Job searching - What am I doing wrong?

[Veovis]

Kind of ironic that I keep coming to a communist forum for advice about how to cope with the capitalist system! :lol:

I'm looking for a new job because the current one I'm at only pays $10 an hour and is not nearly enough to pay the almost $650 in monthly student loan payments I have hanging over my head. Problem is, I can't find anything and don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I've mostly been looking on craigslist and indeed.com for jobs, but there's nothing that both pays better and that I have the qualifications for. There has to be something I'm missing. I don't have any personal connections, so that option's out.

For what it's worth, I have a BA in Spanish cultural studies and international relations. I can speak Spanish nearly fluently, even though I don't come from a Hispanic background. I don't know yet if I feel confident enough to do translation or interpretation for a living.

Any advice?

[eyedrop]

Unless you have some sought-after skill, with documentation, it's hard to get any job without connections.

Almost at any place I worked almost everyone new that was employed had a recommendation from someone already working there. Connections and networking is alpha and omaga, the rest is just periphery shit that can make a difference.

Looking at the internet for listed job offerings and just applying for them, with a cv and a mail, is almost hopeless since you are probably competing for 200++persons on each job, you can increase your chances by calling and asking a couple of questions and make sure they remember your name. It can work if you for example are a young man applying for a child care job, since they especially want young men.

What you can do that can help some is to make open applications and go and personally deliver them to different companies, set a minimum to 5 a day or something.

*Find a company
*Ask the manager if he has a couple of minutes
*Ask him a couple of questions and tell him that you would be interested if s/he has any job offerings in the future and give him an open application.
*When the company now has any new job openings they will check through the people they know are interested before they list it out at a job sites, since listing out jobs is expensive, hasslesome and a lot of work, and the manager already know you from beforehand. So they will avoid it if possible.

[Veovis]

It can work if you for example are a young man applying for a child care job, since they especially want young men.

Now that's interesting. I always thought women were preferred for such jobs. Any reason why they'd be looking for men?

I'm interested in that sort of thing - I applied at the local Ikea to work in the childcare area (they ended up putting me in the warehouse :(), and I applied to a couple Montessori schools a while back to work as a teacher's aide. Didn't hear back, obviously.

[Ism]

Now that's interesting. I always thought women were preferred for such jobs. Any reason why they'd be looking for men?

I'm interested in that sort of thing - I applied at the local Ikea to work in the childcare area (they ended up putting me in the warehouse :(), and I applied to a couple Montessori schools a while back to work as a teacher's aide. Didn't hear back, obviously.

Apply for as many child care centers as possible. Even though they want young men especially, it still took me seven applications before I eventually got a job which is only part-time. I live in Denmark, so the labor market and the wage varies a lot from the US, but the economy is fucked up everywhere, so it is indeed hard to find jobs unless you, like it has been said, happen to know people who are able to help you.

You would have to meet in the child care center and be face to face with the manager for a two-minute chit-chat rather than e-mailing the application. This always works best. Try this at all the child care centers in your neighborhood, and chances are good they will employ you. Working in a child care center is, if you can manage the odor and the noise and you always remember to wash your hands like fifteen times a day, a rather nice job. I sadly don't know anything of the wage, but in Denmark it's like 22 $. After income tax, it's around 15 I think. Of course, you should try to take advantage of your Spanish degree, but to pay off your debt, this would seem like a reasonable idea, at least for a year or something.

[eyedrop]

Now that's interesting. I always thought women were preferred for such jobs. Any reason why they'd be looking for men?

Since (If) it's accepted that men can also be nurturers, they think that kids should have both male and female rolemodels.

It's a variation on the 2 gay men can't raise a child since the kids paren't won't have both a male and female rolemodel arguement.

Unfortunately childcare is typical "womenwork" so it's badly payed. Women have historically (or even now) had a harder time getting raises as they should have a man principally taking care of the welfare of the family.

