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Thread: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

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    Moderator Aurora_Sunset's Avatar
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    Question How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Ok, this is kind of a rant/question to see how you guys view this. Until I get more into camming, I'd like a part-time side job to qualm my fears about money. But it seems like every job wants so much "experience." I mean, I get that certain jobs require some experience and I realize that employers would prefer it in most cases, but sometimes I can't help but feel that some people lose sight of just how easy a lot of jobs are to learn in a few weeks. I don't think anybody who doesn't have some sort of mental disorder needs at least 2 years experience filing paper to be considered qualified or that a server needs to have 5 years experience... I mean, come on.

    I realize there are certain nuances to every job that are only learned through time and practice. But it usually doesn't take that much time to learn these things in basic jobs like this... Like, my old job at a convenience store/deli for instance: I was one of the best workers there. I knew how to do pretty much every job, I had basically memorized the opening/closing checklist, and I knew how to do everything quickly and efficiently. I would often get annoyed with people who had no clue... but here's the thing. I know that I wasn't the best employee at that job because I was just super-smart, I was just the only one who wasn't a lazy bitch. Everyone else didn't know how to do shit because they would just pretend stuff didn't exist and wait for someone else (like me) to take care of it. These jobs require a little time to learn, yes, but they're not difficult in the sense of learning a super-hard skill set - anybody who doesn't know how to do basic jobs like this after a couple months is usually just a lazy schmuck.

    So that's my opinion on the matter: I don't think things like office work or serving require oodles of experience, if they should even require experience at all. Unless it's a really upscale restaurant or huge, well-run office. I think employers tend to get too up their own ass thinking that these jobs are super-awesome and hard and they want people who have devoted a good chunk of their lives to them... Do you guys find this to be the case too? If you were an employer of filers/servers/bartenders, how much experience would you require?

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    Banned SweetNaughty's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    I don't want to sound sexist, but if you were good looking (and I assume you are) I'd hire you for an entry-level position, especially what you said about you being a self starter at the grocery store.

    Here's a tip - I got 2 job offers (one engineering, one tutoring) by (1) giving a good phone interview, then (2) a good a good face to face interview, and then when I didn't here anything after 3 weeks, (3) I CALLED the hiring director and basically asked "why haven't you hired me yet?" It worked both times, and I was marginally experienced for both jobs. Granted, both offers came before the "Great Recession," but by calling the hiring manager they will either give you the job, or politely tell you they have someone else in mind, and you can move on.

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    God/dess shanna dior's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    For servers/bartenders, I sort of understand the need to have experience in the position. I've never done it, but there's definitely a lot to remember and do, and in an up-scale or high volume restaurant/bar, I could see managers not wanting to hire someone who has no clue. Most servers/bartenders seem to work their way up form bussing/hostessing so that they're somewhat familiar with the industry at least, and I think that can make a big difference.

    Needing several years of experience for administrative work seems to be quite outdated, as it made sense back in the day when people went to school for admin (not that they don't now, but there's far less since the job market opened up more for women) or when not everyone had a computer at home and knew how to use it. I feel like any student or someone who knows how to use a computer would be capable of administrative work with little struggle. Just learning specific problems could be an issue, but it's pretty easy to catch on once you know a thing or two.

    The thing is that in a job market like we have now, with more employable people than job openings, jobs can be as selective as they want in hiring people. And the logic behind it makes sense - why hire someone with little to no experience who you'll have to devote time and resources towards training with no guarantee that they'll be good at it, when you can hire someone who already knows their shit?

    If you're not looking for any specific job, I find retail, call centre, and warehouse jobs don't look for much experience.

