Full Disclosure: I CAN'T Get a Job

[chknwing]

Is there an age minimum? I didn't see anything on the site.

I believe its 18.

[Davidson Deac II]

Have you tried a temp agency. If you find the right one, sometimes they can lead into permanent positions.

[Cyberjag]

Don't put anything on Facebook!!

Don't say that! Do you have any idea how well Facebook and Twitter do at helping me weed out the undesirables? I need that, otherwise I would have to pay more attention when I interview people!

The best hire I've made in the last year was a guy who had a blog where he generally railed against big software and big companies. Of course, I work for a big company. I read the entire thing before I interviewed him, and I think he broke out in a sweat when I told him that I had gone through it (he was surprised I found it). I told him it was one of the reasons I hired him, we need people who think like that in our area.

Don't be afraid to write and publish on-line. But if you do, make sure you write well. Check out Susannah Breslin's blog on freelancing at Forbes (http://www.forbes.co...usannahbreslin/) for some decent tips.

If you're into it, the online world is full of weird opportunities that don't necessarily require a particular degree or any experience. You just have to be creative enough, and hard working enough to find/make them.

[Zod]

I'd say create a public facebook and a private facebook account.

[Delhommey]

See, now this I disagree with. No job worth having is going to consider a job at a grocery store viable experience on anyone's resume. I don't think there are many recent college graduates out there these days that haven't hit this brick wall about a thousand times.

Everyone wants experience but nobody wants to give someone an opportunity to gain that experience. It'd sure as hell help if there weren't so many experienced workers out there also looking for work due to the poor economy.

No one is going to give you anything unless they owe your family a favor.

And as far as the job market, if you're young and single and living in a bad market, move to where it's good.

[Catalyst]

Is it really THAT good anywhere?

[TheRumGone]

eternal pie for this post

haha thanks man. I'm also lucky that my family backs me up 100%. Doing something that is viewed as extreme given the economic climate of this country and all that.

[Delhommey]

Is it really THAT good anywhere?

Unemployment for TX is 6.3%. 4.5% for Austin.

There are other pockets as well, mainly in the West and Midwest.

[Hawk]

great thread and thanks everyone for reminding me that pieces of what the huddle used to be still actually exist!!!

lots of great feedback in this thread.

From my perspective it doesn't sound like you truly 100% know what you really want to do. I'm 45 and there's plenty of days that I don't either, so it's all good!!

Figure that out first and then in my opinion, read post #9 over and over and over until you know it, love it, live it. Lots of great ideas in here, but it all starts at #9 in my opinion.

Good luck...

[TheRumGone]

Unemployment for TX is 6.3%. 4.5% for Austin.

There are other pockets as well, mainly in the West and Midwest.

Yea i've heard Midland TX pays like 25 bucks an hour for gas station attendants because its so desolate they have a really hard time finding people to work. I know Midland is a poo place, but there are places to find work.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

College Graduate Pride-Entitlement: it is a regretful thing that will allow one's arrogance ruin opportunities to open doors later.

After I graduated i went to some career agency and after an assessment was told to look for jobs that paid no less the 50,000.00.

I had an interview with a huge industrial site in Lake City, SC and was offered a HR Supervisor position that paid for relocation, 42,000.00 starting salary. In my arrogance, turned it down bc it was in SC(eww) and paid less than 50(im stupid)....i was fighting for 30,000.00 jobs the rest of the time job hunting and went nowhere and finally had to take a position as an "Executive Trainee" with Belk....which meant folding panties on a table for 14 hrs a day. It sucked...and I have paid the price since retail is awful work no matter the pay or title.

I understand the point of seeing a job like Enterprise as a clean cars and toilets in a suit but it is a fantastic place to build a resume' if you look at medical sales companies they love experience at such a training ground. Simple jobs that pay 70-120,000 in that indusrty and all you had to do was vacume some cars for 2 years is well worth it.

I attended a job fair and Enterprise was at my College and I uttered the same words under my breath..im not cleaning a car in a suit! Lol

I have tons of friends who worked at Enterprise and now are VPs of Credit Unions, own Home Healtcare Franchises..or have lucrative sales jobs where they work about 25-30 hrs a week and make 125,000 + a year.

A really good place to work is Cintas(another pay your dues type job). Its a huge resume highlight as recruiters always light up when seeing someone with job experience there. As a sort of sheltered kid my experience there exposed me to different industries and businesses. I understood how the economy works a lot better dealing with fortune 500 corporations, state and federal govt to mom n pop diners-bars.

If anyone knows Cintas, The Uniform People it is a cultish corp culture (which will wear on you pretty quick) but im in an interview process with a great company and my huge in(as told to me several times) is my experience with Cintas.

With that said if I just took my first opportunity and was more yeilding to jobs that were seemingly beneath me early on I would not be still looking for a company I would be a "good fit" in today...id be a lot higher on the food chain no doubt.

[Proudiddy]

Man, thank you all so much. So much good advice and this thread has gotten so real and personable, I don't want it to end. I love you guys.

I kind of came to my conclusion yesterday after reading through and when my wife got home, we sat down and talked about it for over an hour. I gave her a lot of the examples you guys gave me here and what I'm looking at now.

