Looking for work sucks
 

I feel for you. I got fired because the CEO of the company I worked for is an entitled rockstar (literally -- I worked in Hollywood) with no skill at managing employees and no technical background with which to judge the performance of said employees. (He's successful because he DOES have skill at managing products and working with other businesses.)

I got fired because the senior developer was looking for every reason possible to complain about me. He sent the CEO an e-mail about a two-word bug... a bug I knew about and had already fixed but hadn't yet checked in. Instead of seeing the blatantly obvious "oh, I just need to make this tiny change and it works" fix in his own copy, he went over my head. And the CEO's response was to revoke my ability to check in changes, forcing me to send all of my work to the senior developer for review.

This had three ways it could have ended: (1) The senior developer's own work gets put behind schedule. (2) The senior developer checks in my work without reviewing it, wasting my time and increasing the risk of bugs compared to me being able to check it in myself. Or (3) The senior developer rejects my work without reviewing it, resulting in nothing getting done. Either case 2 or 3 (and a decent chance of case 1) would have resulted in me getting fired anyway for not getting my work done fast enough, so I just refused to comply.

So now I've got four and a half years of working for a company with an ugly termination on the record doing stuff that sold well and made a lot of money but doesn't look impressive on a resume.

Looking for work DOES suck, and I've made myself sick the last two weeks trying to find jobs and push through the application and interview processes.

But keep at it! Both of us are going to be fine in the long run. This is just a rocky stretch.

Woop, I agree, volunteer at your local veterinarian. Otherwise, if you are taking classes part time and you do well in a course get your teacher to write you a recommendation on, say, writing skills, etc. Anything that might help you out. Being a vet nurse sounds like it would be very rewarding.

Gosh Coda that just sounds so brutal the way you were treated. Idk what the world is coming to. People are so cut throat and nasty...maybe especially in that industry. I wish you all the best and I will think good thoughts for your success (and Woop's too)!!

I know how you feel. Granted, I'm still pretty young, I still can't find anything. I'm a student, living with my bf, and my only experience is a telemarketing job. I've applied almost everywhere in town, had maybe 2 interviews, and no call backs. Rent is due in like 4 days, and my bf is gonna have to pay it for both of us. Which... sucks. :/

So anyway, good luck! I hope you find something soon!

I know exactly how you feel. I have a degree in Business Administration. I can't find a job anywhere, in my degree (because they want experience), or in general (so there's no chance for experience)....my only chance is to move, but I need money to move .-.

I'm 31, so I know how you feel in terms of ageism. I'm not old enough to have the super experience needed for the high-paying jobs, and I'm too old (and therefore want too much money) to get entry-level jobs.

I'm really trying to avoid relocating, so I'm sticking to Greater Los Angeles and telecommuting.

Employees: "We need people with experience, and you don't"
Me/You: "Uhm... I just graduated, that's why I'm applying here to get experience."

...and that's a cycle that will never end.

And I would give some tips, but ;3; I live in a different country with a different set of rules. >_< I'm so sorry...

I know this well. I've been having a hard time finding jobs when I've been well enough to look. The easiest thing to do for me is to move back up to where they actually need people and getting work is easy (I know this, too) but I'd rather not, and my health wouldn't allow it right now anyway. This will likely be a future consideration though. The only advantage I have right now is that I have experience in retail and customer service, which is always good for more retail and customer service.

i suppose it is unfair to say maybe you guys should consider lowering your expectations, it is not grand but low-pay entry-level retail and food jobs, at least in the us, are a lot easier to come by in november, it is not much but it is employment

I don't know about them, choco, but at least for me that's all I've been applying for. The lower entry, minimum wage jobs are even starting to be picky.

oh.... well i went ahead and just aimed low and i have a second interview friday and they already want to hire me

I can't afford to aim low. I am, as I said, 31 years old. I'm married and I have a disabled child, and I live in Los Angeles. Both my wife and I have student loans to pay off, and being underpaid for several years has caused us a lot of debt -- it's been a vicious cycle; something bad will happen and we have to draw on credit to pay for it (e.g. having my car totaled by a driver that wasn't paying attention, having to pay for medical bills because my employer didn't offer me health insurance, having my laptop break and need replaced because it was my sole source of income (and having a job that required that it be a Mac laptop), getting bloody ripped off because my employer didn't pay enough for relocation when I MOVED to LA) and when we finally start getting enough money to start paying down the debt... something else bad will happen and we'll have to draw on more credit because we just used the money we had to try to pay down the old debt.

