So, how do I get another job ?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Working 8 hours today after working a 50 hour week reminded me just how much I hate my current job.

I’ve heard from people I know and seen people on the board write that if you don’t like your current job, just get a new one. Apparently it’s just that easy, but I must be to slow to figure it out. So here’s what I’ll do, I’ll list what I see as my obstacles, and you can tell me the obvious solution for getting another job that I’m overlooking.

OK, first, I need to make about what I’m making now, or else my wife and I won’t be able to pay the bills. I just got a raise, but we can live on what I made before, $11.54/Hour. Now, that’s pretty good pay, and the only thing I like about my job. Now, finding a job that starts at that or higher is very difficult. I had 3 post office interviews, but nothing came of them. Sometime last year someone suggested getting an A+ certification. I like it because I have fairly decent computer knowledge and have even slapped together a computer or two. So, I bought some A+ books, but am learning that, even with what I know, in order to have the knowledge and confidence to seek a computer tech job, I think a college course in computer repair is in order (none of the colleges around where I live offer A+ certification training). Actually, to get any job that starts out at the pay I need, I’m going to need a college class or two.

So, sounds simple, right, take some college classes and apply for a new job. Well, here’s what I’m facing:

  1. I work 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and often on Saturdays, anywhere from 2 to 8 hours.
  2. I can’t take night classes because my wife is disabled and while we can hire someone to help her in the day, I need to be home with her at night.
  3. If I can find a Sunday only class, there’s still the matter of paying for it. Despite my decent pay and my wife’s Social Security checks, we’ve discovered that we’re living above our means and it’ll probably take a while to fix that, so shelling out a few hundred dollars right now isn’t too feasible.

So, anyway, right now, I works lots of hours, most of my time off is spent looking after my wife, and money is tight. But since finding another job is apparently easy because I’m only working here voluntarily and should get another job if I’m unhappy, how do I do it?

2

What do you see as your strongest abilities?

3

Loyalty for one thing. At 18 I got a job at a pizza parlor which I worked at for about 5 years before getting this job, which I’ve been at for almost 10.
I’m also a fast learner and work equally well alone or with other people.

4

If you get A+ certification please learn it well. I’ve met quite a few that were absolutely clueless as to how computers actually work. Made me want to bash my head against the wall.

5

Well, that’s why, even though I have a lot of self taught knowledge (I built my wife’s computer from scratch - P4, 3.2ghz CPU, 1gig DDR ram, Asylum GeForce MX4000 video card) and I’m going through A+ books, I know it’s not quiet enough and hope to take at least one class on A+ certification or computer repair class.

6

Forgot to mention the 80gig HD, the CD R/RW and CD/DVD R/RW drives. <sigh> it’s been about a year and already certain parts are getting outdated. OK, I’ll shut up about it now.

Anyway, Ringo, now that I wanswered your question, what advice do you have for me?

7

One suggestion would be to get a temporary job that was not as demanding, time-wise, as your current job. That would give you cash while you had a bit more time to look for a new permanent job. For example, see if a temporary agency could place you 32 hours/ week. Temp agencies will also sometimes have training resources for in-demand skills, which might possibly extend to A+ certification.

A volunteer might be available to sit with your wife one evening a week while you attend a class. United Way or a local church would be options to see if you could locate such a volunteer.

It isn’t always easy to find a new job, but you are right that people do it on a fairly regular basis. Good luck to you!

8

I’ve thought of temp work, but it is kind of risky because, even though I hate my job, at least it’s a sure thing…well, I’ve survived 5 or so layoffs anyway. Also, temps don’t get insurance. With all of the prescriptions and doctors visits my wife makes, we need an HMO.

9

Easy? Finding a job easy? Bullshit. Sorry, that’s the only word for it. It’s hard. It’s a full-time job in and of itself. I think what people probably mean is that it’s easier to just find a new job rather than persevere in one that you hate. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. Better to have a crappy job while looking for a new one than to have no job at all, though, so there’s that.

