My life has been stuck in a serious rut lately, and its finally time to give my self a proverbial kick in the butt and try to fix things.  My mom has a serious soft spot for me and my brother and really makes things far to easy for both of us, at least on the surface. 

I'm turning 26 in a few days, and I'm unemployed and living with my mother. My brother is 22, just graduated from College, and is also unemployed and living here.  And its not like we are super well of and just fine, more like barely getting by between my moms retail job and monthly alimony check from dad.

So I have an interview tomorrow for a job I don't even want. Its part time, minimum wage, would take about an hour each way to get to, and I'm way over qualified.  I don't have many other options though.  I need to find a job, pay my mom back for supporting me the last few months, Move out of the house, and get on with my life.  I have my resume out to several other places, including places where I want to work, but no interviews yet.   

So I'm doing what I need to do, and as Tekla (I think) said in another thread, you get the job you can get instead of one you want sometimes. Sorry for the misquote. 

Please sir,  underpay me to do a job I'm overqualified for! I'll even work weekends!

Like you said you also have to consider your travel expenses, it might not be worth it to take a job that far away. Sometimes you need to take a job you're overqualified for, at a wage that's not the best, but the commute might break your budget. Might be best to see if the other places will get back to you.

Travel expenses really aren't an issue, since I would be taking a combination of my bike and the bus, so its $1.25 no matter how far I'm going.  Actual driving time would be 30 mins. max.

I'm assuming there will be the usual "we have other people to meet with, so we'll get back to you in a couple days", so there would potentially be time to hear back from other jobs, and if I'm lucky, be able to turn it down.

You know what they say:

"You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do"

When I was in college I didn't figure I'd be working for minimum wage when I got out, but life stinks.

I found taking one job I was way overqualified for and underpaid for made it easier to find my second job. I am still overqualified and underpaid but it is a job I really wanted, great hours and doing something I really like. Not as underpaid as the last one, and am very much appreciated at my current job. Think of it as a step to your next job, that helped me hang in there while I continued to interview for other positions.
Myles

I think you should take up the job cause youd rather have income coming in then no income at all. While you're working there, you can look for another job someplace else

I'm Australia and so things may be different to the USA but probably not. I employ people and one thing I look at is the employment history. I want people who want to work. If I interview some one who has had minimum pay jobs I may ask why did you work as burger flipper? If the person comes back with it was the only job I could get at the time and I don't want to be on the dole, 1000 points. If the I ask why didn't you have work for 12 months and the answer is. all I could get was a burger flipper so I went on the dole, 0 points. It's  called building a CV. Yes it may suck but guess what? Life is very competitive. You have to sell your desire to want the job and convince me that you are the person who I will spend money on.

BTW I was using burger flipper as a context, if someone came to me and said I was a burger flipper and I made a knew type of burger, guess who I would employ?

Also ANY job gives you references. I always check references and written references are not worth the paper they are written on. I phone joe's place, do you know kyle, yes he works his ass off and helps out all the time (points). Yes he is a lazy f**t always looking for a better job (no points).

BTW I'm only using burger flippers as an example I have no idea about the USA job market or what your interests are, I hope I'm not being insulting to you or anyone else.

Cindy

Good luck, Kyle! I know how you feel!!! Remember that any job looks better on your resume/CV then a gap does.

Quote from: CindyJames on May 25, 2010, 04:23:16 AM
If the person comes back with it was the only job I could get at the time and I don't want to be on the dole, 1000 points. If the I ask why didn't you have work for 12 months and the answer is. all I could get was a burger flipper so I went on the dole, 0 points. It's  called building a CV. Yes it may suck but guess what? Life is very competitive.

Cindy, Thanks for putting things into perspective for me. Having been a supervisor I understand the need to find employees who want to work, and right now I'm going to do my best to act interested in the position and excited to work. Well, maybe not too excited, as no one wants to hire aanyone too hyperactive.

and the job is in a deli/ convenience store, mostly making sandwiches.  Sadly not far off from flipping burgers.

First of all, interviewing is a skill and one that you should practice,
especially those of us who are presenting differently and have to gain confidence.

As said, having a cheesy job (if you can gracefully rationalize it) is much better than having a gap in your résumé.

Besides, I don't think that you have to look far on these forums to find people who are underemployed.

In contradiction to everything that I've said, having a job also breeds complacency and inhibits looking for a better job.

Oops, I have to get ready for work!

QuoteI'm lucky, be able to turn it down.

Every journey starts with the first step. Most of the great jobs I had was through people I met on the job.

So I'm not even sure exactly what to call what happened this morning... I got there on time, and the manager was ready to have me fill out an application, but I had a copy of my resume for her, so I didn't have to fill it out.  She looked over my resume, briefly told me about the job, and asked a couple questions, and that was it.  The entire interview took all of 2 minutes, and was conducted with the manager standing near the register.  Interesting...

Lets see if I get a call back from her.

I really badly wanna work but I can't get any. I've been unemployed for quiet sometime

"Lets see if I get a call back from her."
============
Your looks and demeanor did not fit their qualifications.

Well, if you do get the job just hope you won't love it - makes it easier to bail once you get a better offer.

I've been doing the same job for nearly three years. I don't love it, it doesn't pay load, I travel 3 - 3 1/2 hours a day... I got my own place, I can pay my bills, I have a pretty funky social life. I guess what I'm trying to say with that is that taking a step back in one direction might give you the opportunity to take a step forward in the other - just don't overdo it unless you want to hardcore test your flexibility.