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Entry-Level Jobs in this Economic Climate

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Benpercent

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As some of you may be aware from a previous thread of mine, for the time being I have dropped out of college in order to repair the intellectual damage that was done by my prior schooling, and to collect myself financially in order to be able to better afford college. My current plan is to do independent studying to gain missed knowledge and improve my study skills, and to get a job in the meanwhile in order to be able to afford more study resources and to get myself out of debt (student loans).

However, I find that I have another huge hurdle other than just repairing my mind: I find it extremely difficult to find a job. Aside from living in Michigan, how I have lived my childhood is now doing great harm in my capability to find employment. I wasn't a bad child while growing up to be clear, but I wasn't exceptional either. Because my educators thought I was mentally inferior to other children (due to my speech impediment resulting from my hearing-impairment) and because my role models were so horrible (example), I grew up reclusive and unwilling to participate in extra curricular activities, and was rather academically undistinguished given I attended either "special" classes or normal run-of-the-mill classes. I have since then healed all spiritual traces of such a lifestyle within my soul and have drastically altered my habits and my way of thinking and learning, but my childhood still has a terrible impact on my employment prospects. Just look at the resume' I have attached below, which I have altered to remove personally-identifying information and have submitted for your critique.

So my question is this: What are some courses of action I could/should take in order to improve my employment prospects? Should I do volunteer work and the like, or perhaps something else? Might I be taking the wrong course in life altogether?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I do appreciate it if you should choose to respond.

.rtf

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Looking for employment always sucks, good economy or bad, so keep that in mind when you get discouraged. Loads of rejection for something you hardly care about.

If you're not looking for anything in particular, just work, based on your resume, a few off the top of my head include: restaurant (perhaps kitchen only due to your speech, but maybe not), pizza delivery, yard work, painting or construction, all retail, warehouse work. There has got to be loads more, too. Anything you imagine that you could do, apply for it. And if they do not ask for a resume, don't provide one since yours isn't so great.

I'm not great with resumes, but I would get rid of the details about quitting school (they'll ask if they care).

If you can handle it physically, warehouse work is the best-paying unskilled labor work. If you can learn a kinda-specialty (like painting), that has more income potential, but takes some time to build on.

This is what I personally would do if I knew the college degree path was the one I was choosing:

I would go to the cheapest in-state school I could get, and take out the biggest loans I could find. As long as you are in school, you don't have to pay the loans. These loans will support both school and a small apartment, food, and maybe more for you while you do nothing but concentrate on studying. You would also have time to do your own studying in addition to the college requirements.

This only works if you are extremely confident in attending college, and if you are also confident that your career is going to pay off when you are through, so that you can pay back the loans that supported your life for so many years.

What you are doing right now is struggling to stay put, so to speak. You aren't acquiring college credit that would go toward your goal, you'll be working at a crap job that will likely make you miserable or depressed, and you'll probably find that you don't have a lot of time to do the personal study that you want. You'll probably have almost no money. It is also likely that it will take you years and years to save up for college, since your income is going to be so low at first.

But that is all without knowing most of the details of your life, so please just take it for what it's worth.

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Looking for employment always sucks, good economy or bad, so keep that in mind when you get discouraged. Loads of rejection for something you hardly care about.

What do you mean by "hardly care about"?

If you can handle it physically, warehouse work is the best-paying unskilled labor work.

I have never come across such jobs. How would I go about seeking them out?

I would go to the cheapest in-state school I could get, and take out the biggest loans I could find. As long as you are in school, you don't have to pay the loans. These loans will support both school and a small apartment, food, and maybe more for you while you do nothing but concentrate on studying. You would also have time to do your own studying in addition to the college requirements.

I will certainly think about this, for I think I have been neglecting to give this option serious consideration for some time, but there are still worries. For one thing, I came near to being expelled the first time I went to college: my mind was in such intense disagreement with my being there that I got dangerously depressed and did awful on my school work. Wouldn't that affect my capability to attain a loan, on top of the facts that banks are doing not-so-well and that I live in Michigan?

This only works if you are extremely confident in attending college, and if you are also confident that your career is going to pay off when you are through, so that you can pay back the loans that supported your life for so many years.