A+ isn’t going to be enough. I’m not saying it’s a bad start, but it’s not enough for a tech job these days. In my experience, certifications are better when there’s a specific flavor; general certs don’t mean too much when you’re looking for specific skills, which most employers are. If you want to pursue certification, think of it as a path, because you’ll want to have several.

My advice: build yourself a computer and learn by doing. Somewhere near you–probably all around you–there are people and businesses who either want a website or want a better one and yet are absolutely terrified of computers. Maybe their former partner’s nephew did their site, it hasn’t been updated in three years, and they don’t know who to call. Or they called someone and were given an astronomical quote. If you want it, this is your market.

Building and maintaining websites is a common point-of-entry for tech careers. It’s a) easy, b) you don’t have to go to school, c) you can work mostly from home, and d) if you have a computer and an internet connection, almost every thing else you need is free. There’s a crapload of stuff to learn, but you only need a little to get started. Don’t try to read every book in the world on it first, either; get a few that look like good references and just jump in. Think about doing the first site or two for friends either pro-bono or for a very small fee. That way you can teach yourself while giving yourself time to learn. As you build more and more sites, you build a portfolio which you can in turn use to get bigger and better-paying jobs.

If you’re good at running your own budget, managing your own schedule, then you could do really well…it all depends on you. Otherwise, building websites can be a stepping stone into the world of programming, or at the very least web development work for a corporation, large or small. But if that’s your goal, think of it as a long-term (i.e., > 6 months) plan. There’s so much you could do short of that. Anyway, just my $0.02.

10

MC, what I was thinking was that you could perhaps look over your life and try to identify what your strong points are (and it doesn’t hurt to identify the weak ones, as well).

One method I’ve seen (~20 years ago) for doing this comes from a book titled *What Color is Your Parachute?{/i] It involves writing three stories about yourself; short, to the point renditions of things that have happened in your life and what resolution came of them. IIRC, the book suggests doing that before you read about why you’ve done that, but I’m going to clarify that right now.

The three stories will tell you something about what traits of yours you used to deal with the situations. Once you’ve identified three or more of your strengths, you can keep them in mind as you construct a resume. Do you have a resume? Writing one can be a very helpful effort when you’re considering changing your line of work.

I gather from the little bit I see here in this thread that you’re in your early 30s and perhaps have not completed a university degree. While a degree can be useful, that doesn’t have to be a huge hindrance, as only ~27% of the adult U.S. population has completed a degree, and plenty more than that are living in the top half of the econosphere (is that a real word?).

Loyalty was the first thing that apparently came to your mind in response to my question. That’s an admirable trait, and it’s played a large part in my career, but with respect to people more so than to companies.

But try to develop a sense of your other abilities. From what you’ve said I’d suppose that you might well be good at time management and are reliable, as well as those qualities noted by you which, besides being a quick study, I’d interpret as being able to work in a team, but also being task-oriented and requiring little supervision.

But I don’t really know you at all - I’m just trying to give you a little traction should you attempt to heed my advice.

One thing I will say is that you should try and kick yourself up the food chain a bit if you’re going to make a change. I don’t know anything about the economy in Oregon, and that might be hard to do. Perhaps a move will be called for. But if you make a lateral move, i.e., same or similar pay for the same or similar working life, you’ll likely have put out some big effort for what will seem disappointing in the near future.

What do you do now?

Good luck, pal!

11

I was being sarcastic.

Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.

I guess you didn’t see where I posted, twice, that I have built a computer.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

12

After high school I wanted to get an associates degree in computer programming. After 10 years off and on, due to constantly changing work schedules (I’d go from 12 to 8 to 10 hour shifs, as well as switch between day, swing and grave) and not enough money to take classes continually (I had a lot of prerequisites I needed to pass), I realized that wasn’t a viable option. For the last 3 years or so, I’ve actually been on the same work schedule, but, as stated in the OP, I still have trouble finding the time and money.
Anyway, right now I’m a production worker at Tyco. Yes, that’s the same Tyco of Dennis Kozlowski fame :frowning:

13

Would it be possible to talk to your current employer about your hours? Are you getting overtime pay or are you salary? If you’re salary, then you should be getting some comp time for the extra hours, if your boss is decent.

