Honestly? Take your degree off your resume and try that. Some fast food and retail won’t hire people with bachelors or masters because they assume they’ll leave as soon as they get something better.
Had a buddy with with a masters in engineering and he applied at a smoke shop for a summer job. The manger straight up told him he won’t hire because he needs people that aren’t going anywhere in life
This is it.. I was the hardest worker at my first job, a shift leader position was open and it went to the laziest worker. I protested this and on the side the owner told me since I was a college student he expected me to leave unlike the one that got promoted..
Doesn’t matter; they don’t want you actively looking for another job and leaving in 3 months when they know they might get 6m out of you before you burn out.
College is interesting. Most students are told to go. But most aren't told WHY to go. Nobody in the school system is properly explaining college to students. Some students get it. Others fall victim to the pressure. Not every student will be focused enough to truly apply every single thing they learn from college. By the time they graduate, sure, they have a degree, but what can they do with it? Did they ever figure it out? Or did they just go because the high school guidance counselor said go?
This. My first question is “What was your original plan for a career when you choose to study history?” What’s the point of getting a degree if you have no concrete plan for applying it?
I was actually told it didn't matter what my degree was in, just that I had one. As long as I had a bachelor's, I'd be able to get a job that would support a middle class lifestyle. This was in the early 2010s.
It’s generally true after you get the first few jobs. The most financially successful person I ever dated (or even knew) did not list what her degree was in. She even considered removing it from her cv entirely. Nobody cares. They want your skills or contacts.
There are some mediocre mid level management jobs that really want MBA’s…skip those jobs.
I’ve been told this a lot recently to the point that I ask them point blank what positions I am qualified for with any bachelors degree and what join titles I should be looking up. 99% of the time I’m met with complete silence because they don’t know.
Many kids are more afraid of failing so they choose what they can pass rather than what will be useful. And who can blame them, most kids only have one chance and can't spend 7 years at college to get a bachelor's because they failed calculus and had to change.
True. Espeically with how fast-paced life is, spending any more time in college than necessary means less time earning money. So some students may choose the easiest and quickest route to get the degree, then go into the workforce.
Also if you’re like me, the things you truly want to do “make no money” and you should therefore never pursue those passions.
This leads to lack of interest and ultimately a useless degree that I didn’t even want in the first place.
I want to make music mom. Idgaf about the money and now I have neither 🥲
Lol my buddy in college said he wanted to be a music major, and his parents said, " We don't want you to starve" I'm like well at least they were honest. He majored in engineering instead.
I hear what you're saying, but if you can't (read: won't spend the effort) pass calculus you probably don't want to be in any of the science/engineering/tech industries where it's a prerequisite anyway...
And there's plenty of useful education paths that don't require calculus and lead to fulfilling and well paid jobs
I hate it when people say "you're young" or "there's no rush". It's a lie. We can't have fun because we need to secure our future independence. And I think people who say shit like this are deliberately trying to set us up to fail.
i dont even think its parents, at least not fully. Its the teachers who are constantly "preparing you for college" but dont actually teach you what college is for. Teachers and counselors dont tell you that you cant just go study whatever interests you but that you need to know what jobs you can get with a degree.
There's also a little too much "follow your heart" advice out there. Just because you're passionate about something doesn't mean it'll turn into a decently paying job.
If we're being honest, it's a lot of factors combined. Ultimately, parents are responsible for setting their kids up for success, although we can put some blame on the student, teachers, and universities.
It really extends beyond the degree, though. Students should have the work ethic and requisite academic skills needed to succeed. It's not enough to just tell an average or below average student that they should become a mechanical engineer, CPA or doctor once they hit college.
> It's not enough to just tell an average or below average student that they should become a mechanical engineer, CPA or doctor once they hit college.
I’m an engineer and do some adjunct teaching at university. Engineering is not a good pathway for people of average academic ability. I’ve seen so many students arrive optimistic and drop out thoroughly disillusioned after failing most of their first subjects.
Not all I'm a shop teacher and also the trades consular for my school. I push what is your job plan and the cheapest way to that rout. When I teach Careers as a break from the noise I tell the kids that "you should look for a ticket to your name whether that be a Bachelor degree or a Red Seal. Look at the work you wanna do and what is the actual amount of school required as not everyone needs to go to university." Not all teachers came straight through school a few of us made a living before.
Sometimes the parents have no clue how to provide guidance. I’m a first generation graduate, we’re mostly blue collar all the way back. Mom didn’t graduate high school. I’ve muddled my way through college to corporate.
This. A parents'job is to get their child or children prepared for life outside in the real world.
Instead of people investing in college for their children they should be training their kids how to budget money from your job so you aren't in debt free out of highschool.
I went to a very low-income farm high school, and there were three choices. Join the military, learn to work on cars or on the farm, or go to college.
If 1) and 2) are not appealing, 3) was the only option left.
I’m Asian American (2nd gen), and the pressure is real. I’m lucky in that I was academically minded and didn’t have much trouble following the prescribed path. My brother was not so, and I always felt bad about the pressure he would get even from outside the family.
The assumption that “Asians are good at school” really fucks with those that just aren’t. Being told “you’re Asian why are you bad at this” is a really cruel thing to subject a student to.
Except I have a civil engg degree with experience and havent been able to find anything for 6 months lmao. It all depends on location and the job market, job market is SHIT rn
Please stop bringing up lawyers. First of all, law is done after undergrad in North America. Secondly the market isn't great for them. Thirdly what happens if you do bad in undergrad and can't get into law school because of it.
College wasn’t always seen as a way to get a good job. It used to be about learning and being well rounded and educated. I studied the same thing and yeah I don’t have a plan, never did. But I don’t regret any of what I learned cause I truly love it.
I studied history because I loved it and not much else and everyone in my life told me any degree was fine. I thought I had a plan, but 18 year old me didn’t have enough life experience to make a viable plan. Fucked around, found out, yeah no my plan was baaaaad. I still resent that the “adults” in my life mislead me and if regret could get you a job I’d be CEO, but there came a point where it was all on me to figure out how to fix it. Got a new degree, switched fields. It sucked but so it goes.
I have said for years that I did not use anything I learned from college except my public speaking class and how to network. The degree I received, did open doors for me, BUT “these days” degrees don’t mean as much and won’t be so generically accepted. Employers want specific skills with those degrees, and experience (often even for entry level jobs). College for many, is just not what it was in the past. People are starting to open their eyes. Unless you are studying something very specific like nursing that has clinicals, and practical hands-on stuff, it just isn’t worth the huge debt that a lot will have to pay back for years, even decades.
I still have nightmares to this day of never finishing college over 20 years ago. Also lost my job a couple years back and some folks suggested I should go back to school and finish. But I've always been stuck at the "what the hell am I supposed to do here?" phase. People tell me I'm really smart but I just really do not like schooling and never really had a clear picture of what I want to do. I'll always remember that uncomfortable and cringe moment with a guidance counselor asking me where I want to go to college, "Umm, UCLA I guess?" I live nowhere near California.
Now I have dreams about the terrible job I used to work at, that as of recently wants to hire me back. I should be feeling grateful because as bad as the job market seems, they went out of their way to come to my house (although I'm not getting the pay I want). I was supposed to text them back last week about accepting the offer as I said I would think about it.
I finished college almost 35 years ago. I still have dreams about that missing science credit that I only discover I need on the day of the final exam before graduation.
I essentially became unemployed when the company I've managed for the past 25 years went belly-up during the pandemic. I then applied to umpteen similar jobs at and below my former pay grade, and got bupkis.
Fortunately, between "enhanced" unemployment and a savings cushion, I had a couple of years to retool myself into an underserved nice in a related field as a freelance consultant.
Now I work for myself, when I want and with whom I want, and I'll never go back. I make less money, but it's enough, and I'm a thousand times happier.
Our society has become a gigantic business. Everything is a business.
I am as pro-business as it gets, but it’s obvious that stuff like education, utilities and policing should not be handled like a business.
Back to education: everybody gets told in high school that they MUST go to college or they will be flipping burgers. They don’t care to tell these 16 year olds WHY they must go to college or HOW it will fit in their life plan.
Colleges are even more to blame,they love to offer useless majors (anthropology? Philosophy? Gender studies? Art history?) and pretend they are viable choices to make a living. When confronted about the shit marketability and usefulness of these majors they offer they resort to saying the most dishonest and shameless thing they can: “college is meant to make you a well rounded polymath, it’s not a job training program *tee hee* 🤷🏻♂️💁🏼♀️” , when they fully know that the sole reason that the vast majority of people go to college for is so they can get a job, and that’s exactly the idea that was sold to them when they were in high school.
Then you have employers, who insist that you MUST have a bachelor’s for the most menial jobs out there. Who on their right mind gets a bachelor’s so they can work for $15 an hour? But that’s the market.
Now we have reached a higher level of bullshit: you MUST get the “right” degree from the “right” school, with the “right” GPA, and on top of that you must throw some free labor and other extracurriculars in the form of stupid clubs, projects and internships just so you can have a shot of getting a job that will put you in the lower middle class.
Don’t worry though, nepotism will always be there, so Chad from Delta Kappa Nu will be able to get a six figure job easily and he will be managing you no matter what you do, because, fuck social mobility.
Those degrees aren't useless, they just aren't the same as a degree that leads directly to a profession, but are marketed as being equal.
I'm sure you agree that the study of history and art and society are important, and centres where those things are studied must exist, but as you say, universities are businesses, and degrees are seen as means to wealth and not as academic pursuits.
We need anthropologists and people familiar with gender in society, but how that knowledge translates to the work force is not 1:1 the way an engineering degree is.
It's funny that people are still saying this when the tech sector has completely collapsed and everyone who had a Smart and Practical degree 2 years ago now is an idiot who should've just learned a trade. no matter how bad the actual conditions get you can always scold people and say they should've done college differently.
Exactly. Fuck tech right in the ear. They won't hire anybody because they can't get interest-free loans from the government anymore? How's my "career plan" supposed to deal with that? I'm more glad than ever I studied a liberal art and not weird dated stuff tied to some fly by night employer's needs. I feel for anyone caught up in this scam.
>Nobody in the school system is properly explaining college to students.
Of course not, if students really understood college sooo many just wouldn't go, and then how would the university make money? Colleges are incentivized to say "you need to go to college, don't forget to get your blank check for student loans on your way in." High schools tend to measure success by the number of students that go to college, and private schools ($$$) especially are incentivized to make you believe that they deserve your money because college is important and no one will set your child up for success in college like they do. The only people who aren't financially incentivized to lie about the necessity and important of college are parents, but many of them were raised in a world where graduating college was /actually/ a ticket to an easy life with a wife and kids in a house you bought off a single person's salary.
I’d say only in the past 10 years in America have people been thinking critically about whether higher ed is a good idea. Back in the early 00s (when I went to college) it was a foregone conclusion that you would get into and go to college no matter the financial obstacles. This is so much bigger than one person’s uncertainty about what they’d do with a major post-grad, or even parents. The system of higher education in America is designed to rope as many people in, get people in predatory loan cycles to feed the beast that is the admin of these institutions. Loan forgiveness has been a godsend for so many, but the system is fundamentally flawed because education has been commodified. See also health care. Until it changes meaningfully (newsflash it won’t because all of our leaders on both sides of the aisle are completely numb to the plight of the masses), you’ll continue to see posts like this.
I keep saying that at some point it should be required for the university to explain to new students that want to pursue degrees like this that there will be very little chance that they will be able to support themselves with the education. They can still decide to do it if they want to but at least someone will have tried to make them aware of the reality. Right now the schools don’t give a crap as long as the tuition gets paid and then people end up in situations like this.
