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Skinny King Pimp posted:We have liberal arts degrees... ...can't find jobs. I'm seeing a pattern here. Usually people with liberal art degrees who want to work, go back and teach it. The few people I know with LA degrees are all working as cashiers and waiters.
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Sep 5, 2013 18:25
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Kasan posted:I'm seeing a pattern here. Usually people with liberal art degrees who want to work, go back and teach it. The few people I know with LA degrees are all working as cashiers and waiters. Of all the possible places to rehash this "debate", this is clearly the most fitting.
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Sep 5, 2013 18:49
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Kasan posted:I'm seeing a pattern here. Usually people with liberal art degrees who want to work, go back and teach it. The few people I know with LA degrees are all working as cashiers and waiters. I was about to say, i'm not trying to be an rear end to all of you but i graduated and was tripping over jobs, and i was by no means the best student.
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Sep 5, 2013 19:01
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It really depends where you live. One sure fire way to get a job is to move to Alaska and work at a cannery. They'll hire anyone!
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Sep 5, 2013 19:20
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AcidRonin posted:I was about to say, i'm not trying to be an rear end to all of you but i graduated and was tripping over jobs, and i was by no means the best student. Clearly your situation is common and all of the news over the past five years about how difficult it is to find a job right now is a bunch of scaremongering from the media trying to drive their numbers up, right?
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Sep 5, 2013 19:44
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Geoj posted:Clearly your situation is common and all of the news over the past five years about how difficult it is to find a job right now is a bunch of scaremongering from the media trying to drive their numbers up, right? It's extremely difficult to find a job right now. Paying upwards of $64,000 per year (e.g. Harvard tuition) to get a degree in what you love with no thought to how you'll support yourself or your family on it is not doing yourself any favors. The Baby Boomer days of underwater basketweaving degree == solid fulltime job aren't here. It is bad blanket advice for everyone to attend college just to get a whatever degree because holy poo poo the COST IS NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE AND NOBODY CAN PREDICT WHAT DEGREES WILL BE VALUABLE learn a trade, stop paying student loans, burn America, salt the ashes, etc etc. (I'm ranting at the student loan industry and the baby boomer entitlement, not at kids or liberal arts majors) Benny has done good work at finding jobs. He's just not done well at keeping them. I second the notion, Benny, that you could consider letting the meds "settle" - a couple of months, at least - before you go out searching again.
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Sep 5, 2013 19:53
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Hyzenth1ay posted:Benny has done good work at finding jobs. He's just not done well at keeping them. The only reason I'm loathe to recommend this is because, when you lose momentum in something like a job search, it can be hard as hell to find the motivation to get it back.
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Sep 5, 2013 20:00
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Switchback posted:One of my first jobs was a bit scammy. PIRG: Public Interest Research Group. "Summer jobs for the environment!!" they said. It was going door-to-door asking for money, and we had quotas to meet. I lasted less than two weeks. But it taught me about work and how to play the game and I got perspective on what a lovely job looks like. This is great advice for someone who has no experience and nothing to lose. As long as you don't give them any money, you could at least go about it, with the mentality of knowing its a scam. It's absolutely possible to hustle for an MLM. They'll probably screw you once or twice, but that's not the point. Benny, if you learned how to hustle just a little bit, I guarantee your confidence level would triple. Going door to door and actually being able to sell some lovely vacuum or flimsy kitchen knives is a skill. If you can become confident enough to sell people garbage, think about how good you can be in a legitimate position. I don't think you have the balls to have the door slammed in your face 100x before your actually successful, but I'd also like you to prove me wrong. Don't even give a poo poo about the illegitimacy of it all. You live in a country full of scamy bullshit. If your not gonna take people's money, someone else will. I'm sure your clueless about sales. Now is the chance to learn that once the customer says "I don't believe it. There's no way that thing would work and I'm not gonna buy it." They've already taken the bait "We'll, sir. With all due respect, I think I can prove you wrong!"
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Sep 5, 2013 20:02
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docbeard posted:The only reason I'm loathe to recommend this is because, when you lose momentum in something like a job search, it can be hard as hell to find the motivation to get it back. That and there's never going to be a perfect time to start searching for jobs. Therapy is an ongoing process, and the last thing Benny needs is more excuses not to do a thing. Keeping active and engaged is important.
