While in high school and college I only worked during the summers, but since college the longest I've been out of work is just over three months.

It was nice though because it fell during the summer and unemployment plus severance was enough to keep my head above water.

Right now I'm inside the longest period of unemployment I've ever gone thru - it'll be 5 months on Saturday. Money's not a problem yet, but only because I cashed out my 401K ( which sucks ) .

I'm actually hoping I get a call today about a shitty job that pays $8.50 an hour. Fucking pathetic.

Is it really just a matter of who you know and not what you know?

My last job interview I got because I knew a girl working there through a mutual friend and she put in a word for me.

The one before that I got because I shopped there a lot and got to know the manager before I applied.

The one before that I got because my friend's mother put in a word for me.



I've handed out dozens of resumes over the years and I've only ever got one interview at a place that I didn't know anyone. It leaves me a bit skeptical.

I would be wildly surprised if you had a superiorly crafted resume with plenty of pertinent experience in a given field, yet you don't get a phone call back solely because you are a stranger to the firm. Companies hire unknowns all the time.

Well, I'm only twenty. I'm sure retail hires in an entirely different manner.

Yeah, retail is known for its rather stringent screening process.

I've never gotten so much as an interview at a place that I didn't know someone.

Even when I worked at fucking Pizza Hut and Eckerd.

What did you get fired for?

I went eight months without a job after I got my Bachelor's. I graduated in December and just decided to basically be unemployed until I started grad school. I got paid a little to help coach lightweight wrestlers at my old high school and to do some summer maintenance work at a local church, but I never held a serious job during that time.

2.5 months. Right out of school, I moved to Tokyo and returned five years later in 2003 when the unemployment rate was at its peak. For some jerk-off reason, I ripped my then-grilfriend away from her job & family in Japan (declaring we'd have a more comfortable lifestyle stateside), and loaded up the Jeep and moved to Beverly. Actually, Portland, OR where the u-rate was a staggering 13% - the highest in the US. It's a humbling experience to learn you're mediocre & unemployable like the rest of the flock. Soon thereafter, we left NW for racketeering in Austin, TX, then Minneapolis. Point: Go to the cities with good music - everything else is chunky beef gravy.

Temping offers little security, but it pays. Sometimes well. Look into it.

It's true when you're getting started. Once you get your foot in the door of the "corporate world" it's not as necessary to know somebody. My last two jobs it was just me and my resume

Steve

That's would be a good topic too. I've only been fired once and that was my first time around as a concierge in an apt building when I was in college.

Basically, I was messing with every reasonably attractive maid, babysitter and willing tenant.

I was 19.

Steve

Shit I hope you're right Steve. After I got out of politics I had a tough time getting a "corporate" job because I guess it didn't translate well. I took the current one I have and have started looking at better positions.

Hopefully the year and a half I spent here gaining experience will produce some results elsewehre.

Good shit. I even thought about starting it, but I've never been fired.

The reason I asked is, if he were fired for any sort of theft or suspicion thereof, even if you are totally innocent, chances of landing another job in retail are gonna be pretty damn slim. A very good friend of mine worked 6 years or so in retail loss prevention (he's now a corporate level investigator, not in stores), and those LP guys know who got arrested where and when for stealing, both internally and externally.

I'm sorry, Derris, what is your degree in and what are you doing currently?

Steve

Speech Communications. Currently I am the inside sales coordinator for the bicycle dept. of a large Tire manufacturer.

I took this because I had zero sales experience and at the time it seemed like sales would be something that would translate to different industries.

Actually, I lost my last job at a small record store under "suspicions of theft". Basically the owner accused me of swiping from the till. I told him I didn't and he had no proof but I couldn't come up with an explanation of what could have happened to the money so he fired me anyway.

The thing is, the store was so horribly run that he didn't call the police, I didn't have to fill out any paperwork or anything. My parents thought it was actually a good thing, saying he probably had some agenda against me for whatever reason so he just made it up as an excuse to get rid of me. I never got any paystubs during the six months I was working there, we were consistenly understaffed, with dozens of resumes coming in a week. And it was a used record store so we always had tons of people coming in saying that their tenant or son stole a bunch of their cd's and sold them to us and the manager would have to look up all this stuff and cross-reference things in the database. It was just a big mess.

Nothing wrong with sales whatsoever. I just asked because I'm always willing to give a shot at hooking somebody up if I can.

I'm not in sales but I deal with sales reps all the time. Basically, reps from companies that manufacture office furniture and equipment. Not what you do, but selling is selling. Unfortunately, I need to chew these people out often and wouldn't want to have to ask for a favor.

You'll find something. Believe me, it does get easier as you go along.

Steve

I honestly can't envisage anyone offering me a job I would even consider taking, ever again.

I think I'll have to open up a little second hand book store or something after I graduate. Just anything to scrap a living.