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 like what Datafeed said earlier, about meeting right person in Vegas. I think that's one of the things that draws me to Vegas. Knowing, you could meet a powerful person. Going the extra mile, the slightest thank you, at the right moment & time could make all the difference. For some odd reason, those a generation/half generation above me (I'm 29), generally seem to like me more, and I get along with them better more often than not. I even prefer to date women in their 40s. I'm an old soul they say.
Another thing, I have an outgoing personality, I'm friendly, I'm not a jerk of any sort (and I'm sure Vegas has a lot). I genuinely care about people and I think people know that. I'm not a pushover either by any means. I'd be willing to be a barback (I have bartended before - although it was restaurant bartending which is slower, but I've seen slow bars in Vegas ebfore), although I can see the competition being difficult for that as well, probably having very experienced bartenders from elsewhere willing to barback.
The main problem is, where I'm at right now in Iowa, with a basic liberal arts degree, there is simply not much available besides "pay to get hired" sales insurance jobs for someone with a liberal arts degree. I've tried that, it's not for me, although the money is good for some people. I also don't mind working nights, and may even prefer it. Vegas is a 24 hour city, and this only helps me.
What would be the bottom to simply work in a hotel as receptionist? I'd even be willing to work in the laundry room - as a start. I'm not happy with my current situation making barely above minimum wage as a part-time graphic designer and need a change.
I like what Datafeed said earlier, about meeting right person in Vegas. I think that's one of the things that draws me to Vegas. Knowing, you could meet a powerful person. Going the extra mile, the slightest thank you, at the right moment & time could make all the difference.
Nice fantasy. But, for the umpteenth time: It doesn't work that way. If you met Steve Wynn tomorrow -- and impressed the hell out of him -- you'd still get the same lower-level job and then have to work your way up. Steve Wynn isn't going to put some newbie into a good position at one of his casinos. Not happening because it's a risk -- and there's already too many people with juice ahead of you in line.
You get in somewhere. You work your way up and into the position you want. That's it. Quit the pipe dreams about a casino owner adopting you as his protege. Las Vegas does not work like the book "Billy Bathgate."
Nice fantasy. But, for the umpteenth time: It doesn't work that way. If you met Steve Wynn tomorrow -- and impressed the hell out of him -- you'd still get the same lower-level job and then have to work your way up. Steve Wynn isn't going to put some newbie into a good position at one of his casinos. Not happening because it's a risk -- and there's already too many people with juice ahead of you in line.
You get in somewhere. You work your way up and into the position you want. That's it. Quit the pipe dreams about a casino owner adopting you as his protege. Las Vegas does not work like the book "Billy Bathgate."
I wouldn't expect him to either. Yet, I don't have your Nihilist viewpoint that everyone basically has nothing to offer until they prove themselves for years in the lowest position possible. While it may not happen overnight, the right person can help you astronomically...that's true in any facet of life.
I wouldn't expect him to either. Yet, I don't have your Nihilist viewpoint that everyone basically has nothing to offer until they prove themselves for years in the lowest position possible. While it may not happen overnight, the right person can help you astronomically...that's true in any facet of life.
I never said it took YEARS.
If you're good enough, it only takes months. But it DOES take time. There's no getting around that. I have already suggested that Las Vegas is probably not the town for you. Based on your recent posts, I stand by this suggestion.
I get the point, the "deck is stacked against you" - pardon the pun.
What about getting a job in another part of Las Vegas in a non-gaming industry? Carpet cleaning? Office assistant? Furniture salesperson? Vacuum salesperson?
Please don't tell me you need "juice" to work at Best Buy or Target.
Please don't tell me you need "juice" to work at Best Buy or Target.
You sure has hell do need juice. Target and Best Buy offer benefits. There's a line out the door for those jobs. You'd better have "local work experience" juice -- or get hired at a Best Buy elsewhere and transfer in.
Most people in the HR department think you're going to bail on this city in less than a year. That might be true. It might be false. But it doesn't matter -- BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO DO THE HIRING THINK YOU'RE GOING TO BAIL IN LESS THAN A YEAR. You need juice -- verifiable local work history is step one. Nobody here gives a damn about your work experience in Podunk, USA. They ONLY care about your Las Vegas work experience. You take any job you can get. And then you work your way up, sideways, whatever until you're doing what you want to do.
But you know what, quit asking questions. Just move here. I'm sure you'll get a seven-figure job and be driving a Lamborghini within a couple days of arriving. Just write "Omniscient Demigod" under "Previous Work Experience." Because obviously everything is going to go exactly the way you want it to go. When you're "Vice President of Looking Really Cool," I'll be sure to salute you in the EDR.
You sure has hell do need juice. Target and Best Buy offer benefits. There's a line out the door for those jobs. You'd better have "local work experience" juice -- or get hired at a Best Buy elsewhere and transfer in.
Most people in the HR department think you're going to bail on this city in less than a year. That might be true. It might be false. But it doesn't matter -- BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO DO THE HIRING THINK YOU'RE GOING TO BAIL IN LESS THAN A YEAR. You need juice -- verifiable local work history is step one. Nobody here gives a damn about your work experience in Podunk, USA. They ONLY care about your Las Vegas work experience. You take any job you can get. And then you work your way up, sideways, whatever until you're doing what you want to do.
