Is it almost useless to look for jobs if you have no experience or degree?

My first response would be “no, everyone has to start somewhere.” But I think we need a little more insight? Maybe provide us with a background story? What kinds of jobs are you talking about?

a job where I don’t have to stand. that seems to be the hard part. places like burger king and wal-mart are always hiring but i can’t work there.
employers want you to have experience when no one will hire you :(

I think a lot can be made up for with how you present yourself. I’ve picked up jobs with no experience doing that specific job from employers that weren’t even hiring at the time all because of how I presented myself and the skills I do have.

@FGS yep

Not at all.
But maybe don’t start by applying for a job as a surgeon.

@fireside funny…

When I first started working I was hired at Ross Dress for Less. They preferred that I didn’t have experience so they could train me how they wanted. They also worked with people with disabilities. So if you needed a chair to cashier they would provide it that type of thing. There are quite a few jobs that will hire someone without experience. Just keep up the work. You should be applying for At Least one job a day. If you have a disability that keeps you from standing then you can work with a disability services company that will help you find a suitable job.

It may be tougher right now because of the economy, but you can usually get into paralegal or medical transcription with little to no experience.

In today’s economy, it is almost useless to look for jobs if you had 10 PhD’s!

I concur. I have a Bachelor’s degree, 5 years customer service, 2 years social service, 2 years program coordination and multitudes of awards and trainings. At 26. And I’ve been looking for a job for a long time now. I was told I wasn’t qualified to work in a supermarket although I was led to believe I was overqualified for the job. This economy is making it very difficult to find a job.

@RedPowerLady I have never understood the whole “over qualified” thing. What exactly does that mean? It seems pretty illogical to me.

Generally, it means that you are too smart to be happy in a job that will stifle you and force you to be subservient to someone who is probably below your level on intellect and/or achievement.

@FGS I hate it and barely understand it myself. But i’ve had some people explain it to me, including people that run their own companies. There are two major responses I get. One is that they assume if you are overqualified you won’t work for them long, you’ll be looking for better opportunities. In my circumstance I made it VERY clear that was not the case. The other is that they don’t hire you because they assume you will move up in the company too quickly thus threatening their job. I don’t know, that’s just what I was told. And it is so annoying.

@fireside LOL. Now that is a good answer. But some of us don’t care if we are subservient we just need the money and the benefits. I’d put up with most anything right now to get that. LOL

@RedPowerLady – I would imagine that you are not alone in your desire to just want work. Look at all the people with advanced degrees who are applying to the 2010 Census because of the pay.

@fireside I almost applied to the Census as well. So many of my well educated friends told me to do so. But I just couldn’t get around the idea of knocking on doors. Now I don’t know if that is what you do for the census but that is the image that it conjured up in my mind.

@RedPowerLady – Pretty sure that is most of it. But it pays $25/hour, I think.

@fireside Great Pay. I just have too much anxiety already in my life to add to it by talking to strangers door to door. But I can’t knock anyone else for doing it. I’d do it if I had the guts.

Almost useless these days, but not completely!