Burned some brideges/made some serious mistakes in my job career. Now I'm changed and want back in

In My Humble Opinion
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I will start off by saying that I’m 24 and I have a 4 year college degree in Ag Science. I’ve gotten 2 duis, one last year and one in 2009.

I know what you are saying, first time an idiot then second time a bigger idiot. But I can finally say that is in my past. I’ve served my time, paid my fines, spent a month in inpatient and I don’t know how long in outpatient, followed by aftercare, both of which I paid for out of my own pocket in full because my insurance didn’t cover it.

Since they got me for my second, reality kicked me in the nuts and I decided it was time to get real, or I’d drink away my whole life. My dad did. I have not had a drink in 16 months. I’m a different person now.

When I first graduated college in 2009, with one dui under my belt, I took a job pertaining to my degree making good money, $45,500 a year. Because I was cultivating a severe drinking problem at the time, I was not able to perform my job functions and had to get out of there within months. I found a similar job, though much lower paying back closer to home. That was good for awhile. Ended up doing inpatient while I was there, only I didn’t feel it was time to quit so I picked up again slowly, but that never works so I was back to raging again within months. Got fired from that job for various reasons. I was not working in a professional setting, a large farmer with a seed dealership, and I was his seed man. When you work for a farmer, you can expect to get yelled at. I have no problem getting yelled at but not at a job I go to every day. “Get your fucking shit squared away” was not an uncommon phrase heard while I was at work. It’s also not the most advocating thing to hear either. Where is my work ethic when i’m hearing stuff like that? I got fired from there for various reasons.

I took a job nearby at a similar paying job, still not back into the 45-50 grand range I had been offered by the two outfits I interviewed with back in college. My drinking started up and took a turn for the worst then, and I got my second last summer. I started showing up late quite a bit and leaving early. I finally just walked off the job with a note on the boss’s desk.

Well I bummed for awhile, worked for some neighbors then did my own thing running my own farming operation. This was all with no driver’s license and wearing

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reported

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…a ballerina dress, and a Viking helmet…

ETA: oh, thanks a lot, FL.

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Reported for forum change.

Wearing what?

You say that you ran your own farming operation. How big was it? Is it still in operation? Did you ever make a profit?

Anyway, what about grad school? That could give you a “fresh start” and align you as a “just out of school” candidate. Maybe an MBA? That could put you into some type of position running farm operations (in combination with your undergrad).

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robert_columbia, you should have read the rest of hi

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Not your average drive by. Join date 2006.

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Aww, damn…sorry Nan. didn’t realize the fun we could have with this…

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Regardless of what the OP was wearing, this is better suited to MPSIMS than GQ.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

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Sorry guys, got away from the computer for awhile.

a SCRAM bracelet. This May came around and I got myself a real job. It’s a good job at a cheese factory and I’m making my way up the ranks, earning promotions and such quickly.

But I’m looking for more. A $30,000 a year job isn’t doing much for me when I could be earning at least $50 grand a year considering my experiences. It’s also not very mind stimulating. Something I’ve been wanting since I quit drinking.

I am now off probation, have a driver’s license and over six months of solid job experience at a place where they are more than impressed with me.

I’m talking to a lawyer now about getting my last dui suspended so that I would only have one on my record now from almost three years ago. This would be handy if I find a job where I need to have a company vehicle. In May I will be three years past the first dui and will be off high-risk insurance.

Unfortunately the job I have now has nothing to do with what I went to school for and nothing I’d want to find in a job, but it has held me accountable for over six months. I don’t have the best of references. I have burned some bridges with a couple jobs but do have experience with in my preferred line of work.

What more can I do to get me on track to getting what I’d call a “real” job? At work they ask me what I want to do and I tell them “make money” so they are moving me up the line as they think I’m a competent worker. But a dollar per hour raise doesn’t get me very far in paying bills.

I talk to recruiters/head hunters within my preferred job industry from time to time and they are always looking for me. Unfortunately I’ve burned some bridges with them too, so I only have a few I can work for.

Moving is not an option for me so I can’t just up and take off to a land of better opportunity.

Any advice? I’ve interviewed with some companies for good jobs and was completely honest and up-front with them about my past, that I am a capable person it’s just that I have had a troubled past, but it is in the past. Haven’t heard anything more from these jobs.

Anything else? Keep waiting and keep trying I suppose. Other than that, I don’t know.

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Thanks, Colibri, I was wondering where I should put this.

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Actually, since you’re looking for advice, it might be better in IMHO than MPSIMS. I’ll move it there.

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My operation is still in operation and it is my long term goal to be a full-time operation. But I’ve had two poor years and bills are getting hard to pay, one of the reasons I wanna start pounding the grindstone and find myself a higher paying job.

I am looking at the possibilities of an MBA or a masters in my Ag Degree and the options I’d have with both of them. Luckily I think my current job offers tuition reimbursement after a year’s employment, which is right around the corner, but I don’t know if they’d be interested in paying for what I wanna get a degree in. We will see though.

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Most employers only pay for courses that are related to the business. For instance, an engineering firm won’t finance somebody who wants a degree in art.

