anyone else unemployed?

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Rocksteady33 said:
Don't you guys have career fairs or an online career services with job postings for these kinds of things? As much as any work is better than no work at all, getting a job as a bus boy for a year isn't necessarily going to give you that much of an upper hand when it comes to actually applying to real jobs right out of college. Hence why internships exist. It's competitive to get them but they are so much more valuable then working something completely unrelated to your major.

Even if it's not paid, almost any company is open to hiring interns for college credit.

The thing with the job fairs is that none of the people who show up have anything remotely related to my field. I figure, and maybe I'm naive in this mindset, that I want the work I do to be meaningful to me, even if it means I'm not even getting paid. That's why I figure talking to an advisor will help me get my foot in somewhere. The computer department is a pretty small one at my campus, but I hope because it's small that there's open opportunity. It's not really a crowded major at my campus, if I were to make assumptions based on the amount of students in many of the classes I have.

I'm thinking of going to another college after I finish one here to see if I want to make games. I'm pretty sure that's childish, but regardless, I just want to try and get something before I finish up here, which is better than nothing. I've been putting off job hunting for a while, for many different reasons, but I figure now's a pretty good time for me to try. Even if it fails, I'll feel happy knowing at least I pushed at it.

I just hope my lack of experience this late in my life (I'm going to be 22 in October) isn't going to be a needle in my neck. It's taken me longer than many others to manage things in life, and to grow up, as some would put it.
 
Foffy said:
I just hope my lack of experience this late in my life (I'm going to be 22 in October) isn't going to be a needle in my neck. It's taken me longer than many others to manage things in life, and to grow up, as some would put it.

Me too man, I didn't know what I was doing until I only had 2 years left of college and all I knew then was "Academia/Education or Editing/Publishing". I couldn't find anything for editing or publishing, so it's back to school for education for me. A bunch of kids I knew did internships for publishers and got their foot in the door, but I wasn't even considering it until it was too late. Thankfully this sub job, which is relatively easy to get, counts as good experience for both applying to programs and to teaching jobs once I finish those programs.
 
-Dean's List Honour Student at the best university in Canada
-Specialized in Finance & Economics
-Worked at a private equity fund for the last year
-Have strong references and multiple club exec positions

...and still can't land a job in finance. Had a few interviews nail the technical and case questions but they always give me a nebulous fit reason. It's not like I go into the room in a t-shirt, mumble and have no posture. I'm really at the end of my rope, and almost there literally.
 
planar1280 said:
have any of you thought of going up north for a job in Canada where the job market is much better as well as countries like Qatar and UAE which love Americans or even Asian Countries?


I'll have to look into this.
 
Valygar said:
Waiting for a call from a recruiter to work for Lilly, a pretty big company in Indianapolis I think (though the work is in Madrid, Spain).

It's going to be an english test interview (to check if I'm actually good with the language), but I've not spoken to anybody in english for a while, and even more time since my last interview, so I'm nervous.

I hope I get this job. The salary should not be bad, the company seems right, and the only bad thing would be to work on the afternoons instead of the mornings, but I don't really care about that.

The one thing I hope is that they don't interview me in Madrid and then reject me, I would prefer to be rejected like now. The trip would take 2 days, and an appreciable amount of money they won't reimburse.

If it's any consolation, your written English is quite good. If you speak like you type you should be set there.
 
InsertNameHere said:
Me too man, I didn't know what I was doing until I only had 2 years left of college and all I knew then was "Academia/Education or Editing/Publishing". I couldn't find anything for editing or publishing, so it's back to school for education for me. A bunch of kids I knew did internships for publishers and got their foot in the door, but I wasn't even considering it until it was too late. Thankfully this sub job, which is relatively easy to get, counts as good experience for both applying to programs and to teaching jobs once I finish those programs.

One of the reasons I put it off until now was because I have felt largely without direction in my life. I felt that maybe someone who knew what they wanted deserved things like internships more than myself, so I never really rushed at it. I figured I wouldn't want to be the one who can take away their chance at something they knew they wanted, whereas I was (and still am) unsure on my end. I'm selfless like that, but I wouldn't be too shocked if it bit me in the rear, even a little bit. :P
 
Foffy said:
The thing with the job fairs is that none of the people who show up have anything remotely related to my field. I figure, and maybe I'm naive in this mindset, that I want the work I do to be meaningful to me, even if it means I'm not even getting paid. That's why I figure talking to an advisor will help me get my foot in somewhere. The computer department is a pretty small one at my campus, but I hope because it's small that there's open opportunity. It's not really a crowded major at my campus, if I were to make assumptions based on the amount of students in many of the classes I have.