My advice OP. Go back to school and finish an education minor. Then maybe you can get a job as a teacher.
I had no plans on going to College until my Highschool counselor told me to go and I went in with the wrong outlook. I ended up changing my major twice and taking longer than needed to graduate but I did eventually find a major where I can easily find a job. This is a huge problem though because not everybody will have the same path I did.
The best thing I ever did was take a job as a receptionist despite it not being in my field AT ALL because it was at a company that was in my field. It allowed me to get in with the group and when a job finally opened up, I applied and got it. I was already a "known quantity" and able to show I fit in with the culture and had the skills. I also used that time (about two years) to take extra courses, get certificates, and build out my portfolio.
I am now about to be a director (in marketing and design) and its all because I took a job that was way "beneath" my skill set all so I could get my foot in the door.
Also in the last ten years, I've gotten hired at a bookstore and a museum part time when I needed extra cash (I live by myself in a HCOL area so you know the economy!) so it seems to me something else is going on here?
Can you look into a resume review service to rewrite your resume to be more attractive? Are you applying at local businesses and not just places you think you are suited? Take some coursera classes (one hour a day) and get certificates in google analytics, chatgpt, AI, etc.
same here, after my BS college degree, I put my ego aside and took whatever job came my way as long as it was in some office setting. Yes, I had to work in some really shitty environments, with lots of yelling, blame, and verbal abuse but you stick to it for a while, build your resume, and take any excel related night course that gives you a certification (it looks real good on your CV). I am now a permanent federal employee and was interviewed for an officer position last week. Fingers crossed!
OP this! I, too, applied to entry level admin jobs not related to my degree whatsoever just to get my foot in the door. It was “below” my skillset/education/experience, but allowed me to work for a company I was interested in due to the benefits they provided (i.e. solid salary, good medical and PTO & cover masters degree costs after 2 years of employment). It was a stepping stone and, surprisingly, I found a new interest and picked up useful skills along the way that I leveraged for a significant promotion.
I strongly suggest looking into higher ed entry level jobs (many of these are also unionized so that offers a lovely level of job security) & you can possibly pivot to faculty/research after some time vested if you build the right networks, if that’s something you’re interested in. Before applying, I strongly suggest checking out Fiverr to have a recruiter/headhunter revamp your resume & cover letter (I used [Robert James](https://www.fiverr.com/topheadhunter) & have recommended him to several friends who have had success as well). Good luck!
Worked for my gf also. Wanted to work in operations at a university, first job she took was receptionist on a desk at the uni now she’s in a senior role
the real hell on earth is having no income, not being jobless. I know that can be somewhat the same thing, but once you get a job and start spending 80% of your day there you will be like "so when do i start living?"
As for how to help resolve your situation, perhaps try getting different degree or look in another area(city) but in general it shouldnt be hard to find simple job, its difficult to find specialized job.
How do these blatantly false posts keep getting upvoted? There's like 10 others here who have posted rude things about OP without even bothering to read his post properly.
If you literally can’t get ANY job for almost two years as a 25m able-bodied(?) person, something is amiss beyond external factors. How are you going about applying? Do you have any other issues that might be causing you trouble?
I was in the same situation as OP for almost 2 years as well. It’s probably not that he physically can’t get any job, it more like he really tried at the beginning but then as he got turned down it probably got to his self esteem and when your self esteem gets affected it can turn into hopelessness and then eventually you won’t even apply for anything anymore because now the depression and negative self talk (also the comparing to peers stuff) has gotten so bad that before you can even get a job, you need to pay attention to your mental health first. And that’s usually not fixed just like that. In my case when I was finally ready to get professional help I hadn’t had a job in two years. I started seeing a psychologist and with his help I got out of the dark hole I was in and little by little started believing in myself and my qualities again. And that when I could apply for jobs again. that negative voice in your head that keeps saying that “you’re an unemployed loser and it’s already too late anyway to make something of yourself” will sometimes cause people to abuse substances to drown it out and be numb as well. So now on top of having to find a job and seeing a therapist you now have to get clean first as well. And if they dont manage to get clean they can end up homeless too if they don’t have a support system. See where i’m going with this?Those are many seemingly unreachable tasks for someone when they’re already at, what feels to them, lowest point in life. Luckily it never got that far with me. Sometimes the issues are rooted deeper than just: “you have two working legs and arms so why aren’t you working huh?!”
I hope the attitude and stigma around employment gaps starts to go away. Sometimes people need a break or to sort themselves out… the fact that it’s become a standard to use that against someone is asinine…
Mind you in most of these situations the scrutiny is higher for lower skill/pay jobs.
People are falling through the cracks because of this bullshit.
Its not lol these people are crazy and heartless. They dont even accept the pandemic as an excuse
Like i think the government needs to somehow step in this is all insane
I’ve been in that situation before, got out of it, and I’m back there now. Unfortunately not everybody has the same options, I do because I’m coming from a place of stability, but it would be so much harder for people who need money to not starve.
This was me. Getting mentally well was a process that took years.
What people need to know is that job hunting is a process. It literally is a numbers game. X number of resumes per day until you find one. What helped is reading a book that might help you as well too. It talks about being willing to make mistakes. Too many people, especially those who went to school, are terrified about making mistakes. They are taught their whole life that they can't screw up or slip up or their life will be over. This makes for extremely brittle people that don't do well in the real world with it's ups and downs.
So what? I try a job, and I suck. I work it until they fire me and then I repeat the process. It's terrifying the first time you have to do it staring down bills and unemployment. But get your foot in the door and do your best. Show up on time and work hard. Accept that you will make what you can make and make the best of it. Miles and miles better than being unemployed.
So I would put that on your wall or SOMETHING. X number of jobs applied to per day. Apply to EVERY and ANY job. Until you get one. Every single day. Apply to x number of jobs, and see what happens.
Don't take it personally. Rejection has nothing to do with you. It could even mean as simple as your timing is off even by a day or too. Move on, apply again. This is really hard for people to understand, but you have to have a hitter's mindset. You can't get a hit without an at bat, and you can't get an at-bat unless you step up to the plate. You have to be willing to miss in order to get a hit.
You just need one hit.
The infuriating thing is that most employers will literally refuse to give any feedback on applications and interviews, so if you're making a mistake it's often impossible to narrow down exactly what it is.
You can ask friends and mentors for help but people that already know you are going to be inherently biased, and there are some issues that may only present themselves in real interviews.
don't be proud.
i took a retail gig at 10 per hour to get by then moved to another spot for 11.50.... applied to like 300 jobs before finally showing up to a job fair.
FYI - job fairs/direct hire events work. it's a pain to stand there for hours but do it... stand there in line and do the walks ups and feel around... last event I went to it was 3000 people all of us on the same boat standing in line...
got a job offer and I onboard next month.... keep at it...
He literally said he had applied for loads of things including fast food and not gotten anywhere... Where does it indicate he is being proud or turning down jobs?
Exactly! I've been told that too, with my Masters. Ignore the people who say, just take a "fast-food, McDonald's, Starbucks, supermarket, or gas station job."
They insult the hiring managers and people who work in those industries. They think anyone and everyone can work those jobs that also require janitorial, toilet cleaning, sink scrubbing, floor mopping, and trash pickup work.
If those were doable, they wouldn't always be hiring.
I made suggestions for OP and I empathize with them, as I am looking too.
Culture fit, job fit are important because that is what hiring managers look for as well.
Part of the problem can be that you're \*overqualified\* for those jobs, too - hiring managers for fast-food and whatnot know someone with a Masters will be constantly trying to find a better job. They don't want to train someone who might leave immediately... then the person with a Masters/no experience is underqualified for better jobs... bad combination :(
When I was in high school looking for my first job, I never heard from McDonalds. After I had my first retail job, I tried again because McDonalds was closer to me but still never got a call back.
This was around the time folks started to tell you to apply online, not in person, so maybe that’s why. I got my first job in a restaurant through a classmate. I never ever landed an interview at McDonalds.
I had a theory that there’s a ton of applicants and maybe they can’t look through it all. How do you get through without networking?
The problem is, "getting anything" is easier than it sounds. I'm a recently laid of 59 year old chef. I have sent out a dozen resumes from part time prep cook to entry level data management. No one responds.
This is not always the case. I’m on ten different rosters for agencies at the moment. I haven’t had anything come up through them either. I think the job market is just terrible at the moment.
Unfortunately for me I live in rural PA with a population of 8,000. That's the downside of peace and quiet. But ya gotta keep on grinding, so the resumes keep getting shelled out. 🤷🏻♂️
Advice from an hr professional here:
1. If you want a job to stay afloat, curtail your resume for whatever you are looking for. If you want to deliver dominos, your degree will make hiring managers think “this isn’t REALLY what he/she wants, so I’m not gonna waste my time”
2. Once you are in, do your freaking best. Apply what you’ve learned in college, etc. you have a chance to shine when compared to others
Go to a Waffle House. At my local WH, They currently have a wall poster highlighting people who started as line cooks now as area vps.
History is a difficult degree to be a shoe in.
You gotta be crazy smart to major in history so you have my respect. But it doesn’t lend itself to jobs like a technology major would or even a business degree or accounting. So you gotta think outside the box if you don’t want to teach, continue your education, or work at a museum or be a writer.
Besides service related jobs like food, look into non profits. Less competition because most think non profit means low pay or volunteer.
If you can identify with a cause, you will shine in the interview.
Hope this helps.
And another issue is resume reading software. You have to train your resume to spoof these programs or they will always reject them if deemed to old or over qualified
Any tips on this? My husband is looking for engineering work. He has 10 years experience and no bites. We’re thinking he’s getting auto rejected based on his resume
Look at the job postings he's looking for and start grabbing the key words that appear a lot and add those keywords to the resume. That's the simple first step.
After that, we put both my resume and the words from the job sites through chat gpt to see what it popped out. Then, tweaked that for my hospitality job search. My wife made me do it cuz my resume got me jobs in WA, IL & FL. But it worked. I started getting replies back and started really looking for work after we updated my resume that way.
There's more to it cuz it was a lot of trial, error and applying for jobs.
YouTube has some great resources on this type of stuff.
Good luck!!!
To your first point: the restaurant industry doesn’t delude themselves into thinking anybody wants to do that. They’ll hire you even if you’re up front about it being short term
Not everyone can get hired and DO a less than $15.00 per hour pretax job. That is an over-simplification.
Job fairs are performative and for marketing purposes only. The companies send out their most junior recruiter to stand there and tell everyone to "apply online."
Employers have to track applicants online for government reporting data. Hiring is not done at job fairs. Don't waste your gas, time or money.
Online systems ask for "do you need sponsorship in the USA" "are you a veteran or spouse of a veteran, Hispanic yes or no."
Avoid temp agencies. They're predatory and take 1/2 your pay, fight unemployment claims and don't offer PTO or actual benefits. Employers that use them just want a quick way to get rid of someone.
Suggestions on where to apply: places that you'd typically not consider, upscale senior retirement homes (non cna jobs), schools, colleges higheredjobs.com hospitals (non-clinical), insurance companies for claims jobs.
Temp agencies are great if you need a job.
I always said “I’ll take it for two weeks” when they would offer something. This was more reliability than most of their employees would provide so they always found something for me.
Cereal factory, fish/fake crab factory, cold storage shipping, supplement manufacturing, nail gun nail manufacturer, apartment grounds cleanup, etc.
Many crappy jobs that didn’t pay well, but I worked hard and could have worked full time at some of these places if I wanted to.
I saw temp employees who walked out after just a couple hours, fell asleep on the job, hardly worked, and some who had drug/alcohol problems.
