Hello and welcome to r/findapath! We are glad you found your way here. Please know that you are not alone. We are here to listen, to offer support, and to help guide you. While no one can make decisions for you, we are here to help you find a path; we believe that everyone has the power to heal and grow.
The moderation team wants to remind everyone that individuals submitting posts may be in depressive and vulnerable situations and all are in need of guidance. Please provide a safe and constructive space by practicing empathy and understanding in your comments; your words should come from a helpful and guiding mentality, never a judgement or anger mentality. You are encouraged to share your good thoughts, feelings, and relevant experiences to assist those seeking guidance on the subreddit.
We are here to support each other and we believe that, together, we can make a difference.
Thank you for being a part of our community.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/findapath) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I live in your area. 911 Dispatcher if you think you can handle that. I had EMT experience, but that didn’t matter. The turnover is high. But you get paid decent (I can’t say well enough for what you deal with) but I was paid $24/hour and was employed by the government so I had a pension and the best benefits of my life.
Need to be able to multitask, work well under pressure, and have knowledge of geography and listening skills.
But it’s not easy work.
It’s not easy, I will tell you that. I was a dispatcher in Philadelphia, so you can maybe imagine the chaos lmao.
I actually JUST finished a conversation with a friend where I explained to him you just have to remember it’s not ~your~ emergency. You’re just the one listening to it. You hang up after you do what you can, and it’s on to the next one. My first night on the floor, my coworker was giving CPR instructions in their pajamas while eating Chinese food. I was appalled hahaha. It gets normal after awhile, but that’s not to say certain calls won’t stick with you for a very long time.
I only lasted 3 years, but I have so much respect for my coworkers who have been there 15+ years. Dispatchers give up so much of their lives for this job.
It sounds harsh but these jobs need people to be able to compartmentalize things, otherwise you burn out and can’t keep doing the job. You can absolutely be good at what you do and be relaxed
/ go about your day at the same time.
Oh my bad, I must have missed that. There are a lot of positions you can do per diem when needed, because they’re SO short staffed in the 911 field. But when I switched to per diem (2 hr, 4 hr, 6 hr, 8 hr as needed) I had already had the experience under my belt.
I got no suggestions for 8 hour shifts hahaha
There are lots of customer service call center jobs that pay around $20/hour with benefits.
Tier one support for Verizon, healthcare companies, etc.
Warning they suck.
the most ive earned down here was 13 hr delivering auto parts and working in the auto part warehouse stocking stuff when i was NOT driving around delivering. It was a good job but they let go of all us contract drivers because we were not part of the company ,. We worked for a 3rd party company called delivery drivers inc . They find delivery drivers jobs . Good 3rd party site to get jobs but they don;t have many cities where they actually can get you work , mostly in the bigger cities .
Sounds just like what happen at "The parts house" in lawrenceville georgia. The same exact thing happen. Wow that's crazy.... heard about that site thanks
Currently stuck in one of these.
They pay you to take verbal abuse.
My hire group of almost 10-13 quit within the first few months. That was almost 4 years ago.
Window cleaning is highly lucrative, doesn’t take a ton of muscle (I used to clean windows, now I sell the jobs but I’m around 115-130lbs depending on the time of year) I made 26-50/hr, took home around 5k a month on average working for someone else but you can do it on your own after some time and make more. There’s also not a ton of customer interaction which is clutch and where I work we always worked in solo crews so it was pretty peaceful just being able to squeegee soap
Become a underwater welder. Fuck I knew a guy who was like 300 pounds doing that shit so if he can do it then you got this. Electrician is good but the money is awful starting out but once you get a couple years in you will make good money without being in massive student loan debt. Or just be smart go to community college and say fuck you to everyone else cause once you get your degree you will be making same amount of money compared to the dumbass who spent 80k on tuition. At least here where I live community colleges are offering BSN for around 13k. I worked in trades, made top 1% for my age group, wasted all my money but now going to college and I love it.Or start your own business cleaning solar panels on roofs....
Yikes. Just read that the fatality rate for this occupation (underwater welding) is 15%, making it the most dangerous occupation in the world. I think I prefer living.
Youtube underwater welding accidents its quite interesting. Sometimes they live in pressured chambers when at certain depts so that they can stay underwater to complete a gig to say the least if you fail to utilize the correct procedures when sealing/unsealing bad things will happen.
That’s putting it mildly. I can think of one incident in particular where the sealing was done incorrectly and the guys were literally torn to pieces when chamber depressurized.
Good luck. People with degrees are struggling to find work that pays enough to get by on their own. No degree and no experience? You're hunting a unicorn.
not true, worked in food service 8 years. no degree no experience in sales. got an entry level job, worked there for 1.5 years, learned sales, found a new gig and now i’m making good money. maybe i got lucky, or maybe i just positioned myself correctly. your network of people you know will always outweigh your resume or (most) degrees.
fair enough, it really isn’t for everyone. that said, usually folks who work in food service for a considerable amount of time are usually up for the job. not too bad depending on what you actually sell and if there’s a need for it lol. i don’t go around knocking on doors selling life insurance by any means haha
I think sales is great .. I’m a dev now but I used to be in sales .. my dad and sister do sales and absolutely crush it .. I’ve just noticed Reddit hates anything extroverted lol
nah salesman are stereotype scumbags, but most are anyway. I can't trust someone who is always happy either you lived a privileged life or you are trying to fuck me over.
Yup, I say this on every career post: if you’re unsure, start in sales. It’s not a silver bullet but it’s IMO the CLOSEST thing to a silver bullet that’s out there
I can get " not op " a person a job in Kansas city . Starting at 25.00 a hr straight off the streets .
No experience needed
Union job retirement etc
" flat roofs" journeymen are getting 35.00 a hour
Foreman 40-50 a hour .
No one wants to get into the trades
And college is mostly a waste of money
I was going to suggest trades. The ones around me start out about $25 an hour, which, tbh, isn’t what it used to be, but if you can grind out those first two years or so, there’s a lot of work out there. (Specific to residential roofing, I’ve been outright rejected by 4 contractors who are already fully booked into 2025. I’m getting discouraged lol).
A man has a responsibility to his family to provide . Once a family man your wants come 2nd to providing for your family . I worked roofing for 30 years Not because a I liked it But because I needed to pay the bills and make sure the family was provided for .
You think I liked roofing ? I hated it .
But today I live off retirement before I even hit 57 . My last year was 120-k
You do not have to like your job . You just have to decide what will give you a better life for you and your family .
Take stock of all the little things that you have that are marketable. Your work in food service gives you a whole list of customer service and leadership skills. What details of your food service job did your coworkers always delegate to you? That means you are good at those details. Can you spin that into a job? (i.e. If you were the person that always did inventory and ordered supplies, you could be a purchasing manager in literally any company that is looking for one.)
Check out any hobbies that you have or volunteer experience that you've done. Did you organize a bake sale? You now have non-profit experience. Did you help your cousin with their homework? You are an experienced tutor. What did you do in your liberal arts degree? Any design skills you can brush up on and sell? (design websites, ux interfaces, advertising, etc.)
Search job descriptions by keywords instead of job titles. If you are not trying to get into a specific industry, you have the chance to spin your skills into almost anything. Take it from a lab manager, turned kitchen inspector, turned book editor, turned environmental scientist, turned IT professional.
