Amen @furnishedowner! A positive attitude will get you a long way when looking for a job. If I get an interview scheduled for a job it is almost certain that I will get it. I just exuded friendliness, positivity, and the desire to learn more than what I already know. My husband was shocked when I didn’t get the personal banker job, but it was a group interview and although I think I was the most personable at the interview, some of the other candidates had much more experience. But I got a call personally from the HR recruiter that was there suggesting that I apply for the teller position because she thought I would still be a good fit for the company. I applied the next day. Now I’m just waiting on a date for the next interview. My point is even though I wasn’t chosen for the job I really wanted, my positive and friendly disposition got me considered for another position. It’s significantly less pay, but I know there is a lot of room for growth in the banking business and I don’t plan on wasting any opportunity to get in.
You need to change your attitude about things. You also need to make a list of priorities.
First you live at home, good, you just saved yourself $800 a month for rent and utilities (I am just guessing so if it $650 in your area or whatever so be it) Follow the house rules and respect that you have that roof over your head.
Second you are an accountant, do you know what time of year this is? TAX TIME! This is a huge money making oppertunity for you. You can easily work with a H and R Block, Jackson Hewitt, etc doing people’s taxes. I know a guy who had his own tax business, every year for two months around this time he would do the taxes for the Casino workers in Atlantic City. He had permission from management to set up in the break room. Do you have any idea how many people work in a Casino? Hundreds or even thousands! He charged $75 to $100 depending if it they needed the 1040ez or the regular 1040. And he did both the State and Federal for them. A large number just needed the 1040ez and it would take him less than 15 minutes to do, equates to $300 an hour! He also hired other people to help him and paid them as 1099 consultants. He did well because he went to his clients, he was convenient, most casino workers rely on public transportation. Since he worked out of the casinos, he did not need a office and had very little overhead.
Third college degrees do not gaurantee you anything, the 4 year degree is the new High School Diploma, and most of the stuff you learned in college should have been taught in high school any ways. You can thank the failing public schools and education unions for that one.
Fourth Grow up! Change your attitude, no is entitled to anything. Belly aching and whining isn’t going to get you anywhere. Sure the job market sucks, we are going through one of the longest “recessions” in our history. Take account of what you do have. Even if you don’t like living with your parents, or you think it is “uncool” oh well. Sure is better then living in a card board box. Stop blaming others for your problems, yes the economy is tough. Sure it is difficult for new grads to find work, heck it is tough for people with 15 years experience to find work.
Good luck and I wish you the best.
Wow, terrific posts from everybody. This has got to be better than therapy for anybody unemployed.
My daughter, new college degree in business in hand, just moved to a small town of 15,000 due to her recent marriage. This town is really poor, if you want to see what 20-year roof shingles look like after 40 years just drive through.
She hit every place in town with her resume. Everyone said, “We have so many applications, and we’re not hiring.”
She told me–“After 8 hours of rejection, I was SO depressed. I just had to cheer myself up and do something for ME. I happened to drive past the new car dealer.”
“Well, you know how I love cars, and I’m always dreaming about cars, so I just stopped in to test-drive the latest model. I was talking to the sales manager about all the cars I love, it made me so happy, and GUESS WHAT, THEY OFFERED ME A JOB!”
She has been there two months now and is leading the board in sales. Yesterday she sold yet another truck. She is so enthusiastic, loves learning, and she can sell trucks like crazy to farmers and ranchers, who knew…
Every day or two she calls me, “I LOVE my job, I can’t believe that I love to go to work this much, I told my boss yesterday that if he fired me I wouldn’t even leave.”
“But he said there’s NO WAY he’s letting me go.”
So that is a classic case of attitude getting the job. Try to find what you love to do. Then work is not work and there is joy in life again.
Furnishedowner
BINGO!!!
You are not from my state because down here it is winter time and freezing cold. So that means mwing lawns is so far out the picture. Even construction helpers require work experience, which I don’t have. Yes they do. I tried that too. Doesn’t it cost money to pay for the CPA exam.
Now that’s how you do it. Make money for yourself.
Finding something I can enjoy is my goal. My biggest thing I am trying to get people to see is all money and effort that has been wasted getting a degree in one field and get a job doing something totally different as a career. Seriously that really is a waste. I cannot tell how many times I had my folks warn me not to waste my time and money getting a degree I won’t even use. I wish I would have listen, but I didn’t.
tbodley, I promise you, your area is not worse than my area. Im from the Midwest, and more specifically, Kokomo, Indiana (which is ranked the 3rd hardest hit area economically due to the recession). My area went from like 4% unemployement to nearly 13-14% unemployment (last I heard). And yet… Mcdonalds is still hiring.
Your looking at the negetives in everything and saying “I cant do that.”
