So, I'm looking for some career advice. I understand no one can make the choice for me but I'm hoping to hear some personal experiences to give me guidance. I'm in my 30s and currently unemployed. I was working in retail pharmacy until the end of last year when I lost my job and haven't been able to find work since then.

I feel I'm most competent in tech jobs but haven't even been able to get an interview in the industry much less an offer. From what I've heard at the moment it's almost impossible to get a tech job with no experience or education. For the past 6ish months I've been brushing up on my computer science and programming knowledge but haven't been making as much progress as I hoped.

I need to find a job soon or I won't be able to stay where I currently live. I certainly won't be able to find a job programming before then. The current question I've been asking myself is if I should shift my studying to a different tech field such as IT. It would likely be much faster getting an IT certification and an entry level IT job than a junior dev job with no compsci degree. As a short term solution I've been looking for work in health care and other fields I'm qualified for but have only received a few pharmacy interviews and none of them went further than that.

Anyway, I'm hoping that after I hear other people's stories or advice it will help me get through my analysis paralysis and pick a direction to go. With the recent changes impacting employment and the economy it's tough to not feel dejected and second guess myself. Thank you to everyone who responds and I hope you have a nice day.

How did the job lose the plot, you might ask? The GM is making us push customer surveys as if we're a retail store. We now have a goal of converting X surveys by end of shift. And if we don't push surveys, we get reminded by the GM and assistant GM.

As someone who used to manage a CVS, the survey pushing is giving CVS pushing ExtraCare on every customer.

I'm already seeing customers giving me that "are you fucking serious?" look as I'm giving my sales pitch to them. Secretly, I'm 100% in agreement with them. If I was the customer, I would ask if I'm on What Would You Do. It's the most absurd thing in a food job I've ever seen.

But I'm fully aware that the job market is about to get a whole lot worse than it already is. I'm worried that if I quit this job, I'm cooked.

Idk what to do but I didn't sign up for a fast food job to do sales-adjacent activities. If I wanted to do sales, I would at bare minimum go back into retail. Or keep trying landing another "real" sales job in this hyper-competitive market.

Thoughts?

Hi to anyone who is reading this.

I'm going to make this long story short as possible.

Since the 10th of March, I was forced by my employer to go on a leave of absence. I was put on this leave of absence after I was sent to the ER by the nursing supervisor. (Basically, the employer is very toxic. I've been admitted to the mental hospital due to this job.)

They, the employer, claimed they would pay me. Yet they only paid me for 3 shifts, which was $450. I tried calling HR they refuse to answer my call. The job is under a union, but the union representative is an asshole who refuse to help. They claim they care about my mental health but they have made it 100x worse because I can't even pay my rent and other bills. I've been taking paydays loans to pay things.

Honestly, I feel like a total failure. I can't even go on government assistance because I'm not the prefer demographic. It's hard to find a new job. When I get an interview, I either get ghosted or rejected.

I don't not understand what I'm doing wrong. I don't get it. Why is it so hard to find a good job?

I just started a new grooming job, I am enjoying it so far. Its commission and I was told w2. I worked one full day so far but haven't signed anything or been asked to provide any proof of anything. Should I mention that to my new employer or does it not matter until taxes comes around?

Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty down—like truly depressed. Not having a job for a while and dealing with other personal things has made me feel like giving up. I’ve started seeing a therapist and looking into antidepressants, but honestly, it’s been rough. It’s even harder when you don’t have any close friends or family to lean on.

I recently got offered a new job that’s about 50 minutes away. The pay is around $60K—not amazing, but the benefits are decent, including tuition reimbursement which could help me with college. I’m wondering… would it be stupid not to take it?

Is it as bad as Reddit makes it sound? Or are we just pigeonholed in a community of people who thinks it bad, or is experiencing it being bad?

I work in project management. Email is a big part of my job. I can’t fucking stand it. Examples:

1. “Per my last email,” “just following up,” “please confirm…” etc. Email speak is annoying and phony.

2. When someone sends an email directed to you, but CC’s higher ups, your boss, upper management, etc. It’s petty and disrespectful to the person you’re sending the email to. Obviously you’re trying to make me look bad in front of my boss. Just say so.

3. When someone send you an email requesting something, and expects you to be able to email back the same day with an answer. Give me some goddam time to get the information I need before I send an email back. I don’t always have all the answers at my fingertips.

Those are just two examples, but I could go on. It’s all so political and fake.

I don’t even know if I spelled it right, but my hands are perpetually sweaty… and I need to attend a lot of networking events (I am in Finance) and must I say: no one wants to shake hands with a cold wet fish (that’s what my hands feel like). It’s really getting on my nerves and now I have an interview soon (and definitely not enough money for Botox) so I’m here for advice! what do you do?

