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Nick9075
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19 Oct 2011, 1:47 pm

I am sorry to whine here but NO ONE will hire me. I suspect I am on some type of blacklist since I have a very bad work history. I have close to 3.5 years of savings but it seems like I have no options. I thought about buying an existing business something like a FEDEX or established vending route but that seems like an impossibility.



AJ989
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19 Oct 2011, 3:30 pm

Well you could always try something online even, just depends on what you are good at really.



Animegal86
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20 Oct 2011, 9:24 am

It's okay! I'm unemployed too! I think in most jobs that are almoat always available are the jobs that include talking and socializing with people. That is my big weakness myself.



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30 Oct 2011, 12:03 am

Nick, you don't have any details in your post. What can/ can't you do, people can suggest options.

I've been working in my current job for 14 months, prior to that I was unemployed for 18 months. It took 42 job interviews for me to get the job I have, preserverce will pay off in time.


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LjosalfrBlot
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30 Oct 2011, 10:26 pm

I think what he means is that no one will ask him for an interview, and when they do, they sorely regret it. I get that kind of treatment all the time. They just look at me and go "this loser thinks he can work here? f**k off already". I don't really have any advice other than don't give up. If you want you can apply to everywhere in the country, eventually you'll find someone who's willing to put up with you.
Another thing to keep in mind is that it seems like a lot of companies have a "weirdo quota" where they have to hire a certain amount of misfits to be an "equal opportunity" employer. That doesn't mean act weird, just be yourself and they will pick up on it and maybe you'll be hired. Although, just because they hire you for being different doesn't mean they will want to keep you around, as I found out recently.



zer0netgain
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31 Oct 2011, 7:48 am

Nick9075 wrote:
I am sorry to whine here but NO ONE will hire me. I suspect I am on some type of blacklist since I have a very bad work history. I have close to 3.5 years of savings but it seems like I have no options. I thought about buying an existing business something like a FEDEX or established vending route but that seems like an impossibility.


Don't know your whole story, but here's a sanitized version of mine.

No work ethic. Didn't know of AS (nobody did then), wasn't symptomatic enough to be seen as anything other than "odd."

Couldn't seem to hold a job. Sometimes I irritated others with my quirks that I'd be let go. Often, when things got tough, I quit. Mixed messages from my parents didn't help. Yeah, staying with a job you hate is a bad idea, but better to find a better job and then move on than to just quit when things get tough or unpleasant for the first time.

In short order, I eventually got a job interview where the hiring manager commented, "It looks like you can't hold a job." IIRC, I was maybe 19. Not in the workforce that long and already my work history made me look undesirable as a candidate. Nothing seemed to work. Even when I found a career I really wanted, holding a steady job was difficult.

Eventually, I got serious and stayed at a grocery store for a couple of years. Left for what I thought would be "greener pastures." I should have stayed with them. No matter how hard I work for something, I never seem to be rewarded. College didn't help because most employers just don't put a lot of weight on academic achievements as good grades are handed out fairly easily nowadays.

I've always worked, for the most part, mostly because I need an income. I'm about to turn 43. Until 2005, the longest job I ever held lasted maybe 2.0-2.5 years. Many jobs lasted 6 months or less. I currently have just over 6 years where I am at now, and while it's a decent place to work, it is a dead-end job for me as far as better pay, benefits and opportunity. I've been where I'm at for as long as I have been because (1) the "boss" gets me and tolerates my "quirks," (2) the "boss" is too lazy to try and replace me unless matters became so bad that he really felt it needed to be done, (3) for what it's worth, I do my job, I bring something unique to the job (I do the office IT work...something outside the scope of the position) and we both share the same sick sense of humor, and (4) in this bad economy, I would be very hesitant to jump ship for something better unless I knew it was too good to pass up.

That said...

This is a LOUSY economy. I have ALWAYS depended on a good economy and lots of hiring to have a good shot at getting any job worth having. Garbage jobs were fairly easy to get as nobody else wants them. Hence, while I put out a dozen or so applications/resumes every year for something better...I'm lucky to get 2 interviews in a year's time. I've been searching for a better job for the last 4+ years.