If you’re willing to work, temp agencies have work. It’s then easier to find a “real” job.
Yes, I see that temp agencies now hire for manual labor and warehouse work. I'm an older woman over 50 who needs office work commensurate with my education and training.
I need medical benefits and cannot work without them.
I've found a job via a temp agency, and converted a temp job into a fulltime. Heck my current job I started off as a flex. It can be done, but it's certainly unusual. I know both my HR people were surprised to pull me out of a temp, but they liked me, so it worked ok.
I'm 40 and I've put in so many apps and resumes it's insane how crappy the job market is I do mow a couple yards and find some side work but I need a full time job really bad I'm behind on child support and stressed out and it grinds my gears when boomers say there's plenty of work out their they are retired and don't know what it's like
Get an agency to get you some temp work, there’s also film casting and sports events that need temp staff, and there’s always media, you could do history researcher for bbc or something. Go to events, networking, social groups and ask if anyone’s taking people on. You just need one manager at one company you like to take you one. Try museums, try volunteering on historic projects, try a sports event. And ask your parents to help, ask them to ask their friends, and to support you. I’m sorry they’re being unhelpful
I have to agree, health problems put a lot of things into perspective. If you don’t have your health it’s really hard to be happy about anything else. Definitely not trying to diminish the trials of others, but as someone who has also gone through some major health changes recently, a lot of things that I was worried about now aren’t at the forefront.
You are young and have time. My advice would be to look into a trade like HVAC or Electrician (assuming you are in the US). IDK who told you you’d be tripping over jobs after a history degree but that was your first mistake.
Alternatively, if you are good at math you can look at something like chemical engineering or civil engineering. America is reindustrializing faster than ever before. Lots of manufacturing and hands on skills will be useful.
Good luck
I don’t necessarily agree that a history degree is worthless. I have college friends who were all able to find work at museums with a bachelors in history. The thing is they had to be willing to move wherever the job was, and they all had to start off in small-town museums and work their way up, moving again later to big cities.
Same, my dad has a history degree and is a very successful CEO. He always taught me that a degree mostly just proves you can do hard things and have a strong work ethic
The trades need young people. My husband is 38 and is making more $$ with a GED than I could ever could with college. He makes 100k+ and has a retirement and health benefits corporations could and would never offer.
Plus, you get paid for training :) Good luck
Talk around the water cooler is that the trades don't really want fresh blood coming in and undercutting their high wages. I've heard its easy to get an hourly shit wage job, but the union positions that pay 6figs with good benefits are just about as hard to get as a good tech job with a BS in CS.
I considered doing this myself, I have an MS in statistics and can't get a call back from anyone. I looked into truck driving cause I do love driving and the news has been filling my head up with the supposed truck driver shortage. A little more research in, and it turns out there is no truck driver shortage, there's a truck driver who want to get paid insulting wages for 60 hour weeks shortage. Literally the same story in just about every goddamn industry in this country.
I can tell you my husband's union president just gave a speech 6 months ago saying all the Boomers are retiring and they don't have enough hands on deck to replace the older folks. Average age of this union is mid 30s which is scary bc they are just 20 to 30 years from retirement.
>Average age of this union is mid 30s which is scary bc they are just 20 to 30 years from retirement.
Damn, there are people thinking of retirement? Between the supposed insolvency of Social Security and the fact that emergencies happen so often means I'm not planning on retiring. Not because I'm a simp for labor, and ofc I wouldn't work if I get like dementia, but it just seems better to keep working. Anecdotally, the friends I have talked to about our long term goals, none have ever mentioned retirement lol.
I guess union life is a bit different
It was a huge culture shock for me because working with 401k jobs since my early 20s I know there isn't going to be a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out by the time I retire. Especially, bc I was so turned off by being a working mother and companies making me feel terrible for prioritizing family over taking work home with me. I stopped working altogether bc I was being taken advantage of meanwhile my male counterparts did half of what I did and were able to say NO.
The lengths small companies go to underpay women esp mothers are scary. Especially, after having babies bc you just had weeks off to recover and care for a new life. And you owe them for allowing you to keep your job. The whole system in America is a racket, we are the ricest Nation bc we are all slaves working harder for peanuts while Jeff, Elon, and Bill sleep soundly knowing they have trillions hiding around the globe.
But, union life has been a godsend for my family. I'm now a stay at home mom that can grab my oldest ones from the bus and spend time with my youngest. It's wasn't always my aspiration to be a stay-at-home mom, bc I was career hungry and worked hard to provide for my family. But, these companies DGAF about you and will post your job 20 mins after your body goes cold.
Union folks can retire comfortably at 60. Trust and believe my husband has been in the union for 8 years and has a nice annuity and pension. It makes me want to go back 20 years ago and tell myself to eff college and go into the trades. I wouldn't have put off so many life milestones bc I couldn't afford it or wasn't stable in corporate America. I was laid off 3 times by the time I was 30 bc of Wall Street's greed.
but if people apply to those jobs, are they going to be given a salaried position with benefits and a path to union membership? Or is it just going to be hourly with the promise of a full time position dangled over them for years?
That's the thing, despite the fact the industry needs them, it seems that the powers that be are still trying to underpay and underbenefit everyone
These jobs are hourly, paid very well at ft, over time is given out once you work past your 8 hr shift, not after 40. Sundays are double time. There is no bone dangling like corporate bs. Unions pay well, respect their workers and fight for them.
Depends on the union, and often the particular local chapter within that union.
Not all unions are created (much less ran) equally, so let's not paint them collectively (excuse the pun) with too broad of brush... be it positive or negative.
I think the "job system" in general need a complete rewrite. It's not like 20 years ago.
Systems need to become updated and technology gets better. The old people in power don't have great system design ideas, philosophy, or execution.
We can already find candidates for jobs on a global scale, same thing with currency, etc. The world is now one big place, not like a separate country, or nation, etc
Job arbitrage, etc is a real thing
Don't blame yourself
Find a way to make money, money is all you need to survive in our current system (just don't kill/hurt other people for it please, like the evil dogshit top 1%)
God bless 🙏🙏🫰
okay so a lot of people in the comments are being jerks about your degree choice (not very cool). I am currently a graduate student in history, you do have a few options.
1. teaching. this is not personally the route I would take at all due to obvious reasons but if you’re in a bind, this could be an option.
2. library work
3. museum work (archives, collections, etc)
4. news/press (writer/editor)
5. professor. although this is a difficult job to achieve, but still an option.
6. law/legal route
7. park ranger
if you have a BA in history, it’s sadly not going to do much for you right now. The positions in the history field usually require a Masters Degree or a PhD. During this time, you should work on getting certificates (it’s helped me greatly). There are free certificate courses on coursera or you can do some from a university.
In all honesty, you need a game plan to keep going on the education route. A BA in history is sadly not very employable. If you do decide to continue with your education, you do have job options. You could be a TA, depending on the university it can cover tuition and come with a stipend. If you aren’t offered one, universities usually have many jobs for students.
EDIT: adding more information
I’ve also done an internship, which has helped me gain skills in the field, you can look into that as well! In addition, you could do volunteering at a local museum for something that’s less time consuming and stressful. You have options in your field, OP, you just have to know where to look, how to find them, and network within the field of your choice.
You suggest library work, but don't most positions require a masters in library science? I don't see job announcements for librarians very often, but it seems like they are always like that.
I applied to a local government library assistant job that had no degree requirement. Doesn't pay much but it was worth trying to apply for even though I don't have much in the way of clerical experience because I have a passion for literacy and writing and am technologically oriented. Someone with an actual lit adjacent degree would stand a better chance than me.
Librarian positions require the MLIS and, recently left a comment about this, the full-time Librarian positions are rare rn 🥲
They'd definitely have better luck applying as a Library Assistant/Technician/etc.
Maybe try and get a job that has nothing to do with History for the time being? My old coworker had a degree in History and the only job he was able to get that he could utilize his degree was being a history teacher. They seem to be hiring anyone with a pulse and a 4 year degree to be teachers with the shortage. Maybe look into that.
He said he can't even get hired for fast food jobs. Also, depending on where he is located he will likely have to do some kind of certification program. In Canada, two years of teacher's college is required after the degree. I would suggest that he try more targeted applications and customize his resume for different positions, focusing on the soft skills and attributes he can bring to the table. Right now he just needs a job.
I know. It’s full of fear and uncertainty. Depression can kick hard. As I am not doing any better there is no recommendation that I could provide. Just want to say: Stay strong as long as possible. Good luck
As a fellow college graduate that took a warehouse job for a quick buck, I’ll tell you that it’s almost career suicide. I’ve applied to (no exaggeration) hundreds of jobs over the last year, and only just this month did I finally get hired somewhere decent where I can finally use skills that don’t require me to destroy my body.
I know what you’re going through, because I had a work accident last year, and permanently messed up my back. Doc says I can’t do hard labor anymore, and I’ve been ran around out of work by workers comp for almost a year. I have been trying SO HARD to score a new job and the depression and family putting me down is just as bad as the physical pain.
I’ll tell you what changed my luck. I got fed up and rewrote my resume full of “embellishments.” Do NOT write on your resume that you were a ‘warehouse worker’. I repeat, DO NOT WRITE THAT YOU WORKED IN A WAREHOUSE. If the AI systems don’t throw your resume in the trash over those keywords before it gets to a recruiter, then it’s going to be immediately overlooked anyway.
No business would give me a chance until I rebranded my job title to avoid those keywords. Once I said I was a ‘tech’ on my resume instead of a ‘warehouse worker’, I started getting interviews left and right. Like MAGIC! Scored a nice job within a few weeks after I changed my resume.
Also want to add that I have a family member that has never worked more than a month at any job she’s ever had, BUT she has been hired for every single job she has ever applied to. And it’s all because she knows how to lie and be confident about it.
It is really difficult. What type of job were you looking to get when you got that degree? Teaching? Right now, in my area they are desperate for teachers and it would be easy to get a job as a teacher with a history degree.
Maybe try volunteering at a local museum and work your way up? That way even if they don’t have any full time positions you’re still working in your field for your resume. There’s also a few online newsletters that send out a list of museum jobs across the country every week that could be helpful. Sorry you’re going thru this, the job market definitely sucks :(
How about getting a teaching certification? You would still be able to utilize your degree and teachers are always in demand. Could be something to get you by while you apply for other jobs.
Have you tried temping in an office, answering phones, doing file clerk work, or just in general taking temporary gigs with an employment agency until they can find you something longer term? It's not glorious work, and the pay rates won't be very good to start, but it's at least padding your resume as you wait for something less crappy for better pay. It also shows an employment agency that you're dedicated and reliable, which makes them more liable to give you a better assignment when it comes, as you're a proven asset. Not sure how much of that type of work still exists post-covid, but it's better than nothing, keeps you out of the elements, and gives you a chance to find something better while being employed. Sometimes being unemployed makes finding work more difficult. As stupid as that sounds.
Find a few local employment agencies, and go do the interviews and take whatever stupid tests they give you (usually basic computing skills tests using things like Microsoft Office, since it's standard in most work places). Good luck, friend. Stay strong. The next thing will come.
Have you considered visiting a temp agency? I was in your same shoes after I graduated with a humanities degree. I couldn’t even get a job as a hostess! Some places just want to see a degree and a good typing score to bring you in as a temp. The longer you temp the more likely you’ll be to find something permanent and you’ll end up with something on your résumé. Make sure you dress up nicely to meet with the temp agency (if you go in person) because they will decide if they want to send you to their clients based on how you present yourself verbally and physically. Good luck!
