Job search tips : Steady Job Hours

My first job was working at Starbucks in a grocery store. I was hired by the store for any position because I needed a good starter job. My husband's uncle worked there so they were happy to find me a good spot. I would have been happy with courtesy clerk but they insisted I have something better such as a cashier or barista at Starbucks. Of course I didn't turn down the offer for something better. My husband and I were in need of me to work because we were not yet married and needed money for the wedding. After days and days of training for using the computers as a cashier/customer service (no Starbucks training) I finally started my first day at Starbucks. I started off working parttime. I worked 4-5 hours a day 5 days a week. Of course I thought I would be doing those hours regularly. My manager asked if I would be on call and of course it was my first job and I would have done anything to make sure I was the perfect employee. My husband and I needed money. After a week of working their my next week's schedule was made. I was working less hours than before which was fine because I was still getting adjusted. A day into my week my schedule was changed and my manager asked if I would work some extra hours. Sure! I gladly accepted more money. After a while my schedule was changing every day, my manager would call me early mornings and ask if I would work during the night. I didn't understand that accepting being on call made it so I wasn't able to plan my own life at all. Pretty soon my hours kept getting cut to 16 hours a week. I was paying my husband's monthly beer expense of 60$ a week. Finally I got to my 90 day initiation. It was on my day off and my manager called me in and fired me because her best barista didn't like me. I don't understand why they didn't like me. I have no mean bone in my body. Anyway I was devastated. I even scored higher on my tests and secret customer than any of the other girls there. For whatever reason they had I didn't fit in and the job was done with. The manager admitted that she was helping me escape the job because none of them wanted to work there. I clearly expressed how I actually liked making coffee but she had made up her mind.

So I got a new job as a cashier. I was happy to hear at this job that I could get fired for working off the clock and there was no oncall/schedule changing without them asking me if it was alright with no pressure. Great! It is definitely an improvement. I was also told I would be fulltime and work mornings. Wonderful I had exactly what I wanted. I got into the job and started working. Despite the rude customers I always keep a smile on my face and treat every customer with respect. Our work had strict rules about using credit payments so I understand how the customers feel when I ask them to take their ID out of their wallet (store policy not mine). I am very good at what I do. I love working there and the coworkers are very fun and funny. I have a few problems. They did not give me fulltime as they promised and they will not give it to me because getting fulltime goes for seniority. I don't mind working towards that. The biggest deal I have is that I am not working mornings like promised. I decided to change my availability but after the proposal they told me I would only work about 8 hours a week which I do not want. I already went through that with Starbucks. I just really want to have time to spend with my husband after 5:00 pm and I need some advice on a good solid job I can easily obtain with my experience. I have many computer skills and can type very fast. I am at 55 words a minute with no mistakes (I used to be at 80). I can do excel, word, power point, have member management skills online, webdesign, etc etc but I have no experience in an actual real job with those talents besides working as a producer assistant when I was 16-17 (which I don't know how to count that since it was a family company) and I did colon hydrotherapy as well for about 6 months but my boss flaked out on me and stopped giving me clients because she was lazy. She also wanted me to work for free helping her with her taxes which I did help her with but my husband told me not to because working for free wasn't right. (long story) The point is I just want something that will give me enough experience to really build a career off of with a solid morning schedule. Anyone have an idea that explains how I can get started? Thanks.

That's not the entire detailed story but I didn't want to say much more than that. I am now a married beautiful young female who has dreams of leading a normal life with a house and 3 kids. My husband and I are even willing to relocate.

You are now a beautiful young female? Great but what does that have to do with anything job related except for certain occupations where glamour, youth, and beauty are all important?

Post your picture or one of a movie star, celebrity or model that you resemble!

Bunzo

You could look around for a p/t receptionist or data entry job. Most jobs such as those you will find in offices are full time, though. Many call centers will offer part time mornings, but those are few. Generally call centers want flexibility that extends into late night.

Check out your local employment or career center for job share opportunities. There are a lot of people who would like to spend the early mornings shooing their children and significant others out the doorgo to work for the remaining 3 morning hours and perhaps 2 of the early afternoon hours, then be at home for children.

Unfortunately, that isn't the way of the world today and financially that is very difficult to accomplish as well as not being an employer's first choice of business.

Your experience in working with a diverse group of customers is going to take you a long way but you should continue to test your typing speed. Try a testing program that is free and that you can do from home. It is www.learn2type.com. It is a great program where you can test your speed with a variety of paragraphs, choose from three different times (1 minute, 3 minutes and 5 minutes), receive your results instantly and have them emailed to you. You can also opt to buy a certificate of typing speed You don't need to register unless you want to.

You should, however, brush up on you computer skills. The majority of companies want, at least at minimum level, use of one or more of the following: Excel, MS Word, Wordperfect, Office and Office Suite. More and more companies are getting into the usage of Powerpoint, but I don't believe that it is ecessary to be perfect, just know the basics. Outlook is extremely popular because of the wide range of ways to use it. I love Outlook.

And, lastly, for now, when you go into an interview, don't sound "whiney" about not getting fullitme or the hours you wanted or being called in at odd hours. Try to shy away from saying the main reason you want part time morning hours is because you want to spend time with your husband after five o'clock.

You can say something to the effect of part time hours being the best for you at this juncture because it will lend a better balance to your work and personal life. Also, add that at some time in the future, you would like to consider full-time work.

OK, I actually read all your post. Trust me, there's more than enough detail there.

You want a 9-5ish sort of job with steady hours that pays well and doesn't annoy you. You, however, are not qualified for what you want. You are only qualified for entry-level sort of positions such as retail. The nature of retail is that hours shift. The more they like you, the better your hours. The more seniority, the better the hours.

I think you need to start looking ahead a bit here and think about what job you want to be doing 5 years from now. Do you still want to be the checkout chick? If not, this is a good time to start learning how to do something that other people will pay you for. Getting a degree would make a big improvment in your employablility, even for basic entry-level professional office jobs like Admin Assistant. Contact your local community college and talk to a counselor there. If you don't want to go that route however, there are a ton of programs out there (either through your community college or a private school) that run from 9-36 months and will turn you into a medical assistant, chef, HVAC repairperson, massage therapist, whatever.

In the meantime, you can try looking for CSR jobs in a call center. Call centers are always hiring since they have a huge turn over. You have to be prepared to be tethered to your desk all day listening to customers complain but if you can stick it out, they usually offer steady hours and pretty good pay.

Finally, whatever job you go into next, you need to stick it out. You've only had 2 jobs and if I read your post right, been dumped out of both. That's not a good track record.

Tess

Thanks for that last post. I'll just ignore the first two because clearly they missed the point. I do want to work fulltime. I am still working as a cashier. I did apply at a call center. Medical assistant sounds more of the route I would like to take. Thanks for your advice. I am very motivated! So far I have only been laid off of the Starbucks job. I could still do colon hydrotherapy if I wanted to but the lady I was working for is nuts. She apparently still thinks I work for her making 25$ a week. I wont go into further detail there. Again, I appreciate you help.

Career Tips

Steady Job Hours