anyone else unemployed?

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Just got a job in march after graduating may '10.
Make over 35/hr so it's okay I guess.
Still on probation.
Yesterday overslept and missed work.
Feels bad man. :(
Hope I don't get fired.
 
Shotgun Kiss said:
That sucks, but maybe you could so some volunteer work somewhere? It's much easier to find volunteer work, for obvious reasons, and that will negate any judgement an employer might cast on you for not being employed. If anything, I'd think it would actually look even better, as it shows you like to keep yourself busy, even though you aren't being paid.
This is pretty much what I've been doing for a couple of months. It looks good on your CV, keeps you busy and helps you develop skills in whatever area you've volunteered in. Even if you don't go on to get work in that field it's clearly a vast improvement over having a gap in your CV.
 
I finally found a job and started yesterday. Here in Arizona it's pretty tough to find a job at all.

I'm so happy that I finally get to work, even if it is at a McDonalds.
 
Tenck said:
I finally found a job and started yesterday. Here in Arizona it's pretty tough to find a job at all.

I'm so happy that I finally get to work, even if it is at a McDonalds.

I worked there from when I was 14-20, hit me up if you have any questions.

---
Is craiglist a safe place to look for a job?
 
Cruceh said:
Just got a job in march after graduating may '10.
Make over 35/hr so it's okay I guess.
Still on probation.
Yesterday overslept and missed work.
Feels bad man. :(
Hope I don't get fired.

lol how does this even happen?
 
Going in for an interview at Bestbuy today to snag myself a summer job.

Hopefully I can get in a lot of hours before heading back to school in the fall.
 
Cruceh said:
Just got a job in march after graduating may '10.
Make over 35/hr so it's okay I guess.
Still on probation.
Yesterday overslept and missed work.
Feels bad man. :(
Hope I don't get fired.

35 an hour? Do you work full time?

That's really good pay for a starting salary.

So if you work 40 hours a week that's a salary of 72, 800 a year.

HOw did you oversleep and missed a whole day of work? Why not just go in late?
 
Phew, just fired off 20 or so NHS applications as well as 10+ retail and assistant ones. All that over two days... I was strangely entertained.
 
BannedEpisode said:
Going in for an interview at Bestbuy today to snag myself a summer job.

Hopefully I can get in a lot of hours before heading back to school in the fall.
I'm in the exact same boat. I did the group interview, interviewed with the department supervisor, and I have an interview at 2:30 today with the GM for an occasional/seasonal position selling computers/home theaters.

I've heard you won't get too many hours. No biggie as I've got another part-time job lined up. Let me know how it goes for you though.
 
Cruceh said:
Just got a job in march after graduating may '10.
Make over 35/hr so it's okay I guess.
Still on probation.
Yesterday overslept and missed work.
Feels bad man. :(

Hope I don't get fired.


That sucks, but I've honestly never understood how people oversleep for work.
 
Had my interview today at Best Buy. Shitty job but it is something. They said they have 8 other people to interview and they will call tonight if anything. Not so sure about it.
 
smokeymicpot said:
Had my interview today at Best Buy. Shitty job but it is something. They said they have 8 other people to interview and they will call tonight if anything. Not so sure about it.

Hopefully you get it.

I dunno about the rest of you, but having a disability and applying to places fucking sucks. Either they'll never call back (90% chance) or they will, find out you can't hear (even though you mention it in your application) and then never call back (5%), or interview you and then never call back (5%)

Been applying off and on over the past five years to places and never get to the interview stage. Until this past week, when I had two places.

Haven't heard back from either place even though they'd say they'd "call" me. Wonderful. :|

Also apparently it's bad to mention you may have a job offer conflict with both of them? I thought being honest and making sure things don't conflict was supposed to be common courtesy?
 
I've applied at Best Buy (3 stores) at least 5 times in the last 2 years and never got a bite. My sister works there and had no issue, wtfruit..
 
Zombie James said:
Ask your sister to talk with HR?