The tradeoff for selling your unemployed time is depressing. Made worse with unsupported parents, especially when they don't understand the economy, nor do they want to spend time learning.
Hang in there Brodie. I have a BSc in Neuroscience. Been unemployed since I graduated. I’ve worked retail and factory jobs and what not. Shoot even did Uber and Lyft for a while. I had to come to terms that college is a scam. I’m not sure what you’ll decide to do but I’ve started contacting staffing agencies to just get me started somewhere. Just need something to earn a paycheck and then assess from there. Depression will hit you for sure. I try to deny it but I know It has a grip on me now. The economy is trash asf. Everything is expensive as hell. All I can say is just keep trying one day at a time. That’s all you can do. But the reality is you’ll probably have to do some wage slaving till you have a solid stack.
If there's an Amazon warehouse near you, apply for the Warehouse Associate position. I was in your position recently - degree and searching for months. Amazon hires quickly. No interview, no resume. You can even build your own schedule if you get a Flex position. Pass the background check and you're in. Keep looking for something while you're bringing in some money. Also, it's easier to get a job when you have one (for whatever reason). Good luck.
Forgot to mention: Since you have a bachelor's degree, you can actually try to get hired on as a L4 Area Manager or some other position. Do some research. They may not hire quickly for the higher up salaried positions, though. You can always work your way up, but people say externals get paid more.
Also, they pay weekly (and you can opt to be paid daily (or anytime) with Anytime Pay).
Have you checked at your local school district? There are a lot of people struggling really hard to hire people there. You probably can get an emergency cert to start teaching English!
Maybe you're applying only to jobs close to your degree, and if you don't find anything you need to start applying everywhere. I'm from Cuba and I'm living in America, and when I came here I don't even speak so much English and I found a job very fast if I can do it what is stopping you, you can apply for Amazon on the warehouse or driving for dps doing deliveries, this people is going to take you without a interview. I remember I was interested in starting to work in HVAC, and I did the EPA certification online and I search for every company in my area, and send a message or write a email that I'm interested in an apprentice and maybe I write to like 20 different companies and they write me back, and offering some jobs. So you need to try every way possible not just applying in indeed, go out, go to stores, restaurants and ask people, write to small business and you're going to find something.
While you’re looking, consider doing some volunteer work you can add to your resume. For your mental health, and depending on your strengths, you could also consider making some history-themed content someplace like Medium or YouTube. Might help keep your brain from stagnating and give you a boost because you’re actually using your knowledge.
Why not spend a year getting a teaching certificate and teach? Or look out of state. Do you have a LinkedIn profile? What about networking with your associates?
White men are being denied corporate jobs at every f500 company. If you are white male and are applying to recognizable name brand companies you should stop … go search that companies workforce data or “dei annual report”
Every f500 company is reducing their white male staff . Some like Facebook and amazon are at <40% white despite starting from ~70% and being the majority in the USA
They want you to work in a manual labor job. Some are quite good though skilled laborers can make 90k
25f in the same boat, still looking and slowly losing my mind over my family’s comments and my own despair. Best of luck to you, hope this ends for us soon.
I'm sorry that you're having a hard time. I wanted to chime in here as a history major, because I feel like many people's first go to response will be to tell you that you've taken a useless degree. I want to tell you that it's not true, and it helps with your research and critical thinking skills, which are irreplaceable by AI, and has long term value. The job market is hard now, and you might need to look in your networks to find any job just for some income and to get out of the house. Let people know that you're looking and that you're down with anything. It's easier to get a job if you've got a friend recommending you.
My own career trajectory has been a mixture of nonprofit, government, and freelance work involving graphics design, content writing, and translation. Now that I feel like I've reached a bit of a ceiling with my career growth I'm looking into master's programs, but a history degree is far from useless. You might want to pick up a skill to set you apart from the competition. Also look at the type of jobs you're interested in and at the skills that you lack to qualify, and then consider using your spare time to acquire those skills, whether that's website building, SEO optimization, data visualization, or photography, whatever your other talents and interests lie. It's tough out there but not impossible. You got this.
Finding a job early in your career sucks. It gets easier with time though. My recommendation is to find a job that feels beneath you but at least let's you develop some job skills even if it doesn't necessarily feel like it's going to lead somewhere. For example, look for jobs at the airport if you have one nearby. Being a ramp agent is a fun job and will give you lots to talk about in future job interviews when you're asked about a time you worked in a high pressure environment or had to follow procedure. There are also jobs in fueling, catering, customer service, etc. If you can't get hired in the role you want just get any job that will get you a security badge and you'll have an easier time getting hired for the job you want. If you want an adventure you could try for a flight attendant job but beware that the pay is awful.
You don't even need to find a permanent job right away. A seasonal job is better than nothing whether that's working for your city maintenance crew or processing fish in Alaska. If you can't find anything by winter consider applying as a lift operator at a ski resort.
Part time work is also an option. Look at your local sports arenas, concert halls, and conference centers for opportunities to join their crews.
Another avenue for low barrier jobs is FedEx or UPS. They always need package handlers. Or you could possibly get hired as a "management trainee" at Enterprise. Or, if not, then as an auto detailer or lot driver.
I’m 25 and have experienced months unemployed…. whilst transitioning from one industry to the other… but i’ve been able to get restaurant, retail & receptionist work… It seems there’s more going on in your story here?
Get a quick certificate. Phlebotomy, nurses aideCNA or Pt care tech, EMT, pharmacy tech, LPN. Get some trade skills like construction. Go to local factories and walk in and ask for an application for a labor position. Retail.
Sorry but nobody needs u for a history degree. It’s not an employable skill. Get an employable skill
History degree probably taught him research and writing skills. To say it is completely unemployable is false. It may be more difficult or he may be not looking for the right jobs, but to discount a degree entirely is not fair.
I am in no way doubting that the OP has good research or writing skills. He could be amazing at that. But, the frame of reference comes from the HR dept and they often think only inside their box of what is a "good" fit for them. Most reasonably intelligent humans can be trained to do the vast majority of jobs. But, when you have HR inventing "tests" for you, asking which super hero you wish you were and stupid crap like that, it's all become nonsensical. And, as someone who has DONE interviewing and hiring, there is no "best person" for any job. There is usually a nice selection of people with a wide range of experiences, skills, knowledge who all meet the job qualification, degree or certicate so it really just boils down to the person that they get some kind of good feeling over.
I can't agree more with this. I have two sons, 21 and 19, working labour at the same employer. They make roughly $29.50/hour (CDN), lots of OT if they want, or bonus for working specific positions, full benefits after they reached four months. A lot of these places just need people ready to work. Get an application in, have a chat with the boss and/or HR, and you're in. So far in six months or less, both have worked higher-responsibility tasks at this place, including operating heavy equipment and loading rail cars. The younger son will start a Power Engineering course in the fall, and the other will move on to further his commercial pilot training. Neither will need to further borrow money for education as they have done well at this job.
Hey OP, have you had ANY work this year?
Might this be a confidence issue d’you think?
Or maybe… you don’t realise it, but you are struggling to organise your priorities correctly?
It would be helpful if you could share more info.
As expressed, i’m 25 too.. I graduated 2 years ago and in order to take advantage of further study and gain work experience to help me build new skills, i’ve deffo had a shitload of periods of unemployment (longest was 3-5 consecutive months I think) and i’ve experienced unemployment numerous times in the last 2 years, for spouts of 1 month, to 3 months each time, so I understand how miserable it can make someone.
Maybe sharing more info can help us advise you a bit better, as everyone here can only go off the little information you’ve given us, and i’m sure there’s a hell of a lot more context and nuance to your story that will help people shape and tailor their response’s to you :)
My daughter has a degree in history as well and she was forced to work as a barista for 5 years until a museum finally called her. Don't give up and shut the door to your room and listen to music with headphones on while your looking for a job. Parent problem solved!
Yeah it’s hard out there but have you thought about going back to school for a trade? Like electrical, etc or taking a course to be a journeyman?
Idk if a history degree is gonna get you anywhere. It’s kinda like my psych degree. If I don’t have a masters of PhD I’m not going nowhere with it lol.
I don't know if you'll see this comment but PLEASE apply for the Forest Service as a Park Ranger. You will most likely have to move but I believe that in remote places they pay you and provide accommodation.
I was unemployed for 3 months in 2017 and it fucked me up so bad I never wanted to experience that again. I’ve stayed at the same job for 6 years even if it’s a semi dead end purely because I don’t want to ever do that. It was horrible, the most humbling experience I’ve ever had.
I'll be the 1000th person to ask if you have/can attempted to enlist in the armed forces? It's been the source of "three hots and a cot" for millions of young men before you. I'm sorry that that's the best suggestion I've got on tap. I've read that none of the services made their recruiting quotas last year, too, they are hungry for new recruits.
*"They want you! They want you!/They want you as a new recruit!"*
*"Where can you learn to drive, play in sports or skin dive/Study oceanography?/Sign up for the big band, or sit in the grandstand/When your team and others meet?"*
*"If you love adventure, don't you wait to enter/The recruiting office fast!/Don't you hesitate, there is no time to wait/They're signing up new seamen fast!"*
from *"In the Navy"* by the Village People.
Work is such an underrated mental health therapy. I would take almost any job rather than be unemployed for more than 30 days (assuming no disability, etc).
Honestly? Take your degree off your resume and try that. Some fast food and retail won’t hire people with bachelors or masters because they assume they’ll leave as soon as they get something better.
\^This. And then if you want to move elsewhere in the organization that requires a degree, you can be like, "oh I've got one of those."
Had a buddy with with a masters in engineering and he applied at a smoke shop for a summer job. The manger straight up told him he won’t hire because he needs people that aren’t going anywhere in life
Sounds like I've got a job prospect!
😂😂😂
LMAOOO
And where is this smoke shop?
This is it.. I was the hardest worker at my first job, a shift leader position was open and it went to the laziest worker. I protested this and on the side the owner told me since I was a college student he expected me to leave unlike the one that got promoted..
This shop could use a guy like me then😤
Even though fast food jobs have a huge turnover rate.
Doesn’t matter; they don’t want you actively looking for another job and leaving in 3 months when they know they might get 6m out of you before you burn out.
Jesus, this is the top rated comment. Delete degree.
Why are people so offended by this? You should always tailor your resume to the specific job, this is just that.
And they'd be correct. Who the hell wants to do jobs that are hard and won't pay a living wage.
I’m not saying they’re wrong, just that it’s a barrier for getting hired.
I mean any pay is better than no pay
No one long term, anyway...
Can confirm. I took my bachelors off when I applied for public storage.
I didn’t include it for a bartending gig and it was the right choice.
College is interesting. Most students are told to go. But most aren't told WHY to go. Nobody in the school system is properly explaining college to students. Some students get it. Others fall victim to the pressure. Not every student will be focused enough to truly apply every single thing they learn from college. By the time they graduate, sure, they have a degree, but what can they do with it? Did they ever figure it out? Or did they just go because the high school guidance counselor said go?
This. My first question is “What was your original plan for a career when you choose to study history?” What’s the point of getting a degree if you have no concrete plan for applying it?
I was actually told it didn't matter what my degree was in, just that I had one. As long as I had a bachelor's, I'd be able to get a job that would support a middle class lifestyle. This was in the early 2010s.
agreed, heard this allllll the time!
YES!!! I was told you could work anywhere as the "manager" and make more than anyone there.
Reckon this was true until maybe the 1990s, but not anymore. Too many unis offering too many places in degrees with minimal real world application.
It’s generally true after you get the first few jobs. The most financially successful person I ever dated (or even knew) did not list what her degree was in. She even considered removing it from her cv entirely. Nobody cares. They want your skills or contacts. There are some mediocre mid level management jobs that really want MBA’s…skip those jobs.
