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Help me get out of Retail?
Gordonnie
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello,
I'm 22 and I've been working retail since I was 18. Surprisingly with my current position I'm making enough money to live comfortably in my own apartment, with all the goodies I need. But I want more, and importantly I want to actually have some weekends off for once. I make $17.50 an hour, and want to find a job that pays the same or a bit more.
I've been doing a good amount of prospecting on where I want to advance my career and life. I can't do it within Samsung because I need a bachelor's degree as a minimum qualification to be a Market Manager. I've been doing some looking around and I've narrowed it down to 3 choices.
IT-
I have a great background in computers and networking. I've been building for a few years now and I've helped Real Estate firms set up small networks and troubleshoot their desktops. I have a friend of mine who is in the industry that recommends I shoot for a Certification. I've learned about a few of the different kinds of entry level certs such as Network+, A+ and etc. From what I gather becoming a CCNA can get my foot in the door for some great positions. The only issue is the study material and overall cost of the exam. It's affordable but would it be a good investment? I'm not expecting the money to just fly in my wallet but if I landed a position netting me 35k or so a year I'd be satisfied until I have the opportunity to advance... It'd be really awesome to be at a position where I'm one of those lucky people that gets to work from inside their own home someday!
Insurance-
My co-worker is a part timer for my store. His full time job involves insurance sales for car dealerships. He's a representative for AllState and seems to make some really good money. I wouldn't mind taking my extensive sales background into something more profitable... although on the other hand I'm somewhat tired of sales. I've been thinking of getting my Life & Health/Property & Casualty. Maybe try to score a job somewhere as a insurance representative.
College-
Back to school has frequently been brought up for me. My issue is I've yet to actually get completely disciplined to it I've failed out of classes 3 times already. Right now I have the desire to learn more than ever but I'd rather get into a program that takes substantially less time. I don't want to put everything on hold for 4 years when I could be developing my working skills. I've been in touch with my local community college and tuition is around $105 per credit hour, which is awesome.. but I don't know if college is really the answer. I'd most likely be exploring business management and computer technology programs.
Somewhat of a long post but I'd appreciate any kind of insight I can get.
I'm 22 and I've been working retail since I was 18. Surprisingly with my current position I'm making enough money to live comfortably in my own apartment, with all the goodies I need. But I want more, and importantly I want to actually have some weekends off for once. I make $17.50 an hour, and want to find a job that pays the same or a bit more.
I've been doing a good amount of prospecting on where I want to advance my career and life. I can't do it within Samsung because I need a bachelor's degree as a minimum qualification to be a Market Manager. I've been doing some looking around and I've narrowed it down to 3 choices.
IT-
I have a great background in computers and networking. I've been building for a few years now and I've helped Real Estate firms set up small networks and troubleshoot their desktops. I have a friend of mine who is in the industry that recommends I shoot for a Certification. I've learned about a few of the different kinds of entry level certs such as Network+, A+ and etc. From what I gather becoming a CCNA can get my foot in the door for some great positions. The only issue is the study material and overall cost of the exam. It's affordable but would it be a good investment? I'm not expecting the money to just fly in my wallet but if I landed a position netting me 35k or so a year I'd be satisfied until I have the opportunity to advance... It'd be really awesome to be at a position where I'm one of those lucky people that gets to work from inside their own home someday!
Insurance-
My co-worker is a part timer for my store. His full time job involves insurance sales for car dealerships. He's a representative for AllState and seems to make some really good money. I wouldn't mind taking my extensive sales background into something more profitable... although on the other hand I'm somewhat tired of sales. I've been thinking of getting my Life & Health/Property & Casualty. Maybe try to score a job somewhere as a insurance representative.
College-
Back to school has frequently been brought up for me. My issue is I've yet to actually get completely disciplined to it I've failed out of classes 3 times already. Right now I have the desire to learn more than ever but I'd rather get into a program that takes substantially less time. I don't want to put everything on hold for 4 years when I could be developing my working skills. I've been in touch with my local community college and tuition is around $105 per credit hour, which is awesome.. but I don't know if college is really the answer. I'd most likely be exploring business management and computer technology programs.
Somewhat of a long post but I'd appreciate any kind of insight I can get.
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Posts
Impress them enough at a temp position and you're in.
Haven't thought of that one. I feel very confident with my resume and interview skills and very rarely do I ever leave without a job offer. Would you mind elaborating a bit on what you do? How are your advancement opportunities?
In terms of white collar, the only thing you'll really get far in without a degree is Sales, as many include degree as a requirement even if it doesn't matter. As long as you're comfortable with living on a commission basis without your head exploding (mine would) and can make it work, the sky is the limit in terms of earnings.
Trueeee. I've had a few commission gigs and they weren't too bad. I was doing commission until I got the position I have now, I really liked the base pay and quarterly bonuses. I've considered taking a gander and vehicle sales and Real Estate. My family has quite a few generations of agents that have been rather well off without any sort of schooling.
My issue is I just don't really know where to look and what to look out for since all I know currently is retail sales.
Insurance is definitely an option, as well as IT services, IT hardware and the classics (cars, real estate). Probably better stuff out there in the technical sales/intricate stuff vs. cars or real estate, as it requires more expertise and there's less competition.
Any chance you can talk to these well-off agents for some advice?
Depends on the temp job you get. You're basically taking temp positions until you find a place that will hire you permanently that you want to stay at.
