MEGA: What types of jobs do BLers have?

[Mona Lisa]

I was touched that some of you were shocked that I haven't found anything. Perhaps I haven't always put my best foot forward, either. I'm rather bohemian and to fit into the art world or be an interior decorator, I'd have to be dressing up all the time and be perfectly done up. It's just not me.

As far as working in a gallery is concerned, it's mainly very elegant young women and posh homosexual men. Jobs at Christie's or Sotheby's are almost impossible to come by; they mostly only offer six-month long temporary contracts at best. The museum world is even more competative. I'm in a catch 22 because I fucked off for 15 years after I got my Bachelor's degree. I worked as a temp then cycle couriered for 9 years; I've been working at this tourbus company for three years. I'm now 41 and am competing with young applicants in their early to mid 20s who are straight out of schools like Oxford, Cambridge and the Courtauld; People my age and older are already far more established than I and better connected in the art world. There are simply too far jobs in relation to the number of applicants. The only way I'm going to be able to 'make it' is by going freelance.


And as one other said, I sometimes feel bitter that I have to make do with a pokey little flat in South London rather than a Georgian town house or Palladian villa. But that's life...

 

[snaggle]

I was touched that some of you were shocked that I haven't found anything.

Golly, now I feel rotten. I was being sarcastic... maybe I should have used a smilie.

The best of luck to you, sir. I really hope you break into the business some day and get paid to do what you love. With that said, I will continue to harangue my art history major friends until they switch to a more practical field


For the summer I'm working as a temp clerk at a municipal agency:

Did you have to take a UA?
No, God damn it. I stopped smoking weed for nearly a month while I was looking for a job and then when I found one they didn't test me... kind of lame.

What does your job pay?
10 something an hour. Mandatory overtime is coming up, that's going to be yummy for my bank account.

Is the job really worth it?
Definitely. If it wasn't for this job I wouldn't be doing much of anything all day. It keeps me busy (maybe a little too busy) and puts money in my pocket, there's really not much more I can ask for right now.

Is there any future in "climbing the corperate ladder of the job like promotions"?
Definitely not. They boot the temporary clerks every year, and a permanent spot is almost impossible to get unless somebody dies (there's lots and lots of old people there) or retires. Plus I'd be earning exactly what I am right now for many years before reaching the top of their pretty miserable pay scale...

 

[Benefit]

The GED and other high school equivalency tests are ridiculously easy. It is unwise to ask for advice and then reject it out of hand.

 

[doobiesnax]

oh im not rejecting it at all, im just concerned because i know i cant pass the GED test as im not good at that insane math bullshit like "find the diameter of the cirlce then divide it by the circumfrence of the square ect.."

im not rejecting any ideas or thoughts on this thread, i find everything very valuable and helpful.

 

[Julkaa]

I work for a mortgage company and i am only 16 =]
The job pays 10$ an hour mon-thur 5-9.
I work as a loan officer/telemarketer
The job is worth it i have a chill 25 year old boss who took my friends and I (16 and 17 years old) out drinking. I wokr with my best friends and we talk most of the time wiht our boss.
No need for promotions only work there to get some money while i am in high school

 

[chrissie]

what is an interactive designer? and what does one do?
designer sounds awesome to me, but id assume id need some type of education or immaculate portfolio to get a job there.
ive been told im good at drawing/painting, jsut...i dont think i am...as i think everything i make is "similar" to everything ive seen.
nothing...like... "completely new"... alot of my stuff is similar to alex grey or jhonen vasquez, and as much as i like hearing that, id much rather hear "wow thats unlike anything ive ever seen before"...like im making something new instead of "wow that looks like..."
so im not sure if anything in any portfolio ive made would be anything to sway any executivein some company to wanting to hire me on the team.

I basically do web design; flat graphics and flash animations. I do have a degree but when I started off, my portfolio was just graphics that I did for friends or ones that I did on my own for the hell of it. You could try getting a job at the bottom cutting people out of photos or minor retouching. My first job was taking photos of hats and other accessories and showing them in different colors, touching them up etc. Not the best work but I did learn a lot. Maybe try to get an apprenticeship at a print shop doing the grunt work and learn from there.