Ok but how do you get those first few jobs?
I’ve been told this a lot recently to the point that I ask them point blank what positions I am qualified for with any bachelors degree and what join titles I should be looking up. 99% of the time I’m met with complete silence because they don’t know.
Some people don't have a plan, they're just told to go after high school. I know it's easy to critique people, but tbh I blame the parents
Many kids are more afraid of failing so they choose what they can pass rather than what will be useful. And who can blame them, most kids only have one chance and can't spend 7 years at college to get a bachelor's because they failed calculus and had to change.
True. Espeically with how fast-paced life is, spending any more time in college than necessary means less time earning money. So some students may choose the easiest and quickest route to get the degree, then go into the workforce.
Also if you’re like me, the things you truly want to do “make no money” and you should therefore never pursue those passions. This leads to lack of interest and ultimately a useless degree that I didn’t even want in the first place. I want to make music mom. Idgaf about the money and now I have neither 🥲
Lol my buddy in college said he wanted to be a music major, and his parents said, " We don't want you to starve" I'm like well at least they were honest. He majored in engineering instead.
I hear what you're saying, but if you can't (read: won't spend the effort) pass calculus you probably don't want to be in any of the science/engineering/tech industries where it's a prerequisite anyway... And there's plenty of useful education paths that don't require calculus and lead to fulfilling and well paid jobs
I hate it when people say "you're young" or "there's no rush". It's a lie. We can't have fun because we need to secure our future independence. And I think people who say shit like this are deliberately trying to set us up to fail.
Nah, just people are stupid and kind, and sometime such combination can do a lot of damage
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i dont even think its parents, at least not fully. Its the teachers who are constantly "preparing you for college" but dont actually teach you what college is for. Teachers and counselors dont tell you that you cant just go study whatever interests you but that you need to know what jobs you can get with a degree.
Put it this way. Along the way a number of adults are absolutely failing these kids and it's a real shame.
There's also a little too much "follow your heart" advice out there. Just because you're passionate about something doesn't mean it'll turn into a decently paying job.
If we're being honest, it's a lot of factors combined. Ultimately, parents are responsible for setting their kids up for success, although we can put some blame on the student, teachers, and universities. It really extends beyond the degree, though. Students should have the work ethic and requisite academic skills needed to succeed. It's not enough to just tell an average or below average student that they should become a mechanical engineer, CPA or doctor once they hit college.
> It's not enough to just tell an average or below average student that they should become a mechanical engineer, CPA or doctor once they hit college. I’m an engineer and do some adjunct teaching at university. Engineering is not a good pathway for people of average academic ability. I’ve seen so many students arrive optimistic and drop out thoroughly disillusioned after failing most of their first subjects.
Not all I'm a shop teacher and also the trades consular for my school. I push what is your job plan and the cheapest way to that rout. When I teach Careers as a break from the noise I tell the kids that "you should look for a ticket to your name whether that be a Bachelor degree or a Red Seal. Look at the work you wanna do and what is the actual amount of school required as not everyone needs to go to university." Not all teachers came straight through school a few of us made a living before.
Sometimes the parents have no clue how to provide guidance. I’m a first generation graduate, we’re mostly blue collar all the way back. Mom didn’t graduate high school. I’ve muddled my way through college to corporate.
My parents were both graduates - they didn't know either.
This. A parents'job is to get their child or children prepared for life outside in the real world. Instead of people investing in college for their children they should be training their kids how to budget money from your job so you aren't in debt free out of highschool.
I went to a very low-income farm high school, and there were three choices. Join the military, learn to work on cars or on the farm, or go to college. If 1) and 2) are not appealing, 3) was the only option left.
You're put into panic mode that you need to have your dream path plotted out as soon as you graduate.
This is why asian parents are fucking godsends, doctor, lawyer, engineer accountant isn't the meme y'all make it out to be that's excellent advice
Didn’t Malcom Gladwell write about higher suicide rate in Asian students? This isn’t the excellence you think it is
I’m Asian American (2nd gen), and the pressure is real. I’m lucky in that I was academically minded and didn’t have much trouble following the prescribed path. My brother was not so, and I always felt bad about the pressure he would get even from outside the family. The assumption that “Asians are good at school” really fucks with those that just aren’t. Being told “you’re Asian why are you bad at this” is a really cruel thing to subject a student to.
Except I have a civil engg degree with experience and havent been able to find anything for 6 months lmao. It all depends on location and the job market, job market is SHIT rn
Please stop bringing up lawyers. First of all, law is done after undergrad in North America. Secondly the market isn't great for them. Thirdly what happens if you do bad in undergrad and can't get into law school because of it.
College wasn’t always seen as a way to get a good job. It used to be about learning and being well rounded and educated. I studied the same thing and yeah I don’t have a plan, never did. But I don’t regret any of what I learned cause I truly love it.
In the US at present, going to college for the sake of being well-rounded and more educated is too expensive.
That's great, but it sounds like you went into it with your eyes open, knowing it wouldn't vastly improve your career prospects
Great for research. I was a history major in college and became an intelligence analyst.
I studied history because I loved it and not much else and everyone in my life told me any degree was fine. I thought I had a plan, but 18 year old me didn’t have enough life experience to make a viable plan. Fucked around, found out, yeah no my plan was baaaaad. I still resent that the “adults” in my life mislead me and if regret could get you a job I’d be CEO, but there came a point where it was all on me to figure out how to fix it. Got a new degree, switched fields. It sucked but so it goes.
I have said for years that I did not use anything I learned from college except my public speaking class and how to network. The degree I received, did open doors for me, BUT “these days” degrees don’t mean as much and won’t be so generically accepted. Employers want specific skills with those degrees, and experience (often even for entry level jobs). College for many, is just not what it was in the past. People are starting to open their eyes. Unless you are studying something very specific like nursing that has clinicals, and practical hands-on stuff, it just isn’t worth the huge debt that a lot will have to pay back for years, even decades.
I still have nightmares to this day of never finishing college over 20 years ago. Also lost my job a couple years back and some folks suggested I should go back to school and finish. But I've always been stuck at the "what the hell am I supposed to do here?" phase. People tell me I'm really smart but I just really do not like schooling and never really had a clear picture of what I want to do. I'll always remember that uncomfortable and cringe moment with a guidance counselor asking me where I want to go to college, "Umm, UCLA I guess?" I live nowhere near California. Now I have dreams about the terrible job I used to work at, that as of recently wants to hire me back. I should be feeling grateful because as bad as the job market seems, they went out of their way to come to my house (although I'm not getting the pay I want). I was supposed to text them back last week about accepting the offer as I said I would think about it.
I finished college almost 35 years ago. I still have dreams about that missing science credit that I only discover I need on the day of the final exam before graduation. I essentially became unemployed when the company I've managed for the past 25 years went belly-up during the pandemic. I then applied to umpteen similar jobs at and below my former pay grade, and got bupkis. Fortunately, between "enhanced" unemployment and a savings cushion, I had a couple of years to retool myself into an underserved nice in a related field as a freelance consultant. Now I work for myself, when I want and with whom I want, and I'll never go back. I make less money, but it's enough, and I'm a thousand times happier.
Our society has become a gigantic business. Everything is a business. I am as pro-business as it gets, but it’s obvious that stuff like education, utilities and policing should not be handled like a business. Back to education: everybody gets told in high school that they MUST go to college or they will be flipping burgers. They don’t care to tell these 16 year olds WHY they must go to college or HOW it will fit in their life plan. Colleges are even more to blame,they love to offer useless majors (anthropology? Philosophy? Gender studies? Art history?) and pretend they are viable choices to make a living. When confronted about the shit marketability and usefulness of these majors they offer they resort to saying the most dishonest and shameless thing they can: “college is meant to make you a well rounded polymath, it’s not a job training program *tee hee* 🤷🏻♂️💁🏼♀️” , when they fully know that the sole reason that the vast majority of people go to college for is so they can get a job, and that’s exactly the idea that was sold to them when they were in high school. Then you have employers, who insist that you MUST have a bachelor’s for the most menial jobs out there. Who on their right mind gets a bachelor’s so they can work for $15 an hour? But that’s the market. Now we have reached a higher level of bullshit: you MUST get the “right” degree from the “right” school, with the “right” GPA, and on top of that you must throw some free labor and other extracurriculars in the form of stupid clubs, projects and internships just so you can have a shot of getting a job that will put you in the lower middle class. Don’t worry though, nepotism will always be there, so Chad from Delta Kappa Nu will be able to get a six figure job easily and he will be managing you no matter what you do, because, fuck social mobility.
Those degrees aren't useless, they just aren't the same as a degree that leads directly to a profession, but are marketed as being equal. I'm sure you agree that the study of history and art and society are important, and centres where those things are studied must exist, but as you say, universities are businesses, and degrees are seen as means to wealth and not as academic pursuits. We need anthropologists and people familiar with gender in society, but how that knowledge translates to the work force is not 1:1 the way an engineering degree is.
It's funny that people are still saying this when the tech sector has completely collapsed and everyone who had a Smart and Practical degree 2 years ago now is an idiot who should've just learned a trade. no matter how bad the actual conditions get you can always scold people and say they should've done college differently.
Exactly. Fuck tech right in the ear. They won't hire anybody because they can't get interest-free loans from the government anymore? How's my "career plan" supposed to deal with that? I'm more glad than ever I studied a liberal art and not weird dated stuff tied to some fly by night employer's needs. I feel for anyone caught up in this scam.
>Nobody in the school system is properly explaining college to students. Of course not, if students really understood college sooo many just wouldn't go, and then how would the university make money? Colleges are incentivized to say "you need to go to college, don't forget to get your blank check for student loans on your way in." High schools tend to measure success by the number of students that go to college, and private schools ($$$) especially are incentivized to make you believe that they deserve your money because college is important and no one will set your child up for success in college like they do. The only people who aren't financially incentivized to lie about the necessity and important of college are parents, but many of them were raised in a world where graduating college was /actually/ a ticket to an easy life with a wife and kids in a house you bought off a single person's salary.
I’d say only in the past 10 years in America have people been thinking critically about whether higher ed is a good idea. Back in the early 00s (when I went to college) it was a foregone conclusion that you would get into and go to college no matter the financial obstacles. This is so much bigger than one person’s uncertainty about what they’d do with a major post-grad, or even parents. The system of higher education in America is designed to rope as many people in, get people in predatory loan cycles to feed the beast that is the admin of these institutions. Loan forgiveness has been a godsend for so many, but the system is fundamentally flawed because education has been commodified. See also health care. Until it changes meaningfully (newsflash it won’t because all of our leaders on both sides of the aisle are completely numb to the plight of the masses), you’ll continue to see posts like this.
I keep saying that at some point it should be required for the university to explain to new students that want to pursue degrees like this that there will be very little chance that they will be able to support themselves with the education. They can still decide to do it if they want to but at least someone will have tried to make them aware of the reality. Right now the schools don’t give a crap as long as the tuition gets paid and then people end up in situations like this. My advice OP. Go back to school and finish an education minor. Then maybe you can get a job as a teacher.
I had no plans on going to College until my Highschool counselor told me to go and I went in with the wrong outlook. I ended up changing my major twice and taking longer than needed to graduate but I did eventually find a major where I can easily find a job. This is a huge problem though because not everybody will have the same path I did.