Yeah, I'll confess I'm not exactly confident right now. Another reason why loans have been worrying me is because I have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to how I'll pay them off and I'm worried that the economy is going to be in the dumps for years to come.

What you are doing right now is struggling to stay put, so to speak. You aren't acquiring college credit that would go toward your goal, you'll be working at a crap job that will likely make you miserable or depressed, and you'll probably find that you don't have a lot of time to do the personal study that you want. You'll probably have almost no money. It is also likely that it will take you years and years to save up for college, since your income is going to be so low at first.

I never thought it about it in those terms. That's a beneficial statement.

But that is all without knowing most of the details of your life, so please just take it for what it's worth.

I'll also add in this extra detail if it should help: My family members are of little to no help. My mother is unofficially bankrupt after decades of financial irresponsibility and will probably go from the world without a penny to her name, and my grandmother lives on, I think, nothing but social security. Truth be told, I don't think it would be morally right for me to accept help from most of my family members since I do not hold them as values and would therefore be parasitic if I asked for help from them.

Again, thank you for your time. I think you have convinced me to visit my old college counselor.

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By "hardly" I meant that the job isn't directly related to your long-term career goals. It's just an hour of your life for some money.

Warehouse jobs are a little harder to find than other work, but if you know where to look and what to look for, you can find them. It also depends a lot on location. For example, in Canton, Ohio, where I am from, there are virtually no warehouses. However, Columbus, Ohio is a huge hub for some major companies, like UPS, Target, and Sysco, among others. So you need to know something about your town. To find these jobs, try customized searches on monster and hotjobs, and monitor craigslist. EDIT: If you know the company beforehand, you can also try applying through their website, or by calling their office to ask about how you may apply. If you are willing to relocate, that may help.

I just thought of another job: truck driving. You need to acquire a special license to drive semis, but there is a lot of work for a truck driver (warehouses ship via trucks).

School loans are guaranteed by the government. If you apply for government loans for school, you will get money. Private loans are different, but you may still be able to get a small amount in addition to the government money. You can also apply for and receive grants (money you don't have to pay back) from the government. The amounts you get are determined by a lot of things, but the poorer you are, generally, the more you get. I'm not certain, but I think you can also apply for "living money" through the government, too (money to pay for living expenses while you're in school). You'd have to ask your school about it.

So, let's say school costs you five to seven thousand dollars a year. I have lived on twelve thousand dollars a year before, it sucks but it is possible. You could work a "crap" job to pay for your life, and go to school on government loans, and eventually get your degree. It sounds like you're in a prime spot in your life to do so, anyway: a lot of time on your hands and not a lot to do.

As far as paying loans off, you can delay almost endlessly (think decades) paying off the entire balance. Your payments will be so low that any job would allow you to make them. Obviously that is not part of anyone's long-term life goals, but it will get you by while you're either working for little money right now, or at least until you're back in school. The moment you enroll in school, your obligation to make payments on all school loans is again put off.

Whereas life is much harder when you are starting from scratch without any family support at all, it is certainly possible. I've done it. You may wind up feeling good about yourself because of it, too. You do not need your family to do the things I've described. But if you're going to go back to school, you need to go for something that will actually make you money. That is very important. You don't want to wind up with a doctorate in Women's Studies and sixty grand in school debt (or much more), with no way to pay it off. You also must be dedicated to and sure of your life direction. There is no sense in striving for a goal (school) that you hate or don't care about.

Edited by JASKN
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It's definitely difficult to find a job you can do these days because due to the recession businesses have cut back instead of expanded. I've been looking for over a month and I have a strong work background. What I've been doing is looking over the job boards and applying to anything I think I can do. There are some places where you only need a high school education and they are willing to train. It's difficult for me because I'm having to switch fields from retail picture framing to something else in sales. By applying to many jobs per day I've been getting one interview every week or so, but that takes a lot of work and one has to keep at it. Some of the job boards that let's you post a resume are careerbuilder.com, Yahoo! hotjobs.com, and craigslist.org. Just keep looking and keep applying and you could get something. Depending on how bad your speech is or your hearing, you could probably land a sales job or telemarketing. I tried telemarketing for a little while and found I couldn't do it because there was no time for me to think with the phone calling out all of the time. There are a lot of seasonal retail jobs opening up, but those will be temporary, but they will be good on your resume.

