Can't get ANY job

[Voice of Reason]

I'm educated and able bodied, yet no one will hire me. Not even McDonald's. Despite applying to countless job postings over the past couple months, the furthest I've gotten is the second round of interviews for a barista position. Unfortunately, they hired one of the other eight candidates. It's crazy how getting a minimum wage job nowadays is like being on X-Factor.

If it weren't for my parents, I'd be licking lichen off a cave wall right now.

Choose a skill that you can use to make money online, and while you are at home and unemployed use the time to master this skill.

It's a tough road, but once you begin making money you can go anywhere in the world.

You can go to Southeast Asia for instance, where living conditions are cheap so you won't have to work long corporate hours like you would in the US.

Forget finding "employment" in western society. You are nothing but a liability to them, and you can get laid off any time.

Examples of skills include writing, computer programming, SEO, graphic design etc. Here are lists of skills that you can do over the internet that people pay money for: (I wouldn't recommend using these site because they pay low, but it gives you an idea of the sorts of skills that you could learn):
https://www.elance.com/r/jobs/
https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/

The easiest skill to start off with is SEO Writing...with luck you can begin earning money within a month:
http://www.seanogle.com/guest-posts/seo ... -beginners

Then, instead of being stuck in the Anglosphere, you can go to places like Thailand or South America...or anywhere you like.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

Do what you can to polish your presentation and interviewing skills. It sounds as if some people like your credentials, but you are losing out due to poor interview skills or presentation.

Also, you should consider moving to another state or at least to another part of your state.

The problem is not lack of jobs, it is the lack of good job distribution throughout the economy.

[zacb]

I am starting to wonder if I should look for jobs elsewhere in the state. IDK. Perhaps after the year after this, I will take a year off and work someplace down state. Right now, there are only 125 listings on indeed. I have applied for quite a few. In the mean time I think I will develop my Java skills.

[Voice of Reason]

I am starting to wonder if I should look for jobs elsewhere in the state. IDK. Perhaps after the year after this, I will take a year off and work someplace down state. Right now, there are only 125 listings on indeed. I have applied for quite a few. In the mean time I think I will develop my Java skills.

That's a very smart idea.

It's all relative:

If you are employed you can earn money to put in the bank to save up for going overseas (and once overseas, start learning a marketable skill).

If you're unemployed you can use the time that you otherwise wouldn't have to hone in on marketable skills, which can earn you income online while you are overseas.

First, use these skills to freelance. Then, some time later, apply these skills to your own business when you come up with a good idea.

[Jeremy]

Instead of trying to apply for jobs that have ads. Try doing manual searches for companies and contact them directly about a job. If you contact a company that did not post any ads, you have a much higher chance of success. If you're applying for positions from companies that have ads all over the place, it obviously makes it harder. Try it, you may be surprised at the results. I've done that many times in the past and it has worked wonders for me.

Hm. Makes sense. I'll give it a try.

[Moretorque]

This is a perfectly normal situation for talented young men these days. Don't sweat it and don't be looking to find faults with yourself to justify being shat on by the system. I suggest using the time to do useful things not related to being a whorporate lackey, such as joining a gym and bulking up.

I don't know about that, if this thing collapse's and we end up in Zombie Land they wont mess with eating his skinny a$$. You could find more meat on a cat or a rat.

Okay I'm going to start calling you an alarmist. We know we're at a crisis point, there is not going to be a zombie apocalypse. Put down the Jeff Rense Radio, nice and slow, then back way from it.

If the dollar collapses which what I assume you believe, the world didn't come to an end when we went off the gold standard, the UK didn't collapse when the Pound fell to the ground and they got bailed out by the IMF -

In 1976 the British Government led by James Callaghan faced a Sterling crisis during which the value of the pound tumbled and the government found it difficult to raise sufficient funds to maintain its spending commitments. The Prime Minister was forced to apply to the International Monetary Fund for a £2.3 billion rescue package; the largest-ever call on IMF resources up to that point.[8] In November 1976 the IMF announced its conditions for a loan, including deep cuts in public expenditure, in effect taking control of UK domestic policy.[9] The crisis was seen as a national humiliation, with Callaghan being forced to go "cap in hand" to the IMF.