What do you hate about this job? Is it the hours, or are there other things going on?

I ask these things because it may be possible to get your current job to a place where you can tolerate it and free up some time to explore your options.

14

Hahahahaha, thanks for the laugh! :smiley:
No, but seriously, about time off and all that. We just changed to conform to Tyco corporate standards. We can no longer carry over vacation or sick time from year to year, at the end of a year both go away. We went up from 2 sick days a year to 4…well, Tyco uses the word “day” to mean 8 hours. The only people I know who work 8 are the supervisors, managers, engineers and people like that. Most of the rest of us work 10’s, so 24 hours of P.T.O (personal time off) only comes out to about 2 1/2 days a year. Well, actually, I guess we have more than that since now, all absences must be covered by all available P.T.O and V.T.O (vacation time off), so if you’re sick more than 24 hours I guess the’ll start taking your vacation time to pay for it.
Anyway, as to your question, we’ve never had, and still don’t have, comp time.

I hate getting up at 5:00am to go work a 10 hour day (6:00AM - 4:30PM) 5 days a week plus, very often, work Saturdays.
I hate working in a place that drags down just about everybody that works there. I watch one by one and see coworkers who use to do excellent work, just not give a crap anymore. I know I don’t.
Team work is a joke with my coworkers.
The whole plant is short handed. Well, graveyard got a couple of people, and we got one (I think they’re all temps though) which helps, a little anyway, seeing how just about every day somebody is either calling in sick or is taking time off, on both shifts, so it’s not to often that we have days where everybody is there. Although now that you have to use any available time off that you have, may cut down on that. We’ll see.
Anyway, I could go on, but this is getting to long.

Problem is, I don’t want to be a production worker any more. Also, most, if not all other places similar to where I work are on 12 hour shifts. There’s no way in hell I’ll work 12’s again if I can avoid it.

15

You’ve just got a raise, right? And you’ve survived layoffs. That means your bosses think you’re good. How about speaking to your manager about getting a promotion to supervisor? Straight-out say you’re looking for more responsibility and ask him or her what it would take.

Good luck.

16

Quartz has a good point about asking what it takes to get to supervisor at your current employer.

Don’t feel that you are getting ripped off by not being offered comp time. In the US, comp time is only legal for public sector (government) employees. Regular companies must pay the overtime and can’t give comp time instead. This is intended to protect non-exempt (hourly) workers from being forced to take unpaid time off instead of getting paid time and a half for overtime. Exempt (salaried) employees are sometimes given management directed time off after they have worked especially long hours, but this is strictly out of the kindness of their manager’s or company’s hearts, it’s not any kind of entitlement. Note: I am not saying any of this to advocate that this is how it should or shouldn’t be, just getting the facts out there.

In terms of insurance, a) more and more temp agencies are offering some form of health insurance, although it may not meet your family’s needs, but this is definitely more common than it was a few years ago and b) you would be entitled to continue your current insurance (at a somewhat higher cost) for 18 months after you quit your job. This is called COBRA.

Again, good luck.

17

I did. I should have placed emphasis on yourself. The point is, you’d need a machine just for you. Good luck, whatever you choose…

18

This is kind of a cliche, but…

Connections. Connections. Connections.

A couple of years ago, I was in kind of the same situation you’re in. I spent two years working part-time-full-time, waiting for a real full time position to open up at the public library where I worked, so that I could eventually start taking classes to get my MLS a become a full fledged librarian.

I eventually got sick of the grind, and took a job doing child support enforcement for the county human services department. My then-fiancee (now wife) thought it was bad idea, but was willing to support it on the condition that I go back to school for something.

Having run a middlingly successful local music site for a number of years, and done a couple of dozen Linux installs to amuse myself, I decided to go for an IT degree. It kept me sane for the year I spent otherwise miserable though exceedingly proficient at my job. They were looking at me for management, despite being in my mid-twenties, and only having a year’s experience doing child support work. I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about staying there, and started sending out resumes.