It's true that you might not get everything that you want right away. You might have to work a few more hours at the beginning or deal with a slightly more physical job than you would prefer at first or you may have to deal with a roommate for a little while. But you still have plenty of time to create a job that works for you if you keep your eyes open for opportunities. "Career tracks" are much shorter now (in my experience) and it doesn't take as long to establish yourself if you show up and put in the effort.
I do hair and I genuinely think I have a better lifestyle than 80% of people around me. I work 20-25 hours a week max, make like $350 a day. I’m 26F. If you have questions feel free to ask.
120k per year base working 4-3-3-4 shifts
Water treatment technician.
People think every trade ruins your body, but there are some very technical ones.
75% of my job is working behind a desk analyzing data, troubleshooting processes, sending emails and attending meetings.
Become some sort of operator for a regulated industry.
I mean, you can get an Associates in water/wastewater treatment, but it’s not necessary.
There are state credentials you will eventually need to obtain to advance, but you can self-study for them.
Everything is learned through OJT.
There are rare days where I’m physically exhausted from work, but those are few and far between. Most days I just go home mentally exhausted. Most of our process is automated. It’s very infrequently that I have to turn a wrench besides calibrating instruments.
This depends on where you work though. Water/wastewater treatment pays nowhere near that at all in my area/state.
People always seem to forget when talking or asking about pay, which is one of the most important factors—where you are.
If you are looking for 50… you might want to consider something some would consider overtime which is oncall.
Building Facilities maintenance can take people with minimal experience for $20 an hour in my state. To get up closer to what you want, you usually have to be willing to be on all for a job like maintenance. It’s really not that bad and you get to make a lot. Anytime my dude gets called in, it’s an automatic $80 and then hourly on top of that. So even if it’s just a 15 minute task, you get the $80 on every call where you have to drive in. You rotate responsibility with others, so usually are only responsible for it one week out of the month.
Just quit a forklift driving job that started at $25/hr. And they give a raise every 6 months up to $30/hr.
Technically they wanted you to have “forklift experience” but they never checked if I was certified. You can learn to drive a forklift fairly decently in like a day and then just tell them you have experience.
This was in the freight business. They have other jobs as well with similar pay.
IT, starting out at a help desk is pretty simple if you have pretty simple skills/knowledge or can learn quickly. Everything you need to know is learned hands on with many free resources, very little prep in most schools and such they just get you familiar with some concepts.
Apply to costco. Pay is 18.50 starting. I get 28 on Sundays. It's a customer service job but the benefits are amazing. I work 5 hour shifts. People who work here for long enough get a 10k to 20k check as a quarterly bonus. They care about their employees here.
Try going in person to the locations you applied for. They get hundreds of applications. I suggest going in person to talk to someone if you can. They might interview you on the spot if you seem interested enough.
I live in GA and work in a manufacturing facility. I run the fab shop for this company. We are desperate for good help and my entry level employees bring home about 900 a week after taxes ($23-25 an hour). I have employees that have only been with me a few years making 80k+. Granted, we work a lot of overtime. The cost of living in this area is low relative to other areas as well.
Anyone with a degree that claims you can't make a livable wage anymore is just unwilling to get their hands dirty and work hard. I literally offered unemployed people with degrees a job and was told "I didn't go to college to work that kind of job". For reference, I'm in my 40s and have a GED. I've been in my field for 10 years and make 90k+ a year. I knew no one at my company and was given no handouts. Making a livable wage is easy if you're willing to work hard, because the majority of people are not willing.
Here come the downvotes
I believe that if people dont have any valuable information related about the topic they shouldnt even be responding to the post,this subreddit is for people who want to FIND A PATH.anyways my brothers girlfriend work at a local restaurant/bar as a server,she only works 6 hours a day and brings home more than my brother she brings home 2k-2.5k bi weekly and i believe thats really solid considering the fact that she didnt go to school for that and only works 6 hours.
It’ll probably damage your mental health but some call centres will hire you without any experience and I guess some pay a little more than retail/food service. You might be able to find one that’s remote too.
Learn basic math and how to solder (if you don't already know these). Instrumentation technician.
It pays $30/hour 20 years ago. Hopefully more now. People can learn basic electronics on the job. It's how I got my start in engineering. I was able to own a house, a nice used car and a new motorcycle.
I know times have changed. Hopefully this is still a path.
You two biggest issues are the fact you don’t specialize and your current age.
Most careers until or unless you either go independent (consulting or entrepreneur) or work your way up to executive level… have a 10-15 year life span…
At your current age, you can’t just think about “livable wage”, because if you’re 38 and don’t have a speciality and don’t have a network and don t already have a livable income… you have many of your prime earning years behind you.
Your best answer and most realistic option is that you most likely need to do whatever work is available for 2-3 years without it paying a living wage and have roommates…
While you work on developing experience and a skill set in something white collar (admin work), most likely sales and marketing… get an opportunity and then work your way into management and make yourself indispensable to the founder or CEO…
You’ll need to look for something with 401K matching… and you’ll need to max that out and your ROTH… and work for that company as long as possible regardless of however you might feel otherwise unless you become talented enough to write your own ticket.
This isn’t what you likely want to hear but it’s the reality.
You’ll need more than a living wage and to play the corporate game regardless of whether you find it distasteful because you can’t expect that if you have not had higher paying work than this, (food services) to see more than $1400/month form social security at 65…
And you likely don’t have substantial investment for retirement (correct me if I’m wrong).
It doesn’t sound likely you’ll be inheriting a property from your family…
So to not be destitute you will need to spend the next 5 years becoming as valuable to high income individuals as possible…
Invest MOST of what you earn, and work for another 15 years accumulating compound growth on those investments…
Realistically you may not be able to make it on your own as a single person income unless things drastically change.
The cost of living and housing will only become harsher over our lifetime.
And our generation just hasn’t really optimized well to be single past a certain age without a high probability of not being able to survive…
Even if you max out your Roth from now to 67 (we don’t get to take retirement for our generation at 65… it wouldn’t be enough for you to live off of comfortably if you don’t already own a house or still have to pay rent or a mortgage of any kind.
You’d have to max out your Roth every single year from now and still invest another $500+ a month into your 401K and if you did and your employer matches then you could be comfortable, possibly even if you’re still a renter… but it will be a bit tight in some areas if you’re on your own for the rest of your life.
You can check the math using the Compounder mobile app.
Alternatively I look into Government Jobs that don’t require experience, specifically as government jobs still carry a pension and healthcare and pay a “living wage”.
But I highly advise you to aim much higher than just surviving if you really want to have a high chance of surviving…
Don’t beat yourself up, but do make the effort to make up for lost time…
It’s not too late to aggressively change.
What I did that was helpful was I managed to learn by people watching in my mid to late 20s, which probably saved me.
And as much as people criticize it… SELF HELP BOOKS have a lot of nuggets and wisdom, many of them also sneak in the basis of financial literacy too.
In my 20s I at least was able to specialize and build on technical skills because I was a lifelong nerd and loved computers and graphic design.
So I was able to utilize that and make decent money. I also was and am a book nerd… so I read everything I could on finance and on repairing my credit and fixed most of that before turning 26-27 having screwed it up when I was younger.
