fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3313 ]

[ SECRET POST #3313 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3313 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Darren Criss]

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[Blind Spot]

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10. [SPOILERS for Undertale]

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11. [SPOILERS for Undertale]

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12. [WARNING for incest, underage?]

(Free! Iwatobi Swim Club)

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13. [WARNING for rape]

[Jessica Jones, Star Wars, Faults, Dredd, Cucumber Quest]

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14. [WARNING for suicide, etc]

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15. [WARNING for incest, bestiality]

[how to train your dragon/race to the edge]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #473.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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So, I recently got my master's, and now I'm officially not a student anymore and I'm officially unemployed. I've been trying for months to find a job, but I keep getting rejection letters. This is so frustrating and depressing. I'm running out of money and probably just need to take an entry level customer service job or something just to get a bit of income (which won't be nearly enough to pay my loans), but I just feel ashamed. I have eclectic job experiences, some of which is a bit more "professional" but nothing that adds up to the three years of experience that all these job advertisements demand, in addition to degrees. I just feel very lost useless right now. :( It's hard not to take this personally.

Anyone have any job hunting advice? Anecdotes? Personal complaints?

What's your degree in? That'll be relevant for any advice for people to give re: job-hunting, I think.

I'm mostly just trying to hang on until UBI comes, or there's a minimum wage bump. There's less and less jobs every day, and the population isn't going down. A third of the population isn't working. Half of the people that are employed make less than $15 an hour. Minimum wage is so low that I don't think it would even be worth it to work.

Any income is greater than no income, so it's not worth MUCH but minimum wage is still worth SOMETHING.

That's not true for everyone though. There's an opportunity cost for everything. You have to do a cost-benefit analysis for yourself and decide if it's worth it.

I value my free time much higher than the petty joke of a minimum wage. If I value my hours at $21 an hour, and go to work for $7, then I'm earning -$14 an hour. I'm actually losing money.

Edited 2016-01-30 03:33 (UTC)

da

Most people don't have the luxury of deciding not to work. Money is money, and when you need money, you take what you can get.

Most people don't have the luxury of deciding not to work.

It's not a luxury, it's simply a choice. Anyone can make it.

when you need money

Only you decide if you need money or not.

Well, yes. A slow death of starvation and exposure is always an option, I suppose.

That's right! Never let them trick you into thinking you don't have options.

You're not limited to a slow death either--depending on where you live, you can die from exposure quite quickly.

And if you're into staying alive, there are people who have found ways to do that without money or working.

Yup. There's the barter system, if you have marketable goods or services to trade. You can find a sugar mama/daddy if you only have the one service to trade. And, of course, there's the ever popular mooching option, assuming that your friends and family have lowered themselves to working for money.

Not everyone has family or friends they can mooch off forever. Unemployment also doesn't last indefinitely, and not everyone is attractive enough to get a sugar daddy/mama. How, then, do you propose they get money?

How, then, do you propose they get money?

Why would they need to get money?

I loathe job hunting (and also my current job). that pretty much sums it up.

If financially feasible: try doing an internship, preferable paid, even if meagerly so. (Not just for the money, but firms that pay interns seem to be more likely to actually hire people because, well, they have cash.)

If not, maybe take a part-time job (that is not what you want but pays bills) and use your spare time to look for something else?

Job hunting is the worst! I know the pain.

Some good advice I've heard is don't leave an unexplained empty period of time in your resume. Show you have been doing *something*, even if it's just volunteering.

While I was unemployed, I volunteered for an organization that meant something to me. It was nice work, and the supervisor offered to be a reference for me for jobs.

That "unexplained time period" thing is a tough one for me. After leaving one job because of a move, I wound up having to focus on taking care of my sick dad for a time, and when I did try and apply for jobs in the area we lived in, there wasn't really anything there. So it wasn't until after my dad passed away and I moved yet again that I found a new job.

But of course, that gap is going to look a little odd to employers all the same.

Anywho, I'm doing the job hunt as well, so everyone else who hates it has my utmost sympathies. The most frustrating part is when you're rejected for a job because you aren't qualified enough...but it's kind of hard to GET those necessary qualifications if nobody hires you in the first place. It's a lose-lose either way.

DA

It's possible to put a note to that effect in your resume. Just footnote the part in your job history where the gap begins, and put a short line down about it. Something like "Engaged in full-time care of ill family" will work.

Hm. Okay, I'll give that a try and see how that works. Thanks for the suggestion!

Don't feel ashamed, it's somewhere we've all been. It can be super hard to get your foot in the door when you don't know anyone and don't have the experience and that goes for just about any job field.

I've found a lot of companies are full of shit when they say they want someone more experienced, because new people get hired to jobs all the time (yes not a TOP position but I've seen people fresh out of school get hired in my field.) Just keep plugging away. If you need to take a service job, do it. Things will get better, it may just take time.

Two of my four job-hunting successes have been with employers who were desperate for warm bodies, and a third temp-hired everyone who applied and kept the ones who did the job well. If you're willing to shovel some shit (possibly literally), it can be worth it to go for employers who aren't as picky about who they'll take. (It can also be easier to stand out from the crowd--I got my latest job because I was the only one who asked questions about the work.)

Kudos on your MA! Things will definitely start looking up for you, anon. Just remember that you don't have to perfectly fulfill all requirements for a job. They say that women typically apply for jobs they're 100% qualified for, while their male contemporaries apply for jobs they're 70% qualified for. I'd say why not give it a shot because the worst thing that can happen is that you won't get the job and since you don't have the job right now, it would just leave you in the same place you were before you applied.

That said, I acutely feel your pain because I graduated last summer and focused on one damn job that I didn't get. Since the application process took months, it was December when I knew I wasn't getting it. Watching my money dwindle and veterinary bills sky rocket, I decided I needed a "now job" just to cover expenses while I'm looking for something better. I think I applied at 6 places and got hired at a supermarket bakery. At least it'll pay the bills while I'm applying at other places.

op

Thanks, anon. Yeah, the jobs I've been applying for have relatively long application periods (sometimes a couple months) and I don't always hear back right away, so it's easy to get hopeful only to be shot down. I've heard the statistic about men and women applying for jobs they aren't qualified for, I think I probably need a little more confidence with that but it seems like all the jobs I do apply for, I eventually get rejected on grounds of not meeting minimum qualifications. D:

It's really frustrating and I feel like I'm wasting my life... from being currently unemployed and useless, to possibly having to work an entry-level non-career job, to even getting my master's in the first place. But thanks, I suppose loads of people are in my same position. I'll try to keep some perspective with it.

Find anything relevant to your interests, even if it's not directly related to your field. If it is related to your field, offer to volunteer or intern first. Just go out there and open yourself up to doing multiple jobs. If not just go with any old full time job if money too tight for now.

No offense, but I don't understand how people in a masters program (I don't know about phd) doesn't have at least one part-time job.

op

I did my master's in the UK, and I'm American. Visa expires and they make you leave, unfortunately not possible to hold on to part time jobs.

First off, congrats on your MA!

Do you have a staffing agency in your area? A lot of companies are going the "temp-to-hire" route these days, and even if you take a regular temp job you'll hopefully get a feel for whatever field you're interested in and make some connections.

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[ SECRET POST #3313 ]

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