Getting a Job.

[Elenwen]

Aaaargh, I feel awful because I have no job--I feel guilty and embarrassed and miserable. I've decided that I'm tired of feeling like I'm mooching off everyone around me, and I'm tired of, when anyone asks me what I do for a living, I give the half-answer of "I'm a housewife." That doesn't fly very well in this age, it seems, especially as I have no kids of my own and I'm not really married, just living with my boyfriend. I feel like as soon as someone finds out I'm unemployed, I turn into a nobody--my opinion doesn't matter and everyone thinks I'm just a freeloader. Obviously I don't know if that's how people REALLY feel, but I do know that it's how I feel. Also, we need the extra money and I need health insurance desperately. So I need a job. There are a few problems with me getting a job though.

1) I'm 21 and the extent of my experience is a three-month stint at Wal-Mart and occasional dog-watching.
2) I have no references, and no one to ask to be my reference.
3) The job market here is relatively bad, though I have found a billiards place advertising for a night job (1 am to 9am) which sounds promising, and a pizza place that doesn't sound as promising, and a couple of customer service jobs that sound even less promising.
4) I don't have a driver's license, and most of the jobs I'm finding are not on the bus routes/need a license to even be considered. The reason the billiards place sounds so promising is that my boyfriend could easily drop me off/pick me up. I can't get a license any time soon because I don't even know how to drive, and because I can't get to the class that you have to take to get your permit, and because we don't have the MONEY for me to do any of it.
5) I don't have a phone for them to call me/for me to call them, and even if I did I don't know if I would answer with my phobia of phones.
6) Whenever I even THINK about actually having a job, rather than feeling excited and hopeful like a lot of people seem to, I have mild panic attacks, and if I start to think about what I would have to do to GET the job, and to think about what I would have to DO at a job, the mild panic attacks turn into major panic attacks.

Does anyone have any advice?

 

[untitled]

My advice probably isn't very good because i'm extremely unemployed and desperate right now, but with the references and resume thing, just lie.

My resume is full of jobs that never existed. They're jobs that don't really require any skill and I make out they were "small businesses" somewhere far away so they can't figure out that these businesses are actually imaginary. Just practice some things to say incase they ask you about it in the interview.

As for references, I'm sure you can find someone to pretend you worked for them. What about your boyfriend? I use my grandma and my cousin.

The phone thing sucks, you're probably going to need a phone but maybe you can convince them to deal with you only via email.

Even though it's incredibly boring, warehouse work requires very little social interaction and they generally don't care if you have bad social skills.

I hope you find something.

 

[anomicdeer]

I've NEVER had a job.

I've done a lot of applying and making phone calls too.

 

[OPERA]

just gotta put yourself out there

 

[lyricalliaisons]

I turned 28 almost a month ago & I have never had a job in my life, & not because I'm too lazy to get one, like most people think, but because I'm too scared to get one. I've been going to a place to help me find one for the past two years. They focus on helping people with mental illnesses find work, but because of my lack of experience, I've never got one, despite the numerous applications I've put in. I did somehow get an interview around August. It was my first & only interview ever & my vocational specialist went inside the interview with me because I was far too scared to do it alone. If I can't even handle leaving the house & going to school for two days a week, or handle an interview alone, how am I supposed to handle a job where I'll be gone far more often for much longer hours, around many more people? I just can't see how it's ever going to happen, even though we need the money. ::

 

[lyricalliaisons]

I just saw where you asked for advice lol. Sorry . If your social anxiety is diagnosed, or if you've been diagnosed with any other mental illness, including depression, you could get help finding a job from the same kind of agency that's been helping me. They usually find people jobs much quicker, so it won't take you as long as it has me lol. You're much younger & have more work experience so that will totally work in your favor. They're associated with NAMI & have them in most areas.

Here's a link to the NAMI site in Florida. You should be able to find the one nearest you & they should have a vocational department that can help you with looking for a job or just about any other need you have in order to get one. My vocational specialist even helped me get a phone when I needed one.

NAMI Florida | Home

 

[Elenwen]

^Thank you for the link, but I've never been officially diagnosed, though I've had multiple doctors tell me that I fit the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder and major depression. I don't even know who to go to for an actual diagnosis now, with no health insurance and no money. :/

Flakeybark, if it was that easy then I would have done it already. I don't know how many people have told me that and how many times I've tried, but it's a lot harder for me to do than it sounds. If you have any actual advice on HOW to put myself out there without suffering a debilitating panic attack, then please, feel free to share.

Untitled, I don't feel at all comfortable lying on my resume, I worry too much about if they did their research and found out, or if I let something slip, and I feel like if I have to lie on my resume to get the job then I'm not qualified for the job, and might be taking the job from someone who IS qualified. Thanks for the warehouse tip.