I've had that internal struggle that everything I do has been done before. I have come to the conclusion that art and design is not often revolutionary. It is constantly growing and changing but still based upon what we've learnt in the past. I find nothing wrong with taking something and building upon it, making it better and going from there.

 

[*=Regulator=*]

Where do you work?
I work for a market research agency, managing (as part of a team) research projects for multi-national fast moving consumer good (FMCG) companies. Contrary to what people sometimes think when I tell them my occupation, I'm not one of those people who call you at dinner time. My day usually involves writing questionnaires, writing research proposals and writing project reports. It also infrequently involves attending focus group discussions, presenting to clients, script testing online questionnaires and answering client queries.

Did you have to take a UA?
No, I have never heard of anyone having to take a UA for a job in Australia, outside of those in the military or police.

What does your job pay?
$40k Australian (~$30k US) in my first year out of uni. which is a pretty standard wage for graduate commerce positions. I've been at it for about 10 months and will get a pay rise within the next two months.

Is the job really worth it?
Overall, yes. There are times when I get a bit frustrated due to being underutilised and not having much opportunity to be creative, but for the most part, it's been rewarding. It's given me highly valuable project management skills and given me the opportunity to give strategic advice to huge, global companies.

Is there any future in "climbing the corporate ladder of the job like promotions"?
Very much so. The company I work for at the moment has 5 tiers of positions (before upper management titles) that represent significant increases in responsibility, people management and income. These positions are designed around experience and in general, you will be promoted as you gain experience or you will be shown the door. At the moment, the former option is very likely for me.

What level of education/experience/skills do you need to be in this position?
(I included this because I thought it was relevant to you). I have a four year bachelor of Commerce with first class honours in Marketing. In Australia Commerce students usually do 3 years of study to get a bachelors degree. The fourth year (honours) is optional and usually only available to the top 10% of students. It involved writing a 100 page thesis on a topic of my choice and attending one full semester of 4th year level classes, over the course of a year. The extra year of study certainly helped me get the job I'm in now but wasn't essential. Students with strong grades who did three year degrees are also employed by my company.

General skills that help in the role are an attention to detail, good analytical skills, very good writing skills and good people skills.

There are positions in the company and the general market research industry that require no education beyond high-school. Positions such as working in call centres, administering products tests and managing research field-work all require very little formal education. Some people in the company have managed to start in these positions and work their way up to positions that would usually require university education.

From reading you posts, it seems that you have chronic confidence issues. Claiming that you are not intelligent enough to get a high-school diploma is clearly ridiculous given the standard of writing you display. Regardless of how you learnt these skills (i.e. to insult bullies), the fact that you did learn them demonstrated beyond doubt that you could pass a GED test and I dare say do better than many. You are aware of the fact that you have confidence issues, so surely you can at least accept the possibility that you may be more academically capable than you give yourself credit for? I'm not saying that it will necessarily be easy for you to do well in school, just that if you have the courage to put the effort into doing so, you will almost certainly exceed your expectations.

 

[alasdairm]

in the summer i generally try to score a short term contract position doing whatever i can. my background is in technology so i am usually falling back on those skills.

did you have to take a UA?
not yet

what does your job pay?
$20 to $30 per hour

is the job really worth it?
yes and no - my summer jobs are usually pretty interesting but it's just a way of paying my way until winter rolls round.

is there any future in "climbing the corperate ladder of the job like promotions"?
sure - but that would only happen if i committed full-time. see below


in the winter, i work in south lake tahoe, ca at a ski resort. i traditionally divide my time between managing one of the ski school departments and actually teaching snowboard lessons.

did you have to take a UA?
no. that said, the resort at which i work has a fairly (for them) sensible policy regarding drug tests. any on-the-job accidents automatically trigger a test.

what does your job pay?
the desk job pays about $13 an hour. doesn't sound like much but it's not bad at all for a seasonal job in a resort town. most first-time staff at the resort are earning around $7.50 an hour. during very busy times - like holidays - i can work a 55 or 60 hour week so, while it's tiring, it's easily enough to live on.

when i'm teaching, i get $11 an hour plus headcount for group lessons. if it's a private lesson i get paid more. the huge benefit of instruction is tips. some lessons result in no tips at all but it's not unusual for a large group lesson or a private lesson to result in a large amount of tip money.

