Getting a job "back in the day"

[Deleted]

This being an example of when it makes sense not to seek low wage employment.

Those benifits do not apply to all situations however. Nor are they permanent. In my case i worked for a company that closed it's doors. I immediately got a job for a different company doing the exact same thing. That other company was really shifty and I didn't feel comfortable working there. So I quit...without notice. With no regrets. So to get something to keep money coming in I delivered pizzas. With plenty of time to look for other avenues of employment.

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This being an example of when it makes sense not to seek low wage employment.

Those benifits do not apply to all situations however. Nor are they permanent. In my case i worked for a company that closed it's doors. I immediately got a job for a different company doing the exact same thing. That other company was really shifty and I didn't feel comfortable working there. So I quit...without notice. With no regrets. So to get something to keep money coming in I delivered pizzas. With plenty of time to look for other avenues of employment.

My point is if you have ZERO income, shitty income is still better than nothing, and in no way bars you from continuing to search for employment elsewhere.

Yes and no. I feel like unemployment benefits are there for a reason, and if you lose your £100k per year job you are totally within your rights to sit on benefits for a few months because you don't want to stock shelves. That's why the dole exists, it's why we have contributions based unemployment benefits. But that only goes so far right. Eventually, after many months searching you still can't find anything you feel you are approriate for, then you need to lower your expectations, that might not mean going into delivering pizza if you were on £100k beforehand, but it might mean taking a £50-70k OTE sales job or something that you aren't too fond of.

Like, for me, I've been at the company I'm working at for years now, and they've been really good to me. I don't really have any relevant qualifications (still studying for my AAT) but because i've worked my way up and taken on more and more stuff, I'm earning £20k. If I were to leave or lose this job, I would not find another job earning 20k, because my salary is artificially inflated here because of length of service. I could probably jump into an £18k credit control job though I'd struggle a bit with it. I could hold out for a £20k job but I'd probably not have much luck and eventually have to lower my expectations. If I then couldn't get an £18k credit control job, or just some random 15-16k accounts assistant thing, I'd have to look into stocking shelves and delivering pizza and so on, too. I wouldn't jump straight into delivering pizza because fuck that, but if after a few months I couldn't find anything, I would have to.

That's not to say there is anything wrong with the job market, just that sometimes experience alone doesn't cut it. Sometimes it does and etcetc but...

[poser765]

Yes and no. I feel like unemployment benefits are there for a reason, and if you lose your £100k per year job you are totally within your rights to sit on benefits for a few months because you don't want to stock shelves. That's why the dole exists, it's why we have contributions based unemployment benefits. But that only goes so far right. Eventually, after many months searching you still can't find anything you feel you are approriate for, then you need to lower your expectations, that might not mean going into delivering pizza if you were on £100k beforehand, but it might mean taking a £50-70k OTE sales job or something that you aren't too fond of.

That's like literally what I am trying to say. If you CAN get unemployment, then obviously, you should do it! However unemployment is not universal nor does it apply to everyone in every situation. If you CAN'T get unemployment THEN any job is better than no job in the short term.

[Nihilan]

Was it really that easy and why parents think you're not trying hard enough if you don't? In my experience it's just a lot of luck unless you have a friend already working there which makes it a bit easier. You just have to hope someone just quit and you're the first person by pure luck to say you need a job.

Whenever I decide to get a new job after coming back from school on holidays they expect me to have one within a week and are disappointed if I don't. I will take a few days to just drive around to places following up or if they don't do online applications, do it there. Can anyone actually tell me if it really was easier back in the day?

It is largely dependent on location. In major cities, for example, there will always be jobs to be had. It just comes down to how hard you are willing to look and how far you are willing to lower your standards and expectations. Of course economic factors will also matter, though it will never be as big a factor as some claim. Many use "a bad economy" as a catch all excuse for why they cant find a job, or a better paying job, when in fact they are just lazy, unqualified, or just flat out undesirable (idiot hair style/color, obvious tats, facial piercings, shitty attitude, etc).

Also to consider, is that when your parents were growing up, the internet and "online" were not things that were widely known to the civilian public. You actually had to get out and do the legwork to find a job - reading the classified section of the paper, walking or driving around down town looking for Help Wanted signs, it isn't like modern times when you sit in your house and browse for work.

Plus, every generation thinks that the generations that follow them are lazy and incompetent. That's just an unavoidable part of getting older and more cynical.

My advice is to broaden your search and keep at it. Perhaps even go to a temp agency and apply. They are paid by prospective employers to find people to fill staffing vacancies. A temp agency will not cost you anything out of pocket as they get paid a headhunting fee by whomever hires you. There are also online job-finding sites like Monster.com. Throw your net wide.