Best of premises for anyone out there trying to find a job because it isn't easy these days. Before, I could find a job within a few weeks, but it's going on to 5 weeks for me, though I just had an interview that went well. If you are just starting off, don't be too picky, especially these days. Aim for something in your field if you can, but take something that will pay the bills. If it's a big enough of an organization, you can even move up the ladder, though without a degree there will be a glass ceiling.

And if you have a job that doesn't quite suit you, I would not recommend quitting in this economy, if you can tolerate doing the work, do it. But just about any job can get you started, even if you can only have an introductory letter, or list the schools you went to. You might even try going door to door in a retail mall, if you don't have any work experience. Best of premises on your job hunt.

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First, I'm just going to reiterate what John and JASKN said - apply to everything.

Secondly - BEEF UP YOUR RESUME MAN! Even without much work experience, everyone has softskills that they can use in every job. Whatever skills you've gained from being on your own (better reasoning skills, better interpersonal communication, typing, reading, skilled with various software, research skills, multitasking, any kind of qualification or skill - even mad juggling skills or nunchuk skills). Highlight your good points, and leave any bad points out until they ask you in the interview (ie what are some of your weaknesses? why did you quit school?) That's when you hit them with all that stuff, but keep it positive. Like, "I realized the program I was in wasn't working for me so I left to pursue other career paths", and then you say what you've learned in that time. Another answer you can use is your hearing impairment and speech impediment, but the positive there is your drive to be better and excel, and that can be applied to your career goals.

I can help you more if you need it, just PM me. You really, really need to fix that resume, especially with the labour market in the employers' favour. You're competing with tons of people even for the smallest jobs, so you need to have your resume stick out and look damn good on first glance. If you can't make yourself look presentable on paper, why would they waste their time reading about you, let alone interview you?

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If you're not looking for anything in particular, just work, based on your resume, a few off the top of my head include: restaurant (perhaps kitchen only due to your speech, but maybe not), pizza delivery, yard work, painting or construction, all retail, warehouse work. There has got to be loads more, too. Anything you imagine that you could do, apply for it. And if they do not ask for a resume, don't provide one since yours isn't so great.

Also, I'd put on the list health care jobs, like in hospitals, nursing homes, etc. There's plenty of entry levels there - a level I have always and only have worked on. I've been in the environmental services department for well over half a decade of my life.

Ben%, you mentioned being reclusive, well I'm a relcusive introvert myself, and find working in this department suiting me, since I clean physician offices in the evenings during the week (spending most of the time alone, and not even seeing a boss for days! :rolleyes: ), and on the weekends I'm the hospitals courier. I work for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. I, too, am a college dropout, and in hindsight, not only was that a great decision for me, but I wished I'd of been a truant in my grade school days... but anyways, overtime in my department pays out well for me, that's why I work in the hospital side of the campus on weekends as extra, cleaning offices during the week. The one I work for would put you through their programs (schooling) for free as long as you pass the courses and agree to work for them afterwards for so many years. Pharmacy, nursing, coding, they'd pay for it all, but I'm not the least bit interested in that crap. Perhaps a job in a hospital or senior living place may interest you. You can be a floor tech, work in patient areas, labs, cleaning, running stuff, work in the supply department, food service, linen, and so on. My job kicks major ass, I can listen to my Kindle 2 (but i haven't for a long time though), write some musings down on the paper and pen that I carry in my back pocket at all times... while I perform my janitorial duties, and being by myself during the week, is fucking great. Can't stand working with others. I do on the weekends though, but so many people know me there, because I'm always there, hardly ever taking days off, but incidentally, I'm off tonight and tomorrow, because i have so much PTO built up , that if I don't start using it, I would lose it.

Edited by intellectualammo
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Careers advisors claim that most vacancies are hidden and filled through networking, so you can volunteer to increase the size of your network.