So what sort of zombie outlook are you expecting????

Listen Mr. Blackman in the great depression we didn't import 40% of our food or 60 % of our fuel, our food supply lines on average were not 1500 miles and a good portion of the country lived on farms or near them. The powers that be give the intelligent folks a heads up before something big happens, Have you ever wondered why they have been playing all these Zombie movies? I am just saying you never know you might find yourself eating CRACKER STEW for dinner in the near future!

[pete98146]

I'm assuming Vancouver is similar to Seattle. If so, have you ever thought about driving a truck? Not the most glamorous job on earth but they can't find enough drivers here in the States and I'm assuming the same applies all over Canada. Have a couple of my clients doing that now and they are pulling in 40K+ a year. Wouldn't be a bad gig if you enjoy driving....

[rudder]

Instead of trying to apply for jobs that have ads. Try doing manual searches for companies and contact them directly about a job. If you contact a company that did not post any ads, you have a much higher chance of success. If you're applying for positions from companies that have ads all over the place, it obviously makes it harder. Try it, you may be surprised at the results. I've done that many times in the past and it has worked wonders for me.

^^^This

Over a month ago I came back from Mexico and said to myself, "OK, I'm over living in the US, I'm going to get a job and save up as much money as I can in the next four months and then fly one-way to south America, and hopefully spend the rest of my life there."

Before going to Mexico for the three weeks I was there, I had been out of college for over 1.5 years, and living with my parents. I wrote and published a book in that time that has earned me over $1000 and had a 5hr/week job that paid $10/hr.

Anyway, that is all chump change, and it is crummy to live at home and spend most of my time locked in my room in my parents' house. It leads to way too much time sitting on the computer and reading....but in hindsight I guess it has been a necessary step in my life, as I have taught myself a lot of things from just reading articles on the internet. Anyway, I'm digressing.

So, about a month ago, I just decided to spend as much time as it would take. Everyday, I spent a few hours trying to get a job. I made about 20 copies of my resume to start. I thought about trying to get a job in my field, Horticulture, but then decided that I'm just not attracted to that kind of work. So, I figured pizza delivery would be the most tolerable job.

I actually have been offered 4 different pizza delivery jobs lately. The one I accepted has turned out to be a great atmosphere....knock on wood. After the first week, I'm happy to report that my manager is decent, my coworkers are friendly, and I get great money in tips. Plus, I'm not locked into one location, and I get to spend a lot of time in the car listening to books on tape or my favorite music. There is a good mixture of sitting and standing (I find it hard to do either one for hours on end).

Yes, I can't recommend Pizza Delivery enough. The job I got, I didn't even know they were hiring. I just walked in at a random time and the manager just happened to be there. After one very informal interview he called me a few days later and hired me. I expected it to be way harder to find a job, and at one point, just as I was getting started in my search, I contemplated writing a similar post on this forum, about how it's so hard to find a job...

My typical job search strategy is to dress very sharp, and walk around with a folder full of my resumes, and then go to whatever place that I might possibly be able to tolerate working at. I go in and ask for the manager. I try to deflect the "why" question I sometimes get from the gatekeeper. When the manager comes over I immediately shake their hand and introduce myself and cut right to the chase, "I'm interested in working here. What sort of opportunities are available?" If it sounds like a maybe or a "yes, there are some positions," then I leave my resume, and we banter a little bit, then I leave. Don't ever leave your resume with anyone that's not a manager.

I live in a small city with 100,000 people. The city has a community college and a university. My strategy was to find a job before all the students showed up for the school year looking for part-time jobs. Depending on where you live, this window of opportunity could be closing very quickly. You get the students that are leaving their summer jobs to go back to school as well, so there is a changing of the guard this time of year. I think it's the best time of year to look for crappy jobs.