Thanks for sharing :)

Brief story:

1. My coworkers on the Implementation team were always begging for someone to automate a particular dinosaur, ugly, complex process that my team also had to use.
2. Although I'm not an app admin, I sat down, figured it out, and automated it --
3. -- which threatened to unseat the self-styled "Lead" of the existing dinosaur process, who was on my team.
4. Mr. Lead got our team's involvement in the new, automated process quashed through his technophobia ("It won't work because I personally can't figure it out") even though the Implementation team loved it and the other internal clients were happy with it.
5. So the Implementation team applied it to a different task and carried on with it.
6. My team lead (closely allied with Mr. Dinosaur Process Lead) told me our team was done with it.
7. OH DEAR -- the Implementation team loved it so much and it was working so well that they asked me to add YET ANOTHER team and another major task to it,
8. and I did.
9. I got fired the next day.

Someone showed me my job listed on the company's website, and for the first time EVER, the requirements include experience in the tool I used to automate the process.

The Director never saw the automated process, even though she was frantic about belt-tightening and it would have saved money. I never had a skip-level meeting with her about it because Mr. Lead quashed it that hard -- but thank GOD I had the sense to make screenshots and create a little video about it for my portfolio should the day ever come when I would be job-hunting again. It's just a little video that shows the "before" process and the "after" process and how it saved time and money, centralized and standardized everything, removed the dependence on a single individual and turned it into a "pull a task off the queue" style of work for whoever was available. No snark, just a story about fixing a process.

I'm sooooo tempted to send the link to the Director, who must have approved my firing, even though she has no idea what really went on. Do people ever do such things? A friend told me Why not -- they can't fire you again!

But I don't want to look desperate and hurt. The way I feel now, I'm glad to be gone and that place is way in my rearview mirror, but I somehow feel like closing the loop. Do people do this?

I see these people on YouTube reviewing cars like, The Topher, and Winding Road Magazine, and I want to have a job in this field but I don't know where to look or where to start if its applicable I live in Michigan.

Hello!

I left my job last year due to burnout, stress and unfair workload. I got a job interview with MUFG for their fraud Analyst investigation. I’m usually able to find some questions they may ask however I have been unlucky this time. Has anyone interviewed them before at all or for this position? Anything would be greatly appreciated as I am would love to get this position. Thank you

I’ll go first:

My hours at work have been cut tremendously to where I’ve only had 7 shifts since the beginning of the year (supposedly, this is a store wide issue but doesn’t make sense because I haven’t heard of anyone else whose hours have suffered like mine have). I haven’t been separated/let go yet because I’ll get one shift right after I get a separation notice and the only reason I haven’t straight up quit yet is because this job market is absolute hell and I haven’t had any luck finding a new job just yet.

My manager texted me a little while ago and asked me if I could do xyz when I get to work in the morning. I haven’t even responded but my first thought was “lol no”💀💀 because why would I put any energy into this job when I’m clearly not needed or wanted🤨 and it’s not like I’m a bad worker, I’m one of the most reliable, punctual, and overall best workers my department has so I don’t really get why they expect for me to put in the same kind of effort I used to.

Because of all this, I plan to do fuck all. Taking my sweet precious time with every single thing and overall half-assing my job in a way that would actually piss me off if I weren’t getting shafted.

I’ve been in Film/TV for 13+ years; unfortunately the industry hasn’t, and likely won’t ever be the same after 5 years of starts and stops with the pandemic and union strikes.

I left my last F/T position in the industry over a year ago, and landed a F/T at a nonprofit after 11 grueling months of unemployment. During this interval, I was suggested by my older brother (who successfully transitioned from 23 years in the Marines to IT & Cybersecurity) to consider that same career transition via certifications and possibly returning to college for a degree.

I’ve bookmarked Coursera certifications for IT Support & CompTIA A+ (the first ones he recommended I pursue), but am having cold feet over the health of this industry after observing national/world news, as well as the stories from fellow Redditors over the last year.

For those in this career field, and/or those in career limbo, I’d love to hear your stories and advice as I navigate through all of this. Thanks in advance.

Has anyone ever had any actual luck when calling about an update on your application? There’s a job that I really want, and when I applied I got an automated email that it would be a bit before I heard a response back. I don’t want to miss out on a this really cool opportunity because I wasn’t bold enough to call, but I also don’t want to come across as too pushy. Any and all advice on how I should go about this, how to conduct calling about my application, and anything else related is more than welcome.

