Full Disclosure: I CAN'T Get a Job

[Proudiddy]

I think your biggest problem is that you are stalling.

Your background will seem a bit dicey if there are tremendous holes in it. I also sense a bit of entitlement in your post. The truth is, you are not entitled to anything because you have a degree. Also, although you may think you are "killing it" in your interviews, you may want to consider the possibility that you are not doing well in those interviews.

You need to go get a job ASAP. It does not have to be something you want to do. It shows the people you are interviewing with, that you don't mind "working your way up" to get ahead.

I'm not an expert in your career field, however I am a hiring manager who looks at a few hundred resumes each month. I have hired 5 people who make six figures in the past year.

Best of luck, be humble, I'd hire someone who shows they have put in the work with lesser companies, than someone who has all the creditials but lacks a work ethic.

Idk BC, I try to be honest with myself in everything I do and I wouldn't call it entitlement. That may very well be what it is, but it's not what it feels like. It's more like, I've put in the work so all I'm asking for is a little kickback - which isn't necessarily the best approach either.

Man, prior to college, I worked so many jobs I can't even count, literally. It probably is well over 20. Some I don't even remember. One example: I worked with a landscaper for two entire days. I had just moved in with my uncle down in Greenville, SC due to some family issues. He said they knew them through their church and they sent me off with them... I was 18. I spend the entire first day weed eating a commercial lot in the heat of mid-summer - no hat or anything. I get sunburned. They pick me up the next day, I ride off with them, and they take me out to some huge office complex, walk around, tell me to pick all of the weeds by hand out of pinestraw around the huge building. I start doing it, come to find out, they say they have something else to do and leave me out there. I end up having to call my uncle to pick me up from the location because they didn't come back and I never got paid for it. They were a legit business - business cards, advertising, trucks, everything, and I was working with the owner. They never even tried to get up with me to pay me for those days. A couple weeks later, I took a job with Wendy's, I worked 3 hours. I moved back home to Fayetteville the next day, and obviously never went back. LOL.

So, I wouldn't call it a sense of entitlement. I went through the wringer man and I'm not looking to get strung along again. If you want me to come in and work my way up, I got you. No one will outwork me. But, don't tell me you're going to move me into management and then treat me like Cinderella while you sit around and shoot the breeze with my peers.

Perhaps that is a problem I have to overcome, but I feel I'm worth a little more now as a graduate from a prestigious university than I was as a high school dropout with no structured support system. I think I have a right to feel that way, but it doesn't mean it will resonate with others.

But, I think that kind of lends itself to the whole "background being dicey" thing. When you've spent your life working dead-end, menial paying jobs, what are you going to talk about in an interview with a private financial services firm? "This one time, I got an 'Outstanding Team Player' certificate at Home Depot because I came in when it wasn't my shift and emptied out all the trash in 5 minutes." So, in regards to the interviews now, you're right... In the professional ones, there's no doubt in my mind that I'm not "killing it" because I'm lacking experience, so I can't really speak on specific questions they ask me regarding what I've already done.

As far as retail jobs, I KNOW I'm killing it, but when they're looking to hire someone for $8.50 and see I'm asking for $14 at the least, then I'm pretty sure that "kills" the interview for them.

I'm humble, but I'm smart, I work hard, and I know my worth. Too often, people are looking to take advantage of others and perhaps I'm over vigilant and it comes off as brash to some. I don't know...

[Proudiddy]

Far and away your best asset and/or enemy is yourself. I can relate to wanting to hold true to the values that you're vested in while it can be at odds with what makes someone fiscally successful. The end of the day will come down to what do you want, and what are you willing to do to get there. You are in the enviable position of having the intellect and ethic to get you where you want to be. What you lack is perspective and I think you've done yourself a favor by trying to get some from some good people here. All of the advice is good and the sentiment appears to be genuine.

Thank you buddy. Greatly appreciated and well put.

[Proudiddy]

AND TO EVERYONE that has or will respond to this thread, I truly thank you and appreciate it. It really does mean a lot. I've kind of been sitting on this for a few months now and don't want to put it on Facebook at the risk of coming off as a complete trainwreck and failure - which I'm okay with on the Huddle, LOL. So, to have all of you giving me meaningful advice and feedback... It's awesome. It IS like the old Huddle. And I do take heed and analyze each and every thing you guys have suggested.

Thanks again.

[Delhommey]

I was a hiring manager for a bit, and even now I have some say in who we hire in my current company there's one trend I keep seeing: Younger people seem to see a college degree as a job coupon, redeemable at their local company for one free job.

If you can't find a place where you can redeem that one? Well just go get a bigger coupon (M.B.A. or other advance degree).

When I was hiring there were certain skills that were necessary (you had to be outgoing as it was sales) but the big thing I wanted proof you were going to be bright and work hard and not call in every other Monday.