***Also, a note about self-employment: Those entrepreneurial ventures are usually not successful, and if you are just looking for quick cash for 4 months to a couple years, I would highly recommend NOT starting your own business, because they are almost definitely cash negative for the first year or two. Putting your nose to the grindstone and working hard for someone else's business for a short time is not such a bad thing. It depends a lot on the situation and who you work with.

A lot of people on this kind of forum like to romanticize the idea of self-employment, but it is still work just like anything else.

[momopi]

Yeah, I'm willing. Anything to get out of my parents' house.

There are less competitive jobs in remote regions of Canada. However housing is an issue at boom towns, so in your specific case you might want to google "camp jobs" and "remote camp jobs" across Canada. Remote camp jobs usually include room and board, and due to their remote location, the employer is expected to provide some of the transportation. You may still need to negotiate with the employer or contract agency to pay for your flight out of Vancouver, with travel reimbursement, advance, later deduction from pay, whatever. Worse case, if you received the job offer letter, you can show it to your parents and ask if they'd please assist you with the cost of the flight and suitable clothing for the job.

I don't know what kind of work experience or skills you might have, but since you mentioned McD's, I just looked up food service jobs:
http://ca.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c272cda ... 0&from=web

This specific job posting has 12 positions avail, and you need to know how to use a deep fryer and a grill. Assuming that you've worked in fast food, you should already know how to flip burgers on a grill and cook french fries in a fryer. Job pays $1,500 per week with room and board, so you don't have to pay for rent or food. Not saying that this is the best gig for you (or if it even suits you), but something like this may enable you to save thousand of dollars in just few months. You should do your own research and find what works for you.

There are more good paying jobs in mining boom towns, which you can work your way toward. However beware that these boom towns also come with casinos and strip clubs to take away your hard-earned money. Also, the local environment in mining towns and remote camps can be unforgiving. You need to understand the risks involved.

[rudder]

Put down the Jeff Rense Radio, nice and slow, then back way from it.

LOL. I was just listening to a clip from that radio show the other day with some lady fearmongering about Morgellons, Chemtrails, and sudden oak death. She was just shotgunning a bunch of soundbytes, and wouldn't even attempt to scientifically back up anything she was saying. I used to consume a lot of that "alternative media" stuff (another negative side-effect from being unemployed and being trapped in your parents' house). I actually tried to convince my friends of what chemtrails are doing, but I found it very hard to convince anyone. Primarily because you go on these websites like skywatch, and the whole website is just a bunch of rhetoric, and they don't have any solid, scientific information.

It was funny to listen to the lady fearmongering about chemtrails on the Rense show the other day, because it had been about two weeks since I even saw a chemtrail here in coastal California. I used to listen to Alex Jones for a few months religiously. Now I just roll my eyes when I hear that kind of stuff. They give you ninety percent truth e.g. talking about sudden oak death and morgellons, but then they try and dubiously link it up with something that may or may not be happening, in a very unscientific way. E.g. "Look at the big line in the sky! They're poisoning us!" In reality, the shadow government could be releasing invisible noxious things from airplanes, so the presence or absence of a big line in the sky doesn't make a difference one way or another. How come after I listen to these people talk about all these nefarious secret projects, the burden of proof always lies with me, the listener? I'm not sure exactly how things like Rense Radio work, but I suspect that some of the sponsors pre-select the guests that appear on the show.

Great! now look what I wrote. Too bad my job is only in the afternoon. I should get one during the morning too, so I don't end up wasting my time like this on the net.

Yes, according to these radio shows, and the people on them, we should probably all be dead or in a mad max scenario as of two years ago. If anyone has ever heard of Alex jones, just search for a ten minute clip of his rants from this year (2013) and then search for clips of his rants from ten years ago. Sound familiar?

[publicduende]

Jeremy, since I started living in London in 1998, I have never seen a shortage of jobs in food and accommodation, retail, services. If you're able and willing to take a flight to London, you will be able to find a job as a barista, cook, cab driver or sales assistant (or Associate, as they call them now) in less than a month. Guaranteed. Of course, after that, you can use that job as a platform to look for something bigger and better, or use your spare time to learn higher-level skills (Java/Android programming is an excellent choice, and even more so HTML5/Javascript) and land yourself something more specialised within the following couple of years.