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Sep 5, 2013 20:05
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I have an underwater basket weaving degree and I'm working at Goldman Sachs
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Sep 5, 2013 20:26
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gently caress da Mods posted:I have an underwater basket weaving degree and I'm working at Goldman Sachs Someone has to empty the wastebaskets, I suppose.
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Sep 5, 2013 20:58
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Sir John Falstaff posted:Someone has to empty the wastebaskets, I suppose. If the janitor shreds the papers, the CEO's not the one destroying evidence 
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Sep 5, 2013 21:15
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Skinny King Pimp posted:I have a BA in German and I have clerical experience and good references. I was just trying to get a bullshit office job as a receptionist or filing clerk or something like that. Nothing fancy. My husband has an MA in German and is applying to office jobs at German multinationals and anything else he can find through the German American Chamber of Commerce. The former president of the GACC and the head of compliance at Daimler have his resume through a friend of ours who works with both of them. He has clerical and construction/electrical experience (what he's doing right now) along with his teaching assistantship while he was in graduate school. Both of our degrees are from an R1 university with a respectable German department. We have both stayed at our different jobs for relatively long periods of time and have good reasons for leaving them - moving, going back to school, getting a better job, etc. Neither of you have marketable skills, so it should come as no surprise that you two aren't getting interviews or job offers.
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Sep 5, 2013 22:12
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Sir John Falstaff posted:Someone has to empty the wastebaskets, I suppose. No you smug gently caress I make baskets for Goldman Sachs.
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Sep 5, 2013 22:52
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I wonder how many nerds who whine about liberal arts degrees invest their free time into unhealthy amounts of terrible TV/movies/comics/action figures/whatever that need set designers and writers etc.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:03
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gently caress da Mods posted:No you smug gently caress I make baskets for Goldman Sachs. Underwater?
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Sep 5, 2013 23:03
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the runs formula posted:Neither of you have marketable skills, so it should come as no surprise that you two aren't getting interviews or job offers. Clerical experience is absolutely a marketable skill, and so is construction experience. The problem is that there are lots of other out-of-work people/people who don't like their current jobs (SKP and spouse both have jobs, I think) with the same skills at the moment. The German thing may pan out for him in the longer run as well, it might just take a while.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:44
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I am OK posted:I wonder how many nerds who whine about liberal arts degrees invest their free time into unhealthy amounts of terrible TV/movies/comics/action figures/whatever that need set designers and writers etc. Clearly not enough to raise the demand for such skills.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:45
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AlbieQuirky posted:Clerical experience is absolutely a marketable skill, and so is construction experience. The problem is that there are lots of other out-of-work people/people who don't like their current jobs (SKP and spouse both have jobs, I think) with the same skills at the moment.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:53
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Cicero posted:There's a mental disconnect here: marketable isn't just about a skill being useful. Being able to speak fluent English in the United States is extremely useful, but by itself isn't marketable, because so does everyone else who grew up here (and a fair portion of the immigrants). Marketability is usefulness + being in-demand (supply:demand ratio) + provability. Actually, being proficient in German and having experience around paper machines and with office work is pretty loving marketable.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:31
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Skinny King Pimp posted:Actually, being proficient in German and having experience around paper machines and with office work is pretty loving marketable. Demand includes location. Being an experienced dock operator with 20 years experience won't help you get a job in Podunk, Kansas. Being German bilingual is useful, yes, but only in certain specific markets.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:43
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I am OK posted:I wonder how many nerds who whine about liberal arts degrees invest their free time into unhealthy amounts of terrible TV/movies/comics/action figures/whatever that need set designers and writers etc. If you stop and think about it, even those things need way more non-liberal arts majors to get to the consumer.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:49
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Ursine Asylum posted:Demand includes location. Being an experienced dock operator with 20 years experience won't help you get a job in Podunk, Kansas. Being German bilingual is useful, yes, but only in certain specific markets. We're in a good area for it, and on top of that, we don't mind relocating to a certain extent. It's just incredibly hard to even get an interview without knowing people. Hopefully getting his resume into the hands of some people who can do something with it will help, but we're just waiting it out in the meantime. Hopefully something comes through before too long so I can actually see him during the week.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:55
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Skinny King Pimp posted:Actually, being proficient in German and having experience around paper machines and with office work is pretty loving marketable. Keep telling yourself that. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but fax and copy machines in the U.S. aren't dependent upon their users' ability to speak German. the runs formula fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 01:07
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We've dealt with these companies and know what they're looking for. He's not just going oh tra la la Porsche is sure to hire me; he does know something about the market he's getting into and the businesses he's applying to. It's just very hard to get an interview without an in, and sometimes it's hard even then, which was the point I was trying to make. e: I have got to remember that posting anything remotely personal never ends well. Skinny King Pimp fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 01:21
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Skinny King Pimp posted:Actually, being proficient in German and having experience around paper machines and with office work is pretty loving marketable. If it's pretry loving marketable, why are you having difficulties getting interviews? Marketable doesn't just mean a good or rare or highly trained skill; it means a skill for which there's a robust market.