I volunteered for a long time and my boss basically networked for me and found me some contacts, one of them actually offered me an interview. I also contacted a company in the business pages and asked if I could volunteer for one week in a certain role, he instead told me about a paid vacancy that they would consider me for after my week of volunteering. I did not complete the week. After interrogating :rolleyes: the current employees, I decided it would be a bad move.

Probably the easiest and quite effective way is to sign up to a recruitment agency in person and let them find you jobs, as responding to advertisements rarely results in employment, unless it is a large organisation that takes on a hundred or so staff for basic temporary seasonal work.

At the moment I am doing an internship for a large organisation, unpaid, with the potential of paid employment after that period. If it doesn't work out, at least I will have gained some new skills, worked in a large organisation which I have never done before and hopefully get some new contacts.

Applying for jobs online is pretty pointless. I have even applied for minimum wage I.T jobs and have been turned down, even though I have a degree in I.T and close to 3 years work experience in I.T roles.

Your CV is pretty bare but you could expand on it by describing some of the skills you have used while in education and some achievements. You also need to describe what it is that you want, generally speaking and what you are good at.

Check out a career guidance book called What Colour is Your Parachute, I found it helpful in finding my transferable skills and how to approach companies.

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To clarify a misconception: I no longer have, for the most part, a speech impediment. If you look back at the speech thread I have linked to you will see that I have actually concluded it by stating that my self-improvement venture in that area was successful. My original problem was that I couldn't properly distinguish between the /s/ and /th/ (voiced and unvoiced) sounds in my speech (e.g. I would say "bass" instead of "bath" or "thick" instead of "sick"), but now that I have had my error pointed out and been taught how to distinguish the sounds by the placement of my tongue my problem is almost entirely cured. I say only mostly because I do from time to time slip up.

Also, my hearing-impairment, at least in regards to how I live my life, is more a thing of quality of sound rather than intensity of volume. In other words, my deafness on the high end of the pitch scale affects how I hear people more so than how loudly I hear them. It is very strange to say this, but I actually hear better without my old analog hearing-aids than I did while wearing them, so I've stopped wearing them altogether. As to how this relates to my employment prospects, I may have particular problems with people who have foreign accents or with people who mumble, but in general I can go about my life just fine as if I were a hearing person. (But turn on those closed-captions!)

So, let's say school costs you five to seven thousand dollars a year. I have lived on twelve thousand dollars a year before, it sucks but it is possible. You could work a "crap" job to pay for your life, and go to school on government loans, and eventually get your degree. It sounds like you're in a prime spot in your life to do so, anyway: a lot of time on your hands and not a lot to do.

Whereas life is much harder when you are starting from scratch without any family support at all, it is certainly possible. I've done it. You may wind up feeling good about yourself because of it, too. You do not need your family to do the things I've described. But if you're going to go back to school, you need to go for something that will actually make you money. That is very important. You don't want to wind up with a doctorate in Women's Studies and sixty grand in school debt (or much more), with no way to pay it off. You also must be dedicated to and sure of your life direction. There is no sense in striving for a goal (school) that you hate or don't care about.

To be honest I have been considering going back to college, which would be a good thing at this point since my mind would actually be in agreement with my actions (I did some introspecting and identified that I do have some confidence after all), but I still don't know what kind of career I would want to go into. Originally I wanted to be a writer, but I abandoned that goal when upon introspection I discovered it wasn't as big a value in my life as I originally thought it was. I do know, however, that I place a big value on knowledge, good epistemology, philosophy, and the like, and that going to college may in fact help me in my pursuit of knowledge since it might boost my motivation to learn properly and thoroughly (consequences of learning more readily available in form of feedback from teachers); I have, after all, helped arm myself against bad habits and bad epistemology by reading various self-help books such as "Study Methods and Motivation" or the majority of "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" (I'm two sections away from completing it entirely). Would you say that I shouldn't go back to college until I have determined what it is that I want to go into as a career?