Most people who are NT are mediocre workers. This is why some are so "long-term" unemployed. They had good jobs before 2008, but when the poop hit the fan, the exceptional were picked over their peers. Being "mediocre" isn't necessarily bad, but it means you are an average person, and that means an employer has no reason to pick you over anyone else. In a good economy, a mediocre person has a shot at a good job because employers need bodies. In a bad economy, the mediocre realize what it's like to be among the "sub par" people.

You are not alone...for what good that does.



leejosepho
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31 Oct 2011, 8:54 am

My own story is almost identical to zer0's, and I even tried being my own boss and starting a business a couple of times. But even then, the "networking" or "elbow rubbing" needed for success quickly tripped me up.

People only hire people when they *need* them for something (or they need something from them), so the challenge is to find a need ... and to then offer to fill that need without being too high-maintenance ourselves.


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ChekaMan
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01 Nov 2011, 12:06 am

If someone wants to hire me for a job...that person is a scammer,as only scammers want me.



zer0netgain
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01 Nov 2011, 7:44 am

ChekaMan wrote:
If someone wants to hire me for a job...that person is a scammer,as only scammers want me.


To be fair, scammers want anyone who is desperate enough to jump into something even when there are warning bells that should scare them off.



techstepgenr8tion
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01 Nov 2011, 9:00 am

Nick9075 wrote:
I am sorry to whine here but NO ONE will hire me. I suspect I am on some type of blacklist since I have a very bad work history. I have close to 3.5 years of savings but it seems like I have no options. I thought about buying an existing business something like a FEDEX or established vending route but that seems like an impossibility.

Have you ever thought about really examining the markets and seeing if you could put at least some of that money to work for you? I unfortunately never had the interest in stocks, bonds etc. to get into it but I did recently find an interest in real estate investment and while I'm still waiting for information from a contact a family member has who's an avid real estate investor who's always looking for down payments and will give back 40% on investment I'm also looking at REIT's right now to where, if he doesn't get back to me, I may invest a portion of my savings into a good REIT albiet I'll be watching them over time to try and get a sense of where they are in their valuation cycle and figure out who has a trustworthy CEO and staff where I know that they won't gamble or make stupid decisions in their rental property acquisitions.

My point being I guess; if you can find any particular piece of the stock/capital market that you can educate yourself on, get a niche competancy, and play it with confidence and assurance that you know too much about it to fail - that may be your ticket. Obviously though you don't have any income coming in so all the more reason to be ultra-careful, very well-read, and obviously very conservative in how much you dish out (like say you have 3.5 years of savings - I'd use no more than the last .5 of that and if the investment works out well I'd even say wait till it doubles and pull that .5 back to let the 'winning' so to speak work for you).


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01 Nov 2011, 5:58 pm

Nobody will hire me either.

Actually, my work history isn't that bad. When I get a job, I hold on to it. I suspect that employers don't really take my years of being self-underemployed all that seriously, though, so it looks like I've been unemployed even more than I have, and I've been unemployed a lot. 'Cause nobody will hire me.

Well, except this week. They hired me. For a job I didn't apply for. I applied for a warehouse or manufacturing job at the company. They hired me for the call center. I'm so desperate I took it, but I had to quit today. Second day of training. Yesterday I barely made it out of there without having a public meltdown, and today I went in, on time, all professional-like, and did most of today day -- I spent the first half doing the training while waiting for HR office to open, then the rest of the day waiting for them to get back to me about moving to another position. They were pretty nice about it, I guess, but said there was nothing else so I resigned and left.

I was hoping I could do it. Meds help me a lot, and I'm not so terrified of the phone any more, and I don't get the Can't Access Language Files Error very often any more. But I came unhinged anyway. I feel like a big loser. Everybody else was calling it 'Low stress' and 'easy.'