Work at Mcdonalds, save money for this CPA exam, however much it costs (i dont even know what that is), and there you go…
Instead of saying “I cant afford it.” Start saying “HOw can I make money to afford it.”
my background is running radio stations, I’ve hired (and fired) more advertising sales people than I want to admit,
I’ve learned I can’t tell if someone will be a success by what degrees they have, how well cultured they are, if they have the right ‘pedigree’ from a rich family, etc etc,however if they are successful at what they have done in the past, they will be successful.
Successful people in one field, will probable be successful in another, because they will do whatever it takes to be a success,if it means working overnights so they can do real estate (or something else) during the day, they do it,they read, they study, they ask people that are successful how they do it
You can’t change how your IQ, looks, etc compare to people around you,you can change if your the hardest worker or one of the ones that just does enough to get by,
Bird dogging? Now we are getting somewhere. I had someone I was about to bird dog for but has been too buys to get back to me. I guess I will have to find another investor to bird dog for. And what kind of jobs can I do for an REI?
You essentially find good deals that a investor is looking for, write a note saying you can purchase for XXX amount, then give the note to the investor. If the investor buys the house, he will give you $$ (usually 2,000). Your basically finding deals for a investor.
This is good experience because it gives teaches you how to find good deals for yourself when you finally have capital to invest for yourself.
I am sorry you don’t know me as well as you think you do. If you did know me, you would know I am that type of person to clean up the mess like the person you described. And when I went in for interviews, I was always making direct eye contact, nice firm handshakes, smiley face, showing no signs of anger at all. The interviews usually went well. I answered all their questions right. I was excited and confident to make it to interview. I was a tad nervous too, but I didn’t show it. Yes I admit it. I am suffering from depression and it sucks to feel the way I do because of my bad luck.
Ewww I hate group interviews. I been there. I was thinking it would be a one on one and I walked into group. I know I may be expressing a lot of anger on this topic but in person I am polite and a smiles whenever I am at a ninterview.
My investor hasn’t contacted me again. I was hoping to bird dog for this lady.
Have you tried not being a whiny btch? I’m not trying to be inflammatory but for goodness sake man wake the the F&k up!!! My girlfriend has a degree in biology and I have a degree in airport management. We thought we’d be able to get good jobs but that didn’t happen. So we cowboyed the “F” up and worked whatever sh*tty jobs we could get. After living on our own together for several years we moved in with my parents when we finished school because the economy is better here compared to the small college town. Do you think it probably sucks being used to doing your own thing and now have to act a certain way because you no longer are living in your own place? Kind of sucks having to wait for the house to be empty so we can be intimate.
My mom’s a teacher and was able to hook my gf up with a Special Ed Para position which she absolutely loves. Only pays $11.50 an hour but good benefits and she loves the work. It’s a huge improvement compared to being an assistant store manager at a retail store for only $8 an hour. Before I got my current job as a police dispatcher I was working at Chipotle and Stanely Steemer. Here I am in my mid 20’s with a degree rolling a God Damn burrito and cleaning some filthy "F"ing carpets listening to people I grew up with making fun of me and parents telling their children to go to school so they won’t become a loser like me. You think that I was happy having to put up with that ridicule while only making $8 an hour? You think maybe I wanted to quit and just let my parents pay for everything? You bet your @$$ I did but I didn’t give up I just kept hustling.
The best thing your family could do for you would be to kick you out so you have to work some minimum wage paying job that crushes your soul every day of your life. Then maybe that’d light a fire under your keister and you’d start improving your life/self. In this economy you need to have a plan Z. Keep working whatever job you can get while constantly applying to jobs that interest you and maybe in 6 months or so you’ll finally get something that is decent. It took me almost 7 months to get my police dispatcher job and I had all but forgotten about it when they finally got the ball rolling on the hiring process. Over 200 people applied for this position and I was chosen. You want to know what my sgt. liked about me over all the over applicants? He liked that I worked horrible degrading manual labor jobs because it showed that no work was beneath me and that I’d actually appreciate the position. Because the worst day dispatching is still held and shoulders above a decent day of rolling burritos, cleaning carpet, or cleaning a nursing home room after somebody died on the toilet.
Get some character, preferably good/hardworking, and then show it to everyone. People on here have been giving you very good suggestions but you sure are quick to brush them off. You need to unplug yourself from the I have a degree entitlement matrix. If you truly want to get ahead in life you need to get off your asthmatic @$$ and start moving. At this day in age your asthma shouldn’t stop you from anything. I grew up being allergic to almost everything outside and had terrible asthma but still played soccer and tag outside all day everyday. I even ran cross country in high school and was in AFROTC in college. My best friend growing up had a collapsed lung and horrible asthma but he rides bikes competitively and did a cross country tour.