Here's what I have been thinking in regards to funding: I have enough money to pay for one semester, but what I could do is go half-time (two classes) so that I may readjust myself to the setting (the workload shock contributed to my doing poorly the first time), have enough time to put thorough effort in what little work I have, and have enough time to do my own personal studying. By this I hope to accomplish establishing better habits than I had the first time and to more easily demonstrate to college officials that I'm a serious and good student, because at my alma mater I am on academic probation.

My other two funding concerns are that of food (a proper diet is essential for proper brain function, strong memories, and consistent energy levels) and values (life must be worth living in the meanwhile). However, I do believe that to some extent food and value-pursuit can be integrated: cooking and baking is a budding hobby of mine.

What do you think?

It's definitely difficult to find a job you can do these days because due to the recession businesses have cut back instead of expanded. I've been looking for over a month and I have a strong work background. What I've been doing is looking over the job boards and applying to anything I think I can do. There are some places where you only need a high school education and they are willing to train. It's difficult for me because I'm having to switch fields from retail picture framing to something else in sales. By applying to many jobs per day I've been getting one interview every week or so, but that takes a lot of work and one has to keep at it. Some of the job boards that let's you post a resume are careerbuilder.com, Yahoo! hotjobs.com, and craigslist.org. Just keep looking and keep applying and you could get something. Depending on how bad your speech is or your hearing, you could probably land a sales job or telemarketing. I tried telemarketing for a little while and found I couldn't do it because there was no time for me to think with the phone calling out all of the time. There are a lot of seasonal retail jobs opening up, but those will be temporary, but they will be good on your resume.

I am entertaining the notion that perhaps going back to college may be the best for improving my job prospects. On top of the fact that my past has hurt my employment prospects, I live in Michigan, and near the economically worst parts of Michigan too! I just went to a job fair at a mall near me, and when I arrived ten minutes earlier than it was scheduled to begin I had found that dozens of people had already lined up.

First, I'm just going to reiterate what John and JASKN said - apply to everything.

Secondly - BEEF UP YOUR RESUME MAN! Even without much work experience, everyone has softskills that they can use in every job. Whatever skills you've gained from being on your own (better reasoning skills, better interpersonal communication, typing, reading, skilled with various software, research skills, multitasking, any kind of qualification or skill - even mad juggling skills or nunchuk skills). Highlight your good points, and leave any bad points out until they ask you in the interview (ie what are some of your weaknesses? why did you quit school?) That's when you hit them with all that stuff, but keep it positive. Like, "I realized the program I was in wasn't working for me so I left to pursue other career paths", and then you say what you've learned in that time. Another answer you can use is your hearing impairment and speech impediment, but the positive there is your drive to be better and excel, and that can be applied to your career goals.

I'll do some thinking in this area, but what do you mean by "softskills"?

I always had good luck with Temp positions. I would usually do a good job and get offered a permanent position. You should contact a few temp agencies in your area. Its in their interest to get you a job asap.

Hmm...temp agencies? Is that how I would go about looking them up?

Ben%, you mentioned being reclusive, well I'm a relcusive introvert myself, and find working in this department suiting me, since I clean physician offices in the evenings during the week (spending most of the time alone, and not even seeing a boss for days! :P ), and on the weekends I'm the hospitals courier.

Hmm! I never thought about the hospital! Now there's a thought! But to be clear, what I said was that I was reclusive, not that I am now. Sure, I am still introverted, but I am well past my childhood stage where I actively avoided social confrontation. I just mentioned that to make clear that I'm still at the starting line in regards to social networking in the business part of my life.

Probably the easiest and quite effective way is to sign up to a recruitment agency in person and let them find you jobs, as responding to advertisements rarely results in employment, unless it is a large organisation that takes on a hundred or so staff for basic temporary seasonal work.

Your CV is pretty bare but you could expand on it by describing some of the skills you have used while in education and some achievements. You also need to describe what it is that you want, generally speaking and what you are good at.

Check out a career guidance book called What Colour is Your Parachute, I found it helpful in finding my transferable skills and how to approach companies.

I will take note of that book, but some questions: 1.)by what formal concept are recruitment agencies referred to by, and 2.) what does CV stand for?

* * * * *

Thank you all for your responses. This has done quite a bit already in alleviating my stress.