Another tip for you if you are ready for the slight social hit and still live in your hometown. Ask if anyone on your Facebook knows of anyone who needs workers, or can hear around for you. If lucky someone of the couple hundred folks you 'know' can give you foot inside someplace.

[Rooster]

Get a phone book and send a CV and a cover letter to every single company addressed in it. Even though some places might not be advertising for staff, someone might see your letter or get it just in time. It's probably better doing this than applying for stuff that you see on the internet.

[Nox]

You need to apply for many jobs at a time.

Try going to a job centre and entering your details on lots of employment websites and the like.

[tanklv]

It's not you - it's because there are about 20 people for every job offering...

There are about 15 million unemployed in the US currently, if I remember reading correctly...

Unemployment for my profession is around 34 percent...

[Lynx]

Yes, the bottom line is there aren't enough jobs for everyone, hence unemployment. Social networking/personal connections will help with the odds, but if there are only 1 job for 20 applicants, 19 people will have to keep looking.

[Arlekino]

Seriously to find better job seems is nightmare. Silly CV, reference huge complicate application forms, write about yourself, interviews, is crap life made for working class. I did in past interviews, to be honest I would better stay on benefits.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I wish I could get benefits.

[Veovis]

Ah, its useless. :crying:

Thanks for the advice, though.

[eyedrop]

Ah, its useless. :crying:

Thanks for the advice, though.

It's not hopeless, if you devote 40 hours of hard work to it each week you should have a pretty good chance to land a job in a couple of months.

Being unemployed was the hardest job I've ever had.

Off course one job for you is one less job for someone else, so being good at getting a job does nothing with the strucural problems in capitalism. If everyone follows every advice job-seeking-centre's give out we're back to square one again

[AConfusedSocialDemocrat]

Welcome to the lumpen proletariat!

Just send your CV to everyone in the phonebook.

[Veovis]

It's not hopeless, if you devote 40 hours of hard work to it each week you should have a pretty good chance to land a job in a couple of months.

Being unemployed was the hardest job I've ever had.

Off course one job for you is one less job for someone else, so being good at getting a job does nothing with the strucural problems in capitalism. If everyone follows every advice job-seeking-centre's give out we're back to square one again

That's the problem. I am employed - just underemployed. $10 per hour doesn't pay the necessities of life plus >$650 in monthly student loans. I need to find a job that pays better, or my parents will have to pay my loans and my family will never speak to me again.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

They don't tell you this but you may be able to consolidate your student loans, that is, make an arangement for smaller monthly payments. As I understand the loan companies are legally required to to extend this option if asked, although for various reasons they don't want people to know about this.

As far as cash flow goes, if you live in an urban or suburban area and you can move your present job to evenings/third shift you might want to consider substitute teaching.Pay for subbing these days in urban areas can be between $70-$80/a day.You'll have to fill out tons of paperwork and have them do a background check on you, it could take a month to get going after you've applied.There can be discipline problems in high schools but since its day by day this is easy to shrug off. Subbing in an elementary school can be a real blast.

Don't blame yourself about your situation. Most of an entire generation is in the same boat.

Another idea, you may be able to get student loans written off if you work for Americorps or do a stint in the Peace Corps, I don't know the details on this.

[Veovis]

They don't tell you this but you may be able to consolidate your student loans, that is, make an arangement for smaller monthly payments. As I understand the loan companies are legally required to to extend this option if asked, although for various reasons they don't want people to know about this.

*sigh* They've already been consolidated. :crying:

[Veovis]

*Update*

Still no luck. Got myself so frustrated and worked-up looking for jobs tonight that I can't get to sleep and will probably have a very difficult day at work tomorrow because of it. I simply cannot win. :crying:

[dodger]

As a stop gap any job that has free food, a set of wheels or accommodation cuts down on expenditure and frees spending money for debt repayment . Good Luck.

[Revolutionair]

Just wanted to tell you to keep your hopes up.

Finding a job is difficult but you must not give up. You can do it!

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Another idea, if you haven't done this already, you may be able to get a hardship deferment of up to a year. Perhaps grad school, work on a doctorate, you can put off paying the loans and possibly pay for school as a grad assistant.

