Under-employment

Sorry to hear that so many of you have had this experience. Welcome, to our world. :( Education is only useful here for getting a visa to work and live in someone else's country. The difference here is that the educated rather sit at home than work a job that they consider below them. That leaves a workforce of self-satisfied semi-literates to drive me crazy since our secondary and elementary school system is an absolute disaster. Such it is when you (or a country) owes.
 
mochi said:
I was wondering how many of you had to ever take a job to make ends meet, despite your qualifications? I'm pretty much in the hole about 600 dollars for grad school, but finding a job has been coming up short, even though I have a Bachelor's degree. Considering I want to work as soon as possible to be able to have enough by August, I am considering working with my friend who directs cars in a Parking lot. I've decided just to suck it up and do it, but I can't help but feel disappointed that that my degree couldn't find me a simple desk job. Thoughts, opinions?
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I can relate. For one week I have been in between jobs. Despite having a BA, I am applying at temp agencies, coffee shops, and fast food places. I think working at these types of places is better than being unemployed and not having money at all. And I am filling out an application for teaching jobs overseas. So, I'm hoping that the temporary jobs will only have to last for maybe three to six months.
 
Seraphim said:
Of course, people with families have it much harder. They have to make enough to support the whole family, and when they're not at work they're giving their time to the family, so at the end of the day there's almost no "me" time. In those cases I find it really sad when they can't find a job doing what they like. :(

My dad has been unemployed for months. He keeps having to apply for jobs he's overqualified for, so of course they don't want to hire him knowing he'll be on the lookout for a better job. Another problem is that most places now will only take online applications. You don't have a chance to make an impression.
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Sorry to hear that, Seraphim. Those with mouths to feed truly have it the hardest. I wish the best for your dad and your family. Those online applications nowadays make it so easy for an employer to miss or not notice an excellent candidate. In fact, I had a close family friend be told that they didn't even look at her application online until she called to ask about it.
 
kita said:
About half of the people I know with a BA or BS are working in retail right now. I have no problem temporarily working a job I'm overqualified for if I needed the money. The alternative (not being able to pay bills or tuition) seems so much worse to me. It sounds like this is something you'd only be doing for a couple of months, and you could keep looking for something better or quit parking cars once you have the money you need for school.
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Neither do I. I am very grateful to have found work, through the kindness of my friend giving me a good word at where she works. Perhaps this was not worded correctly, but the thing I wanted to discuss was working at a job you have greater qualifications than necessary for. To clarify, I have been looking for a job for a year in my field, and I believed once I got a Bachelor's it would be easier. It goes without saying that those who need a job for their family, need money for housing/school, or are unemployed have it much worse than I do.
 
I read somewhere that if you start your working career in an economic downturn you will earn less for the rest of your life than someone who gets a job when the economy is doing well.
 
Having a degree means that you pass a certain standardized level of qualification. It does not entitle to any job at all (well in Soviet Union it did actually but that was communism). So whether you find a job that utilizes your hard earned qualification has always depended on smarts and ability to be useful for the employer.

The competition for low level jobs is the fiercest because anyone can participate. Thus if you want an easier way look for employment with at least some qualification - there will be much fewer applicants there.

You can use those online forms for your advantage. For it allows to send lots of applications in a short time without the need to travel anywhere. Send some 100 resumes in a day - if an answer rate is at least 1 in 10, you'll get 10 invitations for an interview.
 
The real problem is some places have electronic applications. But they require you to fill them out at their office location. Its a really nice way to discriminate against those with visual issues. The same can be said for those who require you to fill out all forms there and can't drop them off.

I'm also some what angry with people who have years (often times 5 to 30 years experience ) expecting new folks in the job market to just find a job. Or act like its easy.

Honestly the generations of Y and even to some extent gen X are screwed.
 
Blind Bandit said:
The real problem is some places have electronic applications. But they require you to fill them out at their office location. Its a really nice way to discriminate against those with visual issues. The same can be said for those who require you to fill out all forms there and can't drop them off.
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Whats your solution?
 
Blind Bandit said:
Trust me if I had one. I would open a recruiter / consulting firm to help fix this problem.
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What are some instances you know of where companies were discriminating against the visually impaired by using online/ RL applications?
 
Grow hemp; it's a superplant. You might get a hitman out for you paid for by subsidized corn growers, but one must take these risks in life.
 
corndogman said:
I read somewhere that if you start your working career in an economic downturn you will earn less for the rest of your life than someone who gets a job when the economy is doing well.
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I can see how that's true on a few levels. The most obvious is settling for a "lower" job then your peers that may have started a couple years ahead of you and then having to work your way up from the sub-basement level of employment.

Another I've come across is the infamous "Past salary" question almost every application includes. If you start in a recession, you make less for the same job people before you were making 50% more at. Future employers don't even consider economy into their salary equation. In their minds, you're only worth as much as you were previously making.

I'm royally fucked considering I not only started in a recession years, ago, but went into non-profit work after that. :m185:
 
Tamagochi said:
Having a degree means that you pass a certain standardized level of qualification. It does not entitle to any job at all (well in Soviet Union it did actually but that was communism). So whether you find a job that utilizes your hard earned qualification has always depended on smarts and ability to be useful for the employer.

The competition for low level jobs is the fiercest because anyone can participate. Thus if you want an easier way look for employment with at least some qualification - there will be much fewer applicants there.

You can use those online forms for your advantage. For it allows to send lots of applications in a short time without the need to travel anywhere. Send some 100 resumes in a day - if an answer rate is at least 1 in 10, you'll get 10 invitations for an interview.
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Well yes, of course it does not entitle you to a job. There is no dispute there. I'm not sure what to make of your suggestion, since I've already mentioned I received a low-level job before a higher-level one. Moreover, there's no doubting the usefulness of such applications, we are merely also pointing out the downsides.
 
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