I've kind of teased the topic with my father but never actually committed to an actual full length conversation regarding the job demands and such. My grandmother was also a rather successful agent in California which is a very difficult market to get into. I know a little bit with my experience of working in his old firm and other ones. Definitely something I should touch base on. The process of becoming one isn't too difficult and costly I'd just have to study for about 1-2 weeks so I can pass the licensing exam. I guess what has always intimidated me was the fact its 100% commission based income. In my area the typical amount you can expect to collect from a sale is 2,500 - 3,000 per house, which is great for me since I'm paying 695 for a very high end apartment.
On the IT side a CCNA would probably get your foot in the door at most places I've ever worked. A previous Fortune 500 company I worked for didn't even require certifications or an Associates when I started at their Help Desk making around what you make now so it's possible to get into tech with just good people skills and work your way up from there.
If you're going to do IT I would find out what you like about IT. I personally can't stand networking but enjoy system administration and exchange administration and this lead me to get my MCSE which so far has gotten me pretty much any job I've wanted. If you prefer working with Databases or Networking there are different paths you can follow there as well.
Alternatively if you're programming focused there's a bunch of different languages that you can specialize in that would allow for good career advancement there as well.
I'd personally stray away from going too far down the Desktop side of things as my experience has shown a lot of companies trending towards outsourcing their desktop support and relying heavily on virtual environments and rented equipment.
I will say that most IT hiring managers I've worked with/for don't care as much about the certifications as they do about your work experience and technical knowledge during the interview. The certifications are usually just a way to get you past that initial HR screening. Something simple like A+ is cheap and may help in that regards, but probably has little value outside of that.
Also you don't even necessarily need a cert. I went straight into doing Helpdesk from being a phone monkey at a bank.
You sound like you already have the knowledge needed to succeed doing entry level helpdesk and desktop.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I enjoy troubleshooting hardware related issues. I like doing things with my hands honestly, maybe the reason I enjoy building and tinkering with PCs so much. I've also explored a bit of data-basing and Java for a private server I used to help run, I didn't mind it too much. I did take a Network+ course, I didn't particularly 'enjoy' it because the information was a bit difficult at times but I did pass with a 98%. I have a high tolerance for doing stuff I don't like honestly, haha.
Thanks for the insight.
Very nice. I've looked into Help Desk but never necessarily made the plunge because I thought I should get a cert first. Plus having something to study in my free time wouldn't be so bad.
http://www.verizon.com/about/work/jobs/search?q=fiber&v_location=&v_dist=50
I wouldn't recommend working on the wireless side of Verizon, those are deliberately non-union because the CEO hate unions.
The best thing for me about getting a job at Verizon was that even though I had a lack of real experience in IT aside from hobbyist, and even though my education wasn't the right education (I had a BA, no computer classes at all), I got the job because I passed the pre-employment tests.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
BUT you basically defined reason why most jobs require a college degree. It's not - only - because of what you learn, it's that you can stick with something for 4 years.
Yes it's lazy and doesn't really tell the company much about you, but that's the way it is. We hire sales reps right out of college for their energy and drive, not their knowledge. They're getting company cars, bonuses, and a lot of pressure to succeed; and HR uses a degree as the minimal proof that they can handle it. Some can't, but it's the easiest way.
Please don't take this as a dig on you. Just saying it's a bad system but it's the one most companies use.
It's possible to have a good career without a BS or Masters, but your will have to work harder and will definitely need a better story of why you didn't get one for interviews.
Also probably stay out of sales or real estate if you want free time
This is a good suggestion and a field I'm familiar with. If you have strong technical knowledge and can get certs, you could go into something like Sales Engineering. It can be stressful at times to make quota, but if you work hard and you're good with people you'll make insane sums of money.
I work on the wireless side of Verizon.
While the wireless side is almost completely non-union (though I think some of the retail locations in the NE do have some union representation), I've had an overall good experience working for them as far as pay/benefits/environment etc.
Granted, that experience got immensely better when I got out of a call center and made it to the Network side
Yeah, A+ helps you get past the HR filter and onto someone's desk. It's sort of a bare minimum indicator of how much you know.
If you've ever built your own computer, and fiddled with Windows settings, you're like 80% there. I did my refresher studying for it with a topic outline from the A+ site and wikipedia.
If you're good at sales and have good technical knowledge, you could also look at being a salesperson or client service/onboarding rep for a tech vendor or something.
The engineers and developers would probably love a rep who knows enough not to make ridiculous promises and can clearly translate between techspeak and userspeak.
As a bonus, a lot of times that means you get to travel, if that's your thing.
http://www.verizon.com/about/work/jobs/4462226-help-desk-support-technician--15
That's the exact job that got me out of retail.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
It's definitely harder without a degree, though.
Right after college, I actually made it to management at Harbor Freight in about five months, and managed to get into a track that had the least contact with customers but the most contact with corporate leadership, so I probably could have finagled a higher corporate job eventually if I never got my current career going. Somebody I went to high school with, however, went to PetSmart, and is still there, still a bottom level associate, and still making minimum wage after thirteen years (he did get a raise after ten years, but then state minimum wage went up higher than his raise and he effectively lost it), despite being a better worker in a worse position than I was, because the store gets all its new management candidates from WalMart's turnover instead of internal promotion and there's always a parade of unemployed to fill the bottom level positions as people get fed up and quit.