Zoe
Member
Was the company paying his taxes?
$25 is plenty to live on if you're single. I started at half that and did fine.
anyone else unemployed?
- Thread starter MPW
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Was the company paying his taxes?
$25 is plenty to live on if you're single. I started at half that and did fine.
MrPink93485
Member
So, I live in Houston with my parents right now, having graduated back in May and I've been doing nothing but sending online job applications in my career search. I don't have a car, and my parents work pretty much all day. Anyways, it clearly hasn't been working out so far, though I hadn't been sending out too many applications until the past couple weeks, but any suggestions on new approaches to trying to find something with the limited means that I have? Graduated with an Econ degree, did fine in school, 3.65 GPA, an internship and a job while at school, but out of some 25 jobs I've applied at, I've had one interview, and maybe two call backs, but my parents are getting all kinds of crazy ideas, that are causing me to feel the pressure to find something now.
25 jobs is barely a pin drop in the job market. Keep applying and keep searching for jobs. Try variations on the exact job you want, and so on and so forth. Odds are you're going to have to start out somewhere that may not be related to your degree, so you'll have to step up your game.
Zoe
Member
No, depending on your employment status, some companies will pay you more while not paying your taxes. Of course he would be a contractor in that case, but that's the only situation where I've seen pay go down after going full time.
MrPink93485
Member
Yeah I figured I haven't really sent out enough, trying to make an ultimatum of sending out at least a couple a day. I just feel like using the internet solely for jobs isn't really scraping the surface of what's probably out there. Also I think what's getting to me now is that my parents are completely overreacting and thinking I need to go back to school and stuff like that to attain a job whereas, I'm thinking it's just it's a rough market for graduates, and you gotta keep trudging until something comes along.
A big problem? Really? There are a lot of different people out there with a lot of different circumstances.
The local economy is great. What part do you live in and what sort of jobs are you applying to?
The Mana Legend
Banned
Fuck yes I would. I would be happy with $17 an hour. As long as my fiance and I made approximately $60000 a year combined, I would be 100% happy since we don't waste our money like every other day family in the country.
What the fuck am I reading.
MrPink93485
Member
I live in North Houston (by Spring). Been trying to apply to data analyst type positions and some basic IT (I did IT throughout college).
I'm American, so my educational system never prepared me for recognizing that symbol...and Google doesn't either. What is it?
Unknown Fighter Type II
Member
I recently left my banking job of 4 yrs to move to Jersey. It was stable and payed the bills, but it was long hours, stress and overtime. I didn't go to school for banking or anything related.
Currently unemployed.. sister has a house so no expenses to worry about. I plan to take It easy for a few months, then job hunt at the beginning of 2013.
On a related note, its by no means easy, and obviously requires some business savy and/or patience to gut it out....anyone consider starting their own business? Nothing like creating your own job. With so many unemployed, theres certainly a lot of talent out there hungry for anything.
Currently unemployed.. sister has a house so no expenses to worry about. I plan to take It easy for a few months, then job hunt at the beginning of 2013.
On a related note, its by no means easy, and obviously requires some business savy and/or patience to gut it out....anyone consider starting their own business? Nothing like creating your own job. With so many unemployed, theres certainly a lot of talent out there hungry for anything.
Ein Soph Aur
Member
Euro
perfectchaos007
Member
The Euro had such a great potential to overtake the USD as a defacto world currency, but then Greece, Spain, Italy etc. happened.
Joel Was Right
Member
Just missed two calls from UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Ugh, fuck them. Why block your number?
Ugh, fuck them. Why block your number?
Cpt.Underpants
Member
Just applied for an IT apprenticeship 5 days ago haven't heard from them since
Sigh*
Sigh*
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Good luck to everyone. I was in your shoes for 6 months. If I would have known about this thread, I would have posted too.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
wtf did I just walk into with this thread. 25 an hour is nearing crazy money.
How do these sentences fit together. You'd be fine with what is much higher than the median family income because you don't waste your money? Well... I'd hope so, since you'd be richer than 60% of the families in the country.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
I would be fine with minimum wage
Depends where you are in life. Single with roommates? Sure. I work as a bartender sometimes right now, and I make $20-$25 an hour (depending on how good the tips are) and it's not as much as you think.