She told me to just come in and talk to her boss. Which I find really dumb, do I dress up? bring a resume? what do i say. It just seems really random.
 
smokeymicpot said:
Had my interview today at Best Buy. Shitty job but it is something. They said they have 8 other people to interview and they will call tonight if anything. Not so sure about it.
Same. Had my interview today and it was pretty short. He said they'd be contacting people they'd like to hire later tonight, it's now 8:30 pm and no call. Of course they told me this after the last interview and I didn't hear back until the following day so who knows? I'd certainly take it though.
 
I've been getting the "we'll call" runaround from a grocery store for nearly a month, and supposedly they still haven't filled the position. The woman I've been dealing with is quite possibly the most disorganized, frustratingly vague hiring manager in the entire world and I want to strangle her. My assumption is that I've missed out on this job like so many others.
 
Well as promised, the place I interviewed at yesterday followed up today by calling and asking for some references. So far they've done everything they've said, so I have a good feeling about this.
 
Have faith guys looking for jobs. I have been looking for work for way too long and my outlook is looking up at present. I have an interview for a graduate position in about two weeks for a healthcare PR company, i have an interview for another graduate position as a new business associate or some shit which i need to look at in depth, and some recruiter for some job in Australia seems keen. Also i am doing a shitty job which pays slightly better than nothing.
 
Jesus, finally after so long I get a call back from a job I sent a resume to. I go in for an interview tomorrow morning. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Don't think it pays too much but shit it's better than nothing.

My debt is rising fast and I need money coming in from somewhere. Pretty much paid off the last 6-7 months of my car note with credit. I also have to refill my prescription for insulin. Without insurance that's another $200.00 blast to my credit card. I really hope it goes well tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for everyone here still looking. Believe me, I know how it feels. Been over two years already for me.
 
Finally after 6 months of no work I get an offer. Now I'm going to be driving 100 miles round trip a day (until I can move).

EDIT
For those still unemployed, please don't give up. I haven't been jobless as long as some of the posters here, but don't give up. I hit my low point (felt bad for myself, felt worthless, got DRUNK every night for a while) about 3 months in. Keep looking, keep searching. And apply for jobs that you might not think you are qualified for.
 
Pretty sure I got the job! It's only for part of the summer though, but at least it gives me more time to look for a long-term job in a city I want to move to.
 
purple cobra said:
Jesus, finally after so long I get a call back from a job I sent a resume to. I go in for an interview tomorrow morning. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Don't think it pays too much but shit it's better than nothing.

My debt is rising fast and I need money coming in from somewhere. Pretty much paid off the last 6-7 months of my car note with credit. I also have to refill my prescription for insulin. Without insurance that's another $200.00 blast to my credit card. I really hope it goes well tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for everyone here still looking. Believe me, I know how it feels. Been over two years already for me.
Two years?
 
I've been unemployed since summer 2009. Yea you read that right. This is some bullshit. I have applied at almost every place I can imagine, even jobs 100s of miles away just to try. I have over 3+ years of customer service and retail experience and it doesn't help. I'm signed up with the local workforce willing to work any shift, for any amount of pay. Got nothing. I'm in NC and this area I'm in is all but dead. Naturally, I can't afford to move and I'm now in debt, so yea...
 
B.A. in English Literature, near the very top of my class for the whole university. Didn't bother looking for a job before I graduated or once I did. I'll be applying for graduate school this upcoming autumn. In the mean time, during this year off I have living with my parents, my local school district that I attended for high school is desperate for substitute teachers. My mother works in the library of the middle school and told me today they were 8 or so substitutes short and couldn't come up with anyone to fill in for teachers. So basically this, coupled with the fact that I know a good deal of former teachers/family friends that work in the school system, will pretty much guarantee me a job as a sub as long as I don't completely flub the interview.

It's pretty much ideal for me at the moment. It's not steady constant work, but I'll be on call and make decent money when I have to go in. In the mean time I'll be studying for the Literature in English Subject GRE (which is infamously hard and terrifying) and prepping my applications. Once that's squared away, I'll work whenever they give me a call and generally attempt to see as many local friends and have as much free time as I possibly can before I probably move half-way or all the way across the country to go through the 5-8 year process of attempting to earn my Ph.D.

