Job search strategy discussion thread

I just cant work fast food anymore. Some people just cannot do certain jobs. You wouldn't send a weakling to work construction and lifting would you?

My aunt who is a manager at some large firm is helping me with my resume and also going to look for some contacts, so thats good at least.

More than I can say.

Yes, yes they would. Case in point me when I did day labor. Also, the industrial jobs I was sent on despite my total lack of interest in same, and a suspiciously high amount of my early office temp work involved heavy lifting too. It wasn't until I got my typing speed up that I started getting office jobs that mostly had desk work.

It gets better. You become competent, and when you're competent, you can be confident that your work won't get you fired.

Time+performance= a certain type of currency that covers your ass when you screw up, and builds up enough to eventually get you promoted if you play your cards right. I haven't walked on eggshells for anybody in years. Not even at my new job.

I don't screw around with that sort of thing, I'm me, I work a certain way, and that's just how I do shit. If someone doesn't like it, fuck em. I can do that because I'm confident in my standard of work. I have confidence that my work will more or less please my superiors, and thus within the realm of reason, I act in a manner that is comfortable for me.

In other words, over time you figure the game out, and learn how to not sweat unless particular circumstances are putting extra pressure on you. It's part of being an adult, you grow up and just learn to deal with these things.

I mean I live in terror of a boss who has been nothing but kind to me. I don't know what's wrong with me.

I've done that before too, it's a good thing. It means you'll never get lax and find yourself taking advantage of that kindness. Just be thankful for it, and do the best you can.

Past bosses, at a guess?

edited 4th Nov '12 7:41:12 PM by Euodiachloris

@SKJAM

If I got a job that required constant physical labor I'd be fired in under a week.

edited 4th Nov '12 8:38:38 PM by Thorn14

Most jobs have SOME amount of physical labor requirements. Lifting boxes up to 20 lbs is pretty much a necessity for almost anything.

Wait, typing speed is that useful? Really?

Key word "constant"

Typing speed is not that important in and of itself for most office jobs. However, it's a bar employers set for minimum competency so they can weed out candidates. The higher your typing speed, the more office jobs will be open to you.

Don't forget "accuracy". Typing a storm is pointless unless you manage to not be the transcription error pro. And, if you've got oral typing down pat, you're a sure thing.

I was just looking at my 750 words score. Many days I'm at 80 wpm with new material, and that's for my own amusement...

Typing speed is one thing I'm really proud of, tested at a college with 105 WPM and 0 errors, averaged from 3 tests.

QQ

I used to be at 90, but I think I've fallen to 60.

See, you folks are way ahead of me there. And yes, it's speed with accuracy, not just randomly punching keys.

A couple more anecdotes to show that food service need not be the pinnacle of your employment—my little brother started his work history at a Mc Donalds, he's now a law professor. And my sister started as a waitress in a small-town diner and is now a middle manager at a medical supplies firm.

I started at Del-Taco as a cashier, since then I've been a soldier, a security guard, an admin clerk, and an IT Professional.

I'm thinking about applying with the Santa Barbara Sheriffs department in about a year, they have a new county correctional facility opening up about a year from now and some of the guys in my unit who are in corrections got an offer from the Sheriff to lateral over. He's going to need about 100 new officers just for the facility alone, and it'll pay around 5k a month and be 3 12 hour shifts per week, which is a really cake schedule. They are lateraling civilian correctional officers who already have experience first, which includes my friends, and after that they will open it up to everyone else.

edited 5th Nov '12 11:05:04 AM by Barkey

I started work as a cinema usher at 15. Cinema usher encompasses a lot of things: fast food cashier, door attendant, janitor, ticket cashier, and my personal favourite: lifting a 20kg can of solidified oil up a lfight of stairs and then down a different flight of stairs. The variety means that you could have a few shifts a week that are quite different in nature. It's not particularly stressful, unless you're working on the night of a LOTR or HP movie coming out (and probably Transformers or something too).

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that the features of the job (free movies, variety after the first few months, easy work during school-period daylight hours) attract a lot of slackers. I kept the job because the manager allowed me to work only during the school holidays (letting me concentrate on schoolwork otherwise) as well as the job's extremely relaxed attitude towards time off (as long as you let someone know a day before the roster was done, you were good to go).

It's not that different from fast food, from what I understand (free meals is on par with free movies, though far less healthy), though fast food is probably a little busier.

I obviously don't work there any more, but I regard it as a pretty essential part of my professional development. It built a lot of confidence, as well as teaching me how to read people (so much more useful than you think).

I've also heard that having worked with private information is valuable or something...

edited 5th Nov '12 3:36:08 PM by ohsointocats

I don't know what my typing speed is, because the speed tests I took in high school were dumb and docked points if I hit "backspace" to correct errors, even if it was something like "te 'delete the e' the" it counted the "e" and the "backspace" as errors and it decreased my wpm. @_@

Not getting a job during High School really fucked me up it seems.

Your continous "I can't" is what is fucking you up.

Forget what you can't control, like anything previous to this moment, lay out your current options. Make a game plan. Set a series of small and obtainable goals that gradually build.

Then start doing it.

If you don't know how to do that, find someone who can help you.

This.

Do everything you can that is within your power. It won't be easy, but it will be constructive.

In other words, you are the one holding you back.