Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A couple of jobs are jumping out at me... Apprentice carpenter, apprentice electrician, apprentice plumber, framer, landscaper, oilfield worker, landman, deckhand, janitor, bartender, waiter, mechanic and several more that I'm not thinking of.
When things like this are suggested, a common response is "I didn't go to college just to do that kind of work" but I'm pretty sure you didn't go to college just to further burden your parents after graduation either. Also, taking a dirty job doesn't mean that you will be taking a dirty career. I think you are a lot more likely to get the attention of someone who can help you in the future by walking into his or her home wearing a tool belt than you are surfing the internet for jobs.
Just my $0.02.
Most of those (plumbing, carpentry, electrician, mechanic) require further training that I cannot currently afford.
They also are largely male dominated occupations. While I don't typically buy into the idea of gendered occupations, when I was looking into training as a plumber a few years ago, most actual plumbers I know said it would be insurmountably more difficult as a woman to be taken seriously and find employment than a man.
It also doesn't help that my hand/eye coordination skills are nil. I have NEVER been good with my hands- that's the reason I went to college rather than trade school.
I've been applying for waitressing and janitor jobs. Bartending is out- family history of alcoholism and I really can't be in that environment.
Last edited by charolastra00; 08-17-2010 at 01:42 PM..
Also, in case you haven't checked, America's birthrate is hovering just under the replacement rate, and it is lower than that in most of Europe. India and Africa are still the areas experiencing major population growth. If anything my kids and grandkids will have less "Americans" and "Westerners" to compete with than I do.
Have you heard of globalization?
Do you really think that it matters one single drop WHO is multiplying out of control, who is just going at replacement rate and whose population is actually decreasing?
OVERALL, the Earth population continues to grow like mad and this is really all that matters.
By the way, America's birth rate is absolutely NOT below that of Europe.
I don't care where you got your statistics from, they are wrong.
Overall, Americans still have significantly more children than Europeans do.
But having more competition means there are more people driving the economy.
Who's this lady, "the economy"?
And why would I give a d**n if this lady is "driven" anywhere, if most people have to work 1000 times harder, to compete with 1000 times more competitors, for 1000 times less overall well-being than when the economy was not "driven" by this avalanche of desperate human beings turned mad bees in a beehive?
As a parent, I would, if I could. Why wouldn't I want my children to live a life protected from the indignities and humiliations of rabid global competition?
Because it's only through those indignities and humiliations that they become strong enough to compete in the rabid gobal competition.
Most of those (plumbing, carpentry, electrician, mechanic) require further training that I cannot currently afford.
Because you have that almighty college degree that is, at this point, useless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charloastra
They also are largely male dominated occupations. While I don't typically buy into the idea of gendered occupations, when I was looking into training as a plumber a few years ago, most actual plumbers I know said it would be insurmountably more difficult as a woman to be taken seriously and find employment than a man.
How many actual plumbers do you know? Did it occur to you they don't want women in their trade so said that to discourage you? Why do you have no courage?
Quote:
Originally Posted by charolastra
It also doesn't help that my hand/eye coordination skills are nil. I have NEVER been good with my hands- that's the reason I went to college rather than trade school.
And got that useless degree. Stop using excuses and do what you have to do to support yourself. You find excuses for everything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by syracusa
And why would I give a d**n if this lady is "driven" anywhere, if most people have to work 1000 times harder, to compete with 1000 times more competitors, for 1000 times less overall well-being than when the economy was not "driven" by this avalanche of desperate human beings turned mad bees in a beehive?
My daughter was saying that she would like to have been born 100 years ago but had the technology of today. I reminded her of how things evolve. Her point was to take things back to when there were a lot less people and things weren't politically correct, people were thicker skinned and worked harder.
Because it's only through those indignities and humiliations that they become strong enough to compete in the rabid gobal competition.
Well...in my ideal world, I would want them in a position where they would NOT have to compete at all. Granted they will never be in that position, I am certainly doing my best to equip them with all possible "advantages", but guess what? So does everyone else.
You do realize that the very concept of "rabid global competition" implies the absolute CERTAINTY that only very few will come out on top whereas everyone else's lives will be increasingly subject to sucky outcomes. It's math, nothing else.
After all, if most people were still able to live satisfactory lives even without being at the very top, the rat race would not be that rabid in the first place.
The 21st century will be the century of "winner-takes-all" .
Who has a stake in the competition being rabid, after all?
Certainly not those supplying the competitors, huh?
Giving one's offspring "advantages", and exposing them to the humiliations and indignities of the global market is simply an incomplete and myopic solution. You can do that all right, but in addition, we all need to reproduce less, so that human competition will remain healthy and useful, as opposed to rabid and conducive to fratricide.
