I'm getting torn apart in the poverty and poor subreddits. I apparently need to pull myself up by my bootstraps and my local job market has NOTHING to do with why I can't find a job!
I'm applying for every work from home job I even meet a single requiremet for. I'm barely getting any interviews. And when I do get them I use the STAR method but I keep getting passed over because my background is almost all restaurant management. Nobody wants to take a chance on someone switching careers now, and nobody wants to actually train.
I am applying for local jobs too.
Except, my local job market is absolutely brutal. My city is one of the worst in the nation for just about everything. I'm in Cleveland Ohio. For every 10 job postings you see, maybe two are companies actually looking to hire. So which two are they? No way to know. So you just apply apply apply to every job you even might qualify for.
Except, most of the companies actually hiring are paying awful wages. $10.10 is minimum wage here. Most companies think they are doing excellent if they start you at $10.39. A lot don't advertise wages. Then if you get to the interview it's usually under $11 an hour. Or the ad says “up to $17 an hour!” That's pretty much always “with tips. If you get any.” Or “if you stay long enough and eventually get promoted to manager many years from now.”
Companies here consider $12 an hour “competitive wages”
The stadiums and arenas for the sports teams here rely heavily on volunteers who are at local drug rehabs or doing court ordered community service. The few paid employees have erratic schedules that are part time but so erratic there is no way to do anything other than gig work on the side. The pay starts at $10.29 an hour for insane working conditions (no breaks even during 13 hour shifts, no air conditioning in the summer no heat in the winter, hot all black heavy uniforms, no shorts, if you need a jacket in cold weather you have to buy it, no employee discount even on food. One meal a day is comped but it's not stadium food. They microwave some frozen burgers and brats, and microwave GFS pizza and you get 2 items. If you want a drink that's your second item. So a 13 hour shift and you get a plain burger and a can of Pepsi for the whole shift. No free drinks even water. Have to pay $4 a bottle. You can bring reusable water bottles but they are often stolen, same with coolers)
Meanwhile, along with the awful working conditions, there are literally homeless people living in tents directly outside these stadiums where millionaires play games.
Every day all over town you see the sheriff's putting people out on the street. Every week another business shuts down.
I have 34 days to come up with my house payment or I will default. I get food stamps, I'm in school online full time (it's online flexible college and I can still work full time and I let employers know this) and get I loans and stipends but i can't afford to live anymore. Everything is so expensive. I have a disabled teen, I'm sick with an autoimmune disease but still doing my best to get full time work, (we don't qualify for disability I've tried many times) I'm limited some too because I can't drive. I have vision issues that don't usually bother me day to day but let's just say it's very unsafe if I'm driving and the sun gets in my eyes or headlights hit me directly in the face. There are no lenses that help. I have damage to my retinas from medication to get my autoimmune disease under control. Bright light hits my eyes directly and I lose vision for up to 30 seconds.
I'm tired y'all.