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CV is another term for a resume, but I'm not sure exactly what the letters are for.

Softskills sound lame to put on paper, I know, but you need to put something down so that the employer can figure out how you'll fit. Softskills are basically any skill not related to some sort of formal training that can be applied to any job. For example (as in my previous post) communication skills, various abilities with software, researching skills, independent working ability, ability to multitask, etc. Then after that, depending on the job you're applying for, you can write other skills you've gained from other jobs that can apply to the job you're applying for, but not necessarily other jobs.

So say you're applying for a dishwasher position. Softskills could be: organizational abilities, ability to multitask, able to stand for long periods, able to lift x pounds repeatedly, even cleaning skills. Hard skills could be stuff like health and safety training, knife handling training, WHMIS certification (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System - not a skill but good to have), any sort of invoice and order-taking training, food prep training, etc. After that, you could go on to very specific things like Chef certification or Super Duper Dishwasher Degree. That's not really how you'd list your skills on a resume, but just the general order.

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I will take note of that book, but some questions: 1.)by what formal concept are recruitment agencies referred to by, and 2.) what does CV stand for?

I don't know how it works in America, but in England they are referred to as just recruitment agencies and you can find them on the high street in city centres. It's best to go in person because if you do it online they just ignore you. There are general recruitment agencies for office work or more specific agencies for I.T work and so on.

I contacted an agency once for I.T Support roles and had to go to their office to fill in some forms and do some basic tests. Then after several weeks they contacted me and told me I had an interview for a project management role several days later.

A CV is a curriculum vitae, which in America is a resume.

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What do you think?
Since a college degree (no matter what you wind up doing professionally) is part of your long-term goals, and since you are serious about going back, I think your plan sounds good. If you need to ease back into it (especially if you need good grades to get out of probation), do it.

If I remember correctly, there is at least a year of preliminary required courses that have nothing to do whatever with anyone's major. So, even if you aren't totally decided on a career, but you at least know that it will involve college, the sooner you start, the better. You've got at least a year to begin deciding, and even then, many later classes will qualify for multiple kinds of degrees, so you can still switch career paths if you want.

You will still need to go to your college office and find out everything you can about paying for school after your semester is up that you will pay for out-of-pocket. And of course, continue your job hunt. Also, it is totally possible to eat healthy on a very limited budget, and also to do things that are fun. You will get more creative and think of things as you go.

Good luck with everything!

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Update: While this certainly doesn't end my need to think and act in this particular little issue, I would like to let you guys know that I have visited my counselor today and have decided to re enroll at my old college. I'm going to go with the plan I outlined above: I'll do only half-credit hours (half of a semester basically) so that I may have time to adjust and better my habits, and so that I may also be able to demonstrate to my college officials how good of a student I am.

The reason why I am deciding to go back to college goes back to some other thinking I did on what conditions people should go to college on in the first place. People should only go under three conditions: (1) Having a college degree is necessary for one's goal pursuits (e.g. doctor or lawyer), (2) having a college degree is extremely helpful in one's goal pursuits (some jobs that don't require college degrees may nonetheless be easier to obtain with a college degree), and (3) one values institutionalized education, or requires institutionalized education due to one's learning style (say you need people to discuss concepts with in order to understand them fully). I honestly don't know what purpose I want to dedicate my life to, but I do know that intelligence will be an element in it, so that means that criterion number two applies to me.

This time will be much difference given that there isn't a mind-body split this time around. I do, however, need to do more thinking as to how to tackle my monetary concerns in the meanwhile, but it isn't so dire now given that I can afford a semester with my savings and that I am a dependent for food and shelter.

Again, thank you for all the responses. I must say I love coming to this forum for advice.

P.S. I don't post on this forum as much as I used to as you may have noticed, so I ask: When did this new way of presenting forum posts come about? (Referring to "Posts in this topic" section under the limited posts available for viewing.)