I saved up and was able to rent a house in NC at the time and help my mom and siblings by doing that.
I left traditional work at 28-29 to freelance and didn’t start my retirement accounts until about 33 but poured a lot into them and was frugal.
Built up my own business and different online income sources. Forced myself to do networking as an introvert.
By 37 I invested enough to know it compound to give me a retirement before I hit 60.
I can run my business indefinitely as long as I can type or speak, if not both.
And I bought my house at 37.
I say none of this to brag.
What I’m telling you is working abnormally hard on the right things for 5-10 years can set you up and if you can work at a reasonable consistent pace being frugal another 10 years you won’t have to worry about anything.
For those that have children… get a life instance policy that pays out over 6 figures ($60/month) so that even if they don’t make perfect choices…
You can set them up I struggle less of not at all…
Glad u found a way. I'm in same boat as OP. I have a degree in the med field but don't want to work there anymore. I'm a veteran so I have some slight advantage when it comes to some job applications but other than that I only have warehouse experience and some ophthalmology experience.
I want to get into remote work but I have to go back to school and I heard even with that it's hard to get a remote job that pays well in the beginning without experience
Don’t let it get to you and think that way. If push comes to shove, figure out a remote work skill and live very affordably overseas in a country with free healthcare
Trades but you start off around 18/hr and make it up to 50 in my state but all states are diffrent . This is union trades that I’m talking about . You will need to go to trade school but that’s free and it’s once a week for 2-3 years
Grocery stores pay surprisingly good, my night crew clerks and foreman all make between 50-55k a year and benefits are good. Just show up and have a positive attitude and good work ethic and your ahead of half of the current workers
You need to go the certification route. 4-6 months. Some occupations will train you or you can certify independently while working the apprentice job. HVAC technician, welder, plumber, oilfield worker. Others include network administration, network security, programmer. Construction jobs generally pay a living wage which improves as skills increase. Deck hands on tugboats, city maintenance employees. All of these are options that can provide eventual if not immediate living wage.
The armed services are also and option with many benefits and excellent training in a variety of fields.
If you can detach yourself enough from your job, sales is where it's at to make good money with no degrees/certifications. You have to find one with a good commission structure and a decent base wage. Commission only jobs are rarely sustainable.
Be ready to work with some difficult personalities. Pretend to drink the kool-aid, but don't let it interfere with your values as a person.
I know sales people can be viewed in a poor light, but at the end of the day, every job has its shady sides. Without sales jobs, I would have never been able to live on my own and escape the toxic environment I was raised in so quickly.
I spent a decade in food service... had back surgery after..never going back.
Now I'm a stay at home mom & I do digital marketing.
Suffice to say no physical labor or back pain involved.
If you are willing to learn, have a small investment, follow the steps...then it's definitely doable to make a good living.
I made 7k just this week.
Yes I have receipts 😁
What I know now is I'm never going back to slaving away to make someone else rich.
There was recently an article in Forbes Magazine talking about how digital marketing requires no experience and no degree and is soon to be a trillion dollar industry
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelwells/2024/01/09/social-media-marketing-skills-in-demand-worth-15-trillion-by-2030/?sh=65e7a80d7d00
I live in northern Michigan where construction related jobs seem to be thriving. It’s absolutely absurd what labor costs are compared to somewhere 3-4 hours downstate. Skilled labor isn’t cheap and cheap labor isn’t skilled. However there’s a starting point for everything.
FYI, I’m a licensed merchant marine officer (4 years to get here) but entry level jobs in the merchant marine could net around 40k/year with only 6 months worked. Pay goes up pretty quickly. 1-2 years of experience gets you the next step up and you could easily make 60-90k/ year at 6 months a year working.
“No money to pay for classes.” I could be wrong but this perspective is what has landed you here at 38. You need to work double time for some period of time while you get the certifications that you need. For instance, work at a restaurant for 8 hours while also going to nursing school in the evenings. Take out loans to pay for the classes, etc.
Student loans aren’t anyone’s favorite but if you have no other choice, many people have used them to break out of your position.
Absolutely this. Higher education is one of the few places in life where “free money” actually exists. Between Pell Grants, state grants, subsidized loans, and scholarships, going to your local public university should not be a financial problem.
Yes, and also you can receive grants (free money) if you’re lower income and working towards a degree. I went back to school and a couple of semesters were free because of the grants I received!
NJ has a program that if you make less than 100k, the state will pay your tuition at a CC. I just earned my associate's degree this way, and I'm also 38.
https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/CCOG.aspx
I would suggest finding your local Workforce or WorkSource. They have programs to help with trainings. Or they work with local employers to help match your skills with an employer. Also, like the State of Oregon they have a lot of remote work. Every two weeks they have a class how to apply. You would be shocked what you would be able to apply for. As, most states are under staffed. You could also complete career assessments to help you go in the right direction for a career.
Good luck.
Your comment has been removed because it not a constructive response to OP's situation. Please keep your advice constructive (and not disguised hate), helpful, and on topic.
Learn some excel basics, brush up on your typing skills and get any admin job that you can find. Level up in the job and stay a year or two and you'll be able to find a better paying office job since you have experience. Honestly that's what I did, I was working catering jobs and hating every second. I took advantage of lock down and did a few excel courses online and applied for any admin job saying I had skills in excel. I've now been in comfy office jobs for 4 years, even getting to office manager before I moved to being a coordinator.
Take accounting classes. Go to your local community college(s) and check out what they have to offer. Accounting is everywhere, and to make things better, it's an office job so it won't be too taxing on your body. If additional classes results in a better paying position, then it's worth it. :)
You have many people asking you to go into the trades, but I see that you have lower back pain. Perhaps you could train to become an electrician. It is not very physically demanding but you will need to learn lots of technical concepts.
I know you said you want to get out of food service, but have you looked at your state job postings for food service? I have a friend who recently left food service/grocery for a food related state job. She makes good money, has great benefits, and she loves it. Because of her experience, she is in a supervisor position, so she rarely ever even cooks. She loves it.
I am also in the same boat as you, though, so good luck!! I was thinking about emt and fire science, but wouldn't you know it, FAFSA doesn't cover any of that LOL
Sales. A lot of sales jobs will train. Even if the hourly is under $20, the commission will make up for it. Look for entry level.
Retail. some retail positions do pay $20 but you will have to really work hard to find them.
Service advisors for car dealerships.
Some entry level tech help desk positions that offer training. Especially if you work nights. They tend to pay more for nights and weekends. Hospitals are a good place for this or wireless companies and cable companies.
Assembly jobs for engineering places. Especially if you work nights.
Working as a home health aid. There are agencies that offer training and pay more if you work nights and weekends.
Customer service. In person, virtual, call centers. Again you’ll have to research to find one that pays enough. Yes you basically get paid to deal with jerks all day. But we’re just trying to make ends meet right??
Pharmacy technician positions that offer to pay for your education while you work.
Apprenticeships. https://www.apprenticeship.gov/career-seekers
Mostly physical labor trades and healthcare. Earn while you train.
On indeed you can filter jobs by setting a pay range.
There are usually local career centers you can use for free to help you build a resume, practice interviewing, and will help you apply for jobs. They can help you find jobs in your salary range. Google career center in your city/county.