The big thing is figure out what you do that you enjoy doing, and figure out how to make that into a living. That may involve slogging at $8.50 /hr. When I realized I was in a field/company that was going nowhere, I jumped and took a 25% pay cut. 2 years later, I've made all that back up and plenty more, all while being in a field that I can walk out my front door, take a right, and find a new job. It's also one I (usually) love doing.

Granted, I'm in a much better job market than most people, but still. No, you can't toil away at meaningless jobs for no reason but you'll need to pay bills in the meantime. And that may mean taking a wage lower than you'd like. Nothing is better than something.

However, to get into a field that you want to get into, you'll probably have to take less than you want. As far as a college degree, they're nice to have, but they only mean so much in the end. My boss and my boss's boss have a HS degree and a technical degree from DeVry respectively. And this is in a very technical, very data driven industry (SEO/SEM). They managed, like so many in the tech industry, to be very bright and get into a growing industry early.

Figure out what you want, and do whatever's necessarily to get it. It's that simple, but extremely difficult to do.

[Crixtala]

I didn't even go to college but I'm working at sales at Gander Mountain and I'm rolling in the dough

i'm gonna need that hookup. thanks

[DC Amp]

come work at dish. you start off at $14.5/hr. paid training. Only qualifications is good driving record, HS diploma/ged, and can lift 100 pounds. You will work 4 days a week, normally about 11 hrs a day. full benefits and $70 credit per month to go toward your dish tv bill. you can earn up to a $200 bonus each check based on your productivity. There are many other perks such as discounts on cell phone etc. I receive an 18% discount with sprint for being a dish employee. Dish is always hiring and the office is located off of Tyvola in charlotte. you can go here to apply. http://careers.dish.com/

I gave you rep to offset a neg someone left, My question is why in the hell would anyone neg someone trying to help? This kind of attitude is why I don't come here much anymore.

Dish is a good way to make some decent money but you do have to be on your toes to get the jobs knocked out. The bonuses are easy to get if you just do your jobs and keep your numbers up.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

i'm gonna need that hookup. thanks

there are 3 stores opening in the area. They are hiring all positions like crazy right now. Just go to the website and apply. base pay + commission

[TheRumGone]

I was fortunate enough to get a job in college that paid 13 bucks an hour/40 hours a week for a fortune 500 company. It was warehouse work, but it allowed me to go out with my friends, buy everyone drinks, and spend money the way most college students dream about. I worked my ass off at the job, became friends with the management and propelled myself to assistant manager by my senior year. When I graduated, i worked there for a little less than a year learning as much as a possibly could about how the company is run inside and out and how to manage people. I was offered a ridiculous salary for someone right out of college in a city up North. I managed one section of the Second largest warehouse in North America. Managing 40 people at a time, fast paced, in a very holistic manner (if that makes sense). I was living it big, living in a large city with an apartment downtown (for a 23 year old I thought this was the dream), but I wasn't happy. I didn't enjoy what I was doing, and I was stressed out all the time. City life was awesome, but I couldn't really enjoy it with the amount of stress that job put me through.

So I quit. I told my bosses that my heart wasn't in it anymore, and that i didn't want to lead this life. I wanted something more fufilling. We have one life to live, why waste your time? They respected me for coming up to them and expressing myself that way, and both wrote me letters of recommendations and wished me well on my future endeavors.

Now I'm living in the mountains in a cabin, working contractor work with a family members company, and enjoying every second of my life. I've saved enough money that I am planning a cross country trip out to where I grew up with plans of emerging myself in the city and finding what the hell i want to do with my life. I'm excited and nervous but I wouldn't have it any other way. This was the best decision I could have possibly made.

With that said, I know you have a wife and kids to think about, but it's all about finding a balance between what you want to do and what you can take. I'm fortunate to be at an age where I can do this, but hopefully this gives you some support for following your dreams, following what you are passionate about and never letting anybody tell you what you can or can't do.

[Crixtala]

there are 3 stores opening in the area. They are hiring all positions like crazy right now. Just go to the website and apply. base pay + commission

i meant that employee discount, but nice to know there's three more opening... i hate driving all the way up to mooresville

[R0CKnR0LLA]

come work at dish. you start off at $14.5/hr. paid training. Only qualifications is good driving record, HS diploma/ged, and can lift 100 pounds. You will work 4 days a week, normally about 11 hrs a day. full benefits and $70 credit per month to go toward your dish tv bill. you can earn up to a $200 bonus each check based on your productivity. There are many other perks such as discounts on cell phone etc. I receive an 18% discount with sprint for being a dish employee. Dish is always hiring and the office is located off of Tyvola in charlotte. you can go here to apply. http://careers.dish.com/

Just curious, what do you have to lift that's 100 pounds working there?