Not really. It's only 48k a year before taxes. I make just a little under that and it's not like I'm rolling in dough.
TheyTookOurJobs
Member
I'm set up so I can live on $8 an hour. Car paid off, house paid off, no kids, etc.
$25/hr for 40hr/wk 52 weeks would be $52k. That's decent money. Even if you max out your 401k contribution, you'd still probably make somewhere around $2000 per month after tax.
Hey guys maybe this will help some people out. I work at Boeing now, but I used to be a Best Buy Mobile Manager. The managers at Best Buy do all of their own hiring and it is not handled by HR. They look up a list of potential applicants and usually call 3 or 4 or more of the more qualified people for interviews. (you would be surprised how many people are incapable of filling out a basic application online, or use stupid email handles like sexygurlz89). The online applicant list can be pretty grim at times. Now, we were not always hiring, so you could be a perfect potential employee, but no one would have ever even looked at your application. The managers only went in there when we had to hire.
For people who are desperate for work, what I would recommend is to find out the name of the sales manager and visit them in person. Dress sharp, bring your resume, and try to impress them with your knowledge. I actually did hire a couple of people who came in, found out who I was, and managed to track me down. I was impressed by their dedication and willingness to go the extra step. Now, not all managers will like that, but I think it is worth a try for people who really need work and are tired of not getting results. Best Buy Mobile sales associates usually got paid 10-12 bucks an hour and they qualify for up to 30% bonuses every month.
For people who are desperate for work, what I would recommend is to find out the name of the sales manager and visit them in person. Dress sharp, bring your resume, and try to impress them with your knowledge. I actually did hire a couple of people who came in, found out who I was, and managed to track me down. I was impressed by their dedication and willingness to go the extra step. Now, not all managers will like that, but I think it is worth a try for people who really need work and are tired of not getting results. Best Buy Mobile sales associates usually got paid 10-12 bucks an hour and they qualify for up to 30% bonuses every month.
even if you were supporting a wife/gf, $25hr is really good in almost any part of the U.S. It is very easy to live comfortably on that provided you're not a goddamn idiot. you also don't have to live like a miser.
mugurumakensei
Member
Ah, after I graduated college, it was almost a year before I got a job. Sometimes, you just have to keep on moving and hope for the best.
virtuoso88
Member
$3000 a month after taxes.
For a single person that's really freakishly good, at least in a lot of the country. That's probably higher than 50% of the country for a household income. If you get a wife or girlfriend even doing part time you should be beyond fine. If they're doing full time too even at minimum wage and you'd be set for life. If I was making $25 an hour I'd be happy as hell. I can't even imagine that kind of money. I actually had an interview a bit back where I had a decent chance at it and they said they'd be paying me 45-50k per year and the wife and I sat down and just couldn't fathom that kind of money.
I make 24 an hour and while i typically don't have money issues, actually saving money as a single guy on his own in South Florida is somewhat difficult, and a slow process. It is getting even more difficult too as the whole area seems intent on housing exclusively the rich or some shit. Prices are going up everywhere. I just got notice today that my rent is going up 100$ on the next cycle. Rent has been going up constantly every year. The lowest i can find around here is 800$ and that is in less than great areas. I'm up to 1070 for a 1x1 and that's before power.
Point being, even "decent" money is being systematically exterminated these days. I honestly don't know how anyone is fucking living anymore with the way wages have been stagnating and prices increasing everywhere. Its ridiculous. You're either wealthy or struggling. I've made it a point today to go on strict spending cuts. Keep things minimal and try to save more. My job isn't looking too hot for the future. But before you know im probably gonna end up dishing out hundreds for some other unexpected expense. I got a car repair soon and have to renew renters insurance. That's like 600$ right there between the two.
I dont mean to complain in the unemployed thread, im not saying im having hard times, Im just saying even when things should be fantastic they actually arent and its pretty scary thought to see where we will be in a few years. Im sensing a lot of unrest coming.
Yeah, I'm single, live alone, no kids, pets, wife, girlfriend, etc. I do well enough where I can afford to spend a bit haphazardly. I figure I won't be up to $25/hour for another year or two, though.
