Topic: Job problems? Cry here.

[oohhboy]

F@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@ukF@uk

Damn it. Now what? Has it come to the point where I start lying about my future plans? What is making me unhireable? Am I over qualitfied? under? They done like it that the job won't be my life? ARRRGGHH. I am pissed. So much effort wasted. Why the hell am I even trying. The hell is going on?!?!

[MaleficentOgre]

yeah, for some reason a lot of places delude themselves into thinking you want to work there for the rest of your life. I lied to get the job I'm getting now. I told them I wasn't still taking classes or anything like that and they said that was a good thing.  

[segagamer12]

try being in my shoes. I live ina small town with only 5 casinos and a liguor store. Ive been fired from 3 casinos and unhirable from theother 2. And the guy at the ligour store doesnt like me. There are a couple other small businesses like the golf course and the rec center but golf course is only seasonal and its not open for a nother month, rec center I have to drive all the way to elko, 116 miles there and 116 miles back, just to take a test. With no job theres no gas money to drive so I'm stuck. At least my website makes enough to keep me from being broke all the time.  

[decoyman]

I need some help!

I'm about to start a mega-job-search. I'm away from my home-state, and have decided that I'm going to "see the world" before I eventually end up back there some day. I'm currently near the Bay Area, so I'm going to look around here and in Silicon Valley. But then, it hit me. I'm set on not moving "home" just yet... but not a whole lot is keeping me anchored in the Bay Area. So, why not shoot for the stars, and... apply at Nintendo?

In fact, I've already applied there, as of a couple days ago. But the name of the game is networking, and referrals at almost any business get preferential treatment. This is where I need help. Does anyone who's reading this know anyone who works at NoA in Washington? An uncle's dog-walker's fiance. Your second cousin on your Mom's side. The guy down the street's step-sister. If so, would you put me in contact with them? I would be totally grateful if anyone could help me out here. This is basically my dream job, and this is my shot.

If you can give me a reference, PLEASE PM ME. I'm grateful for any help you guys can provide.  

[ThePerm]

i just quit my job at Wendy's, Fuck Wendy's

[ShyGuy]

I like Wendy's. I think I put it a # 2 in my national burger chain rankings.

[oohhboy]

Quote
Originally posted by: ThePerm
i just quit my job at Wendy's, Fuck Wendy's

How long were you there? Any stories you care to share? I worked at a Burger King ages ago for a year. From that point on I have sworn to never, ever do a food based job ever again. Hence me still being still being unemployed. That being said, I am not adverse to delivering pizzas.

[Dasmos]

Quote
Originally posted by: ShyGuy
I like Wendy's. I think I put it a # 2 in my national burger chain rankings.

What are you talking about? Wendy's is a ice-creamery!

[Ceric]

lol.  I'm personally driving down to Huntsville, 3 hours from here, to spend the night and interview for 4 hours tomorrow.  Lots o' fun.

[decoyman]

Whoa, good luck dude. What's the job?

P.S. - Wendy's does indeed rock. No trans fat either = yuminthetum

[matt oz]

Good luck with the Nintendo thing, decoyman.  That sounds awesome.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a summer job/internship I could get?

I'm halfway through a pseudo-computer science degree, so I'm not really qualified enough for web/programming stuff.  My school only puts students in internships when they're more experienced than I am.

I really don't want the traditional summer retail or food service job where I get bossed around by a high school dropout on a power trip.

I want something interesting, regardless of pay, that I can learn from.  Even if it's not a career internship thing.  Maybe there's something out there I haven't even thought of.

[odifiend]

I'm actually in charge of selecting college students for a summer internship.  It is a sales and leadership program open to all majors and students who can work in the US.  I am a chemical engineer, so it was "non traditional" for me but I have a lot of fun with it and plan on doing the rest of my years in school.  You do have to work hard, but it is a paid internship so I never have to work during the school year because I have set myself up financially for my semesters, saving about 3000 dollars and 10,000 dollars respectively over the past two summers.
We may not decide to work together, but anyone who is eligible and interested is welcome to PM me for information on how to be selected.