I'm thinking of going to another college after I finish one here to see if I want to make games. I'm pretty sure that's childish, but regardless, I just want to try and get something before I finish up here, which is better than nothing. I've been putting off job hunting for a while, for many different reasons, but I figure now's a pretty good time for me to try. Even if it fails, I'll feel happy knowing at least I pushed at it.

I just hope my lack of experience this late in my life (I'm going to be 22 in October) isn't going to be a needle in my neck. It's taken me longer than many others to manage things in life, and to grow up, as some would put it.

I mean I have no idea what size school you go to, but if it's even somewhat large, I'm sure there's a good amount of employers at your career fair. And to say not one is related to your field makes me think you're just searching for excuses. But hey, if you're going to automatically rule out what could be the best way to interact with potential employers (you know how many people would kill to be able to talk one on one with the people who are involved in the hiring process??) then good luck out there. Quit making excuses, or you'll end up right back in this thread at the end of the school year with a lot of "wish I would have" mentalities. At the very least go to get experience with talking with recruiters and getting first hand experience of questions most interviewers are going to hit you with.
 
Foffy said:
I'm going to see an academic advisor about that tomorrow, and I hope they have anything for me. My major is Computer Information Systems, and nearly every job I've come across online requires years of experience, and I have zero idea on how to even apply what I've learned to basic jobs. Now, how is someone who's looking for entry-level work supposed to fit in that type of situation? I don't know if I want retail, as that would sort of be a dead-end job, and I figure the more I'm not doing something with what I'm going for academically, the less appealing I become.

I am very lucky, as my parents are willing to support my college endeavors so a job would almost exclusively be about experience for me, but all of the talk about unemployment for others around my age is really getting to me. I'd just want anything really, just so I can say "well, I got something."

Best of luck to the rest of you guys, as many of you probably aren't as lucky as myself. I hope things work out for all of you as I hope they do for me. I want very little from this world. :P

Just go entry level in the IT field and work your way up. Tech support is a good starting point.
 
So if you are a resident of one state, get a job in another state and work in that state (paying taxes there), get released and come back to the first state, do you file for unemployment at the first or second state?
 
Marleyman said:
Just go entry level in the IT field and work your way up. Tech support is a good starting point.

I figure an advisor would help me finding one of those. I have no idea where I would actually start looking for one. Surely an advisor would have more know-how and the better method of pulling strings to getting things moving than myself.
 
Valygar said:
Waiting for a call from a recruiter to work for Lilly, a pretty big company in Indianapolis I think (though the work is in Madrid, Spain).

It's going to be an english test interview (to check if I'm actually good with the language), but I've not spoken to anybody in english for a while, and even more time since my last interview, so I'm nervous.

I hope I get this job. The salary should not be bad, the company seems right, and the only bad thing would be to work on the afternoons instead of the mornings, but I don't really care about that.

The one thing I hope is that they don't interview me in Madrid and then reject me, I would prefer to be rejected like now. The trip would take 2 days, and an appreciable amount of money they won't reimburse.
I'm spanish too, and I aced the english interview my job required by watching english movies without subtitles non-stop during 3 days before the interview while repeating out loud all the dialogue. May work for you too. I watched mostly court dramas as they use formal language and are quite verbose.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
Even if it's not paid, almost any company is open to hiring interns for college credit.

Eh, that's not really true. A company can not just offload work onto an intern and get away with not paying them.
 