Where you live makes a big difference, however. I'm in upstate NY and taxes here suck. I miss living in Nevada with no state tax - those days were nice. I'm only bringing in $1,268 every two weeks right now after taxes, insurance (automatic deduction) and so on are all leeched out of me.
perfectchaos007
Member
After ~ 30 apps, I finally have an interview this Wednesday for a paid internship. Paid is the important part because I've done over 400 hours of unpaid internship labor and i can't keep taking up unpaid work.
Aesius
Member
Damn dude. I make 36k a year and bring home only $100 less than that every two weeks. Then again, I live in TN which has no state sales tax. Plus, my insurance is dirt cheap.
youngwerther
Banned
It's not cheap to live in NY (any part of it) which is one reason I'm considering moving to like... Columbus, Ohio or something. Some place that's cool, but also cheap to live. I do have the advantage of working from home so I don't need to worry about traveling to/from work, eating out, or gas prices. at least. I would like to put more of my pay check in my pocket, however.
Edit: I gross 43,333.42 each year and actually bring in 32,374.94 after federal, state, social security, and medical/dental/vision insurance are taken out (my company pays for half of the total cost and I pay the other half).
I would like to, you know, have less of my money taken out of me. The worst part is last year I ended up having to pay federal $8.00 after they were taking $154.00 out of me every two weeks. Fucking hell.
youngwerther
Banned
lol.
A long running unemployment thread and you come in to post about how $48,000 a year isn't really that good.
Classic.
Edit: ^ oh, it gets better, you work from home. Keep trudging along soldier.
Ah, I figured this would come eventually. I've come across job openings at my employer and posted them several times in this thread, as well as offered advice to others. We don't really have any other thread to talk about employment on GAF and I like helping people out as well as discussing the various aspects of employment/unemployment as I've been on both sides of the fence. I'm certainly not the only one in here that is currently employed either.
youngwerther
Banned
Well, if you want to get all quantitative, imagine the number of people you've helped versus the number of people you've made feel like shit.
I mean seriously, 48K a year not that good?
You simply can't justify that in an unemployment thread. Sorry.
I mean seriously, 48K a year not that good?
You simply can't justify that in an unemployment thread. Sorry.
If you gross 48k it's really not that much. If you actually net 48k, then sure it's pretty nice. You have to take into consideration the geographical location and the actual living expenses in the area on top of any personal debt or expenses you may have. If I lived in LA, for example, I'd need to make $55,000 per year just to maintain my current standard of living. Minimum wage in most states isn't enough for people to actually live on, in an apartment on their own, without roommates or anything of the sort. The minimum I can make to support myself is $13.65 an hour - and that's with 0 savings, just barely scraping by. You're right that 48k gross or net is definitely better than nothing, but it's certainly not a lot by today's standards.
A lot of people that are unemployed are generally going for the service industry - i.e. cooks, waiters/waitresses, customer service representatives, manual labor, warehouse workers, and so on and so forth. There's a lot of competition in the unskilled jobs category from both people that don't have degrees/training for specific jobs and those that can't find jobs in their actual career fields of choice. It's completely saturated and it's a no brainer as to why people struggle to get employment. If you develop a skill that's truly needed it tends to be more difficult for your position to be eliminated or for you to be let go - while people that deliver pizza or push carts at a grocery store are a dime a dozen.
I was unemployed in college and I was living off ramen and pepsi. Or, when I could afford it, I'd buy a package of chicken and/or sausage, freeze them and then eat literally nothing but a chicken breast or sausage link each day. I was scraping together money off writing generic knowledgebase articles for web hosting companies and selling them online. I actually had to move in with my grandmother for a while and I hated every minute of it - I was living in a basement and got to listen to mice scrabbling under my bed at night. Setting up mouse traps didn't help because they'd get caught at 2 am and I'd be woken up by a half dead mouse flopping around on the floor.
So, yeah, I've been in the same situation as a lot of the people here - no job, no money, and when I was employed it was some place shitty like a grocery store pushing carts or at a CVS. If you feel like shit because I've worked my way up to what I have now, then get creative and do something about it. The position I have now I'm 100% self-taught - no degree, no certifications, though I do plan on going to get my degree within the next couple of years.
