Unemployed in the playground

[hawkboy772042]

I'm just wondering how any recent college graduates (and others) are fairing in this economy in regards to finding a job. I graduated 5 months ago and still luck :(

[Destro_Yersul]

I'll shortly be unemployed thanks to quitting because my job was driving me up the wall, but I don't think I'll have too large a problem getting a new job. Everyone around here seems to need more people, and I've got a bit of experience I can point at when they ask.

Course, I live in Canada, so your mileage may vary.

[RTGoodman]

Welcome to my world, man. I graduated in May, too, and still haven't even found as much as a fast food or grocery store job. :smallsigh:

Of course, not only is the economy not doing so well in general, but where I live is in REALLY bad shape. Like, the three main industries that basically the area afloat for decades (furniture, fabric, and tobacco) are all GONE, so now the people that don't have ANY college and don't have any experience at doing anything other than assembling chairs or whatnot have flooded the local entry-level jobs and whatnot.


Also, having a BA in History doesn't really help, either. :smallannoyed:

[InaVegt]

Technically speaking I'm unemployed.

Practically speaking I live of money from several sources, which makes me not need a job.

And I'll get a job after getting a degree, it's pretty hard to get one without, and a lot easier to get one with. To make it even better, a disproportionally huge amount of people will retire within the next few years, making it even more likely for me to get a job by then.

[hawkboy772042]

I'll shortly be unemployed thanks to quitting because my job was driving me up the wall, but I don't think I'll have too large a problem getting a new job. Everyone around here seems to need more people, and I've got a bit of experience I can point at when they ask.

Course, I live in Canada, so your mileage may vary.

I've got no problem moving to Canada....

[Om]

Welcome to recession. My current contract is up in January (it won't be renewed) and I'm starting to look seriously at emigration. The bad old days are back

[InaVegt]

Well, hawkboy, according to current data, there will be an employee shortage coming up in a few years (it'll start in about two, and grow worse for five more years)

This is because starting in two years, the people born in the post WW2 baby boom will retire as they reach the pension worthy age of sixty five.

So, if you can hold out for three, four years, there's most likely going to be a job for you in the Netherlands (assuming we aren't bankrupt by then, that is)

[Lemur]

Technically speaking I'm unemployed.

Practically speaking I live of money from several sources, which makes me not need a job.

And I'll get a job after getting a degree, it's pretty hard to get one without, and a lot easier to get one with. To make it even better, a disproportionally huge amount of people will retire within the next few years, making it even more likely for me to get a job by then.

Actually Gez, technically you're not unemployed. The term for you would be "Not In the Labor Force". Unemployment, strictly defined (which is how it's used when talking about the unemployment rate), refers to people age 16 and above who are actively seeking work, but for one reason or another have not found a job.

On the other hand, you are not currently seeking work, which means you don't actually count as being "unemployed"- when you read about unemployment in the newspaper for example, you're not part of the statistics.

The more you know...

[Ravyn]

Graduated in May with a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology; I was lucky, I found a short-term thing spreadsheeting for a local auto parts company, but that's long since dried up.

[RTGoodman]

Graduated in May with a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology; I was lucky, I found a short-term thing spreadsheeting for a local auto parts company, but that's long since dried up.

How did you manage to find out about and get that job, if you don't mind my asking? I've been talking to my friends with jobs earlier today, and almost every single one of them got their job from knowing/being related to someone "on the inside," as it were. I guess that's the disadvantage I have in having a family that includes (1) a career military man, who can't really get me a job with him; and (2) a bunch of laid-off, retired, or non-job-having folks.

I started, with my BA in History, looking at local museums and other historical/educational places, to no avail. From there, I moved to looking at office/administrative assistant jobs, front desk clerks, secretary jobs, and other stuff that I could thrive in with my typing skills, knowledge of how to write well, and stuff like that, and also had no luck. By now, I'm looking at box-hauling jobs at FedEx/UPS, bagger/stocker jobs at grocery stores, and stuff like that, and it's not looking too good either.


@Om: That sucks - I'm looking at studying (Celtic/Irish) mythology at grad school and was thinking of taking some time to actually go live and study in Ireland, but if things are hard for folks already there I doubt they'd be any easier for students studying abroad who might need cash...