I'm kind of freaking out due to doing really shit in school. I did decent Freshman year and transferred to a better school (Northeastern --> Boston College), but I pretty much tanked Sophomore year. I had tons of health issues throughout the year ( I had a fever so high that I was hallucinating during one Genetics test and had a two month long lung infection that had me in the hospital at least once a week for the duration) and had two family emergencies right before finals, and now my GPA is a 2.3. I had to take a semester off to help with my bother, and right now I'm working 6 hours a week at minumum wage because my job keeps passing on promoting me over employees that are much less qualified, have worked there less, and in one case is barely literate despite living in the US her entire life. Granted, it's going from busing dishes to waitstaff, but it's still infuriating to have my boss tell me that I'm one of the best employees she's ever had and then repeatedly fuck me over. I've put in 40 applications (I live in a small town and 40 is pretty much stretching the limit of what is available within biking distance) and haven't had a single callback

Now, I', going back to school in Janurary, but considering the market, I'm scared shitless that I'm going to be a Mcdonald's manager for the rest of my life. I can't afford to take unpaid internships, my GPA is too low for anything else, and my family and I are terrified that I'm going to lose my scholarship because of my Sophomore GPA. I can bring it up, but I'm just not smart enough to get 4.0's in five classes a semester, plus labs, of a Biology major, in addition to a part-time job.

Even worse, my parents are treating me like a failure because I can't find another job and my shitty sophomore year. My mother especially is constantly berating me, calling me a lay-about and a poor son, and it's really starting to wear me down.
 
Thagomizer said:
My mother especially is constantly berating me, calling me a lay-about and a poor son, and it's really starting to wear me down.

Kids are like dogs, you knock em around enough and they think they did something to deserve it.

If your mother is calling you a poor son, then she obviously has her own personal problems and venting it.
 
Drealmcc0y said:
Kids are like dogs, you knock em around enough and they think they did something to deserve it.

If your mother is calling you a poor son, then she obviously has her own personal problems and venting it.

Or his parents could just be Asian very typical for an Asian parent not to sugar coat stuff and tell it straight how it is.

It kind of how they were brought up, getting belittle should give you determination to try to save face and prove them wrong. Proving people wrong and showing that you are better is kind of the core of the Asian upbringing. As you can see there's a lot of pro an cons. High success rate but also high suicide rate.
 
I've been unemployed for awhile. I'm getting by on my school financial aid though. They gave me a good sized check, but unfortunately much of that had to go to dental work i had to get done. Not only that, i still have more trips to the dentist for this year.

I lost out on this job for the library that would've brought in a good amount of money. I'm in my last year of school and this job would've been great to have after i graduated. I didn't get it because of a last minute cancellation from one of my classes, and I had to find another one to fill my schedule. Unfortunately, the class conflicted with the schedule they gave me for work and they had to give it to this other guy who was completely open. This job paid about $16-17 an hour and all i had to do was reshelve books and keep the library neat and organized. :(

So yeah, it's really sucks being unemployed. As important my education is, it's prevented me from getting a lot of jobs. Since none of the ones I've interviewed will allow any changes or shifts to the work schedule. Luckily, I am interning at a gaming blog. They aren't paying me, but its getting me some experience. Which is just as important.
 
Nope, not Asian, and I'm well aware that a part of it is her projecting and venting her stress- she has always had an issue with taking out her problems on other people, but she refuses to realize that she does it- but it still sucks hearing it.
 
if your in the UK and wanna work retail look out for discount UK, there a new company looking to move into big store places (Woolworths and Netto ) if those shops were near you then you should probably look out in the next few months.

from what I have heard I think we are going to open up in plumstead (just outside of wool witch) and locks-bottom.

there's a discount UK store opening in Orpington soon which is where ill be working, if anyone lives close and would be interested then shoot me a pm and ill bring it forward.
 
Tips for how to answer, "so why us?"

I find this difficult to answer when coming from a different background and the organisation, while successful, doesn't have anything so powerful that it attracts me. Besides being a possible source of income.

I'm not uninterested at all, it's relevant role but not what I am specialised in. How do you guys get around this?
 
My mother says I should apply for Raymond James Financial and some other financial company. I told her I majored in Poli Sci, but she said they're accepting applicants who majored in all kinds of fields.

I may consider it.
 
brucewaynegretzky said:
I suggested this in another thread and was told I was a corporate whore who was destroying the modern American worker. Just saying.
IIRC, I said that working for free is usually illegal and that if you've done this you should file a claim and get the money they owe you under federal labor law.

You said "Pfft. That law's outdated. It's too risky. We should ignore it."

"LOL work for free!" is terrible advice.

