second internship had nothing to do with the previous one. it just looked okay on a resume and gave me something to talk about during the interview.

doing something is better than not doing something.