21 and never had a job (7)

1 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-06 14:24 ID:y+aonrFr

like the title says, i'm 21 years old and i've never had a job. up until i was 18 i lived at home and just sponged off my parents, then i left for university and i've been living off student loans. i have another year of full time education, and my student loan is looking woefully inadequate seeing as i'm actually getting quite a bit less this year, while my rent and the price of food continues to go up, so i could really do with getting a job. and especially when i leave uni i need to get one, i don't wanna become a hikikomori or go on the dole or anything.

every year since i was 16 i've said to myself that i will get a summer or part-time job, but in the end i was too nervous/lazy/both to do anything and i ended up just wasting time again. i don't want to do the same thing again. but i have no confidence, writing a CV depresses me (because i have nothing to put on it except my education history and some padded-out bullshit about skills) and after all, who would employ a 21 year old with no experience? i'm also completely utterly terrible at interviews; the whole situation makes me incredibly nervous and i just end up tripping over my words, failing to say what i really need to say and generally making an ass of myself.

so uh. any advice?

2 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-06 16:59 ID:QKXy/sTD

Why not get a job in school? Various departments do hire student assistants, and you won't have to travel extra to get there.

3 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-06 17:38 ID:ma7gMjHq

>>2
Not OP, but I've always wondered: what exactly do they help with anyway?

4 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-06 18:01 ID:5fQghg4R

I sympathize with you, OP. I'm 20, and the only job I ever had was working as a janitor at a church (which barely counts, really)

You should be more confident during interveiws. My brother had a policy like this: he'd go to a street, and apply for a job at every single store on the street. At least one of them would hire him, and he'd have a job. You just have to be more proactive and confident. You're not stupid, right? You're probably more intelligent than the average drunken frat boy. Don't short-change yourself.

>>3
I don't know about that, but there are also other on-campus jobs:
Working at dining services, registration, all sorts of stuff. They probably have an office for student jobs. They might also have a Work-Study program.

I'm thinking of getting a job as a tutor next semester (since I want to be a teacher, and it'd be good to practice teaching skills like that)

5 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-06 22:31 ID:/1jbFvq4

I had the same problem, nervousness. I don't know if you have it, but I went to employment services and they could fix up my resume for me and deal with any job hunting problems I had.

6 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-07 11:44 ID:CAp6KSvk

Well, what you can do is ask a friend if their company is hiring and see if you can apply and try to get the job.

7 Name: Anonymous : 2008-10-07 14:49 ID:QKXy/sTD

>>3
Myself, I worked in a computer lab...basic tech support, keeping stuff clean, software/asset management, etc. There's lots of on-campus jobs, I got mine through recommendation but typically there's a list of available positions hidden somewhere on the school's website.

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