[Midnight Son]

I'm currently unemployed, but that's cause I quit and haven't been looking for a job. I'll start all that in a week or so. First I have to get back home(should be there Tuesday evening). When I do start looking, I expect to be employed fairly quickly.

[Proven_Paradox]

I'm still in college right now, but I graduate next semester and the situation is grim at best for finding employment. I'm a computer science major, which is typically in high demand--unfortunately, not in my area. I would almost certainly have to go out of state to find a job in my field, which would require money, which I need a job to acquire. Entry-level jobs don't want someone with a degree around here--they'd rather take a high-school drop-out with no other options. It's a complete, immediate shut-down. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I have to start paying back student loans.

[FoE]

Does being in high school count as unemployed? Probably not, but I did have to take a job back in those days just to survive.

See, it was back when I was living with my aunt. My uncle had just recently died, and we had a lot of mounting expenses. Cash was pretty tight, so I started working for a daily newspaper as a freelance photographer. See, my gimmick was that I would take pictures of myself fighting crime and selll them back to the publisher.

Who am I? You sure you want to know?

In truth, I am employed now, but I was unemployed for a while and didn't care for it too much. Money may be the root of all evil, but not having it sucks.

[Mordokai]

Doing internship which ends when December begins. After that, I have an option of continuing doing the job at the pharmacy for somewhat lower salary(but by no mean low, at least for my standards) or get my ass up, graduate and find myself a job at laboratory for higher salary. Either of them is fine with me and I really think I'm going to be able to get a job one way or another, even with the whole recession thing going on. Of course, things aren't as bad in Europe as they are in the States, I think.

Having a few people that are in right places and give you good information on opening places helps too.

[Evil DM Mark3]

This is one of the benefits of the carrier path I want to follow.

BSc Chemistry ->PGCE ->Teaching.

[Miklus]

Being unemployed sucks. I've had five jobs and been unemployed inbetween, so I should know.

There are three ways of getting a job:
1) Word-of-mouth AKA neopotism or buddy-buddy. I have got two of the five jobs that way, and I'm not even very good at it. By far the easiest way to get a job. Remember, kids: "It's not who you are, it's who you know!".

2) Sending a general application without an ad. This is not very effective in a resession. I once sent 100 of those in one go, but only got like 10 replies, all negative. Might be effective in a labor sortage, but not now.

3) Responding to ads. This is the way people are "supposed" to get jobs. The problem is that you are competing against scores of other people. Even if you get an interview, you are only one of a dozen to do so. Sometimes there are several rounds of interviews. Then there are the humiliating tests: Psycological, IQ tests and sometimes other homemade crap. Oh sweet gods, I have been to so many interviews.

As you can see, #1 is the way to go. The others are pretty much a waste of time.

At least you guys are allowed to be unemployed. This is not the case in Denmark. Unemployment is almost considered a crime. If you can't find a job fast enough, you get enrolled in a competence-upgrading-course of the states choise. After that, it is strait on to forced labor. I'm not kidding. It happend to me in 2003. I worked full time at this huge company making 3D-drawings of plastic pipes. But I got no pay, only welfare. This was only about 1/3 the money I should have had. What a rip.

[Om]

At least you guys are allowed to be unemployed. This is not the case in Denmark. Unemployment is almost considered a crime. If you can't find a job fast enough, you get enrolled in a competence-upgrading-course of the states choise. After that, it is strait on to forced labor. I'm not kidding. It happend to me in 2003. I worked full time at this huge company making 3D-drawings of plastic pipes. But I got no pay, only welfare. This was only about 1/3 the money I should have had. What a rip.Really? You get free training plus work experience? That sounds fantastic!

[valadil]

I graduated in May of '05 and didn't get hired till November of that year. Recession or not, getting that first adult job is a pain.

[Destro_Yersul]

I graduated in May of '05 and didn't get hired till November of that year. Recession or not, getting that first adult job is a pain.

Gods above, how true this is. Everyone wants experience, and the only way to get it is work. Stupid paradox. I finally solved that problem by getting a job at a Dairy Queen. Customer service experience is pure gold.

