Consider getting rid of your car and just using public transportation if feasible. Insurance, gas, and repairs can take a big chunk out of your budget.
Drop your phone plan and get a prepaid phone. Get a google voice phone number and forward it to your prepaid phone. That way if you can’t afford your phone bill, the google voice number will still work and people can leave you text and voicemails.
Volunteer at places where you would like to get a job. For example, volunteer at the animal shelter and let them know you are looking for part-time work. If something opens up, they may consider you first.
You do have a job right now–looking for a job. You should be spending 8-10 hours a day trying to find work. If you can’t find anything in the job listings, walk around town and go into every shop asking if they are looking for any help. You may be able to pick up a few hours here and there.
Don’t give up. Don’t let your mental issues control you. They are making you feel things that aren’t true. You will do great at work and people will like having you there.
The thing to keep in mind about the fast food industry is that each store is run independently. The GM at one store might not want to hire people who are “over-qualified”, while another one might welcome hiring smart and qualified folks if you just explain you’re down on your luck. So if one of them won’t hire you, keep trying.
I am close to a few people who have worked for extended periods of time in fast food. None of them were incompetent idiots. You don’t have to have a college degree to work at these places (though the people I know all worked there AFTER they had done some college work, and one of them was a very intelligent college grad who unfortunately had her plans to go for a PhD derailed by life/family stuff, so she ended up just taking whatever job she could get). Yes, sometimes stupid folks do end up working at fast food places, but it would be a mistake to think that only stupid people work at these kinds of places.
I think the biggest thing is just that since a lot of times young people work at these places, they don’t take the job seriously. If you do take the job seriously you have the potential to advance quickly at these places. It’s not the greatest job in the world, but if you need some cash coming in, it’s not necessarily a bad option…especially since, as someone above pointed out, most of these restaurants will allow you to have an employee discount, if not free food.
Oh Hazle, I’m so sorry… We haven’t talked in a while, but you have been so sweet to me in the past and I had to de-lurk when I saw this.
This is good advice, but I’d say the “your job is looking for a job” needs to be tempered a bit. I can’t imagine being able to fruitfully look for work for more that 3-4 hours a day. It’s emotionally exhausting in a way that actual job-work never is, plus there’s an upper limit to how many jobs there are in a given market. Instead, I’d say try to spend at least 2 and up to 4 hours daily on “get a job” tasks, and another 3-5 on concrete “make my life better/preserve existing resources” type things. For example, going to the food bank and/or applying for food stamps is a time consuming yet valuable thing that can count toward your daily accomplishments. Also, if you’re putting in resumes and calling potential employers 8 hours a day, when are you supposed to volunteer?
If you haven’t already, you might take a stroll back through Broomstick’s threads from her journey through unemployment. A lot of really interesting and potentially useful stuff there, as I recall.
Finally, this is your life. It’s a sucky time in your life though, and you’re not a bad person or a waste-oid or any of that. You are still you, and you will live through this and come out the other side.
Unemployment works differently in the States. It’s an employer insurance plan and it only pays if you are laid off. If you’re fired for cause, or leave on your own, you don’t get any. Plus, it only lasts a year and a half or so at most so I assume the OP is past the cut-off by this time, if she were even eligible in the first place (which I don’t think she was, but that’s just a gut feeling).
Dude, have you ever applied for a shit job while having a degree and stable work history? I have, and they won’t hire you. They’ll either tell you you’re overqualified or they won’t even bother. I ended up having to remove my degree from my resume and dumbing down my experience to get a call back for a part-time assistant job. You can’t just apply to work at McDonald’s or wherever to make some cash while looking for more viable work.
As I said, it was just a gut feeling I inferred based on her description of depression/anxiety making it hard for her to work, and also the fact that at some point in the last two years, I’m sure someone somewhere encouraged her to look into unemployment.
I’ve been there too. She has access to a computer and time to post here. Are you suggesting that altering her resume would be too much trouble?
I’m sorry but if I was in the OP shoes, I’d take almost any job to get back on my feet. Reading her response tempered my desire for offering advise. I will second taskrabbit, however.
Do a less is more resume to get yourself a job to sustain yourself. You don’t need to tell anyone about this job later in your life unless you need security clearance. A simple times were tough and I needed work will suffice. Don’t submit the resume in an anon way, walk in the door and talk to anyone you can, even if it is only the receptionist. Maybe stand outside and talk to a couple of smokers on breaks and get the skinny on who needs a what and where. I can’t tell you how many people I know who got jobs this way. I hired our newest receptionist after the last one quit without notice, and the next day a well-spoken girl showed up asking if we needed any help; filing, phones, typing. She had a job 15 minutes later.
It’s a lot of rejection to your face (which can be tough), but it is also the perfect way to be in the right place at the right time. Receptionist quit yesterday? I’m right here! No agency fee! You try me for a day, you like me, you keep me. If not, no hard feelings. No lengthy hiring process. You would be amazed at what you can talk yourself into with the right presentation and attitude. You have to think on your feet. Be a New Yorker on the inside.
Starting at the bottom is ok because the really good ones rise up quickly. A paycheck will take some of the pressure off and you will be able to breathe.
In the meantime, you need to apply for food stamps. Taking care of your basic health and well being is of paramount importance at this time. You cannot let yourself go. You are your most precious resource and you have to love yourself and treat yourself well, even when it doesn’t seem as if the rest of the world is. The way you care for yourself sets the bar for the way others treat you.
You have the ability to claw your way back up from this Hazel, you really do. It’s going to take a different mindset than you are used to, and a different approach than the one you normally take, but you can get it done.
UPS always needs package handlers. It’s part-time most likely, but it’s enough to get you on steady financial ground while you look for something more to your liking.
Do you know the area well? Look up jobs as a courier. No experience necessary, and these places are also always hiring; you just drive around, pick up packages and drop them off. What with the price of gas these days the profit margin can be slim as you generally get paid on a per-delivery basis, but it’s something.
If not, call the United Way. Get yourself into the system and into someone who can prescribe. SSRIs keep me functional. Functional means I can hold a job and pass myself off as a normal contributing human being. While in the system, start finding out what sort of job aid and food aid programs exist.
my best advice is to offer to clean homes for minimum wage. I did this and soon had more people wanting me to clean than I had time. you can often schedule it for when you want to still keep looking for other work. clean houses, yard work, anything else you can think of to hire out for.
Working for a food place is good too, I delivered pizza and we got a discount on our meals, free pizza occasionally, and tips, cash in my pocket at the end of every shift. not all food places do you get tips but it can be a relief to get that cash.
make sure you let all of your friends know you are looking for work for cash and looking for a job. (network, network)
I really liked Indeed.com when I was looking for work as it pulls from a lot of different sources and compiles the job listings.
Last make sure you are helping your friend who is letting you crash for free in anyway you can. Clean the house, cook the meals, etc.
And based on some of her posts over the past few months, she has time to watch a ton of TV & movies. So lack of time isn’t an issue. She also has money for cigarettes, so I’m wondering how penniless she really is.