Thorn, are you going to just throw every suggestion made back in our faces? I'm trying to help, and you're boxing yourself in and writing yourself off.

You learn skills in life. Not just school or college. If you try new things, venturing outside your comfort zone, you can see if you're good at things. You might just surprise yourself.

edited 12th Oct '12 12:58:45 PM by CaissasDeathAngel

No I'm just honestly curious. What can I learn that can help me get a career in something productive by doing that? I'm not challenging it, just wondering.

Everyone I know who's gotten sucked into food service has basically stayed in food service. Granted, they got promoted within to management and the like, but even that's not exactly glamorous. Now, that's anecdotal-which is why I was asking for something involving actual statistics.

Volunteering (or "volunteering") gives you many things, though not every volunteer job gives you all of them.

1. Good Feels Good. Especially if you're feeling down or boxed in, being able to do something that helps other people or makes something a little better for a while can be a huge morale booster.

2. Transferable skills. Doing something you've never done before teaches you new things, often able to be related to other jobs.

3. Resume padding. If the HR person has a choice between virtually identical resumes (and often they do), having served the community in some way can tip the scales your way.

4. Networking. Your fellow volunteers won't all be unemployable losers; making new friends increases your chance that in the future someone will say, "Hey, I know a guy from my volunteer work that would be great for this job."

You learn skills by going into something with no clue how to do it, and figuring it out.

I've never professionally worked in IT, I got in as some guy who's been a nerd since he was 6 and types really fast. I didn't know anything about running a server or configuring a router, so I learned, with both my own common sense and reasoning, and the guidance of people who knew how to do these things. I didn't have training or guidance.

Makes sense. But what skills would volunteering at say, a soup kitchen give?

Do it and find out.

This. Life doesn't give you the answers right away, you have to find out by doing it. Sitting on your ass justifying sitting on your ass isn't helping, that much is obvious. You're facing Hobsons Choice, really. I've never set foot in a soup kitchen so I would not presume to give a detailed description of it, nor would I trust media depictions thereof. But common sense is enough to know that it's productive and rewarding, and good for you on multiple levels.

At the very least, even I can't justify sitting on your ass doing nothing if you're not pursuing some kind of further education.

Yes, volunteering is good and all, but don't let it distract from your main goal: Finding an actual job. Your goal is to be financially independent and gain working experience. Volunteering can only provide the second.

By all means, go ahead and volunteer, but only do it in your free time.

Thorn, you said you know a bit about media design and computers, right? You could go to your local community help and social justice groups and volunteer to help with website, poster and pamphlet design, which is related to your field. A bit of computer-related material in your CV would be welcome, I'm sure.

If you're not working at the moment, you have lots of free time. Certainly enough to be able to fit actual job hunting around. "Full time volunteering" isn't a bad idea for someone in that position since it's still productive. Obviously job-hunting is the ideal, but there are so many benefits that you shouldn't skimp on your availability.

Personally, I'm involved in my school work. I'm also taking a tax prep course online, but the whole thing went way over my head and I haven't made any progress in about a month.

In terms of skills, you can say that volunteering at a soup kitchen assisted you in learning how to work in a team. It shows you have the initiative to go out and seek a position where you have to meet with people, and that you can stand working in possibly unpleasant situations. You might have to overcome problems in the workplace and thus can use that to demonstrate your good qualities (or, conversely, your bad ones and how you overcame them).

Edit: And the very act in itself is positive! You don't have anything else to do, so why not do something that will benefit the community? It's easy to wither and become morose or self-destructive when one has nothing to do. Heck, you can say that in your interview: "During my period of unemployment, I felt very listless and unsure of myself. I realised I needed to do something in order to thrive. I started volunteering at soup kitchens, allowing me to channel my energies into something positive and to gain some experience."

edited 12th Oct '12 6:51:56 PM by Yuanchosaan

@Caissa: I don't think I'm good enough to do that. I need to relearn website design too.

Hmm...

I wonder how this is.

http://www.jobpath.com/Jobs/Central-Transport/Data_Sp_Entry_Sp_Clerk/JHS2XC64PLG0VDJ5ZZL

edited 12th Oct '12 8:55:16 PM by Thorn14

Can someone take a look at my my resume and give me any pointers pleasums?

edited 13th Oct '12 6:35:25 PM by TomoeMichieru

Doesn't seem to have shared properly, it's coming up blank for me.

Fixed it - I had to upload directly as a Word document instead of converting to Google docs.

The obvious thing I see right away is that you'll want to show which skills/writing types you did for the various affiliates. If you have a professional-looking blog where you post your best writing, you'll want to provide a link to same right on your resume. Separate from your resume, you will want to have a portfolio of your work (perhaps on a flash drive, or hard copy as needed) and have a note on your resume that your portfolio is available upon request.

Because you're specifically looking for writing jobs, if you have published books, or have stories printed in books (physical or e-book, doesn't matter) you'll want to have a bibliography.

Fair warning, it is possible to plagerize yourself. So be careful with writing samples or using previous ideas, even on a blog. It feels silly citing yourself, but it's needed.

Having worked as a cinema usher from 15 to 22 (only 10 hours a week or so up until I was 18), I can honestly say that, while it has not made for a particularly useful network (with the exception of some friends that I've made through it), it was not harmful to my life experience as a whole.

Friends who have left the fast food and retail industries echo this sentiment.

I was unemployed for close to two years after graduating from university and before starting employment. In that gap, my pride wouldn't let me take the unemployment benefit (because the unemployment benefit doesn't care about your skill level, just that you can't get any jobs at all, and I was not going to start applying for fast food), but not everyone has this luxury. I lived at home and even my parents agreed that it would be a step backward for me personally, especially as they weren't having trouble supporting me if I was staying at home.

I spent my time applying for jobs, but got no interviews. My break came when a friend of mine referred me to an opening at his company (and they only hire from internal referrals). Which I got.

Not sure where I'm going with this actually... Pride bad, networking good?

All my friends are jobless.

That might explain your defeatist attitude quite a bit. <hugs> If you're all strengthening the narrative that there's no point trying as there's nothing much you can do and go ahead to take apart all the ways a possible route will crash and burn on you... you all wind up making that true for each other.

Euo, your use of smiles is delightfully contagious and mood lifting!

Today, I put in 12 applications and made a list of 7 more places in town I need to visit in person.

Let's see what happens. I have 2 months exactly until graduation tomorrow. At least that will be out of the way soon.

Good luck! Results or no, you're doing it the right way! I gather you've been through this before, so I guess you don't really need the encouragement.

It is easy to throw your hands up and not bother. I'm not saying anyone is seriously doing this, just that the temptation is there. Well, for some.