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Increasing my earning potential in the short term
DirtyDirtyVagrant
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Right now I work at a Walmart, part time, averaging around 32 hours per week. I make about $8 per hour. I can live on it, but I've really gotta stretch it to save any money. I have enough money saved that I could potentially invest it in a certification course or something like that (A+ or perhaps equivalent certs in other fields)
I would like to make $12-15 per hour or more. I've been told this is modest, but it's pretty much the minimum.
I really don't want to be at Walmart any longer than 6-8 months, but I won't quit until I find something better.
Any ideas/suggestions/thoughts? Basically "how do I proceed from here?" is the gist of what I'm saying.
I would like to make $12-15 per hour or more. I've been told this is modest, but it's pretty much the minimum.
I really don't want to be at Walmart any longer than 6-8 months, but I won't quit until I find something better.
Any ideas/suggestions/thoughts? Basically "how do I proceed from here?" is the gist of what I'm saying.
DirtyDirtyVagrant on
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As for long term career goals, my ultimate goal has nothing to do with any job I'll have. This is purely about money. Don't care about anything else.
On this note, if you want experience, try finding a job... well... anywhere that is smaller than Wal-Mart that has a small IT team, or even one person. For example, apply to be a receptionist, file-clerk, or something like that at a law firm. They might not have much in their IT department.
Then just ask what you can do to help. Actively seek experience there. Hopefully you'll get to shadow their team and learn a lot in the process, and get that experience you need.
Of course, this is much easier said than done, but I wish you all the best luck!
Oil and gas workers make good money for hard physical labor in challenging locations (think Canadian wilderness, south American jungle, or middle of the north Atlantic)
Same with contractors willing to put themselves at risk in Iraq or Afghanistan.
If you clean up well and have a modicum of computer skills (which I assume you do since you mentioned certs), consider looking for assistant positions. Being a good ol' fashioned Man Secretary can provide a lot of ins to a lot of other jobs in many different types of companies and rarely requires prior experience. You just have to be good in a room and then fill in the check boxes on all the other bullshit buzzwordery like "detail oriented." It might be something to consider.
Good luck!
Assuming you're single with no kids, you have some flexibility to move and look for more high-paying jobs.
If you only have a high school degree, then your options to make money are always going to be limited. As someone mentioned upthread, you can make pretty good money in the oil industry in the Dakotas, Alaska, the Gulf etc. But we're talking about hard and somewhat dangerous labor. But, the money can be very, very good and it's often the type of job where you work a few months, then get some months off.
Rigorous Scholarship
Don't do this. God no. Not gonna get past help desk with this and there is nothing I can imagine that is worse than a career doing helpdesk. Getting a trade is about a trillion times better. Make way more, less stress, more in demand, useful everywhere.
This is completely short term advice for someone that needs to make a living wage with no job history to speak of. In the future you should be looking at different types of schools or a trade.
Craigslist, monster, and Indeed should get you started for job postings, but putting in applications at everywhere you can will help if they ever have an unexpected opening.
They basically give you a computer skills/common sense style test and if you dominate it (particularly in typing speed and memory) you're generally golden. All the best dispatchers are usually males of the nerdy type that are used to multitasking and typing fast. I'd describe being a dispatcher as sort've like playing Starcraft or something, managing units and resources.
Starting pay was $18 an hour and I was at $29 an hour 5 years in. Just something to think about, I guess, but the hours are definitely not great all the time and there is plenty of stress.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Is that typically done by county or state? I can't seem to find any schedules or prices, or any insight into what sorts of questions I can look forward to.
Could be different now, but don't think of it as a guarantee and I wouldn't spend that money unless you could afford to.
but they're listening to every word I say
What? Do you live in an expensive city by chance?
Bussers hardly make any money at all. Maybe it's just me, but every restaurant i've ever worked at had bussers making $10 an hour max.
You can make great money as a food server, but it takes a lot of work, gotta be quick on your feet and you need to really smooze your tables. Either that or be a woman, where it's ten times easier even if you're moderately attractive. If you're a real looker you'll be raking in a bill each night no problem.
