Hi I have been looking for work now for 1.5 years my resume has been checked like 20 times by various people it is good and I have good interview skills.
Problem is whenever I apply to a job requiring a bachelor’s degree there are always 10 to 50+ people applying for the same job and one or two positions available.
I can’t get an interview with any normal job (burger king, Wal-Mart, target) because I have e a bachelor’s degree in fact I have applied to many of these places numerous times. I have applied to over 3,000 jobs the last year and a half.
Reason I am good at interviews is I have been doing sales the last ten years – I hate sales (door to door) but they are the only people that will hire me. I am now at the point where I would rather die or be homeless than ever do a sales job again. So I know how to speak I have made it to the final 5 people more times than I can even count several times I was the last 3 to 5 people and out of those people the only one without job related experience. I always make it past the first two rounds.
I have called back to many places to find out why I did not get hired here are some that make upset.
1. I had a 4.0 average in college to some I guess that means I am over ambitious and socially inept. Wrong!!! I helped many people get through college I was one of the most popular people on campus everyone knew me. I got a 4.0 simply because I am smart it was that difficult for me and to get any other GPA simply would have been no challenge and I may have got bored.
2. I am 34 years old some people don’t like people older working for them.
3. Some thought they were doing me a favor thinking I could get a better job. Sorry I can’t I’ve been looking now for 1.5 years.
4. A problem with burger king type jobs etc. They think because I have a bachelor’s degree I am going to quit like I have better things to do. Wrong Wrong Wrong! Burger king Wal-Mart etc plenty of turnover and chances to advance in position. Additionally, I never want to look for work again I will stay wherever I land. I have talked to many assistant managers and managers at these places most of them got those positions within 6 months to 2 years I’d be absolutely fine with that even if it took longer. Look up stuff people the median rate of people quiting at McDonald’s etc. is within the first 6 months. There worried about someone with a degree quiting, but what would be the difference lol most people quit degree or not what is the difference?
5. My bachelor’s degree gets my application thrown in the trash instantly by many low end jobs. The funny thing is starting jobs for people with bachelor’s degrees now a days don’t even pay much more. In all honesty I’d rather work at target as a cashier for 8.20 per hour than a data entry person for 9.00 and hour stuck at a desk all day. The highest paying job for a bachelor’s degree that I had an interview with was for 11.40 an hour I could get that in 6 months to 2 years after a promotion anywhere and like I said I would rather be walking around stocking things and helping people all day then sitting in a desk.
6. People hire people they know and relatives and such. If they know who they are going to hire why did they waste 49 other people’s time with interviews?
7. I apply for a certain position I go in for the interview and they offer me a sales position I did not apply for this happens often. I have only done sales to stop being homeless or to pay rent so I would not be homeless. I do not like sales.
8. Of course not enough experience. I’m sorry it does not take long to learn how to use a cash register or wait tables like a day screw off seriously.
I can’t even think of anywhere else to apply to I have literally applied to almost every job in my city population 800,000 It’s a big city.
The worst thing about not being able to get a job is how people treat you like you are stupid or inept. When you say your applying everyday they seem to think they know you must be lying. You must suck at talking (interviews) which I do not. I’ve even went to interview practice at work help places. It’s so funny what they say “good job” do that at your next interview and I can’t even seem to convince them that that is exactly what I have been doing at all my interviews sigh. There are many people out there in the exact same situation I am in. I wish I never went to college or at least went for nursing or something I could have got a job with.
It’s not your degree that’s working against you, it’s your attitude. I’m an employer myself and I couldn’t give a rat’s petootie what degrees someone has. What your explanation really sounds like is cloaked conceit. To be blunt, you don’t sound like a formally educated person in the slightest. I’d place you at about an average junior high school level.
Your #8 is alarming. Not enough experience does matter to an employer, no matter what the position is. It sounds like you think menial jobs are beneath you, yet that’s what you claim to want. Your attitude could be really turning them off. No job being offered is insignificant to an owner, no matter how it might appear to anyone outside.