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Sep 6, 2013 01:21
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Shut up I thought another Benny bomb dropped when I saw all the new replies!
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Sep 6, 2013 01:52
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Toriori posted:Shut up I thought another Benny bomb dropped when I saw all the new replies! Benny is going to learn German.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:01
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step one: Learn German step two: learn how to use fax machine menus speedily step three: go to Home Depot Pro Desk, sneak behind counter, change setting to German Not sure how you can profit off this just yet, I may need a kickstarter to figure that out. edit: probably not going to work too well in Amish Country, so try to avoid eastern PA.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:22
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Learn German Go to Kinko's Change all fax and copy machine settings to German Apply for job Benny, you can do this.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:28
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Can you set fax machines to do the exact opposite of what you tell them to? Because that's the setting Benny needs.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:29
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Toriori posted:Shut up I thought another Benny bomb dropped when I saw all the new replies! Oh and I got an email from City of Chino about the typist position: they decided not to interview me  That was seriously my dream job.EDIT: I did not put down I was terminated from Target on my Staples application: I just put down the job and the store number and said that I was laid off. They called Target and asked, apparently. Benny the Snake fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 02:38
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Benny the Snake posted:
You worked there for 2 months and got fired.. why would you even include it on your resume?
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Sep 6, 2013 02:59
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superv0zz posted:You worked there for 2 months and got fired.. why would you even include it on your resume?
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Sep 6, 2013 03:07
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superv0zz posted:You worked there for 2 months and got fired.. why would you even include it on your resume? A layoff is very different from a termination. I hope your answer was very, very honest and earnest because they caught you in a lie :/
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Sep 6, 2013 03:09
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adventure in the sandbox posted:A layoff is very different from a termination. I hope your answer was very, very honest and earnest because they caught you in a lie :/
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Sep 6, 2013 03:16
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Cicero posted:There's a mental disconnect here: marketable isn't just about a skill being useful. Being able to speak fluent English in the United States is extremely useful, but by itself isn't marketable, because so does everyone else who grew up here (and a fair portion of the immigrants). Marketability is usefulness + being in-demand (supply:demand ratio) + provability. That's a more narrow definition of "marketable skill" than I was taught, but I see your point. I was thinking of "marketable skill" as "a specific skill in demand in the marketplace"---doing Excel spreadsheets, for example, is a specific skill requested in many job postings, but the challenge is that lots of other applicants also have that specific skill. Similarly, writing code in Java is a specific skill requested by the market, but I know people who can do that who can't find new jobs because so many people know how to do that. Benny, on the other hand, doesn't have any specific skills job postings are likely to request, except I suppose "able to type more than 60 words a minute" and "able to lift more than 25 pounds".
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Sep 6, 2013 03:29
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Benny the Snake posted:Yes it was. Well, I did leave out how I played dumb when they asked me if I remembered hitting a car.
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Sep 6, 2013 03:30
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Even though employers technically can say whatever they want when they get a reference check, most don't because of the legal quagmire that can ensue if it can be proven you didn't get the job because of something they said. Most companies today have a policy of just confirming dates of employment. So basically, either leave it off your resume entirely, or else claim that you had a family emergency and couldn't get time off and you had to quit against your wishes (do the former, nobody is going to give two fucks about your experience with two months as a cart wrangler.)
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Sep 6, 2013 03:32
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Geoj posted:Even though employers technically can say whatever they want when they get a reference check, most don't because of the legal quagmire that can ensue if it can be proven you didn't get the job because of something they said. Most companies today have a policy of just confirming dates of employment. 
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Sep 6, 2013 03:59
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