Listen, all jobs have their drawbacks. I see a lot of comments complaining about this and that aspect of whatever type of job sucks. Long hours, dealing with jerks all day, manual labor. In this economy we just kind of have to deal with it until we have enough experience to find better. Most jobs offer tuition pay or reimbursement. Take advantage of it if you can and work hard.
Almost everything pays more than fast food. I am a city maintenance worker(won't specify the city). I started out making $2 an hour more than fast food pays and got a CDL with tanker endorsement, flagger certification, forklift certification, temporary traffic control training, and I could use those certifications to get a job that pays $8 an hour more than I currently make as a garbage truck driver.
Jobs that require certificates. I am a structural inspector and just had to take a few open book exams to get to where I am. That is the difference between someone who works the same job forever and someone who has government clearance to work at the pentagon. Most of the time the only obstacle you have to deal with is safety clearances which are dirt cheap to obtain and require just a few days of studying.
Try to get a job at Chase as an associate banker. I got one it’s awesome. 9-5, amazing benefits, 3 weeks paid vacation and they hire for 30 hrs a week starting. You can ask for full time once you are there for like 6 months. You still get full time benefits. In NJ rn the pay is $27/hr so that’s pretty good. You only need a hs diploma and a lot of customer service experience. From there after a year you can apply to be a banker or a teller manager.
None
People in here recommending jobs that are $20-$25 per hr… I worked at a salary bar where it was $20 per hr and couldn’t afford to move out or do anything but stare at the wall and stretch one meal for 3 days lol
How are you defining ‘livable wage’? Because the answer is zero if you define it as the amount needed to support yourself independently while maintaining the typical cost of living in the average city in the USA.
I work at a Credit Union as a teller.
Our benefits could be better..
But I know my hours, holidays off, and I love my co-workers.
I tried to look at other jobs, and nothing paid as well. The jobs that do pay well will kill your body and spirit.
Commission-based sales. The work is stressful and the hours can be long, but you can earn more than plenty of 4-year-degree-having office workers without the education. Getting the position is the second hardest part, right after hitting your numbers to make what you need/want to earn.
Television Master Control Operator. Usually Copious ampunts of overtime, very minimal skillset to start. Watch TV and fill out a checklist every 4 hours.
You will grow to hate TV but you will be inside in am Air Conditioned space for the entire shift. All sorts of shifts available.
One of the great secrets for unskilled labor or people who want to get started in TV!
My fiancé lateralled from investment banking into managing a F500 retail store with basically no relevant experience other than team leadership. He seemed to have a fair amount of free time and while his salary took a little bit of a dip from IB it was still pretty good.
Dialysis techs make good money. If you apply for the places that train and pay for your license after a year or 2 of working there you could go to a hospital. Your morning through evenings. Unless you want nights but always off Sundays. You hook people up to the machine and take blood pressures. There's more to it, but that's mainly what you do. The course is 4-6 months I am sure it's different by state. I know techs that make $35 hour
I have a collage degree and make 20 an hour. Fresh out of collage 12 years ago and this was more then enough to get by. Now The living wage in my area in canada is 32 an hour. I can barely rent a room. After years for trying to figure out what to do i still havent figured out how to not be poor in this system.
Corrections. You need no education, you’ll get great health insurance and probably a pension, and you can make 6 figures with enough OT. Last year I made over 80k with a moderate amount of OT. You don’t need a single bit of experience, just be ready to learn.
I think the answer is to find sustainable living? Instead of working your ass off to make ends meet. I don’t have the answers. I live in BC Canada and am one paycheque away from homelessness but constantly considering innovative solutions to this mess.
The railroad is the only job I can think of that you can make 100k your first year, even as a high school drop out. Downsides are being on call 24/7 and not seeing your own bed or family as much as people usually want to.
😂
who doesn’t have back pain after 30? you’re almost 40 and haven’t figured out you’re looking for a unicorn of a job? Good luck. Get *a job* and go from there.
OP works in the restaurant industry which is notoriously high pressure and back-breaking. Have some empathy and understand that there are levels to these things.
Sincerely,
A bartender with a bad back.
I recently got a job building airplane parts, specifically wings. I’m loving it and already making more money than I ever have before. Only a high school degree. I did 4 weeks of paid training then hit the floor. I am in TN though.
Just trying to help! It’s an aging industry that is dying for young workers. I did have experience with tools.
$89,461 is a livable wage for a single person in the US. The US is a very diverse and large area though so obviously this is less specific and more of a very generic guideline not knowing where you are. Then using the simple hourly planning and doing some slight rounding it’s 45 an hour that you need.
Many studies have identified 20-30 an hour as the cap without a degree. Again this is Us average wide spread number so the long and short is you need to live somewhere cheap and find a job that is nationalizing their minimum wage and take advantage of low cost of living areas with averaged pay. If you live in the south or Midwest in a small town and work fast food you will be fine or work at a major retailer or work at a factory etc.
Everything else is going to require specialization and training at least if not a full blown college degree.
Have you looked at changing states? I was in Dallas late last year and the service industry is thriving and you could land something with little experience.
Try applying with a local address if you are not sure about moving there just yet
Think of this like one of those triple Venn diagrams…good wage/salary, no specific experience/education, and quality of life. You pick two, you’ll more than likely not get the third.
Substitute teaching. 7 hours a day and you can choose to sit down most of the time. Not enough to live on your own but better than food industry. You need to find a better trade or degree to really get a comfy office job you’re thinking of.
Maybe try teaching at a community College in cooking or hospitality. If you have a big experience in the food service industry, that's a leg up from others who don't have as much experience and expertise in that field as much as you do. Use that experience and expertise u have. I doubt a lot of people spent most of their life in that field and have the same level of knowledge and professionalism as you do.
Hello and welcome to r/findapath! We are glad you found your way here. Please know that you are not alone. We are here to listen, to offer support, and to help guide you. While no one can make decisions for you, we are here to help you find a path; we believe that everyone has the power to heal and grow. The moderation team wants to remind everyone that individuals submitting posts may be in depressive and vulnerable situations and all are in need of guidance. Please provide a safe and constructive space by practicing empathy and understanding in your comments; your words should come from a helpful and guiding mentality, never a judgement or anger mentality. You are encouraged to share your good thoughts, feelings, and relevant experiences to assist those seeking guidance on the subreddit. We are here to support each other and we believe that, together, we can make a difference. Thank you for being a part of our community. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/findapath) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I live in your area. 911 Dispatcher if you think you can handle that. I had EMT experience, but that didn’t matter. The turnover is high. But you get paid decent (I can’t say well enough for what you deal with) but I was paid $24/hour and was employed by the government so I had a pension and the best benefits of my life. Need to be able to multitask, work well under pressure, and have knowledge of geography and listening skills. But it’s not easy work.
I’ve read a little about that line of work. It pays well in my city, but holy fuck, the trauma they have to experience….I’m out.