[valadil]

Gods above, how true this is. Everyone wants experience, and the only way to get it is work. Stupid paradox. I finally solved that problem by getting a job at a Dairy Queen. Customer service experience is pure gold.

I think they expect everyone to have volunteered for unpaid internships over the summer. At least with my field, computer science, you can do a coding project on your own free time and if its impressive enough you can get hired for that. Too bad my projects were never all that impressive.

[Evil DM Mark3]

At least you guys are allowed to be unemployed. This is not the case in Denmark. Unemployment is almost considered a crime. If you can't find a job fast enough, you get enrolled in a competence-upgrading-course of the states choise. After that, it is strait on to forced labor. I'm not kidding. It happend to me in 2003. I worked full time at this huge company making 3D-drawings of plastic pipes. But I got no pay, only welfare. This was only about 1/3 the money I should have had. What a rip.

Actually,.I would fully support this becoming what happens in the UK, after all the government could charge more than Welfare and use this to reduce actual taxation and the person doing the work would gain valuble work experiance. So long as you put a not-too-high cap on the number of such workers a company can have it ought to be a winner.

[EmeraldRose]

I lucked out when I graduated (for the third time) last August. I had a job lined up prior to actually having my degree in hand. I walked on August 3rd and started work on the 6th.

Of course I have since decided that I like my company very little (though I love what I do), and I'm considering very strongly using my maternity leave in a few months to find a new job.

Preferably one closer to home that pays more. Whether or not I will find one...who knows. But I will be looking. Oh yes.

[Miklus]

Actually,.I would fully support this becoming what happens in the UK, after all the government could charge more than Welfare and use this to reduce actual taxation and the person doing the work would gain valuble work experiance. So long as you put a not-too-high cap on the number of such workers a company can have it ought to be a winner.

The worst part was that the company actually fired a guy in that department while I was there. Why pay an employee when you can get one for free?

[Evil DM Mark3]

The worst part was that the company actually fired a guy in that department while I was there. Why pay an employee when you can get one for free?That is a terrible situation and sounds like a job for a trade union. This is why I said you would need a cap on numbers, the companies would have a certain number of staff in that position and then rotate them. The fact is that in the UK there are people who's carrier plan reads "Claim benefits and pick up fraudulent work."

[Ravyn]

How did you manage to find out about and get that job, if you don't mind my asking? I've been talking to my friends with jobs earlier today, and almost every single one of them got their job from knowing/being related to someone "on the inside," as it were. I guess that's the disadvantage I have in having a family that includes (1) a career military man, who can't really get me a job with him; and (2) a bunch of laid-off, retired, or non-job-having folks.

I started, with my BA in History, looking at local museums and other historical/educational places, to no avail. From there, I moved to looking at office/administrative assistant jobs, front desk clerks, secretary jobs, and other stuff that I could thrive in with my typing skills, knowledge of how to write well, and stuff like that, and also had no luck. By now, I'm looking at box-hauling jobs at FedEx/UPS, bagger/stocker jobs at grocery stores, and stuff like that, and it's not looking too good either.


My last two jobs (the one I mentioned, and the short-term one I did last summer) I found on Craigslist, after a couple months of near-constant searching. With the spreadsheeting one, I think I just got lucky; my boss told me there was only one other applicant, and just about all of my work implied I'd make a decent spreadsheeter. (Then I went and did my work too efficiently.) Most of it is luck, stubbornness, and a willingness to put oneself out there.

[Cristo Meyers]

If I could afford to be unemployed right now, I would be. My current job is driving me up the wall. But there are only so many options open for an English Major with no real other job experience (it's hard to volunteer for internships when you don't live within 500 miles of any of them...)

[Felixaar]

hooray for unemployment! I am too, for the next few months atleast (unless you can consider freelance-writer-yet-to-make-a-sale employment).

[Faceist]

I'm unemployed but that's more out of choice, I'm messing around in a band and trying to get some of my writing published, so I don't really have time for gainful employment. On the bright side, if I do make it big, it'll be in one of two highly lucrative careers. :smalltongue:

[ColonelFuster]

Been unemployed for months after a seasonal job ran out.
APPLYING
FREAKING
EVERYWHERE.