The end result is that I have a certain cost of living, and I CAN'T compromise below that cost or else some bill won't be getting paid.

In better news, though, I have three very promising opportunities right now. I've got two interviews tomorrow -- one with NBC Universal, one with a consulting company -- and another in a couple weeks with Google, and all three opportunities are looking pretty likely... if all three say "yes", though, I'm probably going to have to pick the consulting company because I like the work better.

If all three say "no"... well, I keep looking.

Good luck, Coda!! (:

ok, so you might have circumstances that would prevent 9 an hour from being ok

"Living in a safe part of Los Angeles" is enough to make $9/hour not okay. Even if I didn't have any student loan debt, if I were living in the cheapest studio apartment I can find, if this $9/hour job were giving me 40 hours per week (spoiler: not going to happen), and if I were single, $9/hour would leave me with less than $300/month to handle electricity, natural gas, a Metro pass (or car payments, fuel, and car insurance), and a phone, and if I were this non-college-educated single white 31-year-old male I'd be getting the lowest possible tier of food stamps to get food. I wouldn't have health insurance. I would have to save up in order to buy something as simple as a pair of shoes.

Heaven forbid I live in San Francisco instead of Los Angeles at that point -- I'd be homeless.

In today's world, you can BARELY scrape by on $9/hour if you live in a large city, and it's still tight in a medium-sized city. If you have any sort of family or debt, $9/hour jobs don't cut it. McDonald's recently had a nasty PR issue because they released a budget plan for their workers that FLAT-OUT ASSUMES that you're working two jobs, and even then it's only "affordable" because they've assigned unrealistically low numbers to some things and left out others.

And if you're working two jobs, you're stuck working two jobs. Forget searching for a better job. Forget going to school to train for a better job. You've got to spend 60 hours per week at work, 56 hours per week sleeping, and then once you factor in traveling to and from work, eating meals, and taking mandatory breaks at work, there's not any time left for searching and interviewing. (And besides, where are you going to get the dress shirt, tie, and slacks to interview in if you're living on $9/hour?)

Telling someone in financial trouble to take any job that they can find is DAMAGING and counterproductive. It doesn't work.

Woopdi, youre in australia arent you? If you go to centrelink they can refer you to a job network and theyll help you find a job. If its experience you need too theyll help you get work experience and pay for stuff like bluecards and RSA.

theyre also all for people reentering the workforce, companies here get government grants if they hire people under certain criteria

One thing you can try, Woop, is to play up your age in areas where you can. When I applied for my last job, which was basic retail and at least half of the other employees (and other applicants) were younger than me, I made a point of mentioning that I had finished school and done my travelling and therefore intended to stick around in the workforce. This might make you look more attractive to an employer that might not want to have to hire and train more employees when the younger crowd heads back to school or runs off to Europe. It's something to try.

You sound like you're in a similar position to a friend of mine, who fosters birds. She managed to get a basic job at a bird hospital. It was a heck of a commute but it allowed her to start fostering in the first place once she had enough experience and her duties increased. It was an ugly job to start with, since she essentially started out cleaning cages and such, bottom rung stuff, but she did ultimately get somewhere. She plans to go to school for something vet related as well.

Well, good news: I got a job!

I actually expected it to be at least two more weeks before I actually landed something, but I found a company that was interested in me, and I think I really impressed them because between first contact and signing the contract only took about a week, and they actually INCREASED the benefits and switched me from contract to full-time in the process!

I'm really excited.

And I also wish the rest of you the best of luck. :)

I know this is like 2 weeks late, but congratulations Coda! :)