Edited by Benpercent
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P.S. I don't post on this forum as much as I used to as you may have noticed, so I ask: When did this new way of presenting forum posts come about? (Referring to "Posts in this topic" section under the limited posts available for viewing.)
It's not new, it is one of the "Display Modes" used by the forum. To change this, when you're in a topic, scroll up to where you see the "Options" button (look to the top right, below the main menus). Click and select the "Standard" display mode. The reason this gets switched is that you come to the forum by some link which also contains a parameter telling the forum to use the outline mode. Typically, this happens when you search the forum using Google, and the URL that they provide contains that parameter. Edited by softwareNerd
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I am surprised that noone has mentioned starting a business. :pirate: If you do have good ideas, I'd advise you to go ahead and start a business and live a truly moral life: a non-altruistic egoistic one. It has worked well for a lot of people. Thank God (just an expression) our economy is not completely socialistic yet, although we're getting there with all this talk of "regulations"!

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It seems to me everyone has given good advice so far, I would just like to add a thing or two:

You said you live in Michigan? Move out of the state as fast as possible! It sucks in MI right now and it's only going to get worse. I think MI is actively losing population due to state government over taxation and mismanagement. Move to Texas or South Carolina or any other state with low taxes. Seriously, get the hell out of Michigan. The population of that state may never figure out what went so horribly wrong before the only people left are the state government.

If you have a clean background consider jobs that require a security clearance (usually if you don't already have one the company will pay to have one run.) Less competition, better pay, for simply not being a criminal and not having a terrible credit rating. (Your student loans shouldn't be a problem)

Edited by th3ranger
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You could work at a grocery store as a stocker or cashier or janitor. I'm a night cashier at a grocery store and I find that it fits well with going to school. Also, my co-workers are the shit. It's a pretty fun job if you can handle heavy lifting and standing for 8 or more hours.

Also, you could maybe consider making newspaper deliveries at night. I don't know how much that pays, but it's something, and I'd figure all you'd need is reliable transportation.

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Move out of the state as fast as possible! It sucks in MI right now and it's only going to get worse. I think MI is actively losing population due to state government over taxation and mismanagement. Move to Texas or South Carolina or any other state with low taxes. Seriously, get the hell out of Michigan.

Oh believe me I am considering and planning on it! But I don't think that would be feasible as of right now. In order for me to do that I would have to have a job set up that would pay well enough so that I could pay for my own apartment, food, utilities, and transportation, but getting a job in the first place is what the problem is.

Besides, I would like to finish a semester or two back here at the college I am currently re enrolling in so that I can prove my academic worth and make myself more eligible for financial aid. Perhaps if all goes well I will be able to transfer.

I used to love Michigan, but if it insists on going to hell I don't want to be along for the ride. (Well, come to think of it I AM already along for the ride. In that case I hope to get off the bus soon.)

Also, you could maybe consider making newspaper deliveries at night. I don't know how much that pays, but it's something, and I'd figure all you'd need is reliable transportation.

From what little I know about newspapers in my state, the newspaper companies are actually nearing failure. The paper my grandmother receives has cut back to delivering only Thursday, Friday, and Sunday editions. Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, said that he was afraid of taking vacations from his strip since people might find that they did not miss his comic in its absence and then cease reading it. I believe such may come true with my local newspaper, as people are surely finding substitutes for their Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays that may prove that they don't miss their paper after all.

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I did some significant editing to my resume'; would you guys mind critiquing it again? Remember that one cannot be too harsh or too petty in suggesting improvements; even a misplaced comma is worth raising a ruckus about.

What I did was significantly added to my skills and abilities section (retitled Soft Skills & Abilities) and turned it into a bulleted list, added a section explaining employment gaps, added my cellular phone number, added what experience I've obtained from my previous jobs, and changed the font size to 12 in order to make sure the information fills completely two pages (instead of just one and a fifth). However, I am baffled as to what I should put underneath my education sub-section for my college. I am in the process of re enrolling, but for the time being I'm in the middle ground between being recognized as an active student and being recognized as an inactive student. I have yet to receive my approval notice, and I don't know how long it will take.