- Justin McKenzie

(the only place in the forum where I will sign my name is the job thread)

[decoyman]

Thanks Matt. Hey, as another option, I know of a pretty cool program called SCA: Student Conservation Association. It's kind of like Americorps, but based around the national parks. Check them out here.

I worked in Badlands Nat'l Park (SD) for a summer, and I still haven't recovered 5 years later (in a good way). It's volunteer work, but they provide everything for you – housing, transportation, food stipend, etc. They give you enough that I was able to even save some for the fall (though not near as much as Odi ).

I didn't sign up to work in my field... Instead, my official title was Interpretive Ranger, and I gave talks about the geography, wildlife, etc. of the area. Overall, it was great "real world" experience, and I felt good about what I was doing. Also, if you're lucky like I was, your supervisor will find ways to let you use the skills that you've studied in random projects around the park. For example, my supervisor paid me to design a book about the park's backcountry trails.

Check it out if you're interested – you can choose parks all across the country. I highly recommend it.

[couchmonkey]

Now I feel way better about my job.  Thanks, suckers!

Srsly, good luck to all my unemployed Nintenbots, being jobless can be very sucky.

[Nick DiMola]

I finally overcame my dry spell yesterday. I graduated about 3 weeks ago and moved and was still jobless. I have been looking since October and out of the 200 or so companies I applied to about 3 of them got back to me. The one that has just hired me took me about 2 weeks to reel in but was well worth the effort. I am officially going to be working for NY State to rewrite all their old COBOL programs as Java Web Apps. I was working with my dad at his Deli/Restaurant/Pizzeria, doing 12 hour days 6 days a week, hence my limited attendance to the forums. But that's over in a few days when I start this new job (thank god).

Anyhow, good luck to the rest of you guys, hope you find jobs too, because I know how frustrating it is when you can't find one.

[oohhboy]

Call me Fry! I now have a job delivering pizzas. First day is Wednsday. It is not much, but, damn it is good to get them wheels moving again.

Congrats Jack! Wow 200 apps. How did you manage that? I thought I was getting screwed over at 15 apps.

On an unfortunate note, my sister is now out of the job. It was a horrible job where she has to answer phones and con people to come in for an "Interview" so they can be made to sell crappy over priced vacume cleaners using unethical methods of persuadesion.

[odifiend]

If it was a horrible and unethical job, is it not a good thing she is out of it?

[oohhboy]

Yeah it was bad, but my sister has weaker ethics than I have. Also she just switches into ATM mode. For her, at the end of the day money is money.

I on the other hand take far too much pride in whatever job I do. If I can't take pride in my job, I won't do it. I like improving the work place for me and my coworkers. I can't go in to ATM mode. I work better under stress. I want to do a good job. I need to enjoy my job.

That is why I quit my last job. I could no longer enjoy it. I had effectively lost my department and I hate selling dishes. For me they were pieces of rock I eat off and nothing more. The children clothing department had also moved to where I was and I have no fashion sense. If you think it looks good buy it.

I could have moved over to the eletronics department, but that would have produced it own problems. I was not looking for a career track there and trying to meet sales goals on part-time hours wouldn't have worked. If I went hourly only instead, the other guys would be a bit peved as that counter is already full of people and any big ticket sale I would have made would have killed the comission. Previously since I had my own area and they had theirs, I could just pass the sale to them, but at the same desk, passing the sale would look weird as other peoples daily sales would go up and mine would go down. My sales were already going down as my focus was on customer happyness, not on personal sales, which conflicted against the changing atitude of the company. I wanted to bring in long term happy customers and wanted more here and now. Also things were getting less and less flexible as to what I could do for my customers. It got to the point where I knew if it continued, I would soon be told to screw the customer over. Not doing that.