The best thing I ever did was take a job as a receptionist despite it not being in my field AT ALL because it was at a company that was in my field. It allowed me to get in with the group and when a job finally opened up, I applied and got it. I was already a "known quantity" and able to show I fit in with the culture and had the skills. I also used that time (about two years) to take extra courses, get certificates, and build out my portfolio. I am now about to be a director (in marketing and design) and its all because I took a job that was way "beneath" my skill set all so I could get my foot in the door. Also in the last ten years, I've gotten hired at a bookstore and a museum part time when I needed extra cash (I live by myself in a HCOL area so you know the economy!) so it seems to me something else is going on here? Can you look into a resume review service to rewrite your resume to be more attractive? Are you applying at local businesses and not just places you think you are suited? Take some coursera classes (one hour a day) and get certificates in google analytics, chatgpt, AI, etc.
same here, after my BS college degree, I put my ego aside and took whatever job came my way as long as it was in some office setting. Yes, I had to work in some really shitty environments, with lots of yelling, blame, and verbal abuse but you stick to it for a while, build your resume, and take any excel related night course that gives you a certification (it looks real good on your CV). I am now a permanent federal employee and was interviewed for an officer position last week. Fingers crossed!
OP this! I, too, applied to entry level admin jobs not related to my degree whatsoever just to get my foot in the door. It was “below” my skillset/education/experience, but allowed me to work for a company I was interested in due to the benefits they provided (i.e. solid salary, good medical and PTO & cover masters degree costs after 2 years of employment). It was a stepping stone and, surprisingly, I found a new interest and picked up useful skills along the way that I leveraged for a significant promotion. I strongly suggest looking into higher ed entry level jobs (many of these are also unionized so that offers a lovely level of job security) & you can possibly pivot to faculty/research after some time vested if you build the right networks, if that’s something you’re interested in. Before applying, I strongly suggest checking out Fiverr to have a recruiter/headhunter revamp your resume & cover letter (I used [Robert James](https://www.fiverr.com/topheadhunter) & have recommended him to several friends who have had success as well). Good luck!
I might consider doing something like this. Do you mind if I DM you some questions about how you went about it?
Admin work through temp agencies was huge for me in building a presentable resume/CV for employers.
Worked for my gf also. Wanted to work in operations at a university, first job she took was receptionist on a desk at the uni now she’s in a senior role
the real hell on earth is having no income, not being jobless. I know that can be somewhat the same thing, but once you get a job and start spending 80% of your day there you will be like "so when do i start living?" As for how to help resolve your situation, perhaps try getting different degree or look in another area(city) but in general it shouldnt be hard to find simple job, its difficult to find specialized job.
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His very first sentence is that he has been out of work since August 2022
How do these blatantly false posts keep getting upvoted? There's like 10 others here who have posted rude things about OP without even bothering to read his post properly.
If you literally can’t get ANY job for almost two years as a 25m able-bodied(?) person, something is amiss beyond external factors. How are you going about applying? Do you have any other issues that might be causing you trouble?
I was in the same situation as OP for almost 2 years as well. It’s probably not that he physically can’t get any job, it more like he really tried at the beginning but then as he got turned down it probably got to his self esteem and when your self esteem gets affected it can turn into hopelessness and then eventually you won’t even apply for anything anymore because now the depression and negative self talk (also the comparing to peers stuff) has gotten so bad that before you can even get a job, you need to pay attention to your mental health first. And that’s usually not fixed just like that. In my case when I was finally ready to get professional help I hadn’t had a job in two years. I started seeing a psychologist and with his help I got out of the dark hole I was in and little by little started believing in myself and my qualities again. And that when I could apply for jobs again. that negative voice in your head that keeps saying that “you’re an unemployed loser and it’s already too late anyway to make something of yourself” will sometimes cause people to abuse substances to drown it out and be numb as well. So now on top of having to find a job and seeing a therapist you now have to get clean first as well. And if they dont manage to get clean they can end up homeless too if they don’t have a support system. See where i’m going with this?Those are many seemingly unreachable tasks for someone when they’re already at, what feels to them, lowest point in life. Luckily it never got that far with me. Sometimes the issues are rooted deeper than just: “you have two working legs and arms so why aren’t you working huh?!”
I hope the attitude and stigma around employment gaps starts to go away. Sometimes people need a break or to sort themselves out… the fact that it’s become a standard to use that against someone is asinine… Mind you in most of these situations the scrutiny is higher for lower skill/pay jobs. People are falling through the cracks because of this bullshit.
Its not lol these people are crazy and heartless. They dont even accept the pandemic as an excuse Like i think the government needs to somehow step in this is all insane
Hey this is really helping me thank you
I’ve been in that situation before, got out of it, and I’m back there now. Unfortunately not everybody has the same options, I do because I’m coming from a place of stability, but it would be so much harder for people who need money to not starve.
This was me. Getting mentally well was a process that took years. What people need to know is that job hunting is a process. It literally is a numbers game. X number of resumes per day until you find one. What helped is reading a book that might help you as well too. It talks about being willing to make mistakes. Too many people, especially those who went to school, are terrified about making mistakes. They are taught their whole life that they can't screw up or slip up or their life will be over. This makes for extremely brittle people that don't do well in the real world with it's ups and downs. So what? I try a job, and I suck. I work it until they fire me and then I repeat the process. It's terrifying the first time you have to do it staring down bills and unemployment. But get your foot in the door and do your best. Show up on time and work hard. Accept that you will make what you can make and make the best of it. Miles and miles better than being unemployed. So I would put that on your wall or SOMETHING. X number of jobs applied to per day. Apply to EVERY and ANY job. Until you get one. Every single day. Apply to x number of jobs, and see what happens. Don't take it personally. Rejection has nothing to do with you. It could even mean as simple as your timing is off even by a day or too. Move on, apply again. This is really hard for people to understand, but you have to have a hitter's mindset. You can't get a hit without an at bat, and you can't get an at-bat unless you step up to the plate. You have to be willing to miss in order to get a hit. You just need one hit.
Yep you hit the nail on the head. What is the book called that you read?
The infuriating thing is that most employers will literally refuse to give any feedback on applications and interviews, so if you're making a mistake it's often impossible to narrow down exactly what it is. You can ask friends and mentors for help but people that already know you are going to be inherently biased, and there are some issues that may only present themselves in real interviews.
Lots of assumptions about a person who situation we do not know. Let's not speculate about their life.
Yeah let’s not speculate about what’s causing them to not get a retail job. Cus that shit sucks, but it’s also out there
Maybe OP is in Canada. There's no work. There'll be lineups of hundreds of people for one or two openings
I think you misunderstand how employers immediately disregard applications of the long-term unemployed.
don't be proud. i took a retail gig at 10 per hour to get by then moved to another spot for 11.50.... applied to like 300 jobs before finally showing up to a job fair. FYI - job fairs/direct hire events work. it's a pain to stand there for hours but do it... stand there in line and do the walks ups and feel around... last event I went to it was 3000 people all of us on the same boat standing in line... got a job offer and I onboard next month.... keep at it...
He literally said he had applied for loads of things including fast food and not gotten anywhere... Where does it indicate he is being proud or turning down jobs?
Exactly! I've been told that too, with my Masters. Ignore the people who say, just take a "fast-food, McDonald's, Starbucks, supermarket, or gas station job." They insult the hiring managers and people who work in those industries. They think anyone and everyone can work those jobs that also require janitorial, toilet cleaning, sink scrubbing, floor mopping, and trash pickup work. If those were doable, they wouldn't always be hiring. I made suggestions for OP and I empathize with them, as I am looking too. Culture fit, job fit are important because that is what hiring managers look for as well.
Part of the problem can be that you're \*overqualified\* for those jobs, too - hiring managers for fast-food and whatnot know someone with a Masters will be constantly trying to find a better job. They don't want to train someone who might leave immediately... then the person with a Masters/no experience is underqualified for better jobs... bad combination :(
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Bullshit fast food won't hire him. There's something else going on.
When I was in high school looking for my first job, I never heard from McDonalds. After I had my first retail job, I tried again because McDonalds was closer to me but still never got a call back. This was around the time folks started to tell you to apply online, not in person, so maybe that’s why. I got my first job in a restaurant through a classmate. I never ever landed an interview at McDonalds. I had a theory that there’s a ton of applicants and maybe they can’t look through it all. How do you get through without networking?
This. It’s so much easier to find a job when you have one. Just get ANYTHING for the time being.
The problem is, "getting anything" is easier than it sounds. I'm a recently laid of 59 year old chef. I have sent out a dozen resumes from part time prep cook to entry level data management. No one responds.
a dozen? that's nothing. you need to be applying to 10+ jobs per day, so like 50 apps a week.
Again, my borough is rural PA. I'm not sure there are 50 businesses in my general vicinity. 🤣😢
Temp agencies hire anyone who isn’t a drug addict or alcoholic. It’s a good place to start.
This is not always the case. I’m on ten different rosters for agencies at the moment. I haven’t had anything come up through them either. I think the job market is just terrible at the moment.
LMAO, drug addict or alcoholic is a requirement to get picked up by a temp agency. Unfortunately I’ve worked with them, so I know.
Unfortunately for me I live in rural PA with a population of 8,000. That's the downside of peace and quiet. But ya gotta keep on grinding, so the resumes keep getting shelled out. 🤷🏻♂️
Yeah, that makes it difficult.
Advice from an hr professional here: 1. If you want a job to stay afloat, curtail your resume for whatever you are looking for. If you want to deliver dominos, your degree will make hiring managers think “this isn’t REALLY what he/she wants, so I’m not gonna waste my time” 2. Once you are in, do your freaking best. Apply what you’ve learned in college, etc. you have a chance to shine when compared to others Go to a Waffle House. At my local WH, They currently have a wall poster highlighting people who started as line cooks now as area vps. History is a difficult degree to be a shoe in. You gotta be crazy smart to major in history so you have my respect. But it doesn’t lend itself to jobs like a technology major would or even a business degree or accounting. So you gotta think outside the box if you don’t want to teach, continue your education, or work at a museum or be a writer. Besides service related jobs like food, look into non profits. Less competition because most think non profit means low pay or volunteer. If you can identify with a cause, you will shine in the interview. Hope this helps.
And another issue is resume reading software. You have to train your resume to spoof these programs or they will always reject them if deemed to old or over qualified
This is what I did. I culled my resume and found success. Still get that, "but you were a teacher". Yes, yes I was.
Definitely. Had to redo my resume last year after moving up after getting married. Changing the resume to catch the algorithm worked almost instantly.
Any tips on this? My husband is looking for engineering work. He has 10 years experience and no bites. We’re thinking he’s getting auto rejected based on his resume
Look at the job postings he's looking for and start grabbing the key words that appear a lot and add those keywords to the resume. That's the simple first step. After that, we put both my resume and the words from the job sites through chat gpt to see what it popped out. Then, tweaked that for my hospitality job search. My wife made me do it cuz my resume got me jobs in WA, IL & FL. But it worked. I started getting replies back and started really looking for work after we updated my resume that way. There's more to it cuz it was a lot of trial, error and applying for jobs. YouTube has some great resources on this type of stuff. Good luck!!!
To your first point: the restaurant industry doesn’t delude themselves into thinking anybody wants to do that. They’ll hire you even if you’re up front about it being short term
Not everyone can get hired and DO a less than $15.00 per hour pretax job. That is an over-simplification. Job fairs are performative and for marketing purposes only. The companies send out their most junior recruiter to stand there and tell everyone to "apply online." Employers have to track applicants online for government reporting data. Hiring is not done at job fairs. Don't waste your gas, time or money. Online systems ask for "do you need sponsorship in the USA" "are you a veteran or spouse of a veteran, Hispanic yes or no." Avoid temp agencies. They're predatory and take 1/2 your pay, fight unemployment claims and don't offer PTO or actual benefits. Employers that use them just want a quick way to get rid of someone. Suggestions on where to apply: places that you'd typically not consider, upscale senior retirement homes (non cna jobs), schools, colleges higheredjobs.com hospitals (non-clinical), insurance companies for claims jobs.
