Category: Jobs and Employment
I am trying to find a job in boise or meridian idaho as a customer service representate (no sales), switchboard oerator, or a reseveratiosn agent. I am feeling discouraged because I have been looking for about 2 years and haven';t found anything. Every time I plly, I get rejected.
I am also interested in pursuing a different avenue, massage therapy. But my Rehab counselor says those jobs are more sparce than customer service. If anyone wants a copy of my resume, please email me at waynedscott@cableone.net. I am totally blind, a good team player, and have srong work ethics. Once I start a job, I finish it.
I say this only to help you. If your writing here is any indication of how you write when applying for jobs, it's a very bad one. It doesn't matter here, but when writing to a business or posting ads on Craigslist etc. you really should try to spell check and proofread what you're sending out. I know Craigslist has alot of phone jobs, so you might want to try there. Also, have you considered the NIB (National Industries for the Blind)? There may be one in your area that does the type of work you're seeking. Finally, I know a blind massage therapist and if you're on Facebook, I can help you contact her so that you can learn more about the trade from a blind perspective. She works at a salon, but I know that others work independently. Of course, you would need to get trained and certified so that's something else to consider.
You are in a tough spot, and my sympathies. I have several friends right now who have been out of work for a couple years, even high-end jobs.
I know a couple people who left software and have since gotten into a retraining program to work on wind turbines. Now if the fool blind agencies figured out how to get in on the emerging renewable energy industry - billions of dollars - I think that would far surpass you being foisted into a job soon to be outsourced to India.
If you can find nothing else, consider your local blind vendor program at least to tide you over. You'll bust your ass six days a week, Excel will be your friend like you never knew it before, and you'll have some complications that are weird and out of left field. However, it's at least something till you figure out where to go next. I did it for a year for that very reason: in fact my original plan was to stay in long enough to pay down some losses, figure out the business, get a loan and get my ass out of the government building / into a rented facility where there are more customers not locked out by security gates. You'll have to look at your state's regulations for that: Some require extensive training, mine fortunately did not. But Mr. Google is a master resource when jumping into a field you've not ever been in before.
All of us know you gotta eat, and two years is an awfully long time to go without work. So hope some of this helps you.
Could you please get me her info? I would love to talk to her about training and possibly persuing that as a career choice. I've been looking for a job everywhere.
I just e-mailed my friend. So hopefully, she'll get back to you guys soon. I also gave her the link to this board and recommended that she join, since she could probably give very valuable information for job seekers who may not have considered this avenue.
I know every DVR (that's division of Rehabilitation Services) is different. But maybe you could do like a Work Assessment situation, where you sort of intern for a company.. The agency will pay your employer, and you should be covered by DVR's Workman's Compensation insurance. I'm in one of these right now. And believe me, it's not my first employment choice by any means, but it may give you some much needed customer service experience while filling a gap on your resume. These are usually time limited, but it might be a good idea to see if the customer service field is right for you. May your DVR can set you up with a host agency.
To the original poster, I hope you don't get recommendations to work for free, you're near about my age if I remember, with kids, from what you said in Quicknotes. Wouldn't surprise me if a taxpayer-supported agency made of people never worked in the private sector would make such a recommendation. Most of us work because we gotta, eat, our kids gotta, eat, and gotta pay the rent. Only someone paid for by the rest of us would tell a midlifer with dependents to go work for free.
That's not a diss on the last poster, to a limited extent that makes sense if you're first starting out, though I'm trying even with my daughter to give her paid opportunities: people and entities value things they pay for, and if a company gets you for free, no skin off their nose. Easy come, easy go: I've seen it with software interns from university, even when we thought they ere good, the company didn't wanta pay when they'd been getting it for free.
I know nobody in real life who's gotten a job that way. Glad it works sometimes, in some professions, if it's touted by agencies every single one of you is helping to pay for. No wonder people think there's such disparity between government and the private sector.
I only suggest this if the original poster is new at customer service. Of course, everyone wants and needs a paycheck. But I have also been in qn conversations with the original poster who stated he doesn't need to work for financial reasons, but would like to. I'm sure our fields are different, and please bear in mind that I'm coming from a Human Services perspective. I was required to have an internship in college. Good luck just applying in that field with no experience. It really is acatch 22. I know so many Psychology majors who are unemployed, or underemployed. In this day in age, experience means as much or more than a degree. If the original poster hasn't had any customer service or related experience he's not gonna get the job! Sure, it is free for companies to have interns, but it shows both them and the prospective employer that the position is a good match. Plus, there's lots of networking opportunities.
