Fellow college students and adults of SF: I need advice

[Ronnie]

I hate not having a job. The most I ever did was a one-month office job for volunteer work (high school honors requirement) which I ended up getting paid for anyways and pet sitting. So at 21 years old my work experience and skills are jack and shit. It's hard to get a job when the application asks for my experience and I've got nothing lol. I never get calls back or emails or anything. Almost everyone my age has a job while also attending college. So I ask you fellow college students as well as other working adults, how in the blue hell do I build up experience and skills to land a job when everyone requires experience and skill?

[SullyMcGully]

I'd see if there are any internships you're interested in. A good internship can be as good as, or even better than, a college degree. 

My family had me doing a grown man's work when I was seven, so I don't have a lot of experience with not being experienced as a worker. I wish you the best of luck, though!

[Jedi]

Internships and there is always Job Corps which gave me credibility but took longer than I expected.

[Captain Karnage]

well I kinda lucked out, I ended up working for my dad at his buisness

advise, strech your words, like really strech them

have you applied at a McDonalds, if you write that you spent several years working at one on a future application it shows that you have a lot of patience and endurance. Right now I'm about finished with my Public Management degree and from what I've those who can work in fast food for several years are usually really hard workers

[eclipse]

Working in a fast-food restaurant/retail is gonna suck, but that's one way of getting on-the-job experience.  I don't know if you're still in college, but if so, check to see if there's any jobs there - and take advantage of any career centers there, since the issue might be how you're writing your resume.

[Rezzy]

53 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I hate not having a job. The most I ever did was a one-month office job for volunteer work (high school honors requirement) which I ended up getting paid for anyways and pet sitting. So at 21 years old my work experience and skills are jack and shit. It's hard to get a job when the application asks for my experience and I've got nothing lol. I never get calls back or emails or anything. Almost everyone my age has a job while also attending college. So I ask you fellow college students as well as other working adults, how in the blue hell do I build up experience and skills to land a job when everyone requires experience and skill?

 

3 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

well I kinda lucked out, I ended up working for my dad at his buisness

advise, strech your words, like really strech them

have you applied at a McDonalds, if you write that you spent several years working at one on a future application it shows that you have a lot of patience and endurance. Right now I'm about finished with my Public Management degree and from what I've those who can work in fast food for several years are usually really hard workers

Chiming in as a 31 year old with probably close to the most job experience of anybody on the site.  I'm also a "boss" who has employees, so I know what I want when hiring people.  A person who excels in the service industry will often do well as a medical assistant for instance.

I'm not totaling sure what Captain Karnage means by stretch your words, but the last paragraph about working at McDonald's or a fast food/retail store are good.  Entry level jobs there are a great way to get job experience.  Work hard there, and then you get the general sort of experience that can get you a foot in the door elsewhere.  When people list references, the only ones that really matter are former employers, since your friends are always going to say good stuff about you.

I worked at Steak n' Shake for 6 years, and the skills you learn at those sorts of jobs help a lot in pretty much any field.

[Ronnie]

Thanks for the advice so far everyone!

I checked out Job Corps and I'll see what happens from there. I'll check with my college's career department to see what they can assist me with. In the meantime I'll apply to every gamestop and fast food joint I can reach lol.

[Darros]

If you find yourself bogged down by classes and scheduling see if there's any positions available for marking. You're certainly too late for the fall term but prodding around for winter won't hurt. It's a great job. Not a ton of hours, but it comes with the benefit of being able to choose your own hours and balance the job with everything else rather than having to balance everything else around a job.

[Rukina]

Look around to see if you can find a job on campus.  This will make getting to work much easier and sometimes they have perks.

[NinjaMonkey]

You can always do voluntary work, which gives you someone you can put down on your CV as a reference, as well as giving you experience.

[MadJak91]

I was fiercely pursuing what I like: programming. Mostly coding for myself for years to build the EXP and also tutoring maths and stuff. I also had to start somewhere so random jobs had to do just for the cash during uni but I used every additional time to get better at what I actually wanted to do. Now I deal with robotics...

In the end, everything adds work experience and any time of management for example can get you somewhere later. I would not listen to people crapping on fast food workers and such. While there is some truth, it still gives you EXP and cash and right now you need to do SOMETHING.

Also, a backwaters country like mine is hard to compare to the US but I think the rules are similar: Study and study or constantly work on yourself. You can pick up a LOT on your own because a school can give you only so much before your future employer asks you: "Cool but what else?"

As others have mentioned, you need content on your CV. You are only 21, you still have time. I would not take any random "crappy" job but anything else is valuable EXP of some kind and it builds up over time. You just need to hop into doing something.

[Ansem]

What did you do your undergrad in if you don't mind me asking? 

[Ronnie]

9 minutes ago, libtard snowflake said:

What did you do your undergrad in if you don't mind me asking? 

Graduated with an AS in community college with math & science. Currently in a 4 year school studying computer science for a BS.

[Johann]

My undergraduate degree was in environmental studies and my first job after getting out was mostly surveying, despite not having any experience with it. There are a lot of entry level jobs for surveying or GPS work (gathering and/or correcting data), so consider giving that a check. It might not be what you intended, but it could help if you ever study GIS, and you'd likely be outdoors a good amount.

[carefreejules]

It really helps to network so you can meet and talk to different people. I'm fortunate enough to have gotten my first part-time job because my sister was working in the same place so she got me in. The job is also very social - to sum it up, I work at an Escape Game as an MC so I meet and talk to so many different kinds of people on a daily basis. It's a great way to improve your social skills and customer service. I also major in Graphic Design (going into 4th year but splitting it into two years), and since my current part-time job kind of aligns with what I'm studying in (Game Design, Graphic Design, etc), I've been able to get in touch with freelance job offers in my field, which is honestly such a blessing. 

So, networking has really helped me get to where I am. 

[Thor Odinson]

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Graduated with an AS in community college with math & science. Currently in a 4 year school studying computer science for a BS.

If you're in compsci I highly recommend getting a summer internship around breaks, and you can go for retail/fast food during the semester if the workload is not too bad. That internship experience is going to help a lot more in the tech industry, though. 

I work in tech and I've helped with the interview process at the places I've worked at and having internship experience definitely helps when you finish school and apply for entry level software dev. It makes employers more likely to consider you for an interview. It does help that--granted I don't know where you are, but around my area--software dev internships are paid, and pay really well at that.

[Strawman]

Can't give advice for your career specific stuff, but I was in the same boat where I initially did not work in college (or high school). Through friends and volunteering, I got a summer camp job that I  stayed with for 3 years through college, but post-graduation that was legitimately my only work experience. After school I had to settle for a part time customer service clerk position with very little requirements than being a friendly and somewhat competent human being. I wasn't making much money and definitely did not feel like I was doing much, but after a year I got promoted, then 3 months later got promoted again and now I'm full time and doing pretty well. So pretty much even if you have to find something simple or maybe not ideal, do your best at it, especially if you manage to find one that is at least somewhat related to what you want to do (in my case summer camp to children's museum). 

I didn't do any internships, but I wish I had because they definitely give you an advantage if you market them well. I'm happy with the position I have for now, but the person directly above me in the hierarchy as the same age is me, she just had much more experience from the 3 or so internships she did in school. 

Edited August 27, 2017 by Strawman