News on the Shoes Job Front

[jhale667]

Nope. We worked on huge specialized news software/hardware systems called either ENPS or INews. I know Word and Outlook enough to get by, and excel is way beyond my brain because I flunked everything from algebra on.

You probably wouldn't need to use formulas or anything to do an order-entry sales or customer service gig or something of that sort...

[motherchicken]

Temp agencies usually have entry level jobs in all kinds of areas. Manufacturing, warehousing, food processing all types of jobs. Direct hire is better but more and more companies are turning to temp agencies. I've worked for Rite Aid, Micheals, AT&T, Ryder, Callaway golf, Hyundaii and a few other companies I can't remember through temp agencies. The day labor ones like Labor Ready and Manpower are for the truly desperate but the others have temp to hire positions quite often.

[Nitro Express]

Of course more and more companies use temps. Its so they can screw you out of benefits. What's funny is I knew a girl who worked for Manpower full time. She applied for a mortgage and was turned down because she worked for Manpower. LOL! She tried to convince them she worked for the company as a full time employee and was not a temp. She said that brand-name just didn't impress people. LOL!

What really used to piss me off when I worked in management is when we needed more employees the company would say oh you can hire all the temps you need. I'm sorry. We were launching a new product line. We needed people with some specialized skills and experience. People you actually have to pay some money to in order to hire. We didn't need more administrators or IT people.

Then the CEO does a merger with another company which caused the company long-term problems. He just did it to rally the stock short-term so he could make some quick money before he bailed. One huge problem is the people running these companies actually don't care about the company. There's a place for temps but not hiring them in place of regular employees. I saw one company hire a bunch of temps and some of them were good employees. They worked them for two years and then fired them all because if they worked them any longer they would have a legal case to sue for full time status.

It's all ran by spreadsheets and legal teams now. They know exactly what they can get away with.

[Nitro Express]

Ever thought about moving to North Dakota and working the oil fields? Some people are making good money up there. We don't have enough plumbers in this area. My plumber would love to apprentice someone. It's four years. This guy makes about $105,000 in a good year. You work your ass off and you are on call like a doctor, but you have enough money to take a good vacation and you can choose when you want to take it. It will never be outsourced, nor will someone overseas be a threat to take your job.

[motherchicken]

I got denied for a veterans retraining program because I signed up to be on call at a fish processing company job through a temp agency but never worked one day for them. They still call that employed.

[envy_me]

Ever thought about moving to North Dakota and working the oil fields? Some people are making good money up there. We don't have enough plumbers in this area. My plumber would love to apprentice someone. It's four years. This guy makes about $105,000 in a good year. You work your ass off and you are on call like a doctor, but you have enough money to take a good vacation and you can choose when you want to take it. It will never be outsourced, nor will someone overseas be a threat to take your job.

Man, now you made me wanna do it. Lately I have been thinking of taking any sort of physical labor, as long as I don't have to deal with customers and fake smiles and be polite.
I wouldn't mind working in a mine, the money HAS to be good, it's a mine

[Nitro Express]

I have a friend who's background is in biology. He worked as a quality control engineer for food companies. They closed the plant down where he was working and he didn't want to move. He's an excellent finish carpenter. So he started his own business fabricating and installing expensive cabinets and trim. He's a lot happier and doing well.

There are a lot of good blue color jobs and some people are desperate to fill because people have not gone into it. The key here is skilled. You have to have the skills and some of these blue color jobs like being a machinist require good math skills. What's funny is I think I have used math more for blue color stuff than I ever did in the white color world. I worked in finance and everything was done by computer software. When you are trimming out a house and installing crown molding, the math becomes more real.

It's basically supply and demand. The jobs that there are a lot of people who can do them don't pay as well. Or even jobs like cutting hair don't pay well unless you are really good at it and can market yourself. Then if you can do that, you can make a good living. So it really is the base demand, your skills, and how well you can market yourself. That's the key.

It's a lot like investing. You buy when nobody is talking about it. In the early 90's I was buying gold at $300 an ounce. Nobody wanted it and nobody was talking about it. In fact, one person told me I was wasting my money because I would get a better return in the equity markets. Well I was investing there too. Now look at where gold is. Around $1,700 an ounce. Everyone is talking now and frankly it's not a good time to buy because everyone is in the market.

Jobs are the same way. The ones everyone is running to don't really offer anything in general. You want to focus where everyone isn't that shows some growth potential. I got into agriculture when nobody wanted anything to do with it. It's been a lousy business for 50 years. That's about to change. The world is short on every food commodity and those who have it, will sell it all. Right now we can't grow enough barley. The beer malting plants are buying is all up. Hay is hot too. It's going for $50 a bail right now and we are shipping it halfway across the country due to the drought.