It's true, the UK too are full of unemployed people, and actually always have. Problem is, those people are usually the extremely lazy and/or problematic one. It doesn't seem to be your case. Good luck!

[rudder]

http://ca.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c272cda ... 0&from=web

This specific job posting has 12 positions avail, and you need to know how to use a deep fryer and a grill. Assuming that you've worked in fast food, you should already know how to flip burgers on a grill and cook french fries in a fryer. Job pays $1,500 per week with room and board, so you don't have to pay for rent or food. Not saying that this is the best gig for you (or if it even suits you), but something like this may enable you to save thousand of dollars in just few months. You should do your own research and find what works for you.

Holy cow! That's a ton of money for a fast-food job. Hard to believe really.

[C.J.]

This is why I'm glad I nurtured skills when I was a teenager.

I'd also recommend self-employment. If you wanna get ahead quick, you also have to know a ton of other skills, know a lot of valuable people, or have the funds to buy them out.

That kind of job is for people who are self-motivated everyday. Those who can get up out of bed earlier than truck drivers, and not sleep until their work is done.

If you're starting out self-employed without a big stream of income, sleep is more of a low-priced luxury.

[Moretorque]

Put down the Jeff Rense Radio, nice and slow, then back way from it.

LOL. I was just listening to a clip from that radio show the other day with some lady fearmongering about Morgellons, Chemtrails, and sudden oak death. She was just shotgunning a bunch of soundbytes, and wouldn't even attempt to scientifically back up anything she was saying. I used to consume a lot of that "alternative media" stuff (another negative side-effect from being unemployed and being trapped in your parents' house). I actually tried to convince my friends of what chemtrails are doing, but I found it very hard to convince anyone. Primarily because you go on these websites like skywatch, and the whole website is just a bunch of rhetoric, and they don't have any solid, scientific information.

It was funny to listen to the lady fearmongering about chemtrails on the Rense show the other day, because it had been about two weeks since I even saw a chemtrail here in coastal California. I used to listen to Alex Jones for a few months religiously. Now I just roll my eyes when I hear that kind of stuff. They give you ninety percent truth e.g. talking about sudden oak death and morgellons, but then they try and dubiously link it up with something that may or may not be happening, in a very unscientific way. E.g. "Look at the big line in the sky! They're poisoning us!" In reality, the shadow government could be releasing invisible noxious things from airplanes, so the presence or absence of a big line in the sky doesn't make a difference one way or another. How come after I listen to these people talk about all these nefarious secret projects, the burden of proof always lies with me, the listener? I'm not sure exactly how things like Rense Radio work, but I suspect that some of the sponsors pre-select the guests that appear on the show.

Great! now look what I wrote. Too bad my job is only in the afternoon. I should get one during the morning too, so I don't end up wasting my time like this on the net.

Yes, according to these radio shows, and the people on them, we should probably all be dead or in a mad max scenario as of two years ago. If anyone has ever heard of Alex jones, just search for a ten minute clip of his rants from this year (2013) and then search for clips of his rants from ten years ago. Sound familiar?

Doesn't Jeff Rense do the space monster reptilian thing? , you want to here a funny cast listen to Jim Willie who is financial forecaster and in one of his shows he talks about the way our government blew up these aliens space home on the dark side of the moon and he say's he is serious. It comes out of nowhere in a show with know it all Sherrie.

I have some issues with all of these guy's, you are right they give you 90% fact and then cloud the issue good with some bull chit breaking down their credibility completely.

One guy I am listening to now because every show I learn something is Mike Rivero on the Ron Gibson Channel. I disagree with him about some stuff but overall he is a wealth of information and loves to rip on Israel! and the Bank who created Israel.

[C.J.]

Chemtrails are real. Their effects? Too esoteric for stupid westerners.
That's why some alternative media outlets sounds stupid, because they can't reveal a lot of stuff, because they know thier audience is dumb as hell.

They want to keep the audience, not scare them off or make them look stupid by explaining stuff they'll never understand.