So... unnecessarily long story short, I will likely be substitute teaching.
 
Ehh... Since when are businesses able to decide on a job application in less than half a working day or during the middle of the bloody night? Are they searching for keywords in my online forms that I haven't used?

This is McDonald's by the way, 1 possible interview out of over 10 applications, over 24 hours.

At least I've been shortlisted for Alton Towers! God knows how I'll get there for assessment.

Edit: Well, damn! I whine here and the National Theatre rings to tell me I'm shortlisted there too. This thread is magic.
 
CyReN said:
She told me to just come in and talk to her boss. Which I find really dumb, do I dress up? bring a resume? what do i say. It just seems really random.

If you do not pass the "personality" test thing at Best Buy they never even see the application. No one to even pull it.
 
After three long months, I've finally found employment. District Area Coach for Yum! Foods. It's nothing prestigious, but it pays pretty well for the area and I have full benefits and 401k matching.

50 Hours a week and they work around my school schedule (and tuition reimbursment up to $4000 per quarter) and I get quarterly bonuses based off the performance of my stores.

The downside is little respect from in-store managers because I wasn't hired internally from Taco Bell.
 
Colonel Mustard said:
After three long months, I've finally found employment. District Area Coach for Yum! Foods. It's nothing prestigious, but it pays pretty well for the area and I have full benefits and 401k matching.

50 Hours a week and they work around my school schedule (and tuition reimbursment up to $4000 per quarter) and I get quarterly bonuses based off the performance of my stores.

The downside is little respect from in-store managers because I wasn't hired internally from Taco Bell.


I have had to deal with this before by being promoted into a company as an external hire straight to a managerial role which generally takes years of working up within the company. However, as soon as I was able to prove myself and let them see why I was brought in I earned their respect and friendship soon. Let them know your not trying to come in to step on anyones toes you just feel like you can bring some different ideas to the company since you are coming in fresh with no preconceptions about the business
 
Finished my degree course last Monday and now unemployed... waiting for my results back in mid-June before trying to get work for a year then going back to doing a masters.
 
Getting down to London for this recruitment day will be tougher and more expensive than I thought. Hostels are fully booked and hotels are going for £120+ a night, so it's an overnight train for me with five hours sitting around in a station. Job is very exciting, so I hope it's worth it.
 
Suburban_Nooblet said:
If you do not pass the "personality" test thing at Best Buy they never even see the application. No one to even pull it.

I despise those assessment "screenings" many places use. They may help filter out potentially terrible applicants, but unless your answers line up precisely with this straightjacketed ideal the company has created where every outcome rests exclusively on black-and-white decisions, then good people are being rejected as well. They practically encourage bullshitting your answers in order to make it through because so few situations actually can be dealt with in the manner the questions present.

Shortly before moving to Seattle, I reapplied at the local Borders for some temporary holiday work after spending seven years previously, pouring my heart and soul into the job and being regarded as an excellent, dependable employee by customers and coworkers alike. At the time, the company had started using this screening test along with the application process that wasn't in use when I had originally worked there. The next day one of my friends called from the store to say my application was red-flagged and the program had assessed me as someone "inappropriate to be working with public." I had to laugh pretty hard at the idiocy of these systems... I retook the test, this time answering with what I figured it wanted to see, and was accepted with flying colors. *sigh*
 
there's a pretty funny barbara ehrenreich passage about how those tests are basically to confirm that you are a little bitch that will do anything you think the company wants and they have nothing to do with the substance of the questions or answers
 
So how should phone tag with a prospective employer work? I got a call back from an HR manager for a company I applied to yesterday which seems like a great fit for me, but wasn't able to answer when he called. I returned his call at a point I'm assuming is near the end of his work day and left a message asking to return my call.

Should I be proactive and try again tomorrow at an earlier time or should I just wait and hope I get a call back?