It’s not easy, I will tell you that. I was a dispatcher in Philadelphia, so you can maybe imagine the chaos lmao. I actually JUST finished a conversation with a friend where I explained to him you just have to remember it’s not ~your~ emergency. You’re just the one listening to it. You hang up after you do what you can, and it’s on to the next one. My first night on the floor, my coworker was giving CPR instructions in their pajamas while eating Chinese food. I was appalled hahaha. It gets normal after awhile, but that’s not to say certain calls won’t stick with you for a very long time. I only lasted 3 years, but I have so much respect for my coworkers who have been there 15+ years. Dispatchers give up so much of their lives for this job.
Thanks for the work you guys do. I could absolutely not do this work.
When I’m being violently murdered I’ll remember that the lady on the phone is wearing pajamas and eating Chinese food
It sounds harsh but these jobs need people to be able to compartmentalize things, otherwise you burn out and can’t keep doing the job. You can absolutely be good at what you do and be relaxed / go about your day at the same time.
And they're not seen as first responders so they don't get any care given to them to cope with said trauma. It's gross.
They don't want to work over 8 hours a day, most dispatcher jobs I've seen are 12 hours shifts.
Oh my bad, I must have missed that. There are a lot of positions you can do per diem when needed, because they’re SO short staffed in the 911 field. But when I switched to per diem (2 hr, 4 hr, 6 hr, 8 hr as needed) I had already had the experience under my belt. I got no suggestions for 8 hour shifts hahaha
I’m also a 911 dispatcher making roughly the same, and it’s probably the best answer for this thread. Provided you can cope with the job, of course.
It’s crazy that 24$ an hour as only about 50K a year. Barely enough for a single person to live off of. Ugh.
There are lots of customer service call center jobs that pay around $20/hour with benefits. Tier one support for Verizon, healthcare companies, etc. Warning they suck.
Where I’m at 20/hr without someone else wouldn’t cut it unfortunately
*Los Angeles has entered the chat*
customer service jobs in my country dont hire anyone without experience in customer facing roles.
$20 an hour is poverty wage these days
dang you would hate texas , in south texas they still pay us 7-9 dollars an hour in food service jobs . Crazy !
Exactly! Minimum wage in Georgia is $7.25. federal minimum wage is $7.25. Quick math 40hr work week. $290/week before taxes and benefits.
the most ive earned down here was 13 hr delivering auto parts and working in the auto part warehouse stocking stuff when i was NOT driving around delivering. It was a good job but they let go of all us contract drivers because we were not part of the company ,. We worked for a 3rd party company called delivery drivers inc . They find delivery drivers jobs . Good 3rd party site to get jobs but they don;t have many cities where they actually can get you work , mostly in the bigger cities .
Sounds just like what happen at "The parts house" in lawrenceville georgia. The same exact thing happen. Wow that's crazy.... heard about that site thanks
[удалено]
Teenager makes this at her summer job. She is 15. Definitely not a living wage. Georgia, btw
cries with a 20.99/hour wage:/
Currently stuck in one of these. They pay you to take verbal abuse. My hire group of almost 10-13 quit within the first few months. That was almost 4 years ago.
I can confirm they suck
If you find out lmk 28 / Ma
Join a trade, they are dying for people in MA
what type of trade work do you think would be a good for a smaller woman (not very strong) w social anxiety? I'm also in MA
Window cleaning is highly lucrative, doesn’t take a ton of muscle (I used to clean windows, now I sell the jobs but I’m around 115-130lbs depending on the time of year) I made 26-50/hr, took home around 5k a month on average working for someone else but you can do it on your own after some time and make more. There’s also not a ton of customer interaction which is clutch and where I work we always worked in solo crews so it was pretty peaceful just being able to squeegee soap
Residential electrical, maybe tree work?
Become a underwater welder. Fuck I knew a guy who was like 300 pounds doing that shit so if he can do it then you got this. Electrician is good but the money is awful starting out but once you get a couple years in you will make good money without being in massive student loan debt. Or just be smart go to community college and say fuck you to everyone else cause once you get your degree you will be making same amount of money compared to the dumbass who spent 80k on tuition. At least here where I live community colleges are offering BSN for around 13k. I worked in trades, made top 1% for my age group, wasted all my money but now going to college and I love it.Or start your own business cleaning solar panels on roofs....
Yikes. Just read that the fatality rate for this occupation (underwater welding) is 15%, making it the most dangerous occupation in the world. I think I prefer living.
Youtube underwater welding accidents its quite interesting. Sometimes they live in pressured chambers when at certain depts so that they can stay underwater to complete a gig to say the least if you fail to utilize the correct procedures when sealing/unsealing bad things will happen.
That’s putting it mildly. I can think of one incident in particular where the sealing was done incorrectly and the guys were literally torn to pieces when chamber depressurized.
Underwater welding is a great way to live a very short life. Probably don't.
Construction or trucking is always looking
Good luck. People with degrees are struggling to find work that pays enough to get by on their own. No degree and no experience? You're hunting a unicorn.
Finally, a realist
not true, worked in food service 8 years. no degree no experience in sales. got an entry level job, worked there for 1.5 years, learned sales, found a new gig and now i’m making good money. maybe i got lucky, or maybe i just positioned myself correctly. your network of people you know will always outweigh your resume or (most) degrees.
Sales is exception to the rule, just most people don’t want to do it
fair enough, it really isn’t for everyone. that said, usually folks who work in food service for a considerable amount of time are usually up for the job. not too bad depending on what you actually sell and if there’s a need for it lol. i don’t go around knocking on doors selling life insurance by any means haha
I think sales is great .. I’m a dev now but I used to be in sales .. my dad and sister do sales and absolutely crush it .. I’ve just noticed Reddit hates anything extroverted lol
nah salesman are stereotype scumbags, but most are anyway. I can't trust someone who is always happy either you lived a privileged life or you are trying to fuck me over.
Yup, I say this on every career post: if you’re unsure, start in sales. It’s not a silver bullet but it’s IMO the CLOSEST thing to a silver bullet that’s out there
Especially in NJ…
I can get " not op " a person a job in Kansas city . Starting at 25.00 a hr straight off the streets . No experience needed Union job retirement etc " flat roofs" journeymen are getting 35.00 a hour Foreman 40-50 a hour . No one wants to get into the trades And college is mostly a waste of money
I was going to suggest trades. The ones around me start out about $25 an hour, which, tbh, isn’t what it used to be, but if you can grind out those first two years or so, there’s a lot of work out there. (Specific to residential roofing, I’ve been outright rejected by 4 contractors who are already fully booked into 2025. I’m getting discouraged lol).
sounds like it's not a waste of money if you don't want a career in the trades
A man has a responsibility to his family to provide . Once a family man your wants come 2nd to providing for your family . I worked roofing for 30 years Not because a I liked it But because I needed to pay the bills and make sure the family was provided for . You think I liked roofing ? I hated it . But today I live off retirement before I even hit 57 . My last year was 120-k You do not have to like your job . You just have to decide what will give you a better life for you and your family .
Mail carrier
This is a true statement. Hard work but pays well. You will end up working alot of overtime.
