Entry-level job market in Phoenix (Tucson: transplants, high school, wages)

[kiplin2212]

I am currently a junior at an average state school in Ohio. I would really like to move to Phoenix as soon as possible (I graduate May 2018). I am double majoring in statistics and sociology (an odd combo but hopefully a marketable one). I have knowledge of several stats and non-stats programming languages (R, SPSS, C++, Python, SAS, etc.), and I've had a finance internship. Is there any way I could get a job in Phoenix coming out of school? I do not have a set career path yet, and I'd honestly take anything I could get.


Also, how would I go about contacting employers? Online applications, emailed resumes? Thanks.

[ScottsdaleMark]

I think trying to find an internship this summer in Phoenix is your best bet for now. Look at the websites for all the companies in your field(s) that you see listed as having locations in Phoenix. We have a lot of banks which might work for statistics/programming, and we definitely have all the usual social-services stuff, although I imagine those places mostly offer non-paid internships since money is usually tight in the social services.

[JGMotorsport64]

Craigslist, Indeed, and Jobing.com are places to start. You have marketable skills. In what is up to you, but this is a large city.

The entry level job market can be rough, but you might be lucky to find yourself in the right place. And fortunately for you, Ohio and Ohio State have some reach here.

As for social services indicated above, they can't hire enough people to do that work, pay is crap but there is always an opening in the private industry. But with a statistics background you're probably looking for something in business.

[kiplin2212]

Thanks for the advice on the internships. I think I'll do just that.

[LBTRS]

It is amazing how hard it is to find employees these days. Everyone is holding out for a management position I guess.

I put on a open house/job fair today at my company. We had 433 inquires prior to the event, 63 confirmed they would be there after we weeded out those that were not qualified, and only 9 people showed up. We only hired three of them.

We had a gal show up to an interview yesterday in slippers and sweat pants. Another brought four kids to the interview and asked the receptionist to watch them when she went in with the manager for the interview. We told her she would need to reschedule when she was able to come in alone as the receptionist had a job to do and could not watch her kids. She was very offended.

Today we offered a dishwasher position to a kid that had recently dropped out of high school. He had no work history, no experience and no education. We offered him the position at $8.50/hr and he countered with $15/hr and said "my final offer is $14.50/hr". I walked him to the exit as he continued to tell me that all his friends were making $15/hr and that is the "going rate".

Hiring for entry level positions is the least favorite part of my job.

[ScottsdaleMark]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

It is amazing how hard it is to find employees these days. Everyone is holding out for a management position I guess.

I put on a open house/job fair today at my company. We had 433 inquires prior to the event, 63 confirmed they would be there after we weeded out those that were not qualified, and only 9 people showed up. We only hired three of them.

We had a gal show up to an interview yesterday in slippers and sweat pants. Another brought four kids to the interview and asked the receptionist to watch them when she went in with the manager for the interview. We told her she would need to reschedule when she was able to come in alone as the receptionist had a job to do and could not watch her kids. She was very offended.

Today we offered a dishwasher position to a kid that had recently dropped out of high school. He had no work history, no experience and no education. We offered him the position at $8.50/hr and he countered with $15/hr and said "my final offer is $14.50/hr". I walked him to the exit as he continued to tell me that all his friends were making $15/hr and that is the "going rate".

Hiring for entry level positions is the least favorite part of my job.

Wow, I can't even imagine. Don't you love how the kid with no experience is trying to tell the hiring manager what the going rate is? You'd be a hit over on the Work and Employment forum with anecdotes like that.

Some people are just out of touch with reality, I've learned that over and over again. You can tell them a rule over and over again, have them sign that they read the policy, give them escalating warnings, whatever, and then when the ultimate consequence comes due, they're surprised or angry.

That $15/hr thing had to make your day, though. That's an evergreen anecdote for sure.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

We had a gal show up to an interview yesterday in slippers and sweat pants. Another brought four kids to the interview and asked the receptionist to watch them when she went in with the manager for the interview. We told her she would need to reschedule when she was able to come in alone as the receptionist had a job to do and could not watch her kids. She was very offended.

Public Assistance requires people to at least interview for a position, it doesn't require them to prepare properly for an interview. That would be my guess...otherwise why would you show up to an interview like this?

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Public Assistance requires people to at least interview for a position, it doesn't require them to prepare properly for an interview. That would be my guess...otherwise why would you show up to an interview like this?

Yes, we hire for some low level entry positions at my company. We get tons of applications and when we call back for an interview they just say no. They don't even ask what it pays or anything, the application was just to satisfy the gub-ment.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

It is amazing how hard it is to find employees these days. Everyone is holding out for a management position I guess.