[Wildtree]

country, city whatever.......

I could write a long winded answer now too. But essentially this one sentence is the essence of it:
if you wanna know, then dig up your regions stats for inflation rate and unemployment. There's your answer.

[Felya]

You didn't have internet back in the day, so you had to physically go to places to submit resumes. That's why it seems like that now a day you put in less effort.

[Pachycrocuta]

Prior to 2008, it was fairly easy for me to get a job in this little town. There wasn't a year I didn't have a job, and the most I ever went unemployed was 5 months. Now, I can't even get hired on at McDonalds. Most of the places around here will hire a female without a problem, and those under 25 a lot easier. I am neither of those. Now I have been unemployed for over 5 years. And that will make it even harder for me to get a job when a potential employer sees that. That, and no longer having any references that aren't my parents...

So yeah, for me at least, "back in the day" it was easier for me to obtain employment.

[poser765]

Prior to 2008, it was fairly easy for me to get a job in this little town. There wasn't a year I didn't have a job, and the most I ever went unemployed was 5 months. Now, I can't even get hired on at McDonalds. Most of the places around here will hire a female without a problem, and those under 25 a lot easier. I am neither of those. Now I have been unemployed for over 5 years. And that will make it even harder for me to get a job when a potential employer sees that. That, and no longer having any references that aren't my parents...

So yeah, for me at least, "back in the day" it was easier for me to obtain employment.

So you have been unemployed for 5 YEARS because of discrimination?

[worprz]

jobs are fairly easy to land, it's just that people have these long list of places they're allegedly too good to work at.

The difference between a fry cook and a job seeker, ones making money, one's burning gas.

This is the best answer, every job I have had was one I didn't want to do lol. Where as my friends and even some older people I know are complaining the job market sucks when they are only applying to places they really want to work. Also since nobody wants to do those jobs you will get hired almost instantly (at least with my experience).

It's also easier to find a new job when you already have a job. I applied for a job earlier this year that I really wanted and they turned me down. I have a pretty good job now and when I applied for the second time they wanted to hire me right away. I ended turning them down though since they had way less pay and hours.

[Pitkanen]

It's harder to get a good job, assuming you have the same standards (inflation adjusted) as 10 years ago. Because there are fewer jobs that are better than retail, and wages dropped for the vast majority of them.

Depending on your training/field/potential income level, taking a fry cook job could actually hurt your future employment (low balled future wages, resume appearance, less time spent seeking opportunities in your field). There is no blanket "any employment is better than none". The rule is "does it help you?".

[Independent voter]

I would go to the oil boom in Texas, Oklahoma or the Dakotas or where ever else it's going on. You can make a ton of money.

[Gemini Soul]

Back in the day all you had to do was ask for a job and you could get one, now when you apply...

They give you a personality profile test, some places run credit checks, background checks, drug tests, have to pass their customer service tests, etc. Don't ever mark that you can only work certain days or times, or are unwilling to travel to another location, cause if they see that they just skip your app most of the time.

Something that always bothered me was how people with jobs say how easy it is to find one, but they sure shut up when you ask them to help you land one then to prove their point.

[Deleted]

Back in the day all you had to do was ask for a job and you could get one, now when you apply...

They give you a personality profile test, some places run credit checks, background checks, drug tests, have to pass their customer service tests, etc. Don't ever mark that you can only work certain days or times, or are unwilling to travel to another location, cause if they see that they just skip your app most of the time.

Something that always bothered me was how people with jobs say how easy it is to find one, but they sure shut up when you ask them to help you land one then to prove their point.

Well, the company I work for's sole job is to help people land jobs. I cant' speak for America, but here at least it's not as difficult as a lot of young people make out (though as I said earlier, not as easy as old people make out either).

[Bonchez]

Back in the day all you had to do was ask for a job and you could get one, now when you apply...

They give you a personality profile test, some places run credit checks, background checks, drug tests, have to pass their customer service tests, etc. Don't ever mark that you can only work certain days or times, or are unwilling to travel to another location, cause if they see that they just skip your app most of the time.

Something that always bothered me was how people with jobs say how easy it is to find one, but they sure shut up when you ask them to help you land one then to prove their point.

Boy is that ever true. The first time I applied for a job online was at Best Buy and like 30-40 minutes of the application was personality type questions, it's a damn retail job not a law enforcement one.

