Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I am having a hard time finding a job in Chicago. Thoughts and advice?

I am not in Chicago, but giving people who are an idea of what you're looking for and possibly your qualifications/experience would be very helpful. Advice for finding an entry level job would probably be pretty different from finding something you have a graduate degree or experience in.

I honestly don't much have experience other than working at an ice cream job and for my husband's catering company doing paper work. I also didn't go to college :/

Craigslist, careerbuilder.com, indeed.com, simplyhired.com, painting the town with your resume...

Is there is an industry that you'd like to get into? If you can afford it, asking for an internship or even volunteering at a place you'd like to get paid to work at is a good way to get your foot in the door as well. Obviously that is for more of a long term career type job situation, not a just bring home a paycheck to pay the bills type of thing.

I am thinking if i get a part time dog walking job I can intern somewhere on the side. I will see. It sucks because I don't drive. All things are against me haha

when i first moved here i got a job at whole foods for like a year. it was alright. i think they do like to hire people with (liberal artsy, non-related) degrees but i also had lots of coworkers who didn't have degrees. having some food experience is definitely a plus. (i worked in prepared foods; my year of cooking in my college dining hall was really all of my related experience.) all in all, decent benefits and enough money for me personally to save up a bunch and THEN:

quit my job to pursue more interesting/longterm career type things!

i definitely agree with internships and volunteering. i've done a lot of these things for natural building/scenic carpentry and painting work. once i had a bit of nonpaid experience in these fields, i just started submitting resumes to companies whose work i really admired, even though those companies were not advertising for job openings. i have found that this is a great way to get at least some part time work in the fields i am really interested in, because then you're not competing with hundreds of others who are applying for every job on craigslist, and you're only submitting resumes to places that your experience and interest really lines up with, so you're always a great fit for them.

also, i don't have a car and neither do many of my friends in chicago. it can be a little bit of an impediment for me because i'm interested in carpentry and building things, but i've also been able to find things that dont require a car or truck. the only friends i have who either need a car or have had longterm trouble in their field because of not owning a vehicle are community organizers and social workers who are required to pick up clients or tenants with mobility issues.

what are you interested in doing long term?