I'm not suggesting this guy should be a perpetual intern. But, considering the unemployment rate among the blind is around 70% give or take a few points, what else would you suggest? Now, I suppose, if we wanna get really specific a lot of blind people are elderly, and above working age. Barring that though, the figures are stagggering. It's difficult enough for a company to get around the blind factor. Interning may give both employee and employer a chance to adjust to each other. I believe in paying your own way as well. But if an internship helps you land a job to get that check, then go for it. It's not like he has anything to lose!.
I remember you suggested this to me in the Blind Trades post and I was against it. I still am for me personally, but not in all cases. For instance, if a place is willing to take me on as an apprentice for chair caning, even if the position is unpaid, I'll take it for the training and experience. They might even keep me on as a regular worker once I learn the trade.
Exactly! Everyone wants a check, but let's face it, we as blind people can't just go and apply for most "menial" jobs. I'd only suggest this for someone who's trying to break into a field or changing careers and needs some experience in the new chosen career. It's been my experience that a lot of companies will either offer their interns a job, or connect with another agency who will. At least it's a great reference, provided the intern has done a good job. Especially as blind workers, I think it shows the company that we're willing to work as hard as our sighted counterparts.
Op - if you want to go into massage therapy would starting your own business be an option once you have qualified? It can be hard to get off the ground, and advertising can be particularly difficult - more so for women though tbh), but once you gain a reputation it is something that can go from strength to strength.
As for working for free, well ultimately any experience is experience, and working on an unpaid or voluntary basis, while not paying the bills, does show one's willingness to get out there.
i SINCERELY HOPE THAT i AM WOEFULLY WRONG AND YOU'RE RIGHT. i JUST KNOW HOW AT LEAST IN ENGINEERING PEOPLE LOOK AT UNPAID WORK. i'M NOT EVEN SAYING IT'S AN ACCURATE PERSPECTIVE. But one major reason open source took so long to be taken seriously by commercial enterprises is that it was free. I'm not saying enterprises were correct: in many cases like the early days of Apache server, companies in my opinion were wrong and ludicrous to go with the commercial options when the free one had such better performance.
But at least in some fields, work done for free is taken more like a school extracurricular activity. Now, at least in software, where the open-source ecosystem is catching on out here on the west coast, businesses are starting to see the commercial viability.
I have never placed anybody at a job, unlike some of you, who have probably placed many. I have just argued for the intern who had worked for free, did a great job, but the position was carved out for them as a freeby for the company, and the intern in all cases was dismissed with a goodbye, good luck and a 'we-ll-send-you-a-letter-of-recommendation'.
Also in customer service, these aren't necessarily high-paid high-experience jobs. They're high-turnover, low-end jobs, where you get a cube and a phone, sometimes hot-cubing as we used to call it: a new cube each day and I.T. wipes images at night / you get a new setup somewhere different in the morning. At least for frontline support geek positions, they pay you and you sign contracts of nondisclosure if you're in one of the giant centers that supports many companies, e.g. you pick up the phone, a voice tells you which company this one is for, and you read the related script. It's the day labor jobs of the office, often filled by temporary workers. Corporations don't tend to simply provide volunteer opportunities / access to internal data and systems, except maybe for interns, which customer service is in the semiskilled category. If you work in customer service, don't take what I said the wrong way: I have profound respect for you underpaid, underthanked, overworked people working in crouded conditions with so much CAT5 and electrical cable running under your feetyou could shock a half-dozen Ted Bundys with it and not have your lights blink.
But precisely because it is a high-turnover business, they basically look for basic computer literacy, maybe knowledge of the area, (insurance, banking, etc. customer service is not general) and that's it, until they send it to 24/7 Customer Support or another conglomerate in India.
If the original poster doesn't need the money, great, I'm glad frankly. And if you want to work volunteer to gain experience, try out something like the Red Cross blood bank or something. I don't know what their requirements look like, but they would be more geared for accepting volunteer effort. But that is entirely different from commercial customer service where you will sign documents acknowledging nondisclosure of data and contracts the conglomerate holds, etc.
I am no more than one of the working masses, so you're probably best suited taking the advice of placement people on here, and I hope to God I'm completely wrong in what I said in my prior post. What I said in this one, in terms of how huge firms operate, is technically accurate.
I'd agree, I wouldn't want to work customer service, lots of turnover like you said, monotonous work, and crappy pay. I'm not in the most high-paying field, but at least I feel like I'm making a difference.