Make no mistake about it, this is exactly where we are heading, unless we've already arrived.
I have done it several times before and will do it again, at the risk of being suspected of commercial interests or connections with the author.
Here's the link, read the book. Yes, the author is smarter than you and me, and most of us, and he has something to teach us, really worth teaching.
Because you have that almighty college degree that is, at this point, useless.
I don't know how saying that I do not have the money to pay for training in any way links to having a "useless degree". I got a $40,000 a year merit scholarship for said useless degree. I'm not in debt because I worked hard to avoid it- I can't understand why ANYONE would encourage a going into debt for a job that someone would only do until they could get into their field of choice. I'm not going to grad school right out of undergrad like most people I know because I don't want to be more over-educated and lack experience with a debt load. Law school- what I geared my ENTIRE life towards from about 6th grade on- is perhaps permanently out of the question due to the abysmal law market.
If I can't find even a part time job now, how am I going to pay for trade classes? Or get to class (no public transportation here)? My parents certainly aren't going to take me.
Quote:
How many actual plumbers do you know? Did it occur to you they don't want women in their trade so said that to discourage you? Why do you have no courage?
So, not wanting to go into a career I was really never interested in in the first place because it will be difficult to break into shows I have a lack of courage? Interesting. You know little about me but "no courage" is not a way that anyone would describe me. Financially prudent, however, is. I only looked into plumbing as a possible alternative when I realized that law school would not be a good investment when the economy tanked and when I saw a few programs that offered free training to women in trades (ended up not qualifying based on said "useless degree"). I spoke to about 15 plumbers- including family members who have no incentive to not tell me the truth (and also live out of state)- including the facilities guys at my university. There are currently programs out there to get women into the field because they only make up about 10% which is what sparked my interest.
Sure, I guess they could have discouraged me because they were afraid of their jobs. After all, everyone out there is conspiring against me. It was only a fleeting interest- after I discovered that I couldn't get the training with all expenses paid (so therefore no waste of money to me), work at it for a few years until the economy turned around, and then go onto the field I wanted, I lost interest.
The plumbing industry (and many of the trades listed) are closely linked with construction. Sure sounds like a great investment to me.
Quote:
And got that useless degree. Stop using excuses and do what you have to do to support yourself. You find excuses for everything.
I'm not making excuses. I'm looking actively looking for jobs. In fact, however dire the situation is in the immediate sense, I am one of the final candidates for several jobs I interviewed for out of state last week. Jobs I only got first interviews for BECAUSE of my "useless degree". I am waiting for follow up phone interviews for one and the results for the others. Even in waiting for those jobs (all of which are in my ideal field), I'm going to a local fast food open interview day on Friday and applied in person to another grocery store today. I also got in contact with the small alumni chapter of my university in Atlanta here to offer to organize a networking get together.
I am not yet willing, not even 3 months after college graduation, to call the whole thing a wash and go waste more money on further training in fields I have no interest in remaining in. Taking more classes doesn't solve the IMMEDIATE problem of not having a job or a way of supporting myself.
In any case, I didn't want to make this whole thread about me- much less an attack on what I do. I just wanted to give my point of view as someone who fit the mold of the OP- severely depressed and in their early 20s. I am sorry that some of you feel the need to find fault in absolutely everything I say.
Most of those (plumbing, carpentry, electrician, mechanic) require further training that I cannot currently afford.
They also are largely male dominated occupations. While I don't typically buy into the idea of gendered occupations, when I was looking into training as a plumber a few years ago, most actual plumbers I know said it would be insurmountably more difficult as a woman to be taken seriously and find employment than a man.
It also doesn't help that my hand/eye coordination skills are nil. I have NEVER been good with my hands- that's the reason I went to college rather than trade school.
I've been applying for waitressing and janitor jobs. Bartending is out- family history of alcoholism and I really can't be in that environment.
That's what the men who dominate my occupation said to me, when I started my career. In fact, not only did they dominate, I was the only woman in the country I grew up in to do that job at that time, and there are still very few of us - in the world - 25 years later. The only reason that is so is because women have bought into this nonsense. I put up with whatever condescending BS they tried to throw at me, and had a sense of humor about it, and never complained. You need to grow some of what they have, and not use them as an excuse. (Yes, you are). There is not one man I work with now that would dare question my absolute right to be where I am today. Women have blazed the trail for you in just about all fields, you don't get to use that excuse any more.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have NEVER been good with my hands- that's the reason I went to college rather than trade school.
It was only a fleeting interest- after I discovered that I couldn't get the training with all expenses paid (so therefore no waste of money to me), work at it for a few years until the economy turned around, and then go onto the field I wanted, I lost interest.