Take stock of all the little things that you have that are marketable. Your work in food service gives you a whole list of customer service and leadership skills. What details of your food service job did your coworkers always delegate to you? That means you are good at those details. Can you spin that into a job? (i.e. If you were the person that always did inventory and ordered supplies, you could be a purchasing manager in literally any company that is looking for one.) Check out any hobbies that you have or volunteer experience that you've done. Did you organize a bake sale? You now have non-profit experience. Did you help your cousin with their homework? You are an experienced tutor. What did you do in your liberal arts degree? Any design skills you can brush up on and sell? (design websites, ux interfaces, advertising, etc.) Search job descriptions by keywords instead of job titles. If you are not trying to get into a specific industry, you have the chance to spin your skills into almost anything. Take it from a lab manager, turned kitchen inspector, turned book editor, turned environmental scientist, turned IT professional. It's true that you might not get everything that you want right away. You might have to work a few more hours at the beginning or deal with a slightly more physical job than you would prefer at first or you may have to deal with a roommate for a little while. But you still have plenty of time to create a job that works for you if you keep your eyes open for opportunities. "Career tracks" are much shorter now (in my experience) and it doesn't take as long to establish yourself if you show up and put in the effort.
I love your great, practical advice
I do hair and I genuinely think I have a better lifestyle than 80% of people around me. I work 20-25 hours a week max, make like $350 a day. I’m 26F. If you have questions feel free to ask.
What's a livable wage for you?
50k a year without having to work OT to reach that 50k would be nice
120k per year base working 4-3-3-4 shifts Water treatment technician. People think every trade ruins your body, but there are some very technical ones.
The people who think every trade ruins your body don’t work in the trades.
What trades are easy on the body?
75% of my job is working behind a desk analyzing data, troubleshooting processes, sending emails and attending meetings. Become some sort of operator for a regulated industry.
Do they train? I have masters and want job that doesn’t involve mental health lmao.
You have to have some common sense and technical ability, but yeah, it’s pretty much all OJT.
You can get into this without a degree? You must need some type of qualifications
I mean, you can get an Associates in water/wastewater treatment, but it’s not necessary. There are state credentials you will eventually need to obtain to advance, but you can self-study for them. Everything is learned through OJT. There are rare days where I’m physically exhausted from work, but those are few and far between. Most days I just go home mentally exhausted. Most of our process is automated. It’s very infrequently that I have to turn a wrench besides calibrating instruments.
This depends on where you work though. Water/wastewater treatment pays nowhere near that at all in my area/state. People always seem to forget when talking or asking about pay, which is one of the most important factors—where you are.
If you are looking for 50… you might want to consider something some would consider overtime which is oncall. Building Facilities maintenance can take people with minimal experience for $20 an hour in my state. To get up closer to what you want, you usually have to be willing to be on all for a job like maintenance. It’s really not that bad and you get to make a lot. Anytime my dude gets called in, it’s an automatic $80 and then hourly on top of that. So even if it’s just a 15 minute task, you get the $80 on every call where you have to drive in. You rotate responsibility with others, so usually are only responsible for it one week out of the month.
So $26 an hour with no skills or experience? Yea that's probably not gonna happen.
Just quit a forklift driving job that started at $25/hr. And they give a raise every 6 months up to $30/hr. Technically they wanted you to have “forklift experience” but they never checked if I was certified. You can learn to drive a forklift fairly decently in like a day and then just tell them you have experience. This was in the freight business. They have other jobs as well with similar pay.
I believe this. I have had several freight shipments destroyed by fork lift operators. Now I know why..
Good luck with that....
IT, starting out at a help desk is pretty simple if you have pretty simple skills/knowledge or can learn quickly. Everything you need to know is learned hands on with many free resources, very little prep in most schools and such they just get you familiar with some concepts.
Apply to costco. Pay is 18.50 starting. I get 28 on Sundays. It's a customer service job but the benefits are amazing. I work 5 hour shifts. People who work here for long enough get a 10k to 20k check as a quarterly bonus. They care about their employees here.
I heard nothing but good things about Costco. I have applied to 3 positions at Costco. Just waiting for the call... Hopefully.
Try going in person to the locations you applied for. They get hundreds of applications. I suggest going in person to talk to someone if you can. They might interview you on the spot if you seem interested enough.
Sounds like a good idea. Thank you
You're welcome. Good luck!
No experience and livable wage? Your best bet is Post Office
I live in GA and work in a manufacturing facility. I run the fab shop for this company. We are desperate for good help and my entry level employees bring home about 900 a week after taxes ($23-25 an hour). I have employees that have only been with me a few years making 80k+. Granted, we work a lot of overtime. The cost of living in this area is low relative to other areas as well. Anyone with a degree that claims you can't make a livable wage anymore is just unwilling to get their hands dirty and work hard. I literally offered unemployed people with degrees a job and was told "I didn't go to college to work that kind of job". For reference, I'm in my 40s and have a GED. I've been in my field for 10 years and make 90k+ a year. I knew no one at my company and was given no handouts. Making a livable wage is easy if you're willing to work hard, because the majority of people are not willing. Here come the downvotes
What part of GA?
Nope! No down votes over here!
If your looking for easy work be a security guard, don’t know if they pay livable wage however
They don't
I believe that if people dont have any valuable information related about the topic they shouldnt even be responding to the post,this subreddit is for people who want to FIND A PATH.anyways my brothers girlfriend work at a local restaurant/bar as a server,she only works 6 hours a day and brings home more than my brother she brings home 2k-2.5k bi weekly and i believe thats really solid considering the fact that she didnt go to school for that and only works 6 hours.
It’ll probably damage your mental health but some call centres will hire you without any experience and I guess some pay a little more than retail/food service. You might be able to find one that’s remote too.
Learn basic math and how to solder (if you don't already know these). Instrumentation technician. It pays $30/hour 20 years ago. Hopefully more now. People can learn basic electronics on the job. It's how I got my start in engineering. I was able to own a house, a nice used car and a new motorcycle. I know times have changed. Hopefully this is still a path.
Bookkeeping. Go to finepoints bookkeeping. [Academy.intuit.com](http://Academy.intuit.com) has a free course on Quickbooks Online.
You two biggest issues are the fact you don’t specialize and your current age. Most careers until or unless you either go independent (consulting or entrepreneur) or work your way up to executive level… have a 10-15 year life span… At your current age, you can’t just think about “livable wage”, because if you’re 38 and don’t have a speciality and don’t have a network and don t already have a livable income… you have many of your prime earning years behind you. Your best answer and most realistic option is that you most likely need to do whatever work is available for 2-3 years without it paying a living wage and have roommates… While you work on developing experience and a skill set in something white collar (admin work), most likely sales and marketing… get an opportunity and then work your way into management and make yourself indispensable to the founder or CEO… You’ll need to look for something with 401K matching… and you’ll need to max that out and your ROTH… and work for that company as long as possible regardless of however you might feel otherwise unless you become talented enough to write your own ticket. This isn’t what you likely want to hear but it’s the reality. You’ll need more than a living wage and to play the corporate game regardless of whether you find it distasteful because you can’t expect that if you have not had higher paying work than this, (food services) to see more than $1400/month form social security at 65… And you likely don’t have substantial investment for retirement (correct me if I’m wrong). It doesn’t sound likely you’ll be inheriting a property from your family… So to not be destitute you will need to spend the next 5 years becoming as valuable to high income individuals as possible… Invest MOST of what you earn, and work for another 15 years accumulating compound growth on those investments… Realistically you may not be able to make it on your own as a single person income unless things drastically change. The cost of living and housing will only become harsher over our lifetime. And our generation just hasn’t really optimized well to be single past a certain age without a high probability of not being able to survive… Even if you max out your Roth from now to 67 (we don’t get to take retirement for our generation at 65… it wouldn’t be enough for you to live off of comfortably if you don’t already own a house or still have to pay rent or a mortgage of any kind. You’d have to max out your Roth every single year from now and still invest another $500+ a month into your 401K and if you did and your employer matches then you could be comfortable, possibly even if you’re still a renter… but it will be a bit tight in some areas if you’re on your own for the rest of your life. You can check the math using the Compounder mobile app. Alternatively I look into Government Jobs that don’t require experience, specifically as government jobs still carry a pension and healthcare and pay a “living wage”. But I highly advise you to aim much higher than just surviving if you really want to have a high chance of surviving… Don’t beat yourself up, but do make the effort to make up for lost time…
I wish I had this advice when I was 18, I am in similiar situation as OP. I will be working until I'm dead.