There are avenues like volunteering at a non profit, but never flush a job just so sleezeballs don't have to pay anyone for work they're legally obligated to pay you for.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
I mean I have no idea what size school you go to, but if it's even somewhat large, I'm sure there's a good amount of employers at your career fair. And to say not one is related to your field makes me think you're just searching for excuses. But hey, if you're going to automatically rule out what could be the best way to interact with potential employers (you know how many people would kill to be able to talk one on one with the people who are involved in the hiring process??) then good luck out there. Quit making excuses, or you'll end up right back in this thread at the end of the school year with a lot of "wish I would have" mentalities. At the very least go to get experience with talking with recruiters and getting first hand experience of questions most interviewers are going to hit you with.

Oh, I didn't notice this earlier. Well, I figure when I see an advisor he/she may have an idea of who would be showing up, so maybe I can find a way that way. It would help me get prepared to get in the know with that offer, too. I know Disney is a pretty heavily noticed company when it comes to offering types on internships at my campus (there's always been an ad on walls and such for potential internships, for example). I may consider that, too, even if I haven't been to an amusement park since the 1990's, and I'm absolutely sure there's no Disneyland in Brooklyn. It's very likely for something else, surely. :P

Though the semester started earlier this month, and I think the earliest noted time a job/career fair is happening is near the end of October. Again, I'm sure an advisor will help me out with this.
 
Foffy said:
Oh, I didn't notice this earlier. Well, I figure when I see an advisor he/she may have an idea of who would be showing up, so maybe I can find a way that way. It would help me get prepared to get in the know with that offer, too. I know Disney is a pretty heavily noticed company when it comes to offering types on internships at my campus (there's always been an ad on walls and such for potential internships, for example). I may consider that, too, even if I haven't been to an amusement park since the 1990's, and I'm absolutely sure there's no Disneyland in Brooklyn. It's very likely for something else, surely. :P

Though the semester started earlier this month, and I think the earliest noted time a job/career fair is happening is near the end of October. Again, I'm sure an advisor will help me out with this.
Talk to your professors as well. They may have connections too.
 
Ah, so I just applied for the futures associate position at Franklin Templeton. Job description shows that any major is accepted for the position. Pays over $40k a year. Not bad. Maybe I'll like it. =\
 
Foffy said:
Oh, I didn't notice this earlier. Well, I figure when I see an advisor he/she may have an idea of who would be showing up, so maybe I can find a way that way. It would help me get prepared to get in the know with that offer, too. I know Disney is a pretty heavily noticed company when it comes to offering types on internships at my campus (there's always been an ad on walls and such for potential internships, for example). I may consider that, too, even if I haven't been to an amusement park since the 1990's, and I'm absolutely sure there's no Disneyland in Brooklyn. It's very likely for something else, surely. :P

Though the semester started earlier this month, and I think the earliest noted time a job/career fair is happening is near the end of October. Again, I'm sure an advisor will help me out with this.

I find it a bit odd that you are relying so heavily on an adviser to get this rolling. Most anything an adviser would do would reference me to on campus events that prep you for the career fair (mock interviews, business etiquette, resume builders, etc.) or to look online to see details about companies coming to the career fair. Just from this conversation it makes me think you can't seem to figure out on your own how to prepare for something that is likely common knowledge. You want to know who's going to be at your career fair? It's not going to be in your advisers desk, it will be on your schools website/career fair website. Again it would help to know what kind of school you go to, but any decent sized school should have a career services database that has job listings/employer info/career fair strategies that has all the information you need, and you should have been using or at least getting exposure to since you were a freshman.

Also the Disney internship is a very common one around schools across the nation. It would be for the summer, you would be placed in Orlando, and it's designed around a number of fields, but more so towards marketing, human resources, and business. It's paid. Highly competitive. And in the end you tend to do shit jobs around amusement parks (I went to a seminar of this when I was in school and they acted like it was a perk to be in a mascot outfit). But hey, an internship is an internship, I would have taken it in a heartbeat, but again you're literally up against thousands of top students around the US.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
I find it a bit odd that you are relying so heavily on an adviser to get this rolling. Most anything an adviser would do would reference me to on campus events that prep you for the career fair (mock interviews, business etiquette, resume builders, etc.) or to look online to see details about companies coming to the career fair. Just from this conversation it makes me think you can't seem to figure out on your own how to prepare for something that is likely common knowledge. You want to know who's going to be at your career fair? It's not going to be in your advisers desk, it will be on your schools website/career fair website. Again it would help to know what kind of school you go to, but any decent sized school should have a career services database that has job listings/employer info/career fair strategies that has all the information you need, and you should have been using or at least getting exposure to since you were a freshman.