I get tipped out by the servers. Some places do that, some don't. It would be hard to get full time hours and maintain that hourly though, since I would have to work some opening shifts where there are no customers. No customers = no tips.
So if you do try to bus some tables, find out if you get tips. If you don't go for serving tables.
but they're listening to every word I say
Not that the restaurant industry is any different than retail, but you do get paid much better and have a lot more freedom to express yourself. Most servers, bussers and cooks swear more than sailors when they come into the kitchen - as long as the customers dont hear it management usually doesnt care. Any idiot can make a living as a server in a popular restaurant, hell even 18 year old kids at our local Olive Garden make 100+ a night, primarily because they are constantly slammed with customers. Find a busy restaurant with decent looking wait staff and an easy menu and apply.
Aside from that, the best advice I got when I was unemployed was to start freelance writing online. Start out at a content mill like Demand Studios - they pay 15 bucks per 450 word article that takes 30 minutes to write - then move up to your own monetized blog - and ultimately writing for private clients. There is a lot of money to be made for the people who are willing to write for it. You don't need a degree, just decent command of the English language and eventually some decent experience.
Judging from your Weight Loss Challenge you have some good self-motivation skills already, so just apply what you are doing there to your financial situation and everything will work itself out.
In the longer term: I'm going to be that guy who tells you to get a Bachelor's degree. Even if you decide to learn a trade, a higher-education degree will open doors for you. People bitch about college, but the fact is that most people will find more opportunities available to them in the long run with a BA/BS, even if it's part time from a local satellite campus.
I'm not sure what it's like in America, but in Australia, if you are not a qualified electrician you can't get any kind of insurance and the insurance of who/wherever you are working becomes void.
I worked as a parking lot attendant for 1 summer and got $11.50 an hour. One friend of mine who had flunked out of college worked as a patient transporter (pushing people around on gurneys and wheelchairs) and got the same thing, and he was eventually able to go full time. Another friend worked at the same hospital as a janitor. Hospitals pay very well for unskilled labor. You would have to start out part time, but eventually a full time job will open up.
What I would suggest:
Make a list of every IT place in your area (or willing to drive to). Apply at all. Start at the bottom. Don't pretend to know things you don't, but show a willingness and eagerness to learn.
It'll probably take a year or two to work up; so don't know if that qualifies as shorterm or not.
He has some connections. And helping me get started with an apprenticeship in basically anything is totally doable.
But, he's worried (and I've thought of this too) that if I work as an electrician or a plumber or something, that I might not be working amongst the most progressively minded folk, and my being a trans girl may cause friction. Are there solutions or rebuttals?
Male to female or Female to male?
Seems like if you were female to male it would be easier, people probably wouldn't even ask. The other way is likely to have severe blowback though. And if you are an electrician or plumber you will probably have to work in strangers houses. They might not take too kindly to you either.
This makes me think that IT is a good route though. Very few dress and look expectations as far as I have seen. Showing up dressed opposite gender would seem less out of place with people in long hair and metal band t shirts. I mean, some places might have mandatory corporate dress, I know people that show up to their IT jobs in shorts and t shirts.
Anything where you have to deal with strangers will likely cause some friction. And unless you are totally ripped in the muscle department, I would avoid those things.
but they're listening to every word I say
If I was in a different life siltation, I'd get into some sort of technical medical trade.
I work at a mental hospital (for 4 months now) and love it, I make 14$/hr, great benefits, they help with schooling (working twards RN (RN is a GREAT career choice btw, good money, even better job market).
IT is not an easy job. emotionally or physically. But it may be an option for you.
Keep in mind that the "not very progressive" attitudes thing cuts both ways. Tradespeople who have those attitudes cut themselves off from potential customers. There are tradespeople who make their living entirely off working in, say, the "gay village" of major cities.
Also on Steam and PSN: twobadcats
Wal-Mart can be evil, however. I requested to go on full-time once I finished by initial 90 day evaluation. I got the 35+ hours a week, but it turns out I was not actually full-time. I was just part-time with full-time hours. It was a rather rude awakening when I moved out of my parent's house and, a week later, had a new scheduling system go in place that fixed the loophole I was in. Not to my benefit, of course.