Hey all. I recently retired from the military and find myself directionless. I'm thinking about trying a few different things to see what I find enjoyable but don't want to take a paycheck. Anyone have a projects going on that could use a remote intern? Pros, I have free time, experience in a variety of fields, I'm a quick learner and I'm free. Cons, I only work remotely, on my own schedule and can't promise to be around long term.

This might be a dumb idea but if you have something you're working on that just needs an extra pair of (remote) hands, hit me up.

I'm just trying to get ideas and see what other people are doing where they tolerate their job.

I don't need to love my job, it's simply a way to get money to supporty life outside of work. It could be a me problem, but my current job stress is too much that it's seeping into life outside of work. It's to the point where I don't want to sleep because the cycle repeats the next day and I have to deal with it again.

This question is part me looking for a new career and part curiosity what people consider a job they can tolerate.

TW: severe car accident (nobody died)

Hi everyone,

I think I will be okay once I start working again but I want some advice. I was involved in a bad car accident a few days ago and I’m still in training for my job so I don’t think I have much leeway with anything. What kind of options do you think I would have job wise though? Like I’m not sure about a leave, I’m so new here and I don’t want to just sit at home. I’m feeling okay for the most part but I do feel kind of shaken and not knowing what to do. I’m only working 2 days this week so that’ll be good to ease back into everything but I’m still a little on edge y’know. I just wish this whole thing can be over with 🤥 I am a registered nurse if that matters. I’m so excited to go back and learn

As the title says, I was terminated from my previous job, but I signed an agreement for it to count as a resignation and that the company will give "affirmative and positive feedback" regarding my tenure. When asked about why I left the position, will I be able to just get away with generic stuff about it not being a good culture fit or whatever? Or should I be honest in case they contact my previous employer? I've never been terminated before and I'm a little confused over the wording of "positive feedback" - does this mean they'll simply say I resigned, or does it just mean they'll affirm I actually worked there? I'm currently interviewing for another position and told them I resigned voluntarily because of lack of culture fit, and now I'm worried I screwed up.

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Like I said, this is all new to me. 

Hi, looking for advice... so I did a screening recently with a company, and at the end they mentioned their salary for the position (it's a design-related job), and it was, converted to by-the-hour, several dollars below minimum wage for my area... I was so surprised I just said "uh okay", and then a little while later they contacted me for an interview/test.

Normally I'd just turn them down, but the market is so bad right now that I'm wondering if I should go in anyways, and then try to negotiate if I get an offer? Though I have my own doubts whether a company offering that low to begin with would be open to negotiate anyways. Has anyone else had this happen? And what did you end up doing?

why do they say "go for your dreams"?

only 1.5 CEOs per 1000 jobs in USA.

thats less than .002/100 percent

I’m a fabrication engineer, worked construction and all sorts. I can make/fix stuff with the best of them. I work bloody hard and am always an amazing employee but the problem is I hate going to work and I’d rather spend my time riding my bike and be on my own schedule. I’ve just moved for partners job and am unemployed which is amazing.

I’m after ideas for how I can make a living from home with my skills. We’re fine financially so don’t need to be earning heaps. Have enough garage space and tools for basic projects. I’m thinking making furniture or stuff to sell at markets? Lawnmower or chainsaw services? Make custom steel bike frames idk

How the heck am I going to make this work??! I need help with a few things as I look to make this major change come to fruition. I graduated college with a bachelors a little over a year ago, and since then I have been working remote part-time for a start up company in business support. It’s not quite in the field I’m looking for but it’s also a great opportunity to develop skills in business administration.

Late last week, I got a call with a job offer from a major biotech company, the pay isn’t great at all and the hours are almost worse (10 hours wed-sun from 1-11pm), but I’ll still be working part time in the mean time to help keep my bills paid. The tricky part is that the job is located 3000 miles away from where I live. What’s worse is that my dream city where I had been applying to mostly is about an hour and a half away and I have no car yet to begin with. I have no idea where to even start with this, because in the coming weeks I need to uproot my life, find a place to live across the country (?), move across the country, buy a car (?) or maybe figure out public transportation (?), onboard onto the company, work my second remote job and figure out how I’m going to afford it all with about 600 bucks to my name and a yearly income of about $55,000, none of which I have yet. I figure I might as well give y’all some specifics incase it helps but I want to live in Boston MA, and the job is in Portsmouth NH.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone! I am posting this to get some ideas for my boyfriend. He(32M) is currently a Parts Sales Manager at AutoZone. He is wanting to go to school for somethingggggg but he really doesn’t know what. He doesn’t really have any interest or passion in anything job-related so it is hard for him to figure out what he wants to do. He wants to better his life so we can have a better future, start a family, etc. but what he gets paid at AutoZone, that is not an option. I am wondering what “career in a year” programs are the best, with decent pay and opportunities/growth in the field??

TIA!