How are people supposed to get jobs?

[Merkuri]

It was like trying to wrestle an unconscious fat chick into a dumpster.

WAHAHAHAHA

I used to have to throw out the old stale donuts at the end of the night during one of my summer jobs in college. I know exactly what you mean.

But back on topic, like other posters have said, don't write down that you have two degrees on an application to deliver pizzas. It's not lying, it's just leaving out information you don't think they need to know.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I don't see your degree choices as unfocused at all; poli sci and history seem to go together pretty well, and a law degree on top of that makes a lot of sense.

I agree with Wulf - delivering pizzas is a pretty good college level job; I did that job for a while in college and it was generally speaking the best part time gig I had, apart from my time as a DJ. Pay is decent (tips help) and you might get to take home free pizza at the end of the day. If your goal is getting into law school, you're not looking for a "career" kind of job right now, so I'm not sure how Monster would help.

What kind of hours are you looking to work? How far off is law school? I'd keep shooting for temp work; I'm not sure if letting them know you're still going to school and looking for more temporary work than most will help or hurt.

What's the job market like where you're at in general? Meaning, the overall market as opposed to from your POV? I'd imagine right now folks might be holding off on hiring until the economic news starts trending up again.

 

[Megaton]

I got both of my jobs through the internet, though I would recommend talking to people you know and then branching out from there to see where you might be able to apply. The internet can be discouraging because there are so many other applicants, and most of the time you'll send out your resume and cover letter and not hear back.

 

[Grog]

Deliver pizzas.

Not a bad suggestion. You can make a surprising amount of money doing this.

One down side, though - depending on where you live, it can be very hard on your car. I knew a guy who put almost 50,000 miles on his car in less than a year delivering pizzas.

But yeah, if your car can take it, it's not bad money.

 

[Glyfair]

Yeah, I get the distinct feeling that many of those electronic applications go absolutely nowhere.

Back when I was an assistant manager at a large video chain they started using one of these. When someone filled out an application we would get back the information within a few minutes. There would be a rating based on how you answered the questionnaire. The rating wasn't detailed, basically it was excellent, flawed or no way. Needless to say we never looked at the bottom rating and only took the top candidates of the middle rating.

Also, we certainly weren't looking for people that would be unlikely to last. In retail it's pretty common to hire someone, get them trained where they are comfortable and then have them leave. It's pretty much a waste of time and effort and companies today are much more wary of hiring those who are almost certain to be looking for a way out as soon as they are hired.

In fact, when the place where I was working last year was shutdown by the parent company, a large number of people were hired by another company in the area (I believe somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the people there now came from where I worked). They were looking for experienced people with a good work ethic who weren't going to leave after they were trained and comfortable with their position.

 

[Glyfair]

FWIW, the last time I saw stats on this, less than a third of professional programmers in the US had a degree in computer science (or a closely related field). I do, but the other programmer in my office doesn't.

That may be a factor of changing times, though. I have a friend who got a job at Microprose years ago with his political science degree, and turned that job into jobs for a lot of companies (including Hasbro). However, I'm not sure it's that easy today.

I know at that time you could start at the bottom of a retail company and find you way to eventually running a store. When I was looking for a job a few years ago I was outright told by a retail manager that the only way you can have any promotion opportunities now in retail is to have a business degree.

One down side, though - depending on where you live, it can be very hard on your car. I knew a guy who put almost 50,000 miles on his car in less than a year delivering pizzas.

But yeah, if your car can take it, it's not bad money.

I used to do this. The trick is to find an old reliable car, but one with a lot of miles.

A couple of years after I stopped delivering pizzas, I got into the car of a friend who was still delivering. He had several paychecks sitting in his car. When asked about it he said he deposited them when he got around to it. He paid his rent, utilities and general expenses with his tips.

Until then ideally I'd like to work as a legal secretary since I've received a lot of advice from attorneys that the best thing you can do to be a good lawyer is to work in a law office for a while first to learn the practical side of the practice of law they don't teach in law school.

And this is the networking bit. You already know these attorneys, use them. They were willing to give you advice, they are likely to help you get a job. Find out if they know of any openings where they work and if they will help you get a job. If not, have them keep their ears open for an opening that is right for you.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Catch 22, I'm overqualified for every job out there I can apply for, and unqualified for all the jobs I want. I can't find any jobs I'm actually at the proper level of qualification for.

Yep.

After undergrad (biochemistry) I was looking for a job. Not a career, just a job. I didn't realize it at the time, but all of the serious places I interviewed for (labs, hospitals, etc) could see right through me. They all knew I wasn't interested in spending five or ten years in a place... only long enough to figure out what to do. That's why I didn't get serious job offers. After a couple months of utter failure, and honestly, my girlfriend at the time dumping me for not having my stuff together, I went and took the first job I could get. Luckily, that was retail (selling electronics at Sears).

I'll echo Wulf's statement - it's all well and good that you want a job related to your field of interest. Chances are you won't find it, because they're all looking for people who want careers.

Now, how did I end up with a job?

My recommendation is to hit some of the job fairs. Other people have mentioned getting wind of jobs before others. That's how I did it - I happened to be at a medical job fair, and not even expecting anything to come of it, I asked about their lab. She took my resume, and about a month or two later I got a call to come in.

Shifting gears a bit... I don't know what your financial situation is. However, have you looked into applying for scholarships and grants, or for that matter being a TA? All of those can help to offset the cost of law (or any post-BS) school. My experience in applying to graduate school, which may not be typical or applicable, is that if you get accepted, often they'll try to help you out monetarily. Also, while student loans suck, if you really want to go to law school perhaps you should look into that as well. If there are financial burdens, that usually helps you get federal aid.

 

[ssampier]

double-double post

 

[ssampier]

Back when I was an assistant manager at a large video chain they started using one of these. When someone filled out an application we would get back the information within a few minutes. There would be a rating based on how you answered the questionnaire. The rating wasn't detailed, basically it was excellent, flawed or no way. Needless to say we never looked at the bottom rating and only took the top candidates of the middle rating.

Interesting. I know Walmart and Blockbuster used these. I thought the questions were pretty obvious what they wanted, "It's okay if I steal from the store." I marked Definitely do not agree.

Of course now I work for education as a IT person so I don't have to worry about that (at least for now).

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

How are people supposed to get jobs?

They aren't. They're supposed to be held off as long as possible until they go into ruinous debt and are forced to become an indentured debt-servant who spends the rest of their life paying off a bill it's impossible to pay off and was specifically created to be so.