But you know what, quit asking questions. Just move here. I'm sure you'll get a seven-figure job and be driving a Lamborghini within a couple days of arriving. Just write "Omniscient Demigod" under "Previous Work Experience." Because obviously everything is going to go exactly the way you want it to go. When you're "Vice President of Looking Really Cool," I'll be sure to salute you in the EDR.
Let's drop the Biff/McFly dynamic for a second. It's getting old.
You're telling me, that getting any job is significantly harder in Las Vegas than everywhere else in the country. I wouldn't consider Chicago to be "Podunk USA". I also understand a liberal arts degree is nothing impressive...but it should at least help somewhat for an entry-level job, unless the previous poster was right, about employers preferring "dumb". That could very well be true. Vegas is not known to be an educated city like SF, Boston, Seattle.
It seems as if the only thing that matters is verifiable work history in Las Vegas for any entry-level job. Essentially, an illegal immigrant who can prove they've worked in landscaping (as long as it was local) has a better chance at being considered for anything than someone college educated, well-spoken and that appears professional, the problem being, that person has no verifiable work history in Las Vegas.
You do realize if this were completely true...new people would not have moved to Las Vegas from 2000-2010 how they did.
According to the Census Bureau, Las Vegas metro added 575,504 people from 2000-2010. While the growth has probably slowed down lately (and this is not just a Las Vegas phenomenon), the city keeps growing. It is statistically impossible that everyone must have "juice" for any opportunity - if that were the case, the city would not have grown how it has.
I like what Datafeed said earlier, about meeting right person in Vegas. I think that's one of the things that draws me to Vegas. Knowing, you could meet a powerful person. Going the extra mile, the slightest thank you, at the right moment & time could make all the difference. For some odd reason, those a generation/half generation above me (I'm 29), generally seem to like me more, and I get along with them better more often than not. I even prefer to date women in their 40s. I'm an old soul they say.
Another thing, I have an outgoing personality, I'm friendly, I'm not a jerk of any sort (and I'm sure Vegas has a lot). I genuinely care about people and I think people know that. I'm not a pushover either by any means. I'd be willing to be a barback (I have bartended before - although it was restaurant bartending which is slower, but I've seen slow bars in Vegas ebfore), although I can see the competition being difficult for that as well, probably having very experienced bartenders from elsewhere willing to barback.
The main problem is, where I'm at right now in Iowa, with a basic liberal arts degree, there is simply not much available besides "pay to get hired" sales insurance jobs for someone with a liberal arts degree. I've tried that, it's not for me, although the money is good for some people. I also don't mind working nights, and may even prefer it. Vegas is a 24 hour city, and this only helps me.
What would be the bottom to simply work in a hotel as receptionist? I'd even be willing to work in the laundry room - as a start. I'm not happy with my current situation making barely above minimum wage as a part-time graphic designer and need a change.
Who told you it was a good idea to get a liberal arts degree? Okay, that sounded meaner than I intended it - but this is one hard, ugly, town that will take you down- given the opportunity. Don't give it the opportunity , and you have no problem. Stay in Iowa.
I never cared for engineering, and never had the discipline for a scientific major. Even a liberal arts degree - in a city where only 18.9% of residents have any sort of college degree - should help for something.
Gentlemen--one thing we should all note is that everyone has their own reality and perspective. Full stop. Scoop is likely correct in that paying your dues is generally the safe bet to getting a desirable job. Does that mean that 100% of the people with desirable jobs in Vegas started from the bottom up? Nope. It's preposterous to assert otherwise.
When people speak in generalities be critical. When people speak in absolute certainties be doubtful.
the old school vegas hands are knowledgeable but slightly jaded. I would be too if I lived there fulltime and worked where they worked. They see 1000s of young bucks each year running to the neon signs with hopes of wealth and advancement and see many of them fail and become destitute and demoralized within a year.
"Success" in Vegas is also temporal and often fleeting I have observed. a lot of rags to riches to nothing stories.
My tenet there has not paid me rent in a few months shy of a year not because she wont but because she can't. She lost her job as medium end cocktail waitress and now works a crappy shift at a crappy property. I am sure she made 100k plus very recently.
So the accumulation of favors by working hard and being honorable--or "juice" as some refer to it--is important. But this is true everywhere.
Vegas is a tough city. A fun city. But is has litttle compassion for the downtrodden. People there are vacuous, prone too flakiness, self-absorbed, and many of them have wayward moral compasses.
But can you make it? Heck yea you can. And you can create your own reality. if I was a betting man I would bet against you, but you are not playing the odds, you are playing for yourself.
It's imprudent to bet on being lucky. But some can be at certain times.
another thing: do you really think the people that got "lucky" and landed sweet gigs by not paying their dues are posting on CD? A certain type of person posts on forums...just like if you were to read the comments in the WaPo it makes our country appear to me primarily populated by nutty right wingers who are obsessed with controlling women's bodies and loony liberals who think taxing and spending is the 11th commandment.
Take the above for what it's worth, but ultimately, you will determine your own fate not cyber banter.
Never let a naysayer dissuade you. Never. But understand that some things work out and others don't.
On an entirely different note: Have you considered teaching English abroad? You can make between 1500-2500 a month tax free with a college degree.
I am in Bangkok now and it's not a bad place..an awesome lifestyle where you can live like a king for a fraction of us prices.
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.