Like I said, I've been unemployed, missed rent, had late payments, couldn't sleep at night because I was so stressed out over how I was going to make the next payment on my car, and suffered through several months of overdraft hell where I kept ending up $400 or so negative on my bank account in overages and fees, would barely make it back to positive only to be negative again when the next bill came in.
And here I am now, mildly successful and just over 2 years into an industry I love. We tend to have multiple parties having discussions in this thread - those that are employed and those that are unemployed. I see no real issues with it, personally, as I rarely talk about myself and spend most of my time in this thread trying to give advice based on my own experiences and help other people out, or to post up job openings at my employer when they're available in the hopes that I can get a gaffer a job. So don't act like I don't know what it's like to be in their shoes.
I'm making just above minimum now, working in the same goddamned mall I got my first part time job at TWELVE years ago. One degree and postgrad diploma later. It's very humbling and embarrassing, but it's a stepping stone while I keep looking for that vital career job.
And finally, it's something stable again. Feels good to be going somewhere and working every day again, even if it's retail. The trick now will be to maintain focus and energy for the job search when I'm not working, or I'll risk falling into the trap of getting comfortable here. As comfortable as I could be on this pay, anyway.
Sending good vibes to everyone in here. Take whatever you can get in this blasted job market, and keep looking for better!
And finally, it's something stable again. Feels good to be going somewhere and working every day again, even if it's retail. The trick now will be to maintain focus and energy for the job search when I'm not working, or I'll risk falling into the trap of getting comfortable here. As comfortable as I could be on this pay, anyway.
Sending good vibes to everyone in here. Take whatever you can get in this blasted job market, and keep looking for better!
virtuoso88
Member
Any tech savy people in here going to school at the University of Utah and need a job? pm me.
MisterLuffy
Member
Sigh, I never had a job in my life which is sad because I need job experience if I want to work at other places with experiences.
What kind of job/which industry are you looking to get into? Also, you have the right idea. It's my personal opinion that you should dedicate yourself to your current job, but never get comfortable. Always look for better jobs with higher pay as many of those opportunities only come once and then they're gone forever.
How old are you? You've never been employed anywhere? You don't need experience to get a job flipping burgers or something of the sort. The jobs that require experience generally want you to have a degree relevant to the field as well, so the experience would have come from something like an internship.
Then again, there are careers that don't give a crap what kind of degree you have. When I was in the military it wasn't uncommon for a Air Force pilot to have a degree in art or something. They didn't care what kind of degree you had as long as you had a bachelors, which was required to enroll as an officer.
I've been quietly following this thread for a year since graduating college. Due to the college I was in, and my foreign status (at the time), and the personal situation I was in during that time, I graduated with zero work experience.
Even though I haven't posted at all, I felt with you guys. First few months were positive, yielding a fair amount of interviews. Then literally zero interviews for about 6 months, during which I got myself some certifications.
Then suddenly, this month, a burst of interviews. Yet nothing yielding any success. Each interview going as well as I could hope for only to be one upped by a more experienced candidate.
But finally, last week, I managed to land myself into an Application Support Engineer role. I start in a week, I'm nervous, excited and relieved. Don't lose hope you guys, it took me a year to get into a solid job, and If I can do it (with no work experience), ya'll can too! Keep hope everyone!
Even though I haven't posted at all, I felt with you guys. First few months were positive, yielding a fair amount of interviews. Then literally zero interviews for about 6 months, during which I got myself some certifications.
Then suddenly, this month, a burst of interviews. Yet nothing yielding any success. Each interview going as well as I could hope for only to be one upped by a more experienced candidate.
But finally, last week, I managed to land myself into an Application Support Engineer role. I start in a week, I'm nervous, excited and relieved. Don't lose hope you guys, it took me a year to get into a solid job, and If I can do it (with no work experience), ya'll can too! Keep hope everyone!
megarockexe
Member
The stories give me hope. I'll be able to legally drink before every holding a job. A couple interviews and applications here and there but I'm just not getting anything. I'm starting to lose hope.
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