Many jobs, even simple ones often times have many hoops to jump through to land. An example of this is my sister wanted to get hired at Sears department store. She had to take part in like 4 or 5 interviews with different department heads just to get a job at freaking Sears. She was able to get to the interview stage because she knew someone who already worked there that referred her.

[Elegiac]

"Back in my day" invariably precedes a baby boomer about to deliver a statement of gross hypocrisy.

[TZK203]

What I love about a lot of today's job requirements is that they want "experience." Well, no shit Sherlock, but if you want experience, you'd need people to actually have a job that can fulfill those requirements, because otherwise, unless they are a prodigy, they can't gain any experience for the job.

[Reeve]

What I love about a lot of today's job requirements is that they want "experience." Well, no shit Sherlock, but if you want experience, you'd need people to actually have a job that can fulfill those requirements, because otherwise, unless they are a prodigy, they can't gain any experience for the job.

I think some of that is an HR thing. I'm trying to hire someone right now. I don't think they necessarily need to have finished their college degree, and they don't really need experience if I think they're smart enough that I can train them up. But HR wanted a job description for the person that would work for the position in general regardless of the momentary need, and wanted me to have a college degree requirement as well as years of work experience. I put 0-3 years experience down, but since HR writes a lot of these and don't know the answer, I bet they just throw 5 years on all the time. Internally, we constantly ignore those experience requirements when filling positions.

[Elegiac]

I think some of that is an HR thing. I'm trying to hire someone right now. I don't think they necessarily need to have finished their college degree, and they don't really need experience if I think they're smart enough that I can train them up. But HR wanted a job description for the person that would work for the position in general regardless of the momentary need, and wanted me to have a college degree requirement as well as years of work experience. I put 0-3 years experience down, but since HR writes a lot of these and don't know the answer, I bet they just throw 5 years on all the time. Internally, we constantly ignore those experience requirements when filling positions.

True. Most recruiters are extraordinarily lazy.

[Zvinny]

I grew up in Detroit, and got my first job making pizzas at 16. I worked there for a year until I got a job at another kitchen called Texas Roadhouse, and worked there until I was 19, when I get a job at Toys R Us's shipping and receiving company.

That was a great job. Every six months I got a 50c raise until I was at 14 an hour, I didn't have to go to the gym anymore since it was a physically intense job, and the hours supported everything I wanted to do being 3am - 11am. The night manager made it great too, since he didn't care if we showed up buzzed or anything from the night before as long as we could work safely.

Then 2008 happened. People stopped buying toys almost overnight, and suddenly I was out of a job. I couldn't find a job anywhere, and I applied everywhere. Fry cook, delivery guy, even a few temp agencies. It seemed the only programs that could give you a decent wage job were reserved for black people through the community centers and parolees through the temp agencies.

Eventually I said screw it, and enlisted in the Navy as they were expanding the special forces. I figured I was in shape and decently intelligent, I should try out for a SEAL. I made it through their special bootcamp programs, but washed out later in training. Thankfully I got picked up for an intel rate, and got stationed with special programs anyways. If it wasn't for the Navy though, I have no idea where I'd be. I was already on my last couple of dollars when I shipped for boot camp, so I guess I'd either be couch surfing or on the street.

Long story short, no one is too good for the military. Give it a shot if you really need something, because they take care of their own.

[poser765]

I think some of that is an HR thing. I'm trying to hire someone right now. I don't think they necessarily need to have finished their college degree, and they don't really need experience if I think they're smart enough that I can train them up. But HR wanted a job description for the person that would work for the position in general regardless of the momentary need, and wanted me to have a college degree requirement as well as years of work experience. I put 0-3 years experience down, but since HR writes a lot of these and don't know the answer, I bet they just throw 5 years on all the time. Internally, we constantly ignore those experience requirements when filling positions.

Also, I see far more job postings for entry level work that offer options. Either experience or education commiserate with experience. Where are all these entry level jobs that no one qualifies for that people often bitch about?

[Alvito]

True, sort of. The reason people have standards is because otherwise you get stuck doing something with no advancement. I'd rather be unemployed for 2 months and then find a good job with room for promotion and good pay over going out and getting hired as a fry cook in a week. A little while of unemployment is a lot better than getting stuck at a dead end job because you settled for something you don't want.

As for the original question, depends what type of job you're looking for and your education. But I don't think it's particularly hard to find a job currently, to be honest.

It isn't a choice of either or though. You can take a job and still look for another job. This isn't Divergent where once you pick a path you are stuck with it for life. If nothing else use the dislike for your current job to motivate you to find a better one, while you enjoy the small things it gives you like a home and food to eat.