I put on a open house/job fair today at my company. We had 433 inquires prior to the event, 63 confirmed they would be there after we weeded out those that were not qualified, and only 9 people showed up. We only hired three of them.

We had a gal show up to an interview yesterday in slippers and sweat pants. Another brought four kids to the interview and asked the receptionist to watch them when she went in with the manager for the interview. We told her she would need to reschedule when she was able to come in alone as the receptionist had a job to do and could not watch her kids. She was very offended.

Today we offered a dishwasher position to a kid that had recently dropped out of high school. He had no work history, no experience and no education. We offered him the position at $8.50/hr and he countered with $15/hr and said "my final offer is $14.50/hr". I walked him to the exit as he continued to tell me that all his friends were making $15/hr and that is the "going rate".

Hiring for entry level positions is the least favorite part of my job.

Well it appears that you are working at a restaurant...? Or maybe like a hospital that has a cafeteria of some sort? That might be why you are getting these people. It's not like food service attracts the Ivy League kids.

I am going to graduate soon and I will be job hunting, right now I have found out that I need to return to Phoenix for the spring semester so I am trying to find internships up there. My networking has been in Tucson, so despite Phoenix being a bigger city, my professional connections are down here. It's pretty much back to square one. I will have a couple internships and professional certifications too on my resume already, but it's a tough world out there. I worry about being able to get an internship especially at such a sudden notice that I didn't prepare for. Otherwise I would have started internship hunting in Phoenix a month ago, instead of in Tucson.

Also because of another thing that has come up, it will need to be paid. That narrows it down even more. I am trying to milk my connections down here in Tucson for help but there are NO positions being posted for internships in Phoenix even remotely related to my field, despite Phoenix being the state capital and offering the most opportunity for my field based on that alone. There are, however, internships in Tucson.

To be honest if that kid was trying to live on his own, he couldn't do it on 8.50, but he probably could at 14.50, maybe... Wages in Phoenix particularly SUCK compared to the COL. It's much better in Tucson where comparable jobs have the same pay scale, but Tucson is 25% cheaper than the national average for housing. Phoenix isn't even nearly that close. Obviously Tucson has less jobs, but also isn't being bought out by transplants from more expensive areas, which is why Tucson gets away at that market rate.

The opposite is true in my field by the way, with all the jobs being posted for management asking for 5-10+ years of experience and nothing in the "specialist" level so to speak. I would love to be in a field that is more "bottom heavy" at this point in time, for job listings.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

Well it appears that you are working at a restaurant...? Or maybe like a hospital that has a cafeteria of some sort? That might be why you are getting these people. It's not like food service attracts the Ivy League kids.

I am going to graduate soon and I will be job hunting, right now I have found out that I need to return to Phoenix for the spring semester so I am trying to find internships up there. My networking has been in Tucson, so despite Phoenix being a bigger city, my professional connections are down here. It's pretty much back to square one. I will have a couple internships and professional certifications too on my resume already, but it's a tough world out there. I worry about being able to get an internship especially at such a sudden notice that I didn't prepare for. Otherwise I would have started internship hunting in Phoenix a month ago, instead of in Tucson.

Also because of another thing that has come up, it will need to be paid. That narrows it down even more. I am trying to milk my connections down here in Tucson for help but there are NO positions being posted for internships in Phoenix even remotely related to my field, despite Phoenix being the state capital and offering the most opportunity for my field based on that alone. There are, however, internships in Tucson.

To be honest if that kid was trying to live on his own, he couldn't do it on 8.50, but he probably could at 14.50, maybe... Wages in Phoenix particularly SUCK compared to the COL. It's much better in Tucson where comparable jobs have the same pay scale, but Tucson is 25% cheaper than the national average for housing. Phoenix isn't even nearly that close. Obviously Tucson has less jobs, but also isn't being bought out by transplants from more expensive areas, which is why Tucson gets away at that market rate.

The opposite is true in my field by the way, with all the jobs being posted for management asking for 5-10+ years of experience and nothing in the "specialist" level so to speak. I would love to be in a field that is more "bottom heavy" at this point in time, for job listings.

The thread is about "entry level positions" and in the case I'm talking about it is a uneducated, no experience, applicant. I'm not looking for Ivey League, I'm looking for someone that wants to work. The director of that department started as a dishwasher in our facility 10 years ago and has worked up. Same for the manager in that department that works under the director. It is called entry level for a reason.

I'm the HR Director for a medical facility that operates three kitchens and 8 dining rooms. We have cooks, prep cooks, servers, and dishwashers along with 300 other non food service positions.

When you drop out of high school, have no work history, no experience and no education...you don't get to "live on your own". You share a place with four other people, you drive a beater, you eat ramen, and you gain experience and move up the wage scale and to bigger and better positions.