[chknwing]

nothing 100 pounds per say but we lift ladders, spools of cable daily as well as bags of concrete and cement blocks for temporary mounts. also some dishes are quite heavy.

[Hotsauce]

Idk BC, I try to be honest with myself in everything I do and I wouldn't call it entitlement. That may very well be what it is, but it's not what it feels like. It's more like, I've put in the work so all I'm asking for is a little kickback - which isn't necessarily the best approach either.

Man, prior to college, I worked so many jobs I can't even count, literally. It probably is well over 20. Some I don't even remember. One example: I worked with a landscaper for two entire days. I had just moved in with my uncle down in Greenville, SC due to some family issues. He said they knew them through their church and they sent me off with them... I was 18. I spend the entire first day weed eating a commercial lot in the heat of mid-summer - no hat or anything. I get sunburned. They pick me up the next day, I ride off with them, and they take me out to some huge office complex, walk around, tell me to pick all of the weeds by hand out of pinestraw around the huge building. I start doing it, come to find out, they say they have something else to do and leave me out there. I end up having to call my uncle to pick me up from the location because they didn't come back and I never got paid for it. They were a legit business - business cards, advertising, trucks, everything, and I was working with the owner. They never even tried to get up with me to pay me for those days. A couple weeks later, I took a job with Wendy's, I worked 3 hours. I moved back home to Fayetteville the next day, and obviously never went back. LOL.

So, I wouldn't call it a sense of entitlement. I went through the wringer man and I'm not looking to get strung along again. If you want me to come in and work my way up, I got you. No one will outwork me. But, don't tell me you're going to move me into management and then treat me like Cinderella while you sit around and shoot the breeze with my peers.

Perhaps that is a problem I have to overcome, but I feel I'm worth a little more now as a graduate from a prestigious university than I was as a high school dropout with no structured support system. I think I have a right to feel that way, but it doesn't mean it will resonate with others.

But, I think that kind of lends itself to the whole "background being dicey" thing. When you've spent your life working dead-end, menial paying jobs, what are you going to talk about in an interview with a private financial services firm? "This one time, I got an 'Outstanding Team Player' certificate at Home Depot because I came in when it wasn't my shift and emptied out all the trash in 5 minutes." So, in regards to the interviews now, you're right... In the professional ones, there's no doubt in my mind that I'm not "killing it" because I'm lacking experience, so I can't really speak on specific questions they ask me regarding what I've already done.

As far as retail jobs, I KNOW I'm killing it, but when they're looking to hire someone for $8.50 and see I'm asking for $14 at the least, then I'm pretty sure that "kills" the interview for them.

I'm humble, but I'm smart, I work hard, and I know my worth. Too often, people are looking to take advantage of others and perhaps I'm over vigilant and it comes off as brash to some. I don't know...

Nothing about anything you just said makes you sound "humble", i hope you realize this. It almost sounds like you are proud of the fact that you have worked over 20 jobs....if someone seriously said to me in an interview they "have worked for over 20 companies....3 hours here, and 2 days there", I would never hire them. Also, no one cares that you have worked hard elsewhere. Obviously you didn't succeed in that system, otherwise you would have stayed with a company, and moved up in the ranks.

I'm really not trying to sound like a dick, and am honestly trying to give you sound advise. I know it may not be what you want to hear, but you started this thread.

[Cyberjag]

So basically, read Zod's threads to get an idea of how much you need to work at it, and Delhommey's to get an idea of the importance of choosing the right career. I could bore you with my own personal experiences, but they've already hit the high points.

Want to write for a living? Then write, and keep writing until someone pays you for it. Want to take pictures? Ditto. Like building stuff? Go build and work your ass off--you'll get paid well eventually. Go restore cars. And in the meantime, take a shit job that you hate but which will pay the bills in the interim.

Education used to be a genuine ticket, but that's because it served two purposes. First, it actually trained you well in various disciplines. Second, it was a marker for the more ambitious and intelligent people out there. Now, everyone and his brother have a BA, and getting an Masters in anything has been cheapened to the point where if you don't go to a top school, all you've accomplished is gaining an ego boost and a piece of paper.

Figure out what you want to do, and go do it. And do it CONSTANTLY, until you're so unbelievably good at it that someone decides to pay you to do it for them. It's really that simple.

[Cyberjag]

BTW, I had a series of truly terrible jobs in the early 80s, until I turned a hobby into a job that paid for college. And then in the 90s, I again went through some crap work to get the experience I needed to actually get into my chosen field. Five years ago I made a huge shift in what I was doing, one that came with a 30% pay cut. Now I enjoy more success than I've ever had. It's all about hard work and patience.

Get some. :)