It does take time to learn how wait tables and use a cash register; how would you know if you’ve never done those jobs? There’s a lot more to it than you express. You have to know how to deal with the public, you need accuracy, and you need to be able to accept direction. Your co-workers and managers have to be able to count on you and not walk on eggshells because you’re too good for them. If you’ve been working primarily by yourself in door-to-door sales, you probably lack experience working as part of a team. So, someone who is hiring for a store or a restaurant may see that as a potential red flag.
Don’t tell anyone your GPA. It’s irrelevant and makes you sound pretentious or like you took all easy classes. If you really were that smart, you would have no problem getting hired or starting your own business. Obviously your grades didn’t help. You don’t sound overly ambitious by having excelled in academics; it sounds like you ignored other learning opportunities (like part-time work in a relevant field, internships, field studies related to your major) to focus on memorizing data and spitting it back up to do well on tests.
If you truly think your bachelor’s degree is costing you jobs, stop putting it on your application. I guarantee none of these jobs require it anyway. But I think it’s more likely that you project a demeanor of lowering yourself and acting like you’re doing them a favor by accepting such low-level work.
Also, your run-on sentences need work. Learn to use semi-colons or just more periods so your writing flows better. Watch your spelling and capitalizing, too. I would not hire someone who writes the way you do.
If all else fails, when you interview, emphasize that you will accept ANY AND ALL shifts and that they can count on you. They might struggle with filling the graveyard shift or the evening shift on a weekend night when the other staff always want that night for dates. That will give you an edge.
Good luck. I’ve been on both sides of the hiring spectrum and being an employer means having the pick of the litter. There are more of you than there are of me.
Note to Craigslist Advice readers: This is a special case. The writer took the time to prove me right about his/her shortcomings by bickering with my suggestions in repeated letters. Behold the true reason the loser can’t get ahead:
Thank you for answering but you are way of base about me.
No sorry my degree is stopping me from getting many jobs. I do not think jobs are beneath me that’s something you assumed and you are wrong.
You could not give a rat’s petootie what degrees someone has, lol. In all honesty I wish more people didn’t.
I never said or act like menial jobs are beneath me and don’t act like that in an interview I would happy to work at Wal-Mart
Anyone that has ever met me says I have a great attitude people like me and I get along with everyone. In fact, at every place I have ever worked I am that one odd guy that seems to get along with everyone.
I have plenty of team experience I prefer to work with people as many as possible.
I don’t tell people about my GPA I don’t brag about it either but if they ask I tell them honestly.
Eggshells? Don’t assume you know me I am about the easiest person to get along with. Management almost always comes to me first because I am one of the most willing people to do anything and am extremely easy to talk too I like doing extra things.
Lol don’t tell them I have been to college? I don’t recall many applications that did not require you to put down your education I am not going to lie.
You assumed way too much and completely missed the point of my whole message. People hear you can’t get work and you don’t even have to say a thing they assume your lazy, unsocial and all of the above. Everyone assumes the worst no actually helps they just imagine flaws you may have, but I simply have bad luck.
I ended up in a suicide place because of this yes I wanted to die I was tired I still do. It did help even though I never thought it would. Almost half of the people in there had the exact same problem I did. It is a problem it does exist there are just too many people running around with degrees. Why did it help? These people knew what I was going through you do not have a clue. They knew what it was like to apply for jobs everyday go to interviews I believed what they said and did assume there was something wrong with them because like them I know you can be a well-adjusted respectful person with no real significant problems look for work and simply not find any.
Pretending I would be alright working at McDonald’s haha I would be completely alright with that. Almost every manager I asked at McDonald’s or Wal-Mart got promoted to their position within 6 months to 2 year. If I ever made 10 to 12 dollars an hour I would be set I’ve been living on plasma donations and can recycling most of my adult life.
Are you kidding? I’m quoting you directly:
“I’m sorry it does not take long to learn how to use a cash register or wait tables like a day screw off seriously”.
That’s not a bad attitude? If you’ve never worked those jobs, how would you know how long it takes? I wouldn’t hire you if you were the last applicant on Earth. You say that you don’t think menial jobs are beneath you, but you express otherwise in your question. Do you really think employers don’t pick up on that? They have to learn to prejudge character so they don’t waste a lot of time on bad hires. I’m afraid you are your own worst enemy here.