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Help me find a job
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I have a Bachelor of Arts degree and have been unemployed for over 5 months. I may go back to school next year or I may sit down and start writing a novel...or something. But first I have to find a job.
Actually, I'm more interested in working on either my game and/or sitcom/web series idea. Unfortunately, I'll probably do neither and end up working at Best Buy.
Actually, I'm more interested in working on either my game and/or sitcom/web series idea. Unfortunately, I'll probably do neither and end up working at Best Buy.
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what are you even asking
there are no questions here and nothing to base any advice upon
please clarify
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My 10 commandments of game reviewing
7 Great Games Playing Watch_Dogs will remind you of/url]
Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features it Must Have
10 Videogames Ruined By The Hype
I've contacted various businesses and government agencies, but I mainly peruse craigslist.
I said, "Help me find a job." I thought this was the "help" forum.
The first step is to hit up temp agencies in the real world. Job fairs via your college would be good too; did you go to an art school?
You really think someone's going to hand you a job? you haven't even told us what your bachelor's degree is in, and you're demanding help. Your education doesn't matter, it's your attitude that's going to have to change before anyone will even think about hiring you. Right now all you're qualified to do is sit on a sidewalk and demand spare change from passers by.
Good suggestion, however, there is a technical issue preventing me from creating an Associated Content account.
Address/contact information omitted.
______________________________________________________________________
Employment
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
Juvenile Rehabilitation Counselor Assistant
Oct. 2008 – April 2009
• Oversee the supervision and rehabilitation of residential youth
• Manage case load documentation for clientele
• Regulate safe environment mandates
• Assist in determining proper behavioral modification treatment plans.
Washington State House of Representatives
Committee Legislative Assistant
Dec. 2007 – April 2008
• Create and manage committee materials
• Supervise distribution of committee and public documentation to members, staff and public attendees
• Oversee committee hearings: keep minutes, record votes, prepare agency presentations, etc.
• Maintain strict code of ethics, confidentiality, moral integrity and nonpartisanship
Bungie Studios
Quality Assurance Tester
April 2007 – Nov. 2007
• Vital testing of product stability, reliability, defect reproduction and regression, and overall user satisfaction
• Maintained strict product confidentiality
• Assisted in development of test cases, testing methods and team functionality
Washington State House of Representatives
Committee Clerk
Dec. 2006- April 2007
• Assemble committee documents, distribute committee materials
• Set up/take down hearing room and manage public information
• Prepare Representative’s Bill Books/documents, acquiesce committee member and staff requests
• Uphold professional code of ethical, nonpartisan political status
• Maintain friendly relationships with staff, Legislators and high-profile persons
Microsoft Corporation
Quality Assurance Tester
2005 - 2006
• Product development through structuralized testing procedures
• Defect reproduction and database management
• Maintaining strict confidentiality agreement
• Successfully assisting in the scheduled release of product
WA. State Dept. of Natural Resources
Office Support Manager
2004 - 2005
• Maintained large database and cataloguing system, provided customer service, oriented incoming/outgoing mail
• Responsibilities included installing, maintaining, and supporting enterprise grade IT infrastructure as well as performing day-to-day technical support for large user base
• Updated and upgraded department database/catalogue system
• Oversaw maintenance and upkeep of office equipment and supplies
• Proofread and edited departmental correspondence and agency documents
EDUCATION
Northwest University
Major: English
Bachelor of Arts 1999-2003
ACHIEVEMENTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS
Washington State Law Enforcement, Public Safety Test 2008
Black Hills High School, Volunteer Appreciation 2006
International Library of Poetry Editor’s Choice Award 2004
Thurston County Youth Football League Champions 2004
WSEC Softball League Team MVP 2004
WSEC Softball League Champions 2003
Cader Publishing/Iliad Press Presidential Award 2001
Cader Publishing/Iliad Press Honorable Mention Poetry Award 2000
Northwest College Fine Arts Scholarship 1999
The Microsoft/Bungie and House of Representatives positions were temporary.
Questions that will help us help you:
What are you currently doing in terms of a job search. Specifically, what activities are you doing, and how much time are you spending on it every week?
What kinds of jobs are you looking for?
Whats your financial situation? You've been out of work for nearly six months, how are you surviving?
Do you not like politics any more? What committee were you on? ( i think the resume should say this even if you don't want to put it out here).
Skills. That's a good idea.
I visit the Department of Personnel website, individual state websites, WorkSource website, craigslist and any other business I can think of. I spend, roughly, 10-15hrs per week looking for work.
At this point, I'm not picky. I'm applying for anything...except McDonalds.
Because of the poor economy, I have been able to defer my loans. My family has also been very supportive.
Good point. I'll make the appropriate changes. I'm also including that I have postgraduate experience.
I enjoyed my time spent working for the WA. State Legislature. I was a Page for the Senate, a Clerk for the House Appropriations and Transportation committees, and a Legislative Assistant for the House Higher Education committee.
I will be submitting a House of Representatives application tomorrow.
also: a really practical basic tip, but this one really helped my out productivity-wise:
many job hunting sites (most in belgium do..) offer the service of making an RSS feed out of a search function.
So now i have a bookmark group in my bookmark shortcuts bar. Underneath are about 25 different feeds from various sites. On each site, i've saved a few feeds, looking for specific keywords/ job sectors in my region. eg "photoshop" or "Indesign" and "whereverIlive" (since i'm a graphic designer).
Now instead of pointless browsing through all those sites, i just click the bookmark whenever a new job pops up. I can't even begin to describe how much easier this has made everything....
Yeah, I get emails everyday from Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, Indeed, and networking groups. Some days there's 3+ good ones, some days nothing.