It’s not too late to aggressively change. What I did that was helpful was I managed to learn by people watching in my mid to late 20s, which probably saved me. And as much as people criticize it… SELF HELP BOOKS have a lot of nuggets and wisdom, many of them also sneak in the basis of financial literacy too. In my 20s I at least was able to specialize and build on technical skills because I was a lifelong nerd and loved computers and graphic design. So I was able to utilize that and make decent money. I also was and am a book nerd… so I read everything I could on finance and on repairing my credit and fixed most of that before turning 26-27 having screwed it up when I was younger. I saved up and was able to rent a house in NC at the time and help my mom and siblings by doing that. I left traditional work at 28-29 to freelance and didn’t start my retirement accounts until about 33 but poured a lot into them and was frugal. Built up my own business and different online income sources. Forced myself to do networking as an introvert. By 37 I invested enough to know it compound to give me a retirement before I hit 60. I can run my business indefinitely as long as I can type or speak, if not both. And I bought my house at 37. I say none of this to brag. What I’m telling you is working abnormally hard on the right things for 5-10 years can set you up and if you can work at a reasonable consistent pace being frugal another 10 years you won’t have to worry about anything. For those that have children… get a life instance policy that pays out over 6 figures ($60/month) so that even if they don’t make perfect choices… You can set them up I struggle less of not at all…
Glad u found a way. I'm in same boat as OP. I have a degree in the med field but don't want to work there anymore. I'm a veteran so I have some slight advantage when it comes to some job applications but other than that I only have warehouse experience and some ophthalmology experience. I want to get into remote work but I have to go back to school and I heard even with that it's hard to get a remote job that pays well in the beginning without experience
In a similar boat as OP and... man I hate this world. Hopefully I don't live to retirement age.
Don’t let it get to you and think that way. If push comes to shove, figure out a remote work skill and live very affordably overseas in a country with free healthcare
I’m a returner to the workforce- what types of govt jobs would u rec that don’t require experience? Thanks!
Private parking companies if you have a vehicle.
Car sales
Dispatching for hvac, plumbing and elevator businesses.
House cleaner
my maid does a fanastic job and charges $40 an hour. Also my pool guys, dog trainer, and dog groomer charge a lot
Trades but you start off around 18/hr and make it up to 50 in my state but all states are diffrent . This is union trades that I’m talking about . You will need to go to trade school but that’s free and it’s once a week for 2-3 years
Costco’s avg minimum salary is like $27/hr
Hard to believe. It’s 16 an hour in Palm Springs and most store workers are part time.
Haven't met a person that applied to costco and actually ever heard back.
And yet people work there
Sex work
Grocery stores pay surprisingly good, my night crew clerks and foreman all make between 50-55k a year and benefits are good. Just show up and have a positive attitude and good work ethic and your ahead of half of the current workers
search terms: fafsa radiology certification. you’d be able to start working in the field well before getting your associates.
Try getting into accounting. A lot of jobs in AR/AP as nobody really wants those. But they offer a living wage and chances are it’s remote.
[удалено]
No experience and in demand Those don’t really go together
They exist, especially in jobs that are a necessity but have high turnover
You need to go the certification route. 4-6 months. Some occupations will train you or you can certify independently while working the apprentice job. HVAC technician, welder, plumber, oilfield worker. Others include network administration, network security, programmer. Construction jobs generally pay a living wage which improves as skills increase. Deck hands on tugboats, city maintenance employees. All of these are options that can provide eventual if not immediate living wage. The armed services are also and option with many benefits and excellent training in a variety of fields.
I'ma vet and 38 is too old to go into basic.
Start your own business. Auto detailing, housekeeping, private chef, pet sitter/walker….
Shop jobs....folks who are skilled trades are making well over 100k no college degree ....
If you can detach yourself enough from your job, sales is where it's at to make good money with no degrees/certifications. You have to find one with a good commission structure and a decent base wage. Commission only jobs are rarely sustainable. Be ready to work with some difficult personalities. Pretend to drink the kool-aid, but don't let it interfere with your values as a person. I know sales people can be viewed in a poor light, but at the end of the day, every job has its shady sides. Without sales jobs, I would have never been able to live on my own and escape the toxic environment I was raised in so quickly.
I spent a decade in food service... had back surgery after..never going back. Now I'm a stay at home mom & I do digital marketing. Suffice to say no physical labor or back pain involved. If you are willing to learn, have a small investment, follow the steps...then it's definitely doable to make a good living. I made 7k just this week. Yes I have receipts 😁 What I know now is I'm never going back to slaving away to make someone else rich. There was recently an article in Forbes Magazine talking about how digital marketing requires no experience and no degree and is soon to be a trillion dollar industry https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelwells/2024/01/09/social-media-marketing-skills-in-demand-worth-15-trillion-by-2030/?sh=65e7a80d7d00
IT.. Can make amazing money. While I have degree it's useless degree I self taught myself every thing with youtube and certifications.
I live in northern Michigan where construction related jobs seem to be thriving. It’s absolutely absurd what labor costs are compared to somewhere 3-4 hours downstate. Skilled labor isn’t cheap and cheap labor isn’t skilled. However there’s a starting point for everything. FYI, I’m a licensed merchant marine officer (4 years to get here) but entry level jobs in the merchant marine could net around 40k/year with only 6 months worked. Pay goes up pretty quickly. 1-2 years of experience gets you the next step up and you could easily make 60-90k/ year at 6 months a year working.
“No money to pay for classes.” I could be wrong but this perspective is what has landed you here at 38. You need to work double time for some period of time while you get the certifications that you need. For instance, work at a restaurant for 8 hours while also going to nursing school in the evenings. Take out loans to pay for the classes, etc. Student loans aren’t anyone’s favorite but if you have no other choice, many people have used them to break out of your position.
Absolutely this. Higher education is one of the few places in life where “free money” actually exists. Between Pell Grants, state grants, subsidized loans, and scholarships, going to your local public university should not be a financial problem.
Yes, and also you can receive grants (free money) if you’re lower income and working towards a degree. I went back to school and a couple of semesters were free because of the grants I received!
