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Old 07-05-2013, 05:48 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,825 times
Reputation: 13

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We moved to Pigeon Forge this past April, and I still cannot find a job that pays more than $9.00 an hour. I can't survive on this. Moving again is not an option. I have years of customer service experience, including management, but not a degree. I have applied for over 50 jobs online, but most of them don't respond at all. I have been on three interviews, 2 of them only paid minimum wage and the other hired someone with more experience in cabin rentals. I am a very professional type of person. I know the economy is tough, but I am getting scared. I am in my middle 40's, and need to be able to make it on my own. My mortgage $750 and I am almost out of money.
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Old 07-05-2013, 06:17 PM
 
Location: TN/NC
35,060 posts, read 31,278,237 times
Reputation: 47519
Not trying to be mean, but why did you move before you found a decent paying job? It also sounds like you're applying for jobs in the tourist areas, where most of the jobs are low paying. Is there any way you can commute to Knoxville and find something there? The wages will likely still be low, but it may be better than what you have.

Did you buy a home here? Is returning back where you came from an option?
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Old 07-05-2013, 08:00 PM
 
16,177 posts, read 32,491,185 times
Reputation: 20592
Quote:
Originally Posted by smokiesgirl View Post
We moved to Pigeon Forge this past April, and I still cannot find a job that pays more than $9.00 an hour. I can't survive on this. Moving again is not an option. I have years of customer service experience, including management, but not a degree. I have applied for over 50 jobs online, but most of them don't respond at all. I have been on three interviews, 2 of them only paid minimum wage and the other hired someone with more experience in cabin rentals. I am a very professional type of person. I know the economy is tough, but I am getting scared. I am in my middle 40's, and need to be able to make it on my own. My mortgage $750 and I am almost out of money.
The last thing you need is a hard time but this is exactly what we try to warn people about. But, here we are. Seriously, this is going to be a hard sell to find anything much over $10.00. Ok, so try the temp agencies, the hotels, go to the Chamber of Commerce and get a listing of all of their members and check these businesses out. Consider starting up a business with your customer service skills. Take a $9 / hour job that gives you the most and best exposure to shine to the most people in a position to hire you. (Country club, etc?) . Worst case scenario take a full time and a part time job until you get something better. It's hard out there. Good luck.
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Old 07-05-2013, 10:33 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,825 times
Reputation: 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beretta View Post
The last thing you need is a hard time but this is exactly what we try to warn people about. But, here we are. Seriously, this is going to be a hard sell to find anything much over $10.00. Ok, so try the temp agencies, the hotels, go to the Chamber of Commerce and get a listing of all of their members and check these businesses out. Consider starting up a business with your customer service skills. Take a $9 / hour job that gives you the most and best exposure to shine to the most people in a position to hire you. (Country club, etc?) . Worst case scenario take a full time and a part time job until you get something better. It's hard out there. Good luck.

Thank you very much for the ideas. I appreciate your input, and I will take the advice.
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Old 07-07-2013, 05:07 AM
 
Location: Seymour TN
2,124 posts, read 6,821,410 times
Reputation: 1469
Sweetie, I feel for you. We moved here without jobs and bought a house right away. But we're closer to Knoxville. Since 2006, I cannot tell you how many jobs I've applied for in 3 counties (Sevier, Knox, Blount) - has to be 1000 at least. I went to a resume service and he gave me great advice on how to redo my resume and highlight my strengths. It did help, but you are right about most companies not responding or acknowledging you. Every decent size company wants you to apply online nowadays....so they can ignore you. Or judge you by a few words. Sevier County is a low-paying county. I know they hire outsiders (transplants), my husband is one, but more often it seems it's who you know. I don't even know of any temp agencies in Sevier. Did you visit the career center? I will also send you a DM.
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Old 07-09-2013, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Sevierville, TN
345 posts, read 921,933 times
Reputation: 559
Quote:
Originally Posted by smokiesgirl View Post
We moved to Pigeon Forge this past April, and I still cannot find a job that pays more than $9.00 an hour. I can't survive on this. Moving again is not an option. I have years of customer service experience, including management, but not a degree. I have applied for over 50 jobs online, but most of them don't respond at all. I have been on three interviews, 2 of them only paid minimum wage and the other hired someone with more experience in cabin rentals. I am a very professional type of person. I know the economy is tough, but I am getting scared. I am in my middle 40's, and need to be able to make it on my own. My mortgage $750 and I am almost out of money.
Did you try Ka-Tom Restaurant supply in Kodak? I thought they were hiring CSR's. Sadly, the area you are in merits mostly minimum wage opportunites. My son works in Pigeon Forge, but just for the summer, and he has worked 7 days straight and is on overtime. I guess it depends on many factors, but he's 19 and can work hours like those. I, however, cannot.

Why not try Seymour or Knoxville? I know it's a drive but it's a job. If you aren't willing to move as far as your residence then you will have to drive outside of Sevier County then. You say you have CSR experience, why not try Brink's? Are you using the search engines for jobs, like Indeed and Monster?
IMHO, Craigslist is a joke and I won't ever search there, at least in my line of work.

When I first moved to Sevier County I had a hard time finding a job. My husband had a job here though, so we didn't come here unprepared. That said, it took me about 6 months to find something decent, and that was in Knoxville. It was close for us, as far as finances, but we were fortunate. I actually was turned down for a job waiting tables at Cracker Barrell because I was overqualified and they were concerned I'd leave for another job. And that's what I would have done, so that's a factor as well to consider.

I'm sorry I can't be more help. I do know that Indeed has a good amount of professional listings that you seem to be looking for. LinkedIn works good too; you may want to try that site.

Wishing you the best.
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Old 07-09-2013, 04:09 PM
 
Location: New Market Tn
148 posts, read 305,362 times
Reputation: 236
Quote:
Originally Posted by smokiesgirl View Post
We moved to Pigeon Forge this past April, and I still cannot find a job that pays more than $9.00 an hour. I can't survive on this. Moving again is not an option. I have years of customer service experience, including management, but not a degree. I have applied for over 50 jobs online, but most of them don't respond at all. I have been on three interviews, 2 of them only paid minimum wage and the other hired someone with more experience in cabin rentals. I am a very professional type of person. I know the economy is tough, but I am getting scared. I am in my middle 40's, and need to be able to make it on my own. My mortgage $750 and I am almost out of money.

Believe it or not there are federal jobs around here? If you go to www.opm.gov and in the middle of the page you will see "USA Jobs" or something like that. Click on that and put down your zip codes and put the radius of miles you are willing to work at and you will get all the jobs listing. I noticed they had over 10 pages worth of jobs. The following is one listing. Ofcourse below is tempory job, but they also list full time jobs also. May get lucky. I put an application in when I started to look for a job, back when I was living in Pennsylvania, as a joke. The joke was on me, I got hired and over 30 years later I am retired.........

VISITOR SERVICES INFORMATION ASSISTANT
This position is located on a Forest Service unit. The incumbent provides customer service and information of both a general and/or technical nature in support of a variety of forest services activities and programs. This is a continuously open vacancy announcement for one or more locations througho
Department:Department Of AgricultureAgency:Forest ServiceOpen Period:1/3/2013 to 1/2/2014Who May Apply: US Citizens; no prior Federal experience is required. Location(s):Multiple Locations (780)
Salary:$15.00 - $15.00 / Per HourSeries & Grade:GS-1001-5/5Position Info: Full Time - Temporary Control Number:334705200JOA Number:TEMPOCR-1001-5-VIS-DT
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