[Nick DiMola]

By the 200th I was writing those damn apps in blood. I was pretty much on monster, careerbuilder, local paper's website and the schools job listings website everyday of the week applying to literally any job I knew I could do. Thank god for uploadable resumes. I just brought it on once and just clicked apply now all over the place. The frustrating part is never hearing back from anyone and having to either email or call to find out what the deal is. Thank god its all over now though, I'm just going to stay put for a while and build up some experience.

Good luck oohhboy with the delivery job, I've been doing alot of that lately with my Dad (he owns a Pizza Shop/Deli/Take-out Italian Restaurant). You make some pretty decent money especially if there are a significant number of deliveries to take.  

[oohhboy]

Well after a could of weeks on the job, I think I have a good enough feeling for the job to report back on it.

It is far more enjoyable than i could have initailly thought. The constant challenge to get there is fun as hell. The Boss is a nice guy, the rest of the crew are great. The pay is better than my last job and the hours are conductive to my future plans. The tips can be great (free beer) and harder I work, more I get paid. It can be bad, like dogs, but I wok in a pretty good area, so crime and losse dogs aren't really an issue. Most people are decent enough to give warning and instructions. Another thing is that I am driving alittle bit too offensively. I have hit a new high today, but I know I have to dial it back or I am going to end up some where unpleasant. Two razor thin close calls in one will do that.

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: Mr. Jack
By the 200th I was writing those damn apps in blood. I was pretty much on monster, careerbuilder, local paper's website and the schools job listings website everyday of the week applying to literally any job I knew I could do. Thank god for uploadable resumes. I just brought it on once and just clicked apply now all over the place. The frustrating part is never hearing back from anyone and having to either email or call to find out what the deal is. Thank god its all over now though, I'm just going to stay put for a while and build up some experience.

Good luck oohhboy with the delivery job, I've been doing alot of that lately with my Dad (he owns a Pizza Shop/Deli/Take-out Italian Restaurant). You make some pretty decent money especially if there are a significant number of deliveries to take.

That sounds like my Job search.  I've got rejected for one job and still waiting to hear back from one that said it would contact me mid-April.

[decoyman]

Good luck on that one, Ceric, and congrats to Mr. Jack and oohhboy... I'm not having much luck myself, considering the amount of work I'm putting into it and despite a promising start...

One rejection so far (Google, heh), and another company which I've put a lot of effort into and have applied for several jobs at, has given me nothing but silence. It sucks too, because I shipped off my one and only portfolio—a handmade book, which I thought would be fitting since it's a publisher—to them about a month ago (with self-addressed, stamped return envelope for easy return), and they haven't sent it back yet. It'll be a weekend-long project to make another one. Maybe their not having returned it yet is a good sign, but I don't know. Maybe it's just buried under a pile of papers on someone's desk. It's also sucky that they specifically state that they don't want to be contacted by phone, so I can't call. FRUS. TRAY. TING.

My last job hunt two years ago was quite the ordeal, and I'd rather do this highly focused attack than the 100+ applications I did last time (sniper rifle vs. shotgun)... but so far, it's not looking promising. Blast this highly-competitive job market!

[Ceric]

Yeah, the worse part for me in particular is their is a complaint about the lack of people in my major, that the job market is strong and large, and that companies need people to feel positions but I can't find anything actually in my field.

[UltimatePartyBear]

I've been in a stable job for several years now, but if there's one thing I learned from my job search, it's that personal connections matter more than you can ever imagine.  My two best prospects both came to me through people I had known for a long time.  At the first of the two, the interviewer pointed to a three inch stack of paper on his desk and told me they were the resumes that came in from their  web site postings.  The whole stack was going in the trash because they got enough qualified candidates from more traditional avenues.  I was placed ahead of hundreds or maybe thousands of other applicants just because my resume had been handed in by someone my potential boss knew and worked with.  Use any connections you have to go from "Anonymous Internet Applicant #1032" to "John says this guy is good."

[decoyman]

I'm applying in a new city (San Francisco) where I know virtually no one.

H-A-L-L-L-L-P-P-P-P!!!

(Where are the Elite Beat Agents when you need them?)