So make sure to hurry up and give us another excuse because we really like this story and it is not getting old at all. Make sure to keep telling off other members about knowing you well because that’s really helping your case. I’d ask you to learn how to play the world’s smallest violin but we all know you don’t have the motivation for that. I guess beggars can be choosers.
Read my post twice. Then go back and read all of the other posts at least once. Then think about it for a few minutes…better yet go for a walk and decide what the real problem is. Once you figure out what the problem is then you can start fixing it. Let us know what you decide.
After reading your replies to all the suggestions you have received, I have to agree with you. You are screwed – you are doing it to yourself.
The best thing your parents can do for you is kick you out of the house. Maybe then you will be forced to get off your lazy butt and get a job.
Very very interesting post…I like this one. gotta bookmark this one.
Dude chill with the language in here. I understand your pain becuase I was like you at that age. I worked crappy jobs after highschool alllllll the way up to now. It is shameful to watch all your pals moving on with their lives working real careers while you are still down at the very bottom trying to make it to the top. It hurts. I know I been there and am still there.
Me lazy? I’m not lazy I work like everyone else. And I work hard at what I do. I push carts at Wal-Mart for christ sake in all kinds of weather. Does that sound lazy to you? I do it because I have to keep a check no matter how much my job suck. I still wake up to the same things day after day. I have applied to all kinds of jobs over the years including coal miner job, steel worker at steel manufacturing plants, auto manufacturing plants, I tried to get into the navy and army reserves, Little Caesars Pizza, school cafeteria, smelly warehouse job, and now Wal-Mart. And that smelly warehouse job, I was working a second job for a while along with that job until I got laid off when business wasn’t doing so well. I also had a marketing job where I was one of those door knockers you see walking around the neighborhood. Before I got the degree I have now. I used to go to a local community college while working a full-time job everyday and did well until I had to quit school because my school schedule and my work schedule was not working well together. That and the fact I couldn’t afford to pay for school anymore when my Financial Aid ran out. Like I said I am not lazy. I have been looking at any labor job I can job I can get a hold of just to keep a paycheck and a better check at that to help pay off these debts I have.
How much money are you saving? You are staying with your parents, are they charging you rent? Mine aren’t so 80-90% of my take home pay is being saved. Are you investing any of the money you save? Are you using any of it for education whether that be school, investing, trading, real estate, etc.? Are you spending any of it on improving yourself or in a job search? Have you walked through a piece of real estate with the sole purpose being to learn? Have you gone to an auction? Have you looked into tax liens/certificates? Are you doing anything besides pushing those shopping carts?
Even though I don’t have the money to get into real estate I’ve been researching tax liens/certificates and went to a sale in my area to just kind of check it out. So after a few more paychecks I’ll actually be able to invest in a couple of lower level sales. I’ve also been spending a lot of time studying money management and trading vs investing in/for the stock market. I spend a lot of my free time studying this stuff and I even spend my breaks at work looking at it. Now I know a lot of people won’t be able to research while at work but the point is I’m dedicated to my pursuit.
Now maybe you are having a hard time saving a decent amount of money because your parents are charging you rent and/or your education debt. I’d suggest consolidating your loans and see if they will let you lower the monthly payment. Now you have to pay this money off and by lowering the payment you are going to end up paying more over the long term. So your goal is to save a ton of money in the short term and try to get a better job(s) AND to start some wealth creation. The key is you need to be doing both. You aren’t going to be able to create any wealth if you don’t have some materials to build with. Then when you are finally creating some money you can decide if you want to knock that college debt out. If it’s super cheap low interest debt you MAY be better off just paying it forever and using your money to make a high % of interest/return.
Oh and you can always to try to sell blood/plasma/sperm. I used to donate plasma while I was out of work. Not very much fun but it paid a couple hundred a month. Also there have been posts of on here of members buying broken cell phones, apple products, computers, etc. and fixing them for cheap and reselling them on craigslist. You can always look into that for a way to make a little extra $$$ each month.
The number 1 thing you should do right now is go to your local community college’s career center. Go in with copies of your resume, a $20 bill, and your biggest s*&t eating grin on your face. Tell the admin that you’ve attached some pizza money to your resumes and if they could spend some time going over your resume. Tell them you want as many people as possible to look at it and be brutally honest. Then ask them when you should come back and pick it up. Then when you go back and pick it up ask them if they have any career/job suggestions besides the fixes to your resume. Then PROFIT!!!
I think everyone, myself included, has given you plenty of good ideas. Let’s see some action on your end. The people on this forum are very very very generous with their time/knowledge all you have to do is ask and show a little effort on your end. They do this all for free when their skill sets are worth anywhere from tens to thousands of dollars an hour.
Hustle Hustle Hustle. If you aren’t moving then you are reading, if you aren’t reading then you are listening, if you aren’t listening then you are pursuing, if you aren’t pursuing then you are interacting with others, etc. You are only allowed 8+ hours of sleep if you are earning it.