Also the Disney internship is a very common one around schools across the nation. It would be for the summer, you would be placed in Orlando, and it's designed around a number of fields, but more so towards marketing, human resources, and business. It's paid. Highly competitive. And in the end you tend to do shit jobs around amusement parks (I went to a seminar of this when I was in school and they acted like it was a perk to be in a mascot outfit). But hey, an internship is an internship, I would have taken it in a heartbeat, but again you're literally up against thousands of top students around the US.

I wouldn't exactly call the Disney internship highly competitive. From what I've heard, the only individuals that apply are those that had absolutely no chance at anything else. I had a buddy take a "marketing" position there, actually. He ended up working in a concession stand. They say they're paid, but they really only pay you enough to cover your housing expenses at the park. Nonetheless, I guess he had fun going out at night with everyone. That said, if you're looking at actually gaining work experience that will help you land a competitive position upon graduating you should probably look at something else.
 
EricM85 said:
I wouldn't exactly call the Disney internship highly competitive. From what I've heard, the only individuals that apply are those that had absolutely no chance at anything else. I had a buddy take a "marketing" position there, actually. He ended up working in a concession stand. They say they're paid, but they really only pay you enough to cover your housing expenses at the park. Nonetheless, I guess he had fun going out at night with everyone. That said, if you're looking at actually gaining work experience that will help you land a competitive position upon graduating you should probably look at something else.

Not competitive? They advertise the hell out of it across almost any University that is over 15,000 students. It's with a big, well known, reputable company, that allows you to live in Orlando, Florida for a summer (huge perk for students from colder regions). I mentioned that it's basically junk work, but what internships aren't? I interned with General Electric and did a ton of database entry and paper scanning/filing and it was considered a finance internship and I didn't get paid. Sure it didn't involve a ton of "finance" projects but I was exposed to the finance department and what people do within finance careers. Plus it was with one of the worlds most well known companies. That in itself made the entire experience worth it to me, and ultimately was a major reason why I got a job out of college.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
Not competitive? They advertise the hell out of it across almost any University that is over 15,000 students. It's with a big, well known, reputable company, that allows you to live in Orlando, Florida for a summer (huge perk for students from colder regions). I mentioned that it's basically junk work, but what internships aren't? I interned with General Electric and did a ton of database entry and paper scanning/filing and it was considered a finance internship and I didn't get paid. Sure it didn't involve a ton of "finance" projects but I was exposed to the finance department and what people do within finance careers. Plus it was with one of the worlds most well known companies. That in itself made the entire experience worth it to me, and ultimately was a major reason why I got a job out of college.

OK, so it's competitive in the same sense that this was competitive. It isn't highly competitive in the same sense that an I-Banking (or top consulting firm, or Big 4, etc.) internship is competitive. Like you said, at least your GE internship exposed you to the finance department, and gave you the chance to network. From what I've heard about the Disney internship, you're lucky if you even get the chance to interact with those in positions that you'd want to take out of college.
 
EricM85 said:
OK, so it's competitive in the same sense that this was competitive. It isn't highly competitive in the same sense that an I-Banking (or top consulting firm, or Big 4, etc.) internship is competitive. Like you said, at least your GE internship exposed you to the finance department, and gave you the chance to network. From what I've heard about the Disney internship, you're lucky if you even get the chance to interact with those in positions that you'd want to take out of college.

Yeah but an internship is an internship in my eyes. I mean future career recruiters aren't going to know the difference, what they ARE going to see is you worked for a global company they have heard of. I mean if you want to use the marketing example from the kid you know, he can say he learned how to successfully market food, toys, and inexpensive items to tourists across the park. Or how he learned valuable independence skills by moving to Florida for a summer where he (presumably) knew no one. There's plenty of examples you could think of, it's all a matter of how you spin what you did into something meaningful. Take my scanning/filing example, I had on my resume that I was in charge of records management. It's not a lie, but it's much more glorious description to what I actually did.
 
Freshmaker said:
IIRC, I said that working for free is usually illegal and that if you've done this you should file a claim and get the money they owe you under federal labor law.

You said "Pfft. That law's outdated. It's too risky. We should ignore it."

"LOL work for free!" is terrible advice.