During this entire period, my wife’s chronic neurological problems started worsening, so I kept my eye out for positions that seemed non-revolting and relatively stable.

I actually landed a job with the state civil rights commission as an investigator. It was a $10k raise, and seemed interesting enough for me to tolerate. Not my ideal position, but it was definitely a couple of steps up from the cubicle hell I was stuck in.

As I was getting ready to accept the offer, a friend of a friend of a friend sent me an email. He was familiar with my website and my more-than casual *nix experience. He’s also a programmer at a small company that runs exclusively on Linux and AIX, and they were looking for a junior sysadmin.

Mind you, all of my experience was entirely informal. I only had maybe twelve hours of very basic IT courses under my belt at the time. But I can read documentation, and I told them I was eager to learn new things.

They offered me the job, based partly on the recommendation, and partly on my eagerness to learn.

The pay started out at exactly what I was making before, and the health insurance was definitely a step down. If I took the job, I’d be passing up an extra ten grand a year. I told them so, and they offered to pay all of my tuition up front until I finished my degree.

After some intense discussion with my wife, I took the job, and now I couldn’t be happier.

What they didn’t tell me then was that if I performed up to expectations, I’d be looking at 25% raises every year. After a couple of years on the job, I’ll be making more than I would have had I taken that offer from the State.

My $.02:

Do things. Meet people. Tell those people what you do. If you find the right company, your lack of formal certification/education won’t matter as long as you’ve got the right attitude and show a willingness and ability to learn. My boss has never been pissed when I tell him “Gee, I don’t really know anything about protocol XYZ. Lemme buy an O’Reilly book and read a little bit about it for a week or two.”

You might also want to consider looking at smaller companies. If you’re used to working in large organization, it can be a tough thing to conceptualize, especially if your spouse is sick – the health insurance is quite a bit more expensive, for one thing. My wife finally had to quit working in January, and her disability hasn’t started up yet, so we’re barely scraping by at the moment. But it’ll get better.

Small companies are far less likely to give a shit about things like certifications and degrees, insofar as they don’t really tell them anything about the person they’d like to hire. What’s important is getting across the notion that you’d like to get your papers, and learn anything you can in the process of doing so.

Small companies are also far more likely to be flexible with things like time off to care for your spouse. My wife can’t drive, so I’ve got to take her to all of the doctor’s appointments. I would probably go anyway, even if she could drive herself, because I want to be there to help her through all the scary shit. My employer doesn’t have sick time – they don’t even count it, and I’ve never had to worry about asking off for a couple hours a week to take my wife to the doctor.

As for school, send in your damn FAFSA. Before my employer was paying for it, I got about six grand a year in Stafford loans, interest free. That’s plenty for a couple of classes per quarter at a community college or commuter university. Start slow – one or two classes a quarter. It can be a grind, and plenty of it is completely useless, but if you’re in any way motivated and organized it’ll eat up far less time than you think.

That’s all I’ve got at the moment. Let me know if you’ve got any other questions.

(Wow. That was long.)

19 
Well, first, we all go raises, so it's nothing special, and second, I'd have to get my bachelors degree if I was interested in becoming supervisor.  Plus, a spot would have to open up.  Hell, I've never even been interested in being lead.  Also, my work attitude isn't all that great, to be honest.  When I first started, I tried to learn everything I could about my department in hopes of working my way up.  As I got close to learning how to operate every piece of equipment, I realized it wouldn't get me anywhere.  Then, there was a position, not supervisory in any way, but still higher than mine.  I studied hard, worked with the people who were in that position at the time, came in on my days off, and did everything I could to get it.  I got passed over, 3 or 4 times by people who knew less than I did.  I had to tell them how to do their job.  The job I was told that I wasn't ready for.  So, after a while, I figured that since doing my best wouldn't get me anywhere, I figured, why bother?  So now, I come in, do my job, go home.  I have no ambitions where I am now, because I've been screwed over too many times.
20 
Thanks.  I don't mind not having comp time, it doesn't bother me.  In fact, I've never even thought about it.  And yeah, I know about COBRA.  I know the $900 to $1,200 a month cost would be rich for my blood.