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    Veteran Member tropicalust's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    for bartenders if you are not that hot they will need 2-5 years of experience to hire you. If you are really really hot and you just graduated from bartending class they will hire you. It happened to me and a lot of people I know. I have gotten jobs (even professional jobs) that I really don't have any experience or little knowledge about it. But I don't know if its luck but the person hiring is always a guy and they always ended up hiring me because of my looks and I know that there were also better qualified candidates applying. But one thing was for sure, once they hired me, I knew I had to work even harder. Because good looks can only get you only so far.
    "A real woman has to be a chef in the kitchen, a lady in the living room, and a whore in the bedroom..T-Lust"



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    Banned SweetNaughty's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    ^^^ I was going to say "hot matters," like T-Lust did, but I didn't want to be too sexist. She is right, guys will hire the hotties if they can justify it.

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    Senior Member pollywogg's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Additional Rant... and a lot of basic job postings want you to have a bachelors degree too ... you gotta spend 30,000 or more just for a license to go job hunting. I've been looking at getting into sales and a lot of companies want that experience AND a bachelors degree. I'm getting older and really need to be able to have a job/career doing something other than dancing in about 10 years or less, so I've been sending in apps online and it's tough.

    My brother says that whenever he sends in an app online, he'll show up at the location and meet the manager/HR person etc... and tell them about the app and they are more likely to consider you. And I agree about the looks factor, so going in to meet them looking sharp and clean cut is a good idea.

    Because of that BA degree issue, I started looking into possible degrees. Luckily, I have about 30 hours of general reqs that apply to most degrees, and an associates degree would be easiest to achieve... so I began looking for good associates degrees and I came across one that looks like there are good opps for employment in AZ and Cali (possibly other states too, but some states still want you to have a bachelors just to be an assistant). These jobs start around $20 per hour once you get through, some pay $35! You can complete in 1 1/2 to 2 years and you can stretch it out over 3 or 4 if you want. It's the Speech Language Pathology Assistant Associates degree available at Estrella Mountain Community College in Goodyear, AZ. There are other places too, if you are interested, let me know. All the SL classes are online, so you can pretty much do it from anywhere, except some of the general requirements you may have to be in class, like you have to have one biology class, but you can take those anywhere and they transfer. I've decided to start this program. I've already been in contact with a potential employer who said she'd be open to hiring me and she felt that the SLPA opps will be growing because of new laws (in AZ anyways) allowing them to practice without direct supervision. She also said she'd be willing to help guide me along the way and if she can't hire me, she might be able to help place me, if I need it.

    The only thing is that in this position, you will be doing mostly therapy for kids with developmental issues, mostly autism. I went on YouTube and looked at what they do with the kids and it looks really cool. At first, I thought it must be tough to work with these kids, but they are actually so cute and sweet and they seem to respond well to the therapies. It's a really neat field, if you like working with people and children.

    If you need to get experience doing something, the UPS Stores are easy to get a jobs at... most like to pay only $7/hour but I always asked for $8 and they gave it to me. I worked at a couple of those places and it's just good to have on a resume that you can hold a job like that and it lends itself to office jobs, retail jobs and sales as well. You just have to do your time working for shit, but good stepping stone nevertheless.... Dish Network has great benefits. Most areas, they pay 11 to 12 per hour but you get awesome benefits... medical, dental, vision, 401K, tuition reimbursement and free dish service. Look them up online.

    Good luck with your job search, whatever you decide to do.

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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Really, it does depend. For example restaurants, which used to be open to hiring new waitresses state "experienced only". Not just experienced but recent experience. Awhile back I considered waitressing again so I called them. Because my waitress experience is outdated they told me no. Would I have had a better chance in person? Maybe.

    However, for a white collar job you can't get in the door without some experience unless you happen to be in school for a field and they need an intern. Otherwise, no. Because the economy is bad employers can get people with years of experience for entry level. If it's a job that requires college (even admin often require college now)and you don't have a degree or experience they will not hire you. If you show up asking for an interview they will usually tell you to apply online.

    And being attractive only gets you so far. For instance, I often interview for white collar management positions. I am often interviewed by a woman and in some cases being attractive hurts. While yes men will tend to hire better looking women, when it comes to white collar jobs they tend to be handled by HR and HR is almost exclusively female.