There are avenues like volunteering at a non profit, but never flush a job just so sleezeballs don't have to pay anyone for work they're legally obligated to pay you for.

My advice was to offer to intern to try and get a job from the inside. You said don't whore yourself out because it hurts everyone. I said I don't give a shit about everyone, if you can do it there is no reason not to.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
Yeah but an internship is an internship in my eyes. I mean future career recruiters aren't going to know the difference, what they ARE going to see is you worked for a global company they have heard of. I mean if you want to use the marketing example from the kid you know, he can say he learned how to successfully market food, toys, and inexpensive items to tourists across the park. Or how he learned valuable independence skills by moving to Florida for a summer where he (presumably) knew no one. There's plenty of examples you could think of, it's all a matter of how you spin what you did into something meaningful. Take my scanning/filing example, I had on my resume that I was in charge of records management. It's not a lie, but it's much more glorious description to what I actually did.

If you have to choose between no internship or the Disney internship, definately go the internship route. And I agree, you can pad the resume with any sort of experience. While this may help you land the interview, you're still going to have a hard time trying to elevate that experience over the experience of the candidate sitting next to you talking about his proper corporate market research internship. That said, why limit yourself to one internship? The kid in my example above did the Disney internship his freshman year, and I'm sure it helped him land more competitive internships later in his college career (if for no other reason than the fact that it's very rare to Freshman with internships on their resume).

Internships are absolutely vital. While it may be anecdotal, out of all my friends from college (all graduating 2008-2009), not one of them was employed in a career focused position (so excluding stockboy positions, waitress positions, etc.) within 9 months if they didn't complete an internship. Of those who did, the longest job search went 3 months. Myself, I did 4 internships (one of which was unpaid) while I was in university. If I can do it anyone can. I had no financial help from family, and had to work full time on top of internships, school work, and various clubs. I graduated with 3 job offers.
 
Rocksteady33 said:
I find it a bit odd that you are relying so heavily on an adviser to get this rolling. Most anything an adviser would do would reference me to on campus events that prep you for the career fair (mock interviews, business etiquette, resume builders, etc.) or to look online to see details about companies coming to the career fair. Just from this conversation it makes me think you can't seem to figure out on your own how to prepare for something that is likely common knowledge. You want to know who's going to be at your career fair? It's not going to be in your advisers desk, it will be on your schools website/career fair website. Again it would help to know what kind of school you go to, but any decent sized school should have a career services database that has job listings/employer info/career fair strategies that has all the information you need, and you should have been using or at least getting exposure to since you were a freshman.

Also the Disney internship is a very common one around schools across the nation. It would be for the summer, you would be placed in Orlando, and it's designed around a number of fields, but more so towards marketing, human resources, and business. It's paid. Highly competitive. And in the end you tend to do shit jobs around amusement parks (I went to a seminar of this when I was in school and they acted like it was a perk to be in a mascot outfit). But hey, an internship is an internship, I would have taken it in a heartbeat, but again you're literally up against thousands of top students around the US.

The reason I'm relying on an advisor is that I've already checked the website, and they have yet to list the dates of fairs and such. Maybe the advisor would have a better idea than me right now. If that fails I have at least two professors who I can possibly go to for help. Both of them are part of a program to help students get the CompTIA A+ Certificate, which is supposed to help students get jobs. I've held back on doing stuff like this until now because I've largely been incredibly unmotivated with things. But now I just feel like I'd want anything for myself, but first I'd like to see if I can get my foot in the door with what my major is. I'm not going to make excuses, but I'm happy I'm putting my foot down and finally trying to move forward with things for me. My appointment is October 18th, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open around the campus to see when fairs start. I do think it's in October or November, surely.

I know I'm probably new at all of this kind of stuff, but I've really just been slow at getting the ball rolling. I just hope I'm not fucked over for it. I'm not expecting things to be handed to me, either. I hope that's something.
 
Foffy said:
The reason I'm relying on an advisor is that I've already checked the website, and they have yet to list the dates of fairs and such. Maybe the advisor would have a better idea than me right now. If that fails I have at least two professors who I can possibly go to for help. Both of them are part of a program to help students get the CompTIA A+ Certificate, which is supposed to help students get jobs. I've held back on doing stuff like this until now because I've largely been incredibly unmotivated with things. But now I just feel like I'd want anything for myself, but first I'd like to see if I can get my foot in the door with what my major is. I'm not going to make excuses, but I'm happy I'm putting my foot down and finally trying to move forward with things for me. My appointment is October 18th, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open around the campus to see when fairs start. I do think it's in October or November, surely.

