I pit every business in Fayetteville.

Ok, so now I’ve been looking for a job for 2 weeks. Gone to Sears, Wal-Mart, Harps, Harps, Family Dollar, a newspaper (delivery), Circuit City, and maybe a couple of other places, not to mention the people I’ve called and have been shot down b/c I’m only 17 or because they have an ad in TODAY’S paper for a position that’s already (somehow) been filled.

Bullshit that Sears pulled on me: I set up an interview, get there wearing slacks/tie/sports coat. Manager is wearing a T-shirt, but he dressed it up by tucking it into his jeans. Apparently, though, the manager that does interviews isn’t even there. Tells me he’ll call me. Bullshit, I think. I call them today, I interview Tuesday.

Newspaper: they’ve got a 4 inch high ad in the paper saying that they’re NOW HIRING NEWSPAPER DELIVERERS!!! So I apply, hear nothing in a couple of days, call back, put in a “call-back” application, wait a day, call General Manager, he tells me they’re not hiring for deliverers.

Harps: My best friend’s stepdad is a manager there. Guaranteed job? Apparently not. Apparently Harps looks into hiring new people every week, and the one that said they were hiring said they wouldn’t even get around to looking at my app until Monday (I called about it today.)

Dollar General: Follow up call. Apparently corporate does all of their hiring.
Circuit City: Ditto.

I haven’t just been resting on my laurels as far as this goes, either. Every day this week I’ve been on the phone with these people trying to figure out why I’m not employed for them.

And it’s not like I have the plague or rabies or leprosy or anything. I have a perfect record as far as jobs go… (Not including Sonic, which I’m not even listing) I graduated with High honors from HS, had outstanding performance for 3 years at McDonald’s, and I told them they can call to verify that. Why is it so ogdamned hard to get a job???

My general advice to anyone would be to be personable and pleasant during your interviews. Smile, cover your tattoos, take the rings out of your ears, comb the spikes out of your hair, and dress sharply. Learn enough about the company you’re visiting to ask intelligent questions and to explain why you’d be an asset. Don’t appear to be shopping yourself out to the first lucky person who gets to hire you. Listen attentively to the interviewer, maintain eye contact while speaking, and thank them when you leave with a gregarious and enthusiastic handshake. Immediately upon getting home, send them a simple, professional looking card of thanks.

Well, I haven’t had to worry about the interviews, as I havent been able to have one yet. And I’m not worried about my phone manners; they’re excellent. Despite the fact that I’m a smartass to everyone I know, I can be nice to strangers.

I hate to say this, but speaking from experience, your age and HS graduation are currently counting against you. I went through this as well once I’d graduated from college. I finally asked at one place why I couldn’t get hired; what was wrong with my resume, was it something I could fix, and the interviewer was nice enough to tell me that they really didn’t like to hire new-HS-graduates, because they’d train them for 3 months, get a decent worker out of them, and bang off to college. Then they’d have to start over again.

Good luck and I hope you find a job soon.

I read “Nickel and Dimed- On Not Getting By in America” recently, and one thing the author pointed out was that companies with high turnover rates (such as retail) often put ads in the paper even when they don’t need someone right then- they’ll then have plenty of opportunity to weed out the folks they want and have good applications on file when the time does come to hire. I thought that sounded kind of crappy, but there you have it.