is the job really worth it?
definitely. i get to snowboard a lot.

is there any future in "climbing the corperate ladder of the job like promotions"?
now i have been there a few seasons and established a reputation for myself,i would say, definitely. i started as a ticket cashier which meant long hours, little money and never being able to go ride when i wanted.

after only two seasons i'm managing an important function of a major us ski resort (albeit seasonally), i have responsibility for a handful of staff on my own and i occasionally - through rotation - supervise many more. who knows what this might turn into.

and any other specifications about the job?
it's not about the money. it's definitely a lifestyle choice. i thought i would do one season up there but i'll be heading back in november for my fourth.

alasdair

 

[Charlie Brown]

Im an IT specialist...i like to take what i need from a company and use it too be just dangerous enough to land a better job, sometimes these jobs are few and far in between say 2 years at a place b4 switching..my latest job (the 8th one) is on a mining site and boy it is the best job paywise, experiencewise, work done is the most challenging also..i have learnt so much and dare i say i am very dangerous now hehe...with the resources boom hitting australia, times are good for the mining sector and expected to last another 10 years..mining is where the money is, id like to move into ERP support which is gonna be huge for global companies and it is very specialised

did you have to take a UA?
yes i did, i drank heaps off water and coffee b4 hand

what does your job pay?
80k+...7 years exp

is the job really worth it?
i have to wake up and be at work by 7am and work a 8.4hr day, ive got use to this...work is challenging, money is good..drawback is im in a small country town which isnt far from our capital city so i drive back each weekend..other then that i love it here...so in terms off becoming dangerous i like to think off this as the UNI off mining IT..SO FUCK YEH IT IS WORTHIT...ALREADY IVE BOUGHT A NEW UNIT TO OFFSET MY RENT..and to think last year i was stuck doing user support at some small company.

is there any future in "climbing the corperate ladder of the job like promotions"?
Yes..either that or you can continue to make 50k a year which just doesnt cut it...not only that if you get into a good company the culture, frens you make and if its a lifetime company off sorts ...you are set ...some guys have been here 40 years..and when they retire - filthy rich

and any other specifications about the job?
well not the best job in the world somedays..and its not the worse..but it is paying the bills, setting me up for something better and providing me a plan for the future..so its all good..

For people out there I think finance ...stock, shares, economics etc and property is where the money is also...if you master these trends huge cash can be made..!

 

[THR!]

No specific qualifications are required for mine (as with many roles within finance/insurance) - but you won't really progress far in most big companies in Australia without some form of formal qualifications. Or at least, not far quickly - so it's pretty much a must.

 

[huntmich]

I'm 22, and I am just shy of my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. This summer I have an internship working at a small firm developing a ventricular assist device (heart implant). It would have been damn near impossible to obtain without a)an engineering background and b)prior lab experience. I get paid 17/hour, but that is guaranteed to increase when I graduate. And then thereafter, there are opportunities for advancement depending on the success of the company. I think its worth it, as our end goal is a device that can help hundreds of thousands of individuals; it treats congestive heart failure, which is a terrible way to die.

 

[DarthMom]

no idea what this job is...

reinsurance is how insurance companies are insured.

 

[Kul69]

I don't really have a specific job. I started as a computer programmer and made a decent amount of money making my own programs, then I started investing the money I made, then I worked mainly as an assistant to a computer security consultant and then I did contract work for NEC, 7-11, and a couple telecom companies. The work for them was always related to wireless installations and roll outs.

My largest job was setting up
a wireless network on an island where Verizn controlled all the lines on the north side so it was more expensive for a certain other company to offer high speed internet there.

Money? I don't even know.. I made quite a bit of money when I was 16 or so, into six digits. This was only because I was lucky and got to be a part of a new market (virtual items and currency) so there wasn't any competition. I'll probably never pull anything off like that again so I wouldn't call it a "salary". After the market died off due to competition I invested most of my money in various things. I wasn't becoming a millionaire or anything though but then I heard Google was going to go public and I invested heavily in their IPO and now money has stopped meaning anything to me. I still have checks from old odd computer jobs I did that I havn't even cashed and invoices I need to send in still to collect my checks. My focus was more on experience at this point.