I know I'm probably new at all of this kind of stuff, but I've really just been slow at getting the ball rolling. I just hope I'm not fucked over for it. I'm not expecting things to be handed to me, either. I hope that's something.

Just the fact that you're even thinking about internships puts you ahead of most of your peers. I'm sure you've mentioned it already, but what year are you in?
 
EricM85 said:
Just the fact that you're even thinking about internships puts you ahead of most of your peers. I'm sure you've mentioned it already, but what year are you in?

Please try not to laugh at me, but I'm in my fourth year at a community college, and I'm close to finishing. I've never failed a class, and I've been a full time student the whole time I was there. With some of the stuff in my life and feeling as if I wasn't able to find anyone to help me out, I've pushed on with being stagnant with things. My dad never went to college, so I really feel blessed he's willing to support my endeavor of looking for a career. It sucks feeling as if you're a chicken without a head running in a dark hallway, but I had a bit of a panic attack over the summer about a fuckton of things, and that sort of flipped the switch in my head to say "yaknow, you might as well try and look for people who can support you in finding something" and just push forward for what interests me. Computers and games do, and even then I really am unsure of what I want to do. I'm sorry if leaning towards an advisor makes me seem as if I'm some clueless dipshit; I just really don't know where to go forward on my own with this kind of stuff. I had a pretty shitty high school experience myself, so maybe that explains the lack of motivation and particularly, focus for these kinds of things things. I do wish to change that, though, and I really hope I can.

I'm sure there are a lot of options out there for me if I look, but I don't know where to start. I hope the meeting with the advisor will at least clear some of this up for me.
 
Foffy said:
Please try not to laugh at me, but I'm in my fourth year at a community college, and I'm close to finishing. I've never failed a class, and I've been a full time student the whole time I was there. With some of the stuff in my life and feeling as if I wasn't able to find anyone to help me out, I've pushed on with being stagnant with things. My dad never went to college, so I really feel blessed he's willing to support my endeavor of looking for a career. It sucks feeling as if you're a chicken without a head running in a dark hallway, but I had a bit of a panic attack over the summer about a fuckton of things, and that sort of flipped the switch in my head to say "yaknow, you might as well try and look for people who can support you in finding something" and just push forward for what interests me. Computers and games do, and even then I really am unsure of what I want to do. I'm sorry if leaning towards an advisor makes me seem as if I'm some clueless dipshit; I just really don't know where to go forward on my own with this kind of stuff. I had a pretty shitty high school experience myself, so maybe that explains the lack of motivation and particularly, focus for these kinds of things things. I do wish to change that, though, and I really hope I can.

I'm sure there are a lot of options out there for me if I look, but I don't know where to start. I hope the meeting with the advisor will at least clear some of this up for me.

Things are obviously going to be more difficult this late into your college career. Definitely ask if they have a database of company contacts. You definitely need to attend every job fair possible and make some contacts. If you have professors that you know well I'd try to hit them up for contacts. Have you considered transferring to a University (even this late)? Community college is a good way to knock out pre-reqs, but you'll have access to many more recruiters (many of which set target schools and won't hire outside of those) if you transfer.
 
EricM85 said:
Have you considered transferring to a University (even this late)? Community college is a good way to knock out pre-reqs, but you'll have access to many more recruiters (many of which set target schools and won't hire outside of those) if you transfer.

I'm hesitant on that, personally. I'm unsure if what I'm majoring is something I am absolutely sure I really wanna do, and I'm absolutely petrified at the idea of going in debt with a University only for none of it to work out for me. I figure a University would be the go-to once things have clicked for me, for me to say "that's it!". That way, I know I have some focus on things and that I'm not at supreme risk with money and debt if it's something I hate.