[Tom_Violence]

Ask me again in a week or so. I might actually be one of the few doing alright out of all this. Woo!

[Linkavitch]

Yeah, I put in an application at about a dozen different places in May, and they didn't call me back.

[Winter_Wolf]

I wish to cry now. :smallfrown: I'm currently employed, but it's a temp job, which means it will dry up in the near future. And now I see I will have much competition in all corners of the US. It's really enough to make me want to move back to Shanghai, even though it's not so hot there either, unless you're willing to degrade yourself and teach English. Yes, degrade. You have to act like an ass and be a cheerful kiss-butt all the time or you'll be let go and replaced by a more cheerful person, even if said person is a complete moron. Actually that's one of the key selling points for employers, since it's easier for the employer to manipulate and bully them. Plus you get to argue every month about whether you're getting paid. You teach at a language school in China, you have a shady employer; it's like a law of the cosmos or something.

I'd emigrate to Canda but I doubt they'd have me.

But really, getting a job isn't about who you know, it's about who knows you.

[potatocubed]

I graduated in May of '05 and didn't get hired till November of that year. Recession or not, getting that first adult job is a pain.

Tell me about it. I think I may have just acquired my first adult job (with prospects and responsibility and everything), and I'm 28. Still, I'll put a stop to all this nonsense by spending all my time at work posting on the GitP forums. Just you watch me!

[Kcalehc]

Graduated in June. BS in Technical Management, temping for $13/hour, doing virtually nothing in an admin job. Bored out of my mind all day long pretty much. Applying to just about anything I can find thats vaguely close to what I want to do, with little or no success thus far.

[ForzaFiori]

I've had one job, working at a TV/Appliance store. Worked for minimum wage for the summer. Thankfully, I can pretty much always find part-time job there, thanks to knowing the owner and pretty much every employee as a family friend. However if i want a job with better wages...I'm out of luck. I'm hoping to maybe get a job for the holiday season though. I need to head up to the mall and find out which stores are looking for holiday help.

[RandomNPC]

next week i get to be unemployed for a week.

the boss put a thing out in feb. about us being slow in october, and asked everyone to take a week off.

so most of us saved a week of vacation (between that and 3 sick days i only get 2 days off that i want this year)

so all summer the company brown nose took off friday or monday to spend time at his trailer, and now he's not on the list for week long layoffs because he doesn't have the time.

our new guy who doesn't have any time because he's new has to go for a week, but this guy who purposely wasted his time? guess whos got the union on speed dial?

[rubakhin]

I left school when I was thirteen, I have no work experience, a foreign accent, a name that is impossible to pronounce, and I live in a rust belt city with an unemployment rate approaching 10%. Also, my bank account is overdrawn by a hundred dollars, I was just rejected for the medical insurance that would have paid my mounting bills, and my boyfriend forbids me to either a) go home and fight the oppressive hand, b) deal Vicodin for my grandmother who has a scrip she's not using and as many monetary problems as I have, or c) go back to hustling.

Man, when your employment options are pretty much limited to drug dealing, male prostitution, and terrorism, you know you have a serious problem.

I do kind of want to stay out of prison/land wars in Asia/the grave for my boy, though, especially since sooner or later he'll ask me to move in with his rich ass and solve all of my problems, so tomorrow morning I'm turning in my app for the bookstore job that will inevitably go to a quirky lesbian graduate student. Wish me luck!

[Felixaar]

Well with that attitude :smallsigh:

Hang in there, Rub.

[dish]

I wish to cry now. :smallfrown: I'm currently employed, but it's a temp job, which means it will dry up in the near future. And now I see I will have much competition in all corners of the US. It's really enough to make me want to move back to Shanghai, even though it's not so hot there either, unless you're willing to degrade yourself and teach English. Yes, degrade. You have to act like an ass and be a cheerful kiss-butt all the time or you'll be let go and replaced by a more cheerful person, even if said person is a complete moron. Actually that's one of the key selling points for employers, since it's easier for the employer to manipulate and bully them. Plus you get to argue every month about whether you're getting paid. You teach at a language school in China, you have a shady employer; it's like a law of the cosmos or something.