Would squatting be an option? I have read that the guy who runs the Global Revolution website that provides webcams of the Occupy movements, was a derivatives broker on Wall ST., quit and is now living in a squat in the Bushwick section of New York. I've been seriously thinking about this myself.

If worse comes to worse you could default. It would ruin your credit rating but its probably not in great shape anyway.No sense keeping your nose clean to achieve a bourgeois lifestyle which will be unattainable anyway. It would be better paying off your loans but if you literally can't survive doing so, what's the point?

Good luck with whatever happens.

[Veovis]

If worse comes to worse you could default. It would ruin your credit rating but its probably not in great shape anyway.No sense keeping your nose clean to achieve a bourgeois lifestyle which will be unattainable anyway. It would be better paying off your loans but if you literally can't survive doing so, what's the point?

Good luck with whatever happens.

My mother cosigned. It would hit her too, and she doesn't make that much more money than me.

[brawler5k2]

If worse comes to worse you could default. It would ruin your credit rating but its probably not in great shape anyway.No sense keeping your nose clean to achieve a bourgeois lifestyle which will be unattainable anyway. It would be better paying off your loans but if you literally can't survive doing so, what's the point?

Good luck with whatever happens.

You can't cancel student loan debt through default in the U.S. though, and for that matter, all that defaulting on your student loan(s) would do is make them far worse.

[farleft]

Kind of ironic that I keep coming to a communist forum for advice about how to cope with the capitalist system! :lol:

I'm looking for a new job because the current one I'm at only pays $10 an hour and is not nearly enough to pay the almost $650 in monthly student loan payments I have hanging over my head. Problem is, I can't find anything and don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I've mostly been looking on craigslist and indeed.com for jobs, but there's nothing that both pays better and that I have the qualifications for. There has to be something I'm missing. I don't have any personal connections, so that option's out.

For what it's worth, I have a BA in Spanish cultural studies and international relations. I can speak Spanish nearly fluently, even though I don't come from a Hispanic background. I don't know yet if I feel confident enough to do translation or interpretation for a living.

Any advice?

Move abroad.

Get a job teaching English as a foreign language (no experience required).

[ellipsis]

Have you considered.... not working?

[ellipsis]

Also for people who speak real english, CV means resume.

[Hiero]

For what it's worth, I have a BA in Spanish cultural studies and international relations. I can speak Spanish nearly fluently, even though I don't come from a Hispanic background. I don't know yet if I feel confident enough to do translation or interpretation for a living.

I am probally going to be in the same boat as you once I finish my honours. I did a BA and finishing an honours. I am begining to see myself as being unemployable for any long term career options.

Have you tried government jobs?

You have been trained as a professional and the most suited work is government work. Though if you wait too long to enter this sector you may miss your chance as there will be younger applicants with fresh degrees coming along. Being a left-wing whatever you would have to look ethically in what departments you may want to go. I would imagine immigration would want you desperatly, but there are some ethically problems there. Maybe focus on social sevices or departments focusing on international aid. Look for an area you have focused your studies in so you can say "I speak Spanish fluently and have a thorough understanding of world politics".

Government departments should have yearly intake of graduates and a training program. You should eventually be on a good salary that will pay off your loan in the next decade. You can then move to other departments as you got older, or move to an NGO.

If you have already tried government jobs, well best of luck to you.


Have you considered.... not working?

Why would any abled bodied person not want to work? I mean realistically not want to work. Like I want to win the lottery so I wont have to work, but I want to work to pay bills and have a life. This sort of feels insulting to unemployed people looking for work to survive. People generally have to work.

[ellipsis]

Work≠Labor.

I try to work for money as litttle as possible. If it weren't for student loan debt and rent, I probably wouldn't work more than 5 hours a week.

Fucking being oppressed in order to support the capitalist system through both participation and engagement in consumerism. I'd rather starve and be free and be fat, complicit and oppressed.

OP should totally find a job if they want or need, but know its not the only option.