About your job - how, when?

[Anonymous]

Where do you work right now? How did you find this job - Internet, friends, magazines, etc? What was your first workplace?

I'm 22 years old and I'm ashamed to confess but I've never worked yet. Now I would like to get my first job but I don't know how to start, where to look. I'm still studying in the university. I just know for sure I would prefer working with papers rather than with people.

[Mark]

I work in retail - not going to mention where as they check haha. I started when I was 19 before my second year of uni because in the first year I ran up debts of around £4k so realised I needed a job. Got a 4 hour a week contract as a christmas temp on tills - saw the sign in the window. 5 years later I'm now a department manager earning around £29k, (which is pretty decent) in the same job. I've never pictured myself staying and never thought I would want to, but at the moment I am enjoying it

I also thought I'd rather an office job - but after being in retail for 5 years I HATE the office side and much prefer being physical and active on the shop floor dealing with customers! Its odd haha.

[Jahed]

But is that your dream to work there, like seriously man? I have big ambitions and imma try to stick with them..

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Hmm. Most of my jobs were via know who - meaning I knew a person who connected me with a person who had a job they needed filled.

Commercial work, such as for JC Pennies I answered ads. JC Pennies had a half page in the newspaper looking for Christmas Seasonal workers. I not only got to work for that Christmas Season but got extended until I quit the next August.

Now days its typical of 20 something year olds to be living off their folks. Back in my fay there was more of a solid, hard 18 year old line drawn in the sand - nay carved in stone.

Understand that society is hitting major catastrophe when it comes to the economy.

We have a 'free capitalist market' which is designed for maximized profits. This means that companies do everything they can to sell as much and make as much money as possible, that means that most real jobs have been shipped off to the Third World were people are paid pennies.

This means that there are far, far less jobs in the First World - while there is abundance of products, no one can afford them.

So you are looking at a landscape where there are fewer and fewer jobs out there because those jobs have been shipped off. Sure there is abundance of products (a glut on the market in many cases) which indicates a healthy economy, but the economy is in crises, is very unhealthy and is about to go tits up.

The Western World is chiefly composed of service industry work (cashiers, stock boys, fast food servers) and 'paper shovelers' - cubical workers. This are all low paying jobs, and used to be 'starter jobs' for starting off as a kid. Now there is a glut of 'old people' who have no other choice but take starter jobs in order to sustain something akin to life.

Walmart, Home Depot and various other places are getting rid of cashiers with 'self checkout terminals. Its all part of the maximize profits deal without any real concern that if you don't have a working population buying money you won't make a fucking dime off of all of the crap you may be selling.

Your best bet is to get a parttime job - ANY parttime job. There are millions upon millions of people looking for work. Any half decent job is being handed to those who already have a job. Thus if you are totally unemployed you are going to be passed over for those with a part-time job already. Google: https://www.google.com/#q=unemployed+not+being+hired

Yes I know 'I'm a full time student' - Back in my day plenty of full time students worked part-time jobs on top of carrying a full load of credits/units at college/university. Many actually worked themselves through school. So its possible. Hard - yes, you will be exhausted - however right now is the best time to get that part-time ANY job because you have university you are attending right now which works magically for employ-ability for most companies who are going to pass up an unemployed out of school person.

[Mark]

But is that your dream to work there, like seriously man? I have big ambitions and imma try to stick with them..

No of course it isn't my dream to work there - my dream job would be getting into property development and be self sufficient but in reality to do that I need money - so to earn money I need to progress in a career that may not be my dream, and earn what is needed - but alas this is reality.

I think its good to follow dreams, but you also need to be practical - if you can't go into your dream job at the moment but need money then go and earn it. You learn different skills, and can transfer them to use in other aspects.

Don't look down at jobs maybe you don't think you'd ever like to do because the way the economy is at the moment you'd be lucky to get anything.

[sillyboy86]

I'm jobless since months... And it's a road with no ending, but I hope to leave from here soon and find a decent job...

[SilentFilm1988]

I currently work in an office for a shipping company doing documentation, next month will be 3 years that I've been with my company. Prior to this job I had no office at experience at all, none, had just had retail jobs prior to the job I have now.

I got my job when I was still living at home at the time, and my mom saw an ad in the Newspaper for an office position, I was 100% skeptical when my mom told me this I said to her they are going to want somebody with office experience or a college degree, she then told me there's no harm in trying, so I sent my employer my résumé, and 2 days later received an email for an interview for the job, the rest is history.

I told my 1 friend this story and my friend said its interesting how you got your job, because in this day and age my friend told me 80% of people get jobs by knowing somebody, 10% through Internet, 5% newspaper and the other 5% other outlets. So I'm grateful everyday, I know I got my job only because I was lucky.

[Jahed]

Never retail or fast-food. Rather be homeless.

[HaZe]

Then be homeless

[Jahed]

Time will tell.