I'd emigrate to Canda but I doubt they'd have me.

But really, getting a job isn't about who you know, it's about who knows you.

Do you have proper teaching qualifications? If so you can get a teaching job with a decent, reliable employer here in Shanghai (or elsewhere in China). The pay is reasonable rather than stellar; but that's teaching in general.

At the moment China is definitely a better bet than Europe / America, but we'll have to wait and see how long this situation lasts.

[hawkboy772042]

Yeah, I put in an application at about a dozen different places in May, and they didn't call me back.

Spartacus,

You have to continuously send applications almost every day in order to yield even a few interviews. If you use a site like Careerbuilder for instance, it allows you to send out resumes in shear volume to dozens of job postings. Another technique is simply "cold call" businesses that you're interested in working for. (You're actually more effective in person, but try it by phone to get some confidence) Well... good luck.

[Brewdude]

(1) a career military man, who can't really get me a job with him
Pfft, Ask him for a letter of recommendation, and find out which defense contractors operate where he's deployed.

Half the jobs of overseas contracting (assuming you don't mind the danger) go to friends/relatives of the military folk in the area...Because half of the useful skill of those jobs is just knowing your way around a military base and how to act around military people.

[RTGoodman]

Pfft, Ask him for a letter of recommendation, and find out which defense contractors operate where he's deployed.

Half the jobs of overseas contracting (assuming you don't mind the danger) go to friends/relatives of the military folk in the area...Because half of the useful skill of those jobs is just knowing your way around a military base and how to act around military people.

Well, couple of problems there. First, he's not deployed anywhere - he's an NCO in charge of local troops for emergency response stuff (he's full-time Army National Guard) - and most of the jobs that might be around where he works are computer-technical related, which I'm REALLY not qualified for. Second, I'm not really looking for a career right now, just a job to make some money before heading to grad school next Fall.

On the up-side, I just sent in about 4 applications about two hours ago and should hear back in the next week or so, and I've got two more almost ready to go (i.e., I just need to print off the two cover letters and take the applications in to place).

[Liriel]

I've almost come to the point of giving up. I've been out of work for over a year now and come end of the year, out of college for a year. I had hoped to go straight on to grad school, but medical bills killed the budget for GRE & application fees.

I had to move back in with my parents for awhile since I couldn't find anything. Then couldn't find anything there. Managed to move in with some friends (thankfully, cooking and housework is a a valid form of holding up my end of the household) and still haven't found anything.

Talk about useless. :smallfrown:

(And I killed the thread - go me.)

[hawkboy772042]

I've almost come to the point of giving up. I've been out of work for over a year now and come end of the year, out of college for a year. I had hoped to go straight on to grad school, but medical bills killed the budget for GRE & application fees.



Sorry to hear that... I'm thinking of going to graduate school myself just because of this economic depression. (Forget the depression thread, I'm depressed because I worked hard to get my engineering degree only to find myself having to take a job at minimum wage at warehouse)

[RTGoodman]

I've almost come to the point of giving up. I've been out of work for over a year now and come end of the year, out of college for a year. I had hoped to go straight on to grad school, but medical bills killed the budget for GRE & application fees.

Yeah, I know about that. I just forked over the $140 for the GRE, and I've got at least four applications to send in to grad schools in the next month or two, each with a $70-90 application fee. :smallsigh:


Sorry to hear that... I'm thinking of going to graduate school myself just because of this economic depression.

Apparently it's a common thing. PHD Comics (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics) (Pile Higher and Deeper, a grad school webcomic) did this strip not long ago where they had a chart of the correlation between unemployment rates and grad school enrollment, and it's pretty good.


http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd100108s.gif

[Liriel]

Sorry to hear that... I'm thinking of going to graduate school myself just because of this economic depression. (Forget the depression thread, I'm depressed because I worked hard to get my engineering degree only to find myself having to take a job at minimum wage at warehouse)

Thanks. And yeah, understand the depression for those nice hefty school loans and shiny diploma going to a minimum wage job (especially with how low minimum wage is). I've got it for having no job as well...