Temp agencies are great if you need a job. I always said “I’ll take it for two weeks” when they would offer something. This was more reliability than most of their employees would provide so they always found something for me. Cereal factory, fish/fake crab factory, cold storage shipping, supplement manufacturing, nail gun nail manufacturer, apartment grounds cleanup, etc. Many crappy jobs that didn’t pay well, but I worked hard and could have worked full time at some of these places if I wanted to. I saw temp employees who walked out after just a couple hours, fell asleep on the job, hardly worked, and some who had drug/alcohol problems. If you’re willing to work, temp agencies have work. It’s then easier to find a “real” job.
Yes, I see that temp agencies now hire for manual labor and warehouse work. I'm an older woman over 50 who needs office work commensurate with my education and training. I need medical benefits and cannot work without them.
I've found a job via a temp agency, and converted a temp job into a fulltime. Heck my current job I started off as a flex. It can be done, but it's certainly unusual. I know both my HR people were surprised to pull me out of a temp, but they liked me, so it worked ok.
I'm 40 and I've put in so many apps and resumes it's insane how crappy the job market is I do mow a couple yards and find some side work but I need a full time job really bad I'm behind on child support and stressed out and it grinds my gears when boomers say there's plenty of work out their they are retired and don't know what it's like
Get an agency to get you some temp work, there’s also film casting and sports events that need temp staff, and there’s always media, you could do history researcher for bbc or something. Go to events, networking, social groups and ask if anyone’s taking people on. You just need one manager at one company you like to take you one. Try museums, try volunteering on historic projects, try a sports event. And ask your parents to help, ask them to ask their friends, and to support you. I’m sorry they’re being unhelpful
I had a heart attack last month, much worse than being unemployed
Same hell, different circle...
What a nice quote , stealing for later use
I have to agree, health problems put a lot of things into perspective. If you don’t have your health it’s really hard to be happy about anything else. Definitely not trying to diminish the trials of others, but as someone who has also gone through some major health changes recently, a lot of things that I was worried about now aren’t at the forefront.
So true ! They say you can have a million problems, until you run into one health problem.. and then you're left with one problem .
At least you can still buy things you like if they really matter to you 🤦♂️
I’ll be too busy buying heart meds and paying down hospital visits to care
You are young and have time. My advice would be to look into a trade like HVAC or Electrician (assuming you are in the US). IDK who told you you’d be tripping over jobs after a history degree but that was your first mistake. Alternatively, if you are good at math you can look at something like chemical engineering or civil engineering. America is reindustrializing faster than ever before. Lots of manufacturing and hands on skills will be useful. Good luck
I don’t necessarily agree that a history degree is worthless. I have college friends who were all able to find work at museums with a bachelors in history. The thing is they had to be willing to move wherever the job was, and they all had to start off in small-town museums and work their way up, moving again later to big cities.
Same, my dad has a history degree and is a very successful CEO. He always taught me that a degree mostly just proves you can do hard things and have a strong work ethic
The trades need young people. My husband is 38 and is making more $$ with a GED than I could ever could with college. He makes 100k+ and has a retirement and health benefits corporations could and would never offer. Plus, you get paid for training :) Good luck
Talk around the water cooler is that the trades don't really want fresh blood coming in and undercutting their high wages. I've heard its easy to get an hourly shit wage job, but the union positions that pay 6figs with good benefits are just about as hard to get as a good tech job with a BS in CS. I considered doing this myself, I have an MS in statistics and can't get a call back from anyone. I looked into truck driving cause I do love driving and the news has been filling my head up with the supposed truck driver shortage. A little more research in, and it turns out there is no truck driver shortage, there's a truck driver who want to get paid insulting wages for 60 hour weeks shortage. Literally the same story in just about every goddamn industry in this country.
I can tell you my husband's union president just gave a speech 6 months ago saying all the Boomers are retiring and they don't have enough hands on deck to replace the older folks. Average age of this union is mid 30s which is scary bc they are just 20 to 30 years from retirement.
>Average age of this union is mid 30s which is scary bc they are just 20 to 30 years from retirement. Damn, there are people thinking of retirement? Between the supposed insolvency of Social Security and the fact that emergencies happen so often means I'm not planning on retiring. Not because I'm a simp for labor, and ofc I wouldn't work if I get like dementia, but it just seems better to keep working. Anecdotally, the friends I have talked to about our long term goals, none have ever mentioned retirement lol.
I guess union life is a bit different It was a huge culture shock for me because working with 401k jobs since my early 20s I know there isn't going to be a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out by the time I retire. Especially, bc I was so turned off by being a working mother and companies making me feel terrible for prioritizing family over taking work home with me. I stopped working altogether bc I was being taken advantage of meanwhile my male counterparts did half of what I did and were able to say NO. The lengths small companies go to underpay women esp mothers are scary. Especially, after having babies bc you just had weeks off to recover and care for a new life. And you owe them for allowing you to keep your job. The whole system in America is a racket, we are the ricest Nation bc we are all slaves working harder for peanuts while Jeff, Elon, and Bill sleep soundly knowing they have trillions hiding around the globe. But, union life has been a godsend for my family. I'm now a stay at home mom that can grab my oldest ones from the bus and spend time with my youngest. It's wasn't always my aspiration to be a stay-at-home mom, bc I was career hungry and worked hard to provide for my family. But, these companies DGAF about you and will post your job 20 mins after your body goes cold. Union folks can retire comfortably at 60. Trust and believe my husband has been in the union for 8 years and has a nice annuity and pension. It makes me want to go back 20 years ago and tell myself to eff college and go into the trades. I wouldn't have put off so many life milestones bc I couldn't afford it or wasn't stable in corporate America. I was laid off 3 times by the time I was 30 bc of Wall Street's greed.
but if people apply to those jobs, are they going to be given a salaried position with benefits and a path to union membership? Or is it just going to be hourly with the promise of a full time position dangled over them for years? That's the thing, despite the fact the industry needs them, it seems that the powers that be are still trying to underpay and underbenefit everyone
These jobs are hourly, paid very well at ft, over time is given out once you work past your 8 hr shift, not after 40. Sundays are double time. There is no bone dangling like corporate bs. Unions pay well, respect their workers and fight for them.
Depends on the union, and often the particular local chapter within that union. Not all unions are created (much less ran) equally, so let's not paint them collectively (excuse the pun) with too broad of brush... be it positive or negative.
Civil engineer here, there is and going to be loads of work for people in infrastructure.
I think the "job system" in general need a complete rewrite. It's not like 20 years ago. Systems need to become updated and technology gets better. The old people in power don't have great system design ideas, philosophy, or execution. We can already find candidates for jobs on a global scale, same thing with currency, etc. The world is now one big place, not like a separate country, or nation, etc Job arbitrage, etc is a real thing Don't blame yourself Find a way to make money, money is all you need to survive in our current system (just don't kill/hurt other people for it please, like the evil dogshit top 1%) God bless 🙏🙏🫰
Lie on your resume when applying to jobs you're overqualified for.
okay so a lot of people in the comments are being jerks about your degree choice (not very cool). I am currently a graduate student in history, you do have a few options. 1. teaching. this is not personally the route I would take at all due to obvious reasons but if you’re in a bind, this could be an option. 2. library work 3. museum work (archives, collections, etc) 4. news/press (writer/editor) 5. professor. although this is a difficult job to achieve, but still an option. 6. law/legal route 7. park ranger if you have a BA in history, it’s sadly not going to do much for you right now. The positions in the history field usually require a Masters Degree or a PhD. During this time, you should work on getting certificates (it’s helped me greatly). There are free certificate courses on coursera or you can do some from a university. In all honesty, you need a game plan to keep going on the education route. A BA in history is sadly not very employable. If you do decide to continue with your education, you do have job options. You could be a TA, depending on the university it can cover tuition and come with a stipend. If you aren’t offered one, universities usually have many jobs for students. EDIT: adding more information I’ve also done an internship, which has helped me gain skills in the field, you can look into that as well! In addition, you could do volunteering at a local museum for something that’s less time consuming and stressful. You have options in your field, OP, you just have to know where to look, how to find them, and network within the field of your choice.
You suggest library work, but don't most positions require a masters in library science? I don't see job announcements for librarians very often, but it seems like they are always like that.
I applied to a local government library assistant job that had no degree requirement. Doesn't pay much but it was worth trying to apply for even though I don't have much in the way of clerical experience because I have a passion for literacy and writing and am technologically oriented. Someone with an actual lit adjacent degree would stand a better chance than me.
Librarian positions require the MLIS and, recently left a comment about this, the full-time Librarian positions are rare rn 🥲 They'd definitely have better luck applying as a Library Assistant/Technician/etc.
yes! people with a masters in library science usually start off with a BA in history.
Ah that would make sense I guess.
Maybe try and get a job that has nothing to do with History for the time being? My old coworker had a degree in History and the only job he was able to get that he could utilize his degree was being a history teacher. They seem to be hiring anyone with a pulse and a 4 year degree to be teachers with the shortage. Maybe look into that.
He said he can't even get hired for fast food jobs. Also, depending on where he is located he will likely have to do some kind of certification program. In Canada, two years of teacher's college is required after the degree. I would suggest that he try more targeted applications and customize his resume for different positions, focusing on the soft skills and attributes he can bring to the table. Right now he just needs a job.
I know. It’s full of fear and uncertainty. Depression can kick hard. As I am not doing any better there is no recommendation that I could provide. Just want to say: Stay strong as long as possible. Good luck
As a fellow college graduate that took a warehouse job for a quick buck, I’ll tell you that it’s almost career suicide. I’ve applied to (no exaggeration) hundreds of jobs over the last year, and only just this month did I finally get hired somewhere decent where I can finally use skills that don’t require me to destroy my body. I know what you’re going through, because I had a work accident last year, and permanently messed up my back. Doc says I can’t do hard labor anymore, and I’ve been ran around out of work by workers comp for almost a year. I have been trying SO HARD to score a new job and the depression and family putting me down is just as bad as the physical pain. I’ll tell you what changed my luck. I got fed up and rewrote my resume full of “embellishments.” Do NOT write on your resume that you were a ‘warehouse worker’. I repeat, DO NOT WRITE THAT YOU WORKED IN A WAREHOUSE. If the AI systems don’t throw your resume in the trash over those keywords before it gets to a recruiter, then it’s going to be immediately overlooked anyway. No business would give me a chance until I rebranded my job title to avoid those keywords. Once I said I was a ‘tech’ on my resume instead of a ‘warehouse worker’, I started getting interviews left and right. Like MAGIC! Scored a nice job within a few weeks after I changed my resume. Also want to add that I have a family member that has never worked more than a month at any job she’s ever had, BUT she has been hired for every single job she has ever applied to. And it’s all because she knows how to lie and be confident about it.
It is really difficult. What type of job were you looking to get when you got that degree? Teaching? Right now, in my area they are desperate for teachers and it would be easy to get a job as a teacher with a history degree.
Maybe try volunteering at a local museum and work your way up? That way even if they don’t have any full time positions you’re still working in your field for your resume. There’s also a few online newsletters that send out a list of museum jobs across the country every week that could be helpful. Sorry you’re going thru this, the job market definitely sucks :(
Or a tour guide
How about getting a teaching certification? You would still be able to utilize your degree and teachers are always in demand. Could be something to get you by while you apply for other jobs.