To the OP - I'm in a similar spot, so I can say you need to change your attitude. So you spend 10-15hrs/wk looking? What are you doing the other 25-30? Job hunting is a full-time job and really has to be treated as such to get results.
Once you've exhausted the postings, you should be a) following up with submissions, b) making connections and renewing existing, because you are on LinkedIn, right?, c) networking face-to-face either at a job group, job fair, and through relatives & friends.
Finally for your resume, it's got some good listings on there, but I'd consider listing more 'accomplishments' than 'duties,' as is the style at the time. An accomplishment is something like, "Resolved 1,000 bugs in AAA game which sold 12billion copies." I don't know if you can list the specific games?
As long as you think like that, yeah... you will.
MOVE! Go to industry activities, make business cards. Don't wait untill you see a job posted, be proactive and get out there, start calling people. How is your portfolio?
P.S. This does not count as looking for a job at all. "Perusing the intarwebz" is not looking for a job. Looking for a job involves going to places in person, wearing appropriate attire, and talking. Sometimes you will ask for a job. Other times you will ask for advice, discuss how people got to where they are. You will impress them with your dedication and brilliance, and they will hopefully start telling you to talk to other people. Those people will put you in touch with people. Eventually you may find that someone just happens to be looking for someone with your skill set. That is how you find a job that isn't working at Best Buy.
You do have to be capable of showing a marketable skillset and a mind/personality worth hiring, though.
If you are in the U.S. I assume, you will probably not find a job.
Your resume looks pretty weak, there are people out there with much better resumes who STILL can't find jobs, and are sending letters out every day.
I recommend going back to school as soon as possible, to weather out these economic times.
Work at Best Buy to get some money. Writing a novel is good effort and all but don't do it if you expect to get some kind of money out of it because getting a novel published is incredibly hard.
Sitting down to work on some "game/sitcom/web series" idea sounds incredibly nebulous the way you wrote it and chances are if you haven't already started working on any one of those three by now you're not serious enough to get anywhere. This isn't something you just come to a forum and ask people if it's a good idea to do, you just do it. These sort of projects require incredible self motivation, only you will know if you want to work for way more than 40 hours a week for little to no pay on something like that. If you have to ask, the answer is no.
:^:
When you have no job, looking for a job is your job. If you can't be bothered to spend more than 2-3 hours a day looking for a job, and most of that browsing job hunting websites, you're not really trying. Shower, shave, and put some nice clothes on. Instead of sending an email or auto-applying for a job through career builder, head out to some of these businesses and apply.
If you really simply need employment and income of any sort, find your local Resource Development or Workforce Development office, or whatever they may be called in your area, and go there.
Are you sending out cover letters? You should be. Your cover letter AND your resume should be tailored to every job you apply to. I've got about 8 different versions of each that I go back and edit depending on the job. Even though most people will say "apply through our website" talking to people will help; it will get you a name.
Anyways, no offense OP, but it doesn't really strike me that you want a job. Maybe you aren't that hard up for money, but if I was out of a job for five months, I wouldn't be knocking working at Best Buy. Of course, that would require you to apply at Best Buy and other retail chains. Holidays are coming up, and while the economy sucks, it's actually gained some strenght, and that'll probably spur a bit more of consumer confidence.
I've had a lot of other shit going on in my personal life, but over the course of my 8 month job search I applied to over 100 jobs that I have the skills for.
Problems:
A lot of jobs you apply for online don't actual exist. Checking cashier, stocker, sales tech, and installer on the Best Buy site does not mean they have a spot open.
There might be a position open, but since the business is functioning fine without this job being filled, why increase the over head? I have run into this twice. A hiring manager wanted to hire me, but the district manager said no. In another interview for another job, I asked when they were looking to fill the position and the guy more or less said, "I don't know, maybe when the economy turns around and I need to."
You are competing with people with a lot more experience.
It's clear this isn't going to be a career for you, so why hire you if you're going to leave for the first job in your field that becomes available.
You have a BA. I have a BA in theatre and when I tell that to a hiring manager, despite having a lot of applicable skills, their eyes kind of roll.
The job I was recently offered, I wrote them off three months ago after following up twice a week for three weeks and getting no response.
This is especially true with staffing agencies. I've met with a few who advertise a good position but it turns out to be total bs but they totally have some really low paying temp jobs that are just perfect for you. Ugh.
Right now your resumé is working against you HARD. Unless you have a compelling story to tell (briefly) in a cover letter, someone with that many jobs in such a short timeframe is going to the bottom of the pile.
When you do get a job. Whatever you do, stay there for at least a year before you even start looking for another one.
Yeah, most staffing agencies are complete douchebags (Im looking at you, Adecco).
Absolutely do this and call them at least once a week asking if they have any placements. The temp agencies I signed up with flat out told me "everyone is kind of on a hiring freeze right now."
Do you know how fast you can type?
I had one tell me that I could be a great temp, and I'd get pay well, $9-10/hr, and I walked out laughing. I have a Master's degree, I don't work for $9/hr. Hell, in Boston you can't survive on that.
9/10>0
PSN/XBL: Zampanov -- Steam: Zampanov
$9 an hour is easier to survive on than $0. Unless you were getting some unemployment while you were working on some moves of course.
I just took a huge leap of faith leaving my full time job that I hated to find one I don't hate but trying to schedule interviews around an 8.30-5 schedule wasn't working.
The last typing test I took showed 67 wpm.
You just don't want to take a skills test for a job and then not do what you say you can.
This is also very true for higher paying jobs. Legally a lot of government jobs have to be posted for X amount of time. As with all jobs, however, they're usually filled already by someone who networked his way into that spot. They'll be posted and people will interview, but the guy who got out and did the footwork to meet people is already going to get it.