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    Veteran Member tropicalust's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Quote Originally Posted by SweetNaughty View Post
    ^^^ I was going to say "hot matters," like T-Lust did, but I didn't want to be too sexist. She is right, guys will hire the hotties if they can justify it.
    I love the way T-Lust sounds, I might use it as my signature lol
    "A real woman has to be a chef in the kitchen, a lady in the living room, and a whore in the bedroom..T-Lust"



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    Member Leighton's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kellydancer View Post
    And being attractive only gets you so far. For instance, I often interview for white collar management positions. I am often interviewed by a woman and in some cases being attractive hurts. While yes men will tend to hire better looking women, when it comes to white collar jobs they tend to be handled by HR and HR is almost exclusively female.
    SO true! I actually try to dress sort of "ugly-professional" (tightly pulled back hair, boring suit, etc) for interviews if it's being conducted by a woman. I don't know why, but some women with authority seem to get a great deal of pleasure from turning down a prettier woman.

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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Quote Originally Posted by Aurora_Sunset View Post
    Ok, this is kind of a rant/question to see how you guys view this. Until I get more into camming, I'd like a part-time side job to qualm my fears about money. But it seems like every job wants so much "experience." I mean, I get that certain jobs require some experience and I realize that employers would prefer it in most cases, but sometimes I can't help but feel that some people lose sight of just how easy a lot of jobs are to learn in a few weeks. I don't think anybody who doesn't have some sort of mental disorder needs at least 2 years experience filing paper to be considered qualified or that a server needs to have 5 years experience... I mean, come on.
    Requiring experience is used as a screening tool just as requirements for a College degree are up to a certain level.

    Even for a Waitressing job the employer may be getting 500 applicants. The experience requirement wittles this down to 150 and so forth.

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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    One of the reasons they look at experience is because they want to feel like they can count on you to be there awhile. If all you've done is bounce from one job to another in that or any other field, you will appear less reliable.
    "never trust a big butt and a smile"-- Bell Biv DeVoe

    If you're in your twenties and aren't a liberal, you have no heart. If you're in you're forties and aren't a conservative, you have no brain - Winston Churchill

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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Quote Originally Posted by Leighton View Post
    SO true! I actually try to dress sort of "ugly-professional" (tightly pulled back hair, boring suit, etc) for interviews if it's being conducted by a woman. I don't know why, but some women with authority seem to get a great deal of pleasure from turning down a prettier woman.
    I do too. If I find out the interviewer is a woman (and it usually is) I'll wear my glasses, pull my hair back, etc. If it's a man I'll wear a little more makeup, wear contacts and have my hair free flowing. Most of the jobs I got from interviewing with a man.

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    Featured Member silk55's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Being a business owner myself. I look at experience before anything. You can have all the degree's in the world and still be terrible at your job. Some of the best employee's that I have are self learners with experience. This is especially true in IT and finance. You get a lot of good resumes but in reality when you give the person a basic IT quiz they fail. Mostly common sense kinda stuff.
    "The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works" -GORDON GECCO

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    Banned SweetNaughty's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Silk55, good points. I actually have a (dated) certification in Novell IT and the best students I came across were largely self taught, and were just going to the certification class for some "paper."

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    Veteran Member innes's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Maybe this is why I can't get any of those office jobs!!! lol
    Experience ... I don't know ...
    It's all about knowing the right people I guess
    sooooo frustrating though
    InnesX

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    Featured Member silk55's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much experience is REALLY that freakin' necessary?

    Quote Originally Posted by innes View Post
    Maybe this is why I can't get any of those office jobs!!! lol
    Experience ... I don't know ...
    It's all about knowing the right people I guess
    sooooo frustrating though
    I mentioned this in another thread. But what about trying a temp agency? It will have someone else working for you. Trying to get you a job. Plus it could lead into a a permanent position and gives you something to add to your resume.
    "The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works" -GORDON GECCO

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