AstroLad said:
there's a pretty funny barbara ehrenreich passage about how those tests are basically to confirm that you are a little bitch that will do anything you think the company wants and they have nothing to do with the substance of the questions or answers
Nickel and Dimed, right? I had to read that back in college.
 
IamMattFox said:
So how should phone tag with a prospective employer work? I got a call back from an HR manager for a company I applied to yesterday which seems like a great fit for me, but wasn't able to answer when he called. I returned his call at a point I'm assuming is near the end of his work day and left a message asking to return my call.

Should I be proactive and try again tomorrow at an earlier time or should I just wait and hope I get a call back?

Give the person a couple hours tomorrow morning to get back in touch, and if they haven't, go ahead and call again. You're the one who needs the job and has the surplus of free time to do this; I believe it was said earlier in the thread that HR can find this bothersome, but being proactive is going to go a long way in obtaining employment, not sitting there waiting for someone to possibly remember to return a call.
 
Fallout-NL said:
I'll probably be one of many in this situation, but yeah I'll share nonetheless. I've recently gotten my Master's degree in Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. I have a job on the side (just 2 days a week), but my contract hasn't been renewed so december will be my last month with a job.

I actually finished up back in august, graduation was in october, and I've started looking for a job around that time as well. Like Ceramic I took a month or two to relax after having written my thesis. It was a good move I guess, because looking for a job with a academic degree is kind of depressing and it's making me wonder what the hell I went through the trouble for. I've proven to be kind of intelligent in attaining the degree: I can make sense of all kinds of highly complex theories (philosophical ones at least) and can organize them for my own arguments. But I haven't really learned anything else. And all any employers are looking for is people with experience. I can't blame em. But my education was obviously of questionable worth. All it does is prepare you for promotion (a Dr.'s degree), but there are no spots available for that anyway. Right now I'm volunteering at the filmacademy here in Amsterdam, doing research for a graduation project. I hope that'll bolster my CV somewhat. Admittedly, I've only been at it for two months, but a pattern seems to be emerging. And it's looking grim.

Anywy, good luck everyone. I'll chime back in every now and then to report on my progress :D.


This was me back in November. I managed to get one interview since then, as a translator/copywriter. Felt good about being actually being invited, nothing came of it sadly. But at least they thought my writing was good enough to warrant an invitation. Apart from that, nothing though.

Driving a goddamn delivery truck as a courier with a master's degree. It's pathetic.
 
Kuran said:
Two years?
Yep, it's been bad for me. The part of Florida I moved to is pretty dead as far as work. I've applied at a bunch of places. The usual deal though: "thanks for your interest in the position" "We'll call you".

I went to my interview today. I didn't realize it was a furniture store and they're looking for someone to work in the back receiving the furniture, assemble it, put it out on the show floor. But the lady interviewing me, I got a kind of funny vibe from her (not the good kind). She asked me if I could lift heavy stuff and I said yes.

I'm thinking she thinks she might want a bigger dude for the job. I'm not the biggest guy in the world (5'3) and I'm about 124/125 lbs. She said she had a couple more people to interview and she'd be making a decision next week...
 
I noticed wages have gone down dramatically here in LA. While there are some good paying jobs for specific fields most of the ok low-skill jobs barely pay over $9 when they used to pay around $12. Who wants to be a security guard for $9.50?
 
Had a job interview on Wednesday that was short but went pretty well. Although I'm worried that since my sister works at the organization (and has for ~5 years) that'll somehow hurt my chances. Is there any validity to that? She hasn't really said anything to the HR department since there's an obvious conflict of interest, but I'm wondering if her simply working there is going to hurt my chances.
 
Had a lunch interview with a small dev team for a artist position. I had done a Flash animation test beforehand and passed that to get to the interview. Lunch interview goes well (had the dev team laughing at my jokes, conversing about where we went to school, etc)

This week I heard from my rep at the agency. They want to look at other candidates before going ahead with the contract-to-hire. Needless to say, I'm pretty dissappointed. Over 2 years of being unemployed too. *sigh*
 
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