I am thinking of going to another college after this, surely, but where is up in the air as I may or may not be moving soon. I've never looked at the college I'm in as the final step in my academic career. As I've said earlier, I like both computers and games, and I figure after I finish here, I was thinking of attending some college to see if making games is something I'd like, too. That too might be a community college, simply due to finances. I'm probably crazy for this mindset, but I really want to get as far as I can in life without getting loans. I find those to be risky.
 
man i feel so disconnected from this.

the starting area for someone who has a masters in my field in my area is now about 95k, companies are hiring like crazy and i think im going to demand a pay raise

my aunt is becoming unemployed though =(
but she's like 64 and when her employement runs out, she's retired anyways
 
Lucis said:
man i feel so disconnected from this.

the starting area for someone who has a masters in my field in my area is now about 95k, companies are hiring like crazy and i think im going to demand a pay raise

Well if you don't feel lucky/fortunate, you ought to. What is your field?
 
They just called me to cancel an interview I was supposed to do in a couple hours, they said that they would call me again to reschedule it, but I'm still worried :(
 
SolKane said:
No callback from my interview last week, which can only mean one thing :(


You got nothing to lose, call them. You get experience this way and what to expect and how to approach a potential employer. Don't let this opportunity get to waste --- even if it doesn't amount to a job
 
quit a food processing job a few days back (watching chopped carrots come along a big belt, truly hell on earth)

Got an interview today for a factory cleaning type job (power hosing the big storage racks)

in Asda Depo
 
Had a great interview today, didn't have to say a word apart from my shoe size, tshirt size.

cleaner dude in a supermarket depo centre.

Going around picking up the left over cardboard, empting bins ect, the lady in the interview said i will be pretty much left to my own ways..

looking forward to it, 6pound an hour (around 12 bucks)
 
Had an awesome JLR interview yesterday, went very well, or at least I think it did. Will be hearing back soon I think, they need to contact the recruitment agency so unlike direct apps, I should hear something.

Went to another interview today with Ford, but Ford/agency screwed up and I was given the wrong date. Potentially no fuel compensation. Not cool.

SolKane said:
No callback from my interview last week, which can only mean one thing :(

Agreed with Mem, give them a call and don't sit on it for too long. It really plays with your mood, if you genuinely care about the job. Even if you know it's a rejection, it's best to call so you stop waiting on it and can move on.
 
When an application form has a field for "Total Hours Worked (Year/Month)", what the fuck do I put in there exactly? There's already a field for # of hours worked per week.

Wait...is that just me doing the math of my from and through dates? Thats a waste of space.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
When an application form has a field for "Total Hours Worked (Year/Month)", what the fuck do I put in there exactly? There's already a field for # of hours worked per week.

Wait...is that just me doing the math of my from and through dates? Thats a waste of space.
General estimates are fine, in my experience. I have not been questioned by them ever
 
I had 2 interviews last week for 2 different jobs in my field. Both went great but the 2nd one I felt I knocked out of the park. Went from an initial 30 min interview into almost 3 hours. By the time I was done they were telling me reasons why I'd like to work there. I sent them a thank you letter and got a response of "thanks for coming to talk to us. We'll be in touch". I'm hoping to hear back from this one soon. I was the first one interviewed I think, but I still feel great about it.


Here's hoping...Man I really want the job.
 
SolKane said:
Well if you don't feel lucky/fortunate, you ought to. What is your field?

after reading this tread, i def feel fortunate. to be honest, there's almost no unemployment around me until my aunt came back with the news that she will be laid off by the end of the month. she didn't even care that much, since she's retiring in less than 2 years and she will get about 7-8 months of severance pay, she consider it as early retirement

as for my field, most of computer related job in silicon valley is in such high demand, lots of company try to steal people from other companies with ridiculous pay. i had recruiter contact me at least once every 2-3 months, but i happen to kinda like my job now
 
Lucis said:
after reading this tread, i def feel fortunate. to be honest, there's almost no unemployment around me until my aunt came back with the news that she will be laid off by the end of the month. she didn't even care that much, since she's retiring in less than 2 years and she will get about 7-8 months of severance pay, she consider it as early retirement

as for my field, most of computer related job in silicon valley is in such high demand, lots of company try to steal people from other companies with ridiculous pay. i had recruiter contact me at least once every 2-3 months, but i happen to kinda like my job now

This doesn't just happen in the IT industry, but being in the industry myself, I can attest to this. My friend works for a company where the CEO's hobby seems to be stealing admins from other companies and paying them more.

I'm still building up experience right now, but once I hit 5+ years experience I'll be able to ask for 90k - 100k+ a year easily as well. System admin is a great job if you put in the time and dedication to expand your skill set.
 
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