.rtf

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- name above your address info, all centered as a header, address info a bit smaller font

- skills and abilities above education, soft skills don't necessarily have to be labelled as soft-skills because they're obvious and are mostly used as resume filler for people without much to write. but you can try and frame them nicely between statement of purpose and employment history/relevant experience, as a taste of things to come

- state your purpose as a job seeker, relate it to the position being applied for (not necessary, but uses some space, keep it at most 2 sentences, preferably 1 line, 1 sentence)

- education: list or bullet your school and major, time spent only

- previous employment: rename employment history, under soft-skills, above education, bullet form, delete reason for leaving

- explanation for employment gaps: delete

- references: available upon request.

- name

- address

- purpose statement

- soft skills

- employment history

- education

- references

Another thing I think you should do is write out a master skills sheet, in which you write down every little job detail you can remember you did in your jobs (not just what was in the job description but what you actually did beyond that), then consolidate them under similar fields. Labour, Customer Service, Auto-mechanic etc. This way, you can divide your work experience and only use your relevant experience on a resume for what position you apply for, and you can more easily match yourself to job ads you see. You would still keep your employment history, but only as a bulleted list or table form near the bottom. What you're highlighting there is your relevant work experience, not where you've worked.

What you're trying to do with a resume is highlight your benefits to that company. You're selling yourself. Do you ever hear Apple advertisements saying "the iPod is great, you can play thousands of music files! But you can only use Apple software and our warranty runs out in a year and then your iPod will break and you'll have to buy a new one"? So, on a resume, don't say "here's why I'm only ok for your company, and this is why I left the other places I worked for. Oh yeah, and I quit school".

But before they even get to reading about you, they have to want to read the paper. Your resume might be the 200th they've seen that day. PIMP. THAT. MOFO. OUT. Not too flashy with crazy fonts, but very appealing. Sensual. Like Rico Suave.

Edited by Chris.S
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Thank you Chris, I have taken heed of your suggestions.

Well, I went down to my local recruitment agency today and learned that going in person is a total waste of time. After I had signed in and everything I learned that everything was to be done on the internet, just like I could have done at home. A bit frustrating considering the number of miles I had driven, but I can understand: unemployment in Michigan is raging to the point where it's difficult for even recruitment agencies to be able to handle it.

When I went to the Michigan Works homepage I saw that there are over seventeen-thousand job opportunities -- but over one million people vying for those opportunities. My priorities have changed. Instead of going to school and getting a job, my priorities are now go to school, get a job, and get the hell out as soon as possible.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've become quite disenchanted with the job market, and haven't been doing much, if any, job hunting. I'm being contacted out of the wazoo by insurance companies about becoming a salesperson, a position I'd like to avoid considering (1) the nature of the Michigan market, (2) the fact that it's commission based work, and (3) because I've read that a number of these companies might be scams, like Vector Marketing.

I'm pondering as to whether or not I should even be job-hunting considering my upcoming college semester. Even though I may be going only half time, I really need to focus on bringing myself up academically and on continuously improving my learning habits. I worry about how job-hunting interferes with the time I have to do my personal studies (to build up knowledge and prepare for formal academic studies).

Worries, worries, worries, and so much to think about.

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I've become quite disenchanted with the job market, and haven't been doing much, if any, job hunting. I'm being contacted out of the wazoo by insurance companies about becoming a salesperson, a position I'd like to avoid considering (1) the nature of the Michigan market, (2) the fact that it's commission based work, and (3) because I've read that a number of these companies might be scams, like Vector Marketing.

I'm pondering as to whether or not I should even be job-hunting considering my upcoming college semester. Even though I may be going only half time, I really need to focus on bringing myself up academically and on continuously improving my learning habits. I worry about how job-hunting interferes with the time I have to do my personal studies (to build up knowledge and prepare for formal academic studies).

Worries, worries, worries, and so much to think about.

When I was looking for work on some sites I registered on, I got a bunch of sales and marketing emails too. Training, blah, blah, blah. Generally, for good programs, I've been told to expect about five years of work in establishing contacts, etc. before "making money". Goes for auto sales too. Seems to take about five years, a few years ago at least, before many new car buyers come back to buy another new car.

Yes, the job market is harsh. Don't give up. Decide your value and sell yourself as best as you can. Think of it as part of your personal studies too.

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