You’re young. Once you get a few more decades on you, you’ll realize that this moment, right now, is just a drop in the bucket.

That said, you’ve done a great bounce back from some stupid choices. EVERYBODY screws up. In fact, everybody screws up more than once, more than twice, even. What employers look at is how you RESPOND to screwing up. And right now, you show great promise. Keep making those difficult, but much healthier good choices.

You’ve got a job right now. Sounds like a pretty damned good job, too, with potential. I think your biggest problem with the present day job is the fact that it is NOT the terrific job you had two years ago. And that reality is filling you with regrets, and if you want to be honest with yourself, only THAT former job will make you happy.

Once you admit that is the problem, and you also admit that is just not possible right now, THEN you can look for happiness and fulfillment with what you have right this minute.

The grass is always greener, yadda yadda.

The economy is abysmal right now. Looking for any employment now is futile for many people. People with eons of experience, stacks of degrees, are working at jobs making much less than you are.

My advice? Stay right where you are, for maybe five years. Work your ass off, rise as high on the ladder as you can. Keep your nose clean, find joy in the work you do, and let the economy recover.

Quit beating yourself up for being stupid. Just use your past stupidity to keep you smart today, and tomorrow, and the next day. Don’t look back–at either your DUI nonsense, or the job you don’t have any more. If you keep facing backwards, you’ll completely miss out on what TODAY has to offer.
~VOW

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I think your expectations are a little unrealistic.

You’re 24. You’ve been out of college a whole 2 years. You’ve been fired from 2 jobs and walked out on a 3rd, and you’ve burned lots of bridges with those who would be in a position to help you now. Considering your track record, and considering you’re essentially fresh out of college, I’m not understanding the part about how you should be pulling down 50k because of your experience. Especially since the economy sucks right now anyway. 30k for a 24 year old kid is pretty damn good IMHO.

FWIW, most people end up in jobs unrelated to their degree.

It’s AWESOME that you’re sober now, congrats!

My advice would be to keep trying, but in the meantime bloom where you’re planted.

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Thanks. You are right about the most of that. I am not leaving this place until I find a suitable replacement in the form of a “dream job” I’ve deserved since I graduated college or something close to it. And I will work my ass off here. I told my best friend that when I started I bet I will get a promotion within 6 months. I was right. Now I told him that if I’m still here within another year I will be a supervisor, and I know I’m on track for that.

But the whole world always looks at me and says “you’re so smart and you have a degree, why are you wasting your time there?” I’m biding my time, truthfully. I don’t know how much a supervisor around here makes but I’m guessing between $40-45 grand considering what the pay scale is on the rest of the floor that they oversee.

The first time I went to in-patient rehab, everyone said it was my second chance. Wrong! I was not ready to stop drinking at the time so that 30 days in the hole meant nothing to me other than a waste of time. Now that I’ve done all the work to make myself better, I’m ready for a second chance at what I’d call a “real” job.

Every company needs someone with an MBA, I’m betting I can look into mine paying for me to get one. Then I can sit on my ass for 8 hours a day and save my energy for farming evenings, weekends, and days off until I can farm full-time. Put my bigger paychecks into more land and such.

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Fresh out of college within my industry means big opportunities considering the internships I had and the solid (part-time) work history I had at the time. I definately was offered a job for $50 grand and another for $45, which I took. I wasn’t fired or walked off from that job but my performance was lack luster. The next job I was fired from, then I walked off the third job.

My experience during college got me into some very high and mighty jobs, but the two years I’ve lived since then have taken me down a notch, but I still have that experience, plus a few lessons from the school of hard knocks, so I don’t see why I can’t at least get back into a gig like i was offered after college and take it on at full brain capacity.

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You sound like a smart enough kid but you really need to give up this idea that you are owed anything or deserve jack shit when you are in your current position. Once you realize that it may give you better perspective.

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Well what I’m trying to figure out is why since I earned such a high up gig immediately after college. Why can’t I do it again? Have two years of sloughing off wiped away having a four-year degree with a high gpa and good internships? If I was entitled to it before, then why am I not entitled to it again?

Are you saying I should start over?

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? You were never entitled to it to begin with. It sounds like you earned it the hard way then went thru a bad spell and are paying the price now. And multiple DUIs coupled with being fired/quitting jobs probably doesn’t qualify as sloughing off. Sloughing off is when kids ditch school too much and flunk classes as a result. You made real genuine adult mistakes that would impact any body in the long term. It sounds like you are doing well in your current job though and have your head screwed back on straight so keep it up.

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No offense, but are any of us on the same page? I was offered and took a job for $45,500 a year right out of college. Qualified by having an applicable four year degree and some experience via internships, and customer service experience/skills, which I had lots of.

This is the job I was offered for $50,000 a year, but I didn’t wanna go to North Dakota. I also would have gotten a work vehicle to take home, a company blackberry and laptop. Anything to be a proper sales/service man.

http://www.jobshq.com/search/page/details/job/220053

You mean you didn’t think I was entitled to anything like that despite the fact it was offered to me?

I’m sorry I’m just a little confused. I appreciate the discussion though.

Keep the ideas coming.