Commodity exchanges will be where the future action is not the equity markets in places like Wall Street and farmers will be driving the fancy cars, not stock brokers. The only thing holding up that charade is the Federal Reserve and that can't last forever. The citizens are onto the scam and demanding change.

Lot's of ways to make money. Owning water rights will be a huge money maker.

So basically I'm still working in finance but it's not stocks and bonds, it's commodities. I'm a partner in a holding company and we own the actual commodities which is kind of a pain but would rather be there than owning some MF Global paper that says I have a right to some unseen commodities.

[binnie]

Of course more and more companies use temps. Its so they can screw you out of benefits. What's funny is I knew a girl who worked for Manpower full time. She applied for a mortgage and was turned down because she worked for Manpower. LOL! She tried to convince them she worked for the company as a full time employee and was not a temp. She said that brand-name just didn't impress people. LOL!

What really used to piss me off when I worked in management is when we needed more employees the company would say oh you can hire all the temps you need. I'm sorry. We were launching a new product line. We needed people with some specialized skills and experience. People you actually have to pay some money to in order to hire. We didn't need more administrators or IT people.

Then the CEO does a merger with another company which caused the company long-term problems. He just did it to rally the stock short-term so he could make some quick money before he bailed. One huge problem is the people running these companies actually don't care about the company. There's a place for temps but not hiring them in place of regular employees. I saw one company hire a bunch of temps and some of them were good employees. They worked them for two years and then fired them all because if they worked them any longer they would have a legal case to sue for full time status.

It's all ran by spreadsheets and legal teams now. They know exactly what they can get away with.

That is the truth. If you are a temp here you essentially have zero employments rights. Shocking.

[envy_me]

I am no diva when it comes to jobs. I can do anythin that I don't find morally wrong or doesn't make me feel bad in any way.

[Nitro Express]

Man, now you made me wanna do it. Lately I have been thinking of taking any sort of physical labor, as long as I don't have to deal with customers and fake smiles and be polite.
I wouldn't mind working in a mine, the money HAS to be good, it's a mine

I've been in a few mines. My dad's company used to work for quite a few mining companies. In fact, my great grandfather came from Scandinavia and ended up in the Montana mining towns and did well for himself. Mining will be a hot industry in the future because the world is short on those types of commodities as well.

The coolest mine I ever was in was a big salt mine in Columbia about an hours drive out of Bogota. It dates back to inca times and the miners carved out a cathedral inside of it that is absolutely huge. I still have big pieces of salt from it.

[ashstralia]

Whoa. Bet that salt's good on grilled fish, or on the rim of your margarita glass...

Yeah mining's huge here. We're the world's quarry.

[envy_me]

I've been in a few mines. My dad's company used to work for quite a few mining companies. In fact, my great grandfather came from Scandinavia and ended up in the Montana mining towns and did well for himself. Mining will be a hot industry in the future because the world is short on those types of commodities as well.

The coolest mine I ever was in was a big salt mine in Columbia about an hours drive out of Bogota. It dates back to inca times and the miners carved out a cathedral inside of it that is absolutely huge. I still have big pieces of salt from it.

OMG!!! A cathedral inside of mine? That is so cool!! Would be cool to see it.
How is mining? Can a woman do it? A clumsy woman but with a lot of enthusiasm :-)

[Nitro Express]

That is the truth. If you are a temp here you essentially have zero employments rights. Shocking.

A lot of people think working as a temp will be a foot in the door. Working in management in the corporate world this is what I learned about it. If you are good employee as a temp, your manager or your department would love to hire you full time. The problem is the company won't let them hire you. I've only seen one person get hired full time from a temp position and he was an engineer. It was at Hewlett Packard and the company had a bias towards hiring people with engineering backgrounds. So they snagged him. People in office positions or working the customer service center had no hope in hell of getting a full time gig.

A temp makes money and that's about it. It leads nowhere in most cases. It certainly is not the road to a long-term career.

[Nitro Express]

OMG!!! A cathedral inside of mine? That is so cool!! Would be cool to see it.
How is mining? Can a woman do it? A clumsy woman but with a lot of enthusiasm :-)

Someone posted some footage of it on YouTube. I went there in the 80's when kidnapping was rampant and the US State Department told us if we disappeared there would be no help coming. Columbia was very dangerous then and nobody knew about this place. I learned of it from some of the locals in Bogata and we drove out to check it out. It was just a working mine with miners. It was no touristy thing. The miners took us in which was way into the mountain and this is what was there.

[ashstralia]

How is mining? Can a woman do it? A clumsy woman but with a lot of enthusiasm :-)

Check this out Swedish. And anyone else interested

http://www.australia-mining.com/?G1