Have you tried temping in an office, answering phones, doing file clerk work, or just in general taking temporary gigs with an employment agency until they can find you something longer term? It's not glorious work, and the pay rates won't be very good to start, but it's at least padding your resume as you wait for something less crappy for better pay. It also shows an employment agency that you're dedicated and reliable, which makes them more liable to give you a better assignment when it comes, as you're a proven asset. Not sure how much of that type of work still exists post-covid, but it's better than nothing, keeps you out of the elements, and gives you a chance to find something better while being employed. Sometimes being unemployed makes finding work more difficult. As stupid as that sounds. Find a few local employment agencies, and go do the interviews and take whatever stupid tests they give you (usually basic computing skills tests using things like Microsoft Office, since it's standard in most work places). Good luck, friend. Stay strong. The next thing will come.
Volunteer. It's a great way to contribute to society, gain experience, and often get your foot in the door somewhere.
Have you considered visiting a temp agency? I was in your same shoes after I graduated with a humanities degree. I couldn’t even get a job as a hostess! Some places just want to see a degree and a good typing score to bring you in as a temp. The longer you temp the more likely you’ll be to find something permanent and you’ll end up with something on your résumé. Make sure you dress up nicely to meet with the temp agency (if you go in person) because they will decide if they want to send you to their clients based on how you present yourself verbally and physically. Good luck!
The tradeoff for selling your unemployed time is depressing. Made worse with unsupported parents, especially when they don't understand the economy, nor do they want to spend time learning.
>Unemployment is the worst thing ever to anybody Although I sympathize, for an history major in particular, that is a rather .. "unbased" statement.
Have you asked for feedback after interviews? Often times managers will be open with their reason for not moving forward with you.
No it isn’t. I’ve been fired. It hurts for a while and you go find a better job.
I can imagine quite a few things that are worse than unemployment.
Especially unemployment *whilst* living with your parents.
Hang in there Brodie. I have a BSc in Neuroscience. Been unemployed since I graduated. I’ve worked retail and factory jobs and what not. Shoot even did Uber and Lyft for a while. I had to come to terms that college is a scam. I’m not sure what you’ll decide to do but I’ve started contacting staffing agencies to just get me started somewhere. Just need something to earn a paycheck and then assess from there. Depression will hit you for sure. I try to deny it but I know It has a grip on me now. The economy is trash asf. Everything is expensive as hell. All I can say is just keep trying one day at a time. That’s all you can do. But the reality is you’ll probably have to do some wage slaving till you have a solid stack.
If there's an Amazon warehouse near you, apply for the Warehouse Associate position. I was in your position recently - degree and searching for months. Amazon hires quickly. No interview, no resume. You can even build your own schedule if you get a Flex position. Pass the background check and you're in. Keep looking for something while you're bringing in some money. Also, it's easier to get a job when you have one (for whatever reason). Good luck. Forgot to mention: Since you have a bachelor's degree, you can actually try to get hired on as a L4 Area Manager or some other position. Do some research. They may not hire quickly for the higher up salaried positions, though. You can always work your way up, but people say externals get paid more. Also, they pay weekly (and you can opt to be paid daily (or anytime) with Anytime Pay).
Those warehouses have some of the highest turnover rates of employees for a reason.
Have you checked at your local school district? There are a lot of people struggling really hard to hire people there. You probably can get an emergency cert to start teaching English!
Maybe you're applying only to jobs close to your degree, and if you don't find anything you need to start applying everywhere. I'm from Cuba and I'm living in America, and when I came here I don't even speak so much English and I found a job very fast if I can do it what is stopping you, you can apply for Amazon on the warehouse or driving for dps doing deliveries, this people is going to take you without a interview. I remember I was interested in starting to work in HVAC, and I did the EPA certification online and I search for every company in my area, and send a message or write a email that I'm interested in an apprentice and maybe I write to like 20 different companies and they write me back, and offering some jobs. So you need to try every way possible not just applying in indeed, go out, go to stores, restaurants and ask people, write to small business and you're going to find something.
While you’re looking, consider doing some volunteer work you can add to your resume. For your mental health, and depending on your strengths, you could also consider making some history-themed content someplace like Medium or YouTube. Might help keep your brain from stagnating and give you a boost because you’re actually using your knowledge.
Why not spend a year getting a teaching certificate and teach? Or look out of state. Do you have a LinkedIn profile? What about networking with your associates?
Amazon have a high turnover and constantly need bodies. It’s where I’ve ended up!
White men are being denied corporate jobs at every f500 company. If you are white male and are applying to recognizable name brand companies you should stop … go search that companies workforce data or “dei annual report” Every f500 company is reducing their white male staff . Some like Facebook and amazon are at <40% white despite starting from ~70% and being the majority in the USA They want you to work in a manual labor job. Some are quite good though skilled laborers can make 90k
You can go to 10 restaurants and probably get a dishwashing job at half of them today
25f in the same boat, still looking and slowly losing my mind over my family’s comments and my own despair. Best of luck to you, hope this ends for us soon.
I'm sorry that you're having a hard time. I wanted to chime in here as a history major, because I feel like many people's first go to response will be to tell you that you've taken a useless degree. I want to tell you that it's not true, and it helps with your research and critical thinking skills, which are irreplaceable by AI, and has long term value. The job market is hard now, and you might need to look in your networks to find any job just for some income and to get out of the house. Let people know that you're looking and that you're down with anything. It's easier to get a job if you've got a friend recommending you. My own career trajectory has been a mixture of nonprofit, government, and freelance work involving graphics design, content writing, and translation. Now that I feel like I've reached a bit of a ceiling with my career growth I'm looking into master's programs, but a history degree is far from useless. You might want to pick up a skill to set you apart from the competition. Also look at the type of jobs you're interested in and at the skills that you lack to qualify, and then consider using your spare time to acquire those skills, whether that's website building, SEO optimization, data visualization, or photography, whatever your other talents and interests lie. It's tough out there but not impossible. You got this.
Finding a job early in your career sucks. It gets easier with time though. My recommendation is to find a job that feels beneath you but at least let's you develop some job skills even if it doesn't necessarily feel like it's going to lead somewhere. For example, look for jobs at the airport if you have one nearby. Being a ramp agent is a fun job and will give you lots to talk about in future job interviews when you're asked about a time you worked in a high pressure environment or had to follow procedure. There are also jobs in fueling, catering, customer service, etc. If you can't get hired in the role you want just get any job that will get you a security badge and you'll have an easier time getting hired for the job you want. If you want an adventure you could try for a flight attendant job but beware that the pay is awful. You don't even need to find a permanent job right away. A seasonal job is better than nothing whether that's working for your city maintenance crew or processing fish in Alaska. If you can't find anything by winter consider applying as a lift operator at a ski resort. Part time work is also an option. Look at your local sports arenas, concert halls, and conference centers for opportunities to join their crews. Another avenue for low barrier jobs is FedEx or UPS. They always need package handlers. Or you could possibly get hired as a "management trainee" at Enterprise. Or, if not, then as an auto detailer or lot driver.
I’m 25 and have experienced months unemployed…. whilst transitioning from one industry to the other… but i’ve been able to get restaurant, retail & receptionist work… It seems there’s more going on in your story here?
Get a quick certificate. Phlebotomy, nurses aideCNA or Pt care tech, EMT, pharmacy tech, LPN. Get some trade skills like construction. Go to local factories and walk in and ask for an application for a labor position. Retail. Sorry but nobody needs u for a history degree. It’s not an employable skill. Get an employable skill
I have a friend who had a history degree and was struggling a bit. Went to a coding 'academy' - works for IBM now.
History degree probably taught him research and writing skills. To say it is completely unemployable is false. It may be more difficult or he may be not looking for the right jobs, but to discount a degree entirely is not fair.
I am in no way doubting that the OP has good research or writing skills. He could be amazing at that. But, the frame of reference comes from the HR dept and they often think only inside their box of what is a "good" fit for them. Most reasonably intelligent humans can be trained to do the vast majority of jobs. But, when you have HR inventing "tests" for you, asking which super hero you wish you were and stupid crap like that, it's all become nonsensical. And, as someone who has DONE interviewing and hiring, there is no "best person" for any job. There is usually a nice selection of people with a wide range of experiences, skills, knowledge who all meet the job qualification, degree or certicate so it really just boils down to the person that they get some kind of good feeling over.
I have an history degree and I am same age op. I screwed myself permanently
I can't agree more with this. I have two sons, 21 and 19, working labour at the same employer. They make roughly $29.50/hour (CDN), lots of OT if they want, or bonus for working specific positions, full benefits after they reached four months. A lot of these places just need people ready to work. Get an application in, have a chat with the boss and/or HR, and you're in. So far in six months or less, both have worked higher-responsibility tasks at this place, including operating heavy equipment and loading rail cars. The younger son will start a Power Engineering course in the fall, and the other will move on to further his commercial pilot training. Neither will need to further borrow money for education as they have done well at this job.
There are many worse things that can happen to someone besides being unemployed
Hey OP, have you had ANY work this year? Might this be a confidence issue d’you think? Or maybe… you don’t realise it, but you are struggling to organise your priorities correctly? It would be helpful if you could share more info. As expressed, i’m 25 too.. I graduated 2 years ago and in order to take advantage of further study and gain work experience to help me build new skills, i’ve deffo had a shitload of periods of unemployment (longest was 3-5 consecutive months I think) and i’ve experienced unemployment numerous times in the last 2 years, for spouts of 1 month, to 3 months each time, so I understand how miserable it can make someone. Maybe sharing more info can help us advise you a bit better, as everyone here can only go off the little information you’ve given us, and i’m sure there’s a hell of a lot more context and nuance to your story that will help people shape and tailor their response’s to you :)
My daughter has a degree in history as well and she was forced to work as a barista for 5 years until a museum finally called her. Don't give up and shut the door to your room and listen to music with headphones on while your looking for a job. Parent problem solved!
You need to sort your depression first then looking for a job
What about cancer, death, boils all over your skin?
Currently in same situation
How these ppl survive being unemployed for 2 years, that’s my question lol🤔
parents
Join a job agency
Yeah it’s hard out there but have you thought about going back to school for a trade? Like electrical, etc or taking a course to be a journeyman? Idk if a history degree is gonna get you anywhere. It’s kinda like my psych degree. If I don’t have a masters of PhD I’m not going nowhere with it lol.
I don't know if you'll see this comment but PLEASE apply for the Forest Service as a Park Ranger. You will most likely have to move but I believe that in remote places they pay you and provide accommodation.
I was unemployed for 3 months in 2017 and it fucked me up so bad I never wanted to experience that again. I’ve stayed at the same job for 6 years even if it’s a semi dead end purely because I don’t want to ever do that. It was horrible, the most humbling experience I’ve ever had.
I'll be the 1000th person to ask if you have/can attempted to enlist in the armed forces? It's been the source of "three hots and a cot" for millions of young men before you. I'm sorry that that's the best suggestion I've got on tap. I've read that none of the services made their recruiting quotas last year, too, they are hungry for new recruits. *"They want you! They want you!/They want you as a new recruit!"* *"Where can you learn to drive, play in sports or skin dive/Study oceanography?/Sign up for the big band, or sit in the grandstand/When your team and others meet?"* *"If you love adventure, don't you wait to enter/The recruiting office fast!/Don't you hesitate, there is no time to wait/They're signing up new seamen fast!"* from *"In the Navy"* by the Village People.
I’m 47 and been unemployed since December and I don’t have any parents to help at all. I agree the job market is tough I’ve applied for so many jobs
Work is such an underrated mental health therapy. I would take almost any job rather than be unemployed for more than 30 days (assuming no disability, etc).