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I recently graduated with a B.A. in liberal arts, which basically means I'm underqualified for 49.5% of jobs out there and overqualified for 49.5% of the jobs out there.
Due to the fact that I desperately need money and have grown tired of searching for that magical 1% in this terrible economy, I have recently begun applying for those 49.5% of jobs that don't require any sort of college degree. Since I plan on going back to school in a year, I can live with working for minimum wage, as long as it's full-time. But, unfortunately, I can't even find full-time work that pays minimum wage. I've had interviews with Toys-R-Us and Sears and they both have said to me that only managers are hired full-time.
Is this policy true for most big name chain stores? Why don't they hire full-time employees? Is it a way for corporate to weasel out of giving their store employees benefits and health insurance?
If you want to consider food services instead of retail I believe Starbuck's gives benefits to p/t workers over 20-25 hours/week. My wife worked 25-30 hours/week at Pizza Hut for about a year and got limited benefits, but I think they did away with that.
Even if the economy weren't in the gutter, what were you planning on doing with a BA in Liberal Arts?
To be more specific my degree was Sociology and English. I've applying to media companies, publishers, market research, and social service orgs with minimal luck.
But ever since sophomore year I've been really interested in renewable energy, and I plan on going back to school to get an A.A.S. in that field. So I'm not really looking to translate my B.A. into a career right now. Just trying to find any decent full-time job.
To be more specific my degree was Sociology and English. I've applying to media companies, publishers, market research, and social service orgs with minimal luck.
But ever since sophomore year I've been really interested in renewable energy, and I plan on going back to school to get an A.A.S. in that field. So I'm not really looking to translate my B.A. into a career right now. Just trying to find any decent full-time job.
Before investing any more time or money into education, I'd take a good luck at the jobs in renewable energy and make sure they don't require a BS.
That hasn't been my experience. I work part-time/seasonal for Barnes & Noble and have been with the same store for about 5 years. They'll hire full-time booksellers, but only if/when they need them, and that's the catch. You gotta hit them when they have a need for full-time help. During non-Christmas months (mid-January through late-September) the store doesn't really maintain a large staff, and not too many of them are full-time. There are 5 full-time managers, 1 full-time stockroom manager, 1 full-time cafe manager, 1 full-time community relations manager...then below those guys, there are probably a TOTAL of maybe 8 full-time employees. Everybody else is regular part-time or like me...old-timers who are willing to pick up shifts if the store calls and asks us. On the other hand, the store doesn't hire a full-timer unless it's replacing someone who's leaving. That's what I mean by you just gotta hit them when they need you. They definitely don't hire full-time during the Christmas season.
I've also worked at Crate & Barrel -- which I DEFINITELY recommend to you, if there is one near you, because they pay much better than most publicly owned retail stores -- and they maintained 15-25 full-time staffers at that particular store. (And seriously...if there's a Crate near you, apply. Crate is one of the few well-known retail stores that pays commission, and it doesn't matter what your title/position is. When I worked there, they set aside 1% of the day's sales and divided that amongst every employee who worked on the floor that day. I was a department manager and my base wage was $11.50 per hour, but with commission, I never made less than $13.50, and $15 was probably my average. At Christmas when we were busy, my hourly wage would jump up to about $19-$20 with the commission. Crate is privately owned and committed to their employees...not to anonymous stockholders. In comparison, when I left Crate and relocated and applied to Barnes & Noble, B&N offered me $6.75/hour. No commission.)
To be more specific my degree was Sociology and English.
Oh, okay. I thought you meant your degree was actually called "Liberal Arts". I went to a school that offered a BA in "General Studies" which was a ticket to nowhere. I thought perhaps you had one of those degrees.
Sociology and English are at least a little more applicable to something.
Foodservice and retail generally rip you off when it comes to hours and benefits. These companies make BILLIONS in ****ing profit, and all they have to show for it is a measly 7 bucks an hour?? Limited benefits (if any)? And not even getting 40 hours like you ASKED or wanted but 20-30? ****...
I remember when I got a job at Walmart (of all places), and I was able to work there for the summer before going back to Mizzou for the school year. I was a pretty competent employee, and I always showed up. However, for some STRANGE reason (even though they said I should reapply during Thanksgiving week, which I did), every time I reapplied, I didn't even get so much as a callback! Then I found out it was because they put OVEREMPHASIS on their dumbass online assessment. I had a "tier-2" score, which is ****ing ridiculous. I mean, how can you POSSIBLY judge someone's worth as an employee based on a stupid hypothetical test? Is this even scientific?
When I was working at Walmart, I'd generally only get about 28-32 hours a week, even though I ASKED for 40 (REAL full-time), but apparently they have a weird policy of not letting people work full-time until they pass some evaluation 90 days after hiring? It's so f*cked up. I remember hearing in many interviews as well, especially for Blockbuster (my most recent), that "only the manager is full-time", and everyone else is part-time, which makes no ****ing sense. If I want full-time, GIMME FULL-TIME! UGH! It makes your head spin.
I now work at Pizza Hut, and I've been there since last August. It's the worst job ever, and I'd quit if it weren't for the ****ty job market we currently have. I only get $7.45/hour to make pizzas almost every night of the week, and there's not a whole lot of fixed scheduling. It's based on "how busy are we on this day and who do we have working." It's even worse than Walmart in that regard.
And the benefits? HA! All I got offered was a 401k plan and health insurance!! NO VACATION DAYS, no nothing! I work damn near 30 hours a week, and from what I recall, Pizza Hut calls 30 hours "full time" or some **** like that, so why the hell can't I at least get a little MORE in terms of benefits?? I accidentally stumbled upon a list of benefits for PH managers on a website about 15 minutes ago, and obviously while they're much bigger than packages for regular employees, it's still pretty skimpy for that kinda position. Pay can be anywhere from a measly 27 grand to 45 grand (for a MANAGER??). My mom works as a freaking admin. assistant in an architectural firm (small or medium-sized), and she makes 43 grand a year!
I've also heard from sites like Ripoff Report (or some other job-related site) that a LOT of PH managers are really pissed off at upper-management for being treated like crap when they bust their asses trying to run the franchises. I guess it's no wonder it trickles down into ****ty pay and skimpy benefits for lower employees.
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