I went to school and learned a skilled trade. I graduated last spring from my local community college carrying a 4.0 GPA. Without any experience I wasn't getting much response to my applications, so I went to work doing maintenance in a factory.
I had a friend tell me about a job in my field. I have my resume on the employment websites, the next day I actually got an e-mail alert about this job my friend told me about. It was a temp to hire through Express Employment Service. I applied and they called me the same day. I even interviewed that afternoon. They told me the pay, the hours, and the length of the probationary period before I would be hired full time. I can negotiate my pay with the business owner if I'm hired full time. It's a cut in pay but it's the same pay as if I was starting in a union shop as an apprentice. I meet the guy I would be working for, and I get offered the job. He's a good guy who has an account with a lot of work, so I take the job.
The new boss is great to work for, but the big account is totally chaos. They don't answer phones, don't bring materials from their warehouse, their scheduling of us is terrible, show up to locked up jobsites, and more. The first week I only get about 33 hrs but hey I get off early Friday afternoon. The next week isn't any busier and come payday I find my payrate is at least $1.50 less than what I was told. Time to put more applications. After the first of the year, I start getting contacted by places I had applied. I interviewed a couple places. One of the interviewers I told I wasn't looking for part time, but I wasn't looking to live there either. Gave him my salary requirements and told him that if I had a chance to go to work at one of the other places, I had applied I would probably leave. They stepped up and offered me almost double the increase in pay over my job was paying.
I accepted the written offer and went in to quit the next day. I told the boss I was contracted to about the pay situation, and he was totally floored. He was a great guy to work for. Express screwed us both.