My whole life, I've prided myself on self-evaluation. If I was doing something detrimental to my improvement, I had to fix it immediately, no matter how hard it was. But, for whatever reason, I have just kind of sat in this funk and just brewed this embittered attitude after college and it kind of leaked over into "SOMEONE DOES OWE ME SOMETHING, I DON'T HAVE TO PROVE MYSELF ANYMORE." And I felt like I was justified in feeling that way. Reading everything you guys have offered here, I realized differently.

At the very least, I have the framework set up for how to attack the future now from this conversation. These are the sticking points for me:

1) I really did not know what I wanted to do. Or, I did, but allowed negative connotations to keep me from pursuing them. Like I told my wife, it felt like the lawyer stuff and I KNOW the engineering ideas were things I thought might be cool, but really because of how it sounded to others. If you don't have an 80k job right out of college, all those people around you that didn't go to college get to critique you and that apparently meant too much to me. Now, I realize I wanted to pursue my creative interests fully as a career - my ultimate goal, and it's okay to admit that and not sound like some immature, childish fool. You can still dream when you're almost 30. I just have to have a plan, and regardless of my starting point, a job is my vehicle to get there.

2) More degrees aren't the answer. Several of you said it, and that really hit me over and over again. Every time I started to open a nice paying opportunity for college grads, about 75% or more of them end up having the caveat "ideal candidate must have 5+ years experience in field." So, I HAVE to start somewhere first, keep my eyes on my ultimate goal, and gain that experience and develop more skills along the way. This was particularly powerful for me guys and gals... It's so easy, but I was stuck in my own thinking. You don't have to go back to school to get training. I have to get in somewhere and get my hands dirty. If I eventually want to go back just for personal enrichment, for an intrinsic reason, sure. But, not with the idea that I have to in order to gain employment. There are faster, cheaper ways to make myself more employable.

3) This kind of ties it all in together and I've already said it in the first two points, but it's okay to be deliberate in choosing an opportunity in regards to money - but as many of you said, something is better than nothing. I was telling my wife that I didn't think staying home with the kids was hurtful in the interviewing process, but it certainly isn't helping because there's nothing an employer can discern as useful for them in my time staying home. It's basically just an unemployment gap to them. So, I'm stepping my game up and being more considerate of the entire picture. I'm looking for the opportunities and broadening my horizons, and by doing so, I know I will gain relatable experience to use in future opportunities and inspiration for my creative pursuits as well.

This thread was like my virtual information superhighway moment of clarity. Thank you all.

[TheRumGone]

Man, thank you all so much. So much good advice and this thread has gotten so real and personable, I don't want it to end. I love you guys.

I kind of came to my conclusion yesterday after reading through and when my wife got home, we sat down and talked about it for over an hour. I gave her a lot of the examples you guys gave me here and what I'm looking at now.

My whole life, I've prided myself on self-evaluation. If I was doing something detrimental to my improvement, I had to fix it immediately, no matter how hard it was. But, for whatever reason, I have just kind of sat in this funk and just brewed this embittered attitude after college and it kind of leaked over into "SOMEONE DOES OWE ME SOMETHING, I DON'T HAVE TO PROVE MYSELF ANYMORE." And I felt like I was justified in feeling that way. Reading everything you guys have offered here, I realized differently.

At the very least, I have the framework set up for how to attack the future now from this conversation. These are the sticking points for me:

1) I really did not know what I wanted to do. Or, I did, but allowed negative connotations to keep me from pursuing them. Like I told my wife, it felt like the lawyer stuff and I KNOW the engineering ideas were things I thought might be cool, but really because of how it sounded to others. If you don't have an 80k job right out of college, all those people around you that didn't go to college get to critique you and that apparently meant too much to me. Now, I realize I wanted to pursue my creative interests fully as a career - my ultimate goal, and it's okay to admit that and not sound like some immature, childish fool. You can still dream when you're almost 30. I just have to have a plan, and regardless of my starting point, a job is my vehicle to get there.

2) More degrees aren't the answer. Several of you said it, and that really hit me over and over again. Every time I started to open a nice paying opportunity for college grads, about 75% or more of them end up having the caveat "ideal candidate must have 5+ years experience in field." So, I HAVE to start somewhere first, keep my eyes on my ultimate goal, and gain that experience and develop more skills along the way. This was particularly powerful for me guys and gals... It's so easy, but I was stuck in my own thinking. You don't have to go back to school to get training. I have to get in somewhere and get my hands dirty. If I eventually want to go back just for personal enrichment, for an intrinsic reason, sure. But, not with the idea that I have to in order to gain employment. There are faster, cheaper ways to make myself more employable.

3) This kind of ties it all in together and I've already said it in the first two points, but it's okay to be deliberate in choosing an opportunity in regards to money - but as many of you said, something is better than nothing. I was telling my wife that I didn't think staying home with the kids was hurtful in the interviewing process, but it certainly isn't helping because there's nothing an employer can discern as useful for them in my time staying home. It's basically just an unemployment gap to them. So, I'm stepping my game up and being more considerate of the entire picture. I'm looking for the opportunities and broadening my horizons, and by doing so, I know I will gain relatable experience to use in future opportunities and inspiration for my creative pursuits as well.

This thread was like my virtual information superhighway moment of clarity. Thank you all.

Awesome man, my last advice is to strive everyday to be happy about what you are doing and where you are going and that actions speak louder than words. Good luck man.

[Hawk]

you can always come to Alberta and get a job in the patch and by the end of the week be earning 6 figures that won't start with a 1 depending on where you want to live!!!!