I THINK I WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT

[17dd boy]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I graduated from university in 2004, with a bachelors' in English and minor in Communications, but am still unable to find a job after applying at MORE THAN 90 PLACES!!!! I have about 2 years of experience working in PR, media, and politics through internships, but so far all of the volunteering I have done (100s of hours) has not paid off. I also speak a second language, French, and many people from French-speaking countries say I sound like I could be a native speaker. I have been looking for about 2 years for jobs in PR/marketing but I have only landed about 3 or 4 interviews from all of the places I have applied at.

So, I am getting desperate. I am 25-years-old, and still stuck living at home with my parents, so I thought this job would be better than nothing.

I was contacted by a recruiter today and she is going to set me up with a date for a second interview. I am very optimistic that I will get it and I have read the horror stories about what people say about working there, and let me tell you -- it can't be worse than my last job.

My last job was working as a steward on a cruise ship. We had 13 or 14 hour work days, somedays with no time to get off the ship. Everyone is considered a temporary employee -- they will hire you for 3 months, let you go for a few weeks, then ask you to go back. Thus, no one got any benefits such as health insurance, dental, or paid vacation.

I got sick and had laryngitis for one week while I was on board. I lost my voice completely, and they said they would have fired me unless I went to the emergency ward and got a letter from the doctor clearing me to work in a restaurant. I got that letter, but since we didn't have health insurance, I had to pay for it out of pocket. $600 down the drain right there.

The company also would not pay for travelling expenses. I had to pay $200 for a flight back home from Florida, then they called me and asked me to go back in 2 weeks. Of course, they would not pay for it again. So that would have been another $600 at least in additional expenses.

The management would openly mock and criticize you in front of colleagues and passengers. One of them constanty referred to me as "Lightning Ron" because I was newer and slower than everyone else. Yet they called me to go back -- does this make sense????

Two of my colleagues stole personal items from me. One male coworker stole posters off the wall next to my bed. He said he didn't like them, so he took them and threw them away. Another male coworker stole desserts that I had prepared for one of my tables twice in a row and I ended up waiting about 20 minutes to get desserts out to the first of the two tables. The company did nothing about this behavior.

The good news is I made about $2000/month working there, which doesn't seem that bad, but then again, if you have to pay for your own medical expenses, that eats up a large chunk of your salary.

So, after going through this, I think I can handle a 50/hr week job renting cars. It sounds easy compared with serving meals, cleaning dining halls, preparing place settings, making drinks, and cleaning cabins and bathrooms for 13 hours a day.

I am a firm believer in working up from the bottom to acheive success. The reason why I took the cruise ship job in the first place was because they are going to be hiring in marketing in March and I thought if I got my foot in the door I would have a better chance of getting the job, but since I told them I wouldn't go back down to Florida unless they paid for it, they probably won't hire me to do marketing.

I'm not sure if I'd want to work that company anyway after that experience.

Even Enterprise sounds better than that.

If I don't like it, by next spring, I think I am going to go back to school to get a Master's degree in French in Canada so I can teach Foreign Language somewhere in Canada.

Take the job. After 90 applications and no hires I am suprised you are even questioning employment at enterprise. However, you might need to really look at your resume and job searching methods.

[jjbatds]

I was in a similar situation as you are a couple months ago. I took the ERAC job and regret it. The kicker for me is that I easily made $15/hour as a server assistant in a nice restaurant. It is difficult for me to accept that I make considerably less per hour in my "professional" erac job than I did as a busboy.

I also sent out nearly 100 resumes with very little success. I was offered a couple positions in the financial services selling insurance, and I was also offered an outside B2B sales job. I didn't want to sell insurance and the B2b sales job was in NJ, about 15 hours from friends and family. I sure do regret not taking that job in NJ!

The only reason I'm still with ERAC is because I need a job and a paycheck. If I can stick it out a year, maybe my resume will be good enough to get a real job.

Good luck with your decision and career.

[smartgirl]

I put my resume on Monster.com after quiting ERAC for six years. My first job out of ERAC was a nightmare. I am sorry to say, after that experience I thought maybe I had made the biggest mistake of my life leaving ERAC. I went back to waiting tables in the meantime and decided to take my time and yet earn a living. I went on interviews during the day and it paid off. I am making more money with the new company for less hours. I found I got a better response going to a career fair than Monster.com. The recruiters on the phone were trying to make money off me and would throw me at any company they were trying to fill vacancies for. They also tell you not to apply directly on-line because then they lose the credit and commission if you do not go directly through them. At a career fair you meet the human resource and employees of that company directly and get to network with them. The position I have now was from a career fair. The interviews I went on and didn't really care for the job was from the faceless recruiter. Go to yahoo, google, or monster.com and in the search position, type in "Career Fair" and their are companies that set up these career fairs for companies. I went to a career fair for college graduates and sales experience and each company give a 15 minute presentation of their business. They even tell you during presentation how much they pay and benefits, etc. You will know if you want to visit their booth or not and give them your resume. I hope this helps.

[slave no more]

Monster.com is crap. If you post your resume out there you get automated responses from companies looking for desperate people looking for anything. Do not use MONSTER!! Hot Jobs, Careerbuilder (a little shady) and a local job search or Chamber is your best bet for convenience. Also follow it up with a job fair.

[17dd boy]

I got a really good job off monster.

I would agree with you not to post your resume or you WILL get calls for really bad jobs and pyramid schemes.

[iriswalt]

i gots a job, it is great.

ERAC most likely will not hire you, if they know you are 25.

Age Discrimination.

You are better off working in your local giant box store - home depot, lowes, target, etc. Stay away from Wal-Mart though- that shit is the same as ERAC- mega hours for poverty wage.