However, the assistant to a security constultant job I had paid a LOT when new jobs were coming up a lot. I was clearing $3000 a montha after taxes working 20 hours a week. Then the wireless work I did paid $25-30/hr which isn't that amazing since after you finish the project you lose your job.

I'm done with computers though. I reached a point where it felt too much like I was being limited by artifical constraints and other people's work and I generally just lost interest in the advanced computer security topics.

Now I'm going back to school and majoring in chemistry, we'll see how that works out. It should be interesting to actually be learning something in school for once. In the past I went to school for info tech and usually had to correct my teachers.

 

[THR!]

reinsurance is how insurance companies are insured.

To put it simply.

Basically an insurance company (be it life or fire and general or whatever) cedes or passes a portion of the insured risk to a reinsurer. Come claim time they proportionately share in the cost of the claim. The reinsurer collects premium, much like the insurer does, for the risk they take on.

So when you have an event, like Hurricane Katrina, or whatever it might be, reinsurers will pick up a large proportion of that cost - and they are able to do this as they typically operate on a global scale and collect premiums from a large variety of sources and they are both very efficient at investing these funds, have relatively low cost of capital (compared to a ceding company), and I could go on forever but I'll stop here as nobody gives a shit anyway.

But globally, a well paid industry, plenty of career prospects (particularly in the US/Europe/Asia) and intrinsically enjoyable.

 

[michael]

oh im not rejecting it at all, im just concerned because i know i cant pass the GED test as im not good at that insane math bullshit like "find the diameter of the cirlce then divide it by the circumfrence of the square ect.."

you're in luck then, because there's nothing even remotely approaching that level of math on the GED test.

it's more along the lines of 'x + 5 = 7. what is x?'

 

[Dtergent]

I design projects and programs for a foundation. Currently I´m having to do more (org development) but ideally in the future I can kick back and relax and do really what I´m paid to do.

did you have to take a UA?
No, but it´s because we´re small and I knew my boss

what does your job pay?
Equal to my corporate brothers and sisters, with a good increase package and good benefits.

is the job really worth it?
If I´m gonna be a fool in the office, I´d rather be doing some good to society. Yes.

is there any future in "climbing the corperate ladder of the job like promotions"?
Yes. My boss wooed me with a good deal. I also get to meet executives from the major corporations, political and business leaders, etc. Not that I want to work with them, but the network is great.

BTW, my friends in the non-profit sector have been reporting totally good movemet in their jobs. One is moving to the UK with everything paid for- house, transport, everything. Others are getting offers here and there. Any concentration can find a niche in the sector. I´m a business grad. Some have design experience. These days, NGOs can be professional but stil give you more satisfaction than a straight up corporate gig.

and any other specifications about the job?
It takes the stomach of someone who can put their foot down when people above you are being stupid/shortsighted.

 

[mariacallas]

and any other specifications about the job?
It takes the stomach of someone who can put their foot down when people above you are being stupid/shortsighted.

huh? you're rambling again!

 

[ultru-light]

im 17 a bricklayer living at home with a $50 board fee and i dont know what the fuck an UA is. Im in my third and last year of my apprentaship. im on $1064 a fortnight.

 

[percy168]

i have my own business landscape/market gardener also small building work.

i work the hours i want grow most of my own food and have to answer to no fucker apart from her in doors. i don't earn wads of cash because i don't need it.

 

[Mehm]

^^^that guy stole my avatar!

anywho, ya'll make a lot of money.

One of my jobs is commonly done by illegal immigrants. I weed fields and harvest veggies for 6.50 an hour. I also babysit some kids for 7 an hour. Sometimes I'll get other gigs watering someones yard. Their pay varries. Considering my rent in a nice house with my own bathroom is only 300 per month, my jobs are more than addequate.

Making farm laborers take drug tests isn't common pratice :D I mean, how would we pass one if we smoke weed in the field all day?

There is no room for advancement in my current possition unless I got a degree in hort (I work on a university research field). I don't really want to be a full time sitter either.

Among other assorted enterprises, I also play poker. I'm breaking even right now, but when I get better, there's a possibility of making quite a bit of change.