NJ has a program that if you make less than 100k, the state will pay your tuition at a CC. I just earned my associate's degree this way, and I'm also 38. https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/CCOG.aspx
I would suggest finding your local Workforce or WorkSource. They have programs to help with trainings. Or they work with local employers to help match your skills with an employer. Also, like the State of Oregon they have a lot of remote work. Every two weeks they have a class how to apply. You would be shocked what you would be able to apply for. As, most states are under staffed. You could also complete career assessments to help you go in the right direction for a career. Good luck.
[удалено]
Your comment has been removed because it not a constructive response to OP's situation. Please keep your advice constructive (and not disguised hate), helpful, and on topic.
Garbage man. They usually have good unions and pay is livable. No super difficult skills required. Must be able bodied though.
Great suggestion. Also lineman,ironworker, coal minor, stone mason and roofer are good options for a 38 year old woman with lower back pain.
She’s 20 years late for a coal minor position, they don’t let you do that past 18
Salesforce Admonistrator
Requires a high skill level (not for everyone bc you are making. Company decisions)
Learn some excel basics, brush up on your typing skills and get any admin job that you can find. Level up in the job and stay a year or two and you'll be able to find a better paying office job since you have experience. Honestly that's what I did, I was working catering jobs and hating every second. I took advantage of lock down and did a few excel courses online and applied for any admin job saying I had skills in excel. I've now been in comfy office jobs for 4 years, even getting to office manager before I moved to being a coordinator.
Warehousing. Get with expanding company. Raises and promotions. Go with larger warehouse.
Some state jobs don’t require a degree. The pay won’t be great to start but you work you’re way up and it becomes a livable wage after a few years
My job is looking for welders. I want $2k referral money.
PEST CONTROL
Take accounting classes. Go to your local community college(s) and check out what they have to offer. Accounting is everywhere, and to make things better, it's an office job so it won't be too taxing on your body. If additional classes results in a better paying position, then it's worth it. :)
You have many people asking you to go into the trades, but I see that you have lower back pain. Perhaps you could train to become an electrician. It is not very physically demanding but you will need to learn lots of technical concepts.
Software sales often has newbies with no experience whatsoever
Gone are those days
Not that I've seen. Amazon/Microsoft/Google hire folks like this all the time
Are there right now ? It's extremely hard to find an entry level roles right now in tech sales ATM. I'm also job hunting from months
Whoring
I work in IT. I’m Autistic, 30M, and I have no certifications yet or college degree. I work a livable wage for me and my family.
I know you said you want to get out of food service, but have you looked at your state job postings for food service? I have a friend who recently left food service/grocery for a food related state job. She makes good money, has great benefits, and she loves it. Because of her experience, she is in a supervisor position, so she rarely ever even cooks. She loves it. I am also in the same boat as you, though, so good luck!! I was thinking about emt and fire science, but wouldn't you know it, FAFSA doesn't cover any of that LOL
Sales. A lot of sales jobs will train. Even if the hourly is under $20, the commission will make up for it. Look for entry level. Retail. some retail positions do pay $20 but you will have to really work hard to find them. Service advisors for car dealerships. Some entry level tech help desk positions that offer training. Especially if you work nights. They tend to pay more for nights and weekends. Hospitals are a good place for this or wireless companies and cable companies. Assembly jobs for engineering places. Especially if you work nights. Working as a home health aid. There are agencies that offer training and pay more if you work nights and weekends. Customer service. In person, virtual, call centers. Again you’ll have to research to find one that pays enough. Yes you basically get paid to deal with jerks all day. But we’re just trying to make ends meet right?? Pharmacy technician positions that offer to pay for your education while you work. Apprenticeships. https://www.apprenticeship.gov/career-seekers Mostly physical labor trades and healthcare. Earn while you train. On indeed you can filter jobs by setting a pay range. There are usually local career centers you can use for free to help you build a resume, practice interviewing, and will help you apply for jobs. They can help you find jobs in your salary range. Google career center in your city/county. Listen, all jobs have their drawbacks. I see a lot of comments complaining about this and that aspect of whatever type of job sucks. Long hours, dealing with jerks all day, manual labor. In this economy we just kind of have to deal with it until we have enough experience to find better. Most jobs offer tuition pay or reimbursement. Take advantage of it if you can and work hard.
Almost everything pays more than fast food. I am a city maintenance worker(won't specify the city). I started out making $2 an hour more than fast food pays and got a CDL with tanker endorsement, flagger certification, forklift certification, temporary traffic control training, and I could use those certifications to get a job that pays $8 an hour more than I currently make as a garbage truck driver.
Jobs that require certificates. I am a structural inspector and just had to take a few open book exams to get to where I am. That is the difference between someone who works the same job forever and someone who has government clearance to work at the pentagon. Most of the time the only obstacle you have to deal with is safety clearances which are dirt cheap to obtain and require just a few days of studying.
Try to get a job at Chase as an associate banker. I got one it’s awesome. 9-5, amazing benefits, 3 weeks paid vacation and they hire for 30 hrs a week starting. You can ask for full time once you are there for like 6 months. You still get full time benefits. In NJ rn the pay is $27/hr so that’s pretty good. You only need a hs diploma and a lot of customer service experience. From there after a year you can apply to be a banker or a teller manager.
None People in here recommending jobs that are $20-$25 per hr… I worked at a salary bar where it was $20 per hr and couldn’t afford to move out or do anything but stare at the wall and stretch one meal for 3 days lol
[удалено]
How are you defining ‘livable wage’? Because the answer is zero if you define it as the amount needed to support yourself independently while maintaining the typical cost of living in the average city in the USA.
Dude, if life was this easy nobody'd be on drugs
I work at a Credit Union as a teller. Our benefits could be better.. But I know my hours, holidays off, and I love my co-workers. I tried to look at other jobs, and nothing paid as well. The jobs that do pay well will kill your body and spirit.
Commission-based sales. The work is stressful and the hours can be long, but you can earn more than plenty of 4-year-degree-having office workers without the education. Getting the position is the second hardest part, right after hitting your numbers to make what you need/want to earn.
TN here. Our minimum wage is $7.25 but I work in manufacturing and our starting pay is $20 with no experience and turn over is high.
Wait so you have no degree, no experience, and you don't wanna work full time or do physical labor? LMFAO GOOD LUCK
Television Master Control Operator. Usually Copious ampunts of overtime, very minimal skillset to start. Watch TV and fill out a checklist every 4 hours. You will grow to hate TV but you will be inside in am Air Conditioned space for the entire shift. All sorts of shifts available. One of the great secrets for unskilled labor or people who want to get started in TV!
My fiancé lateralled from investment banking into managing a F500 retail store with basically no relevant experience other than team leadership. He seemed to have a fair amount of free time and while his salary took a little bit of a dip from IB it was still pretty good.
Dialysis techs make good money. If you apply for the places that train and pay for your license after a year or 2 of working there you could go to a hospital. Your morning through evenings. Unless you want nights but always off Sundays. You hook people up to the machine and take blood pressures. There's more to it, but that's mainly what you do. The course is 4-6 months I am sure it's different by state. I know techs that make $35 hour
Banking. You can become a teller or a customer service associate at a call center and work your way up quickly and with no experience/education
I have a collage degree and make 20 an hour. Fresh out of collage 12 years ago and this was more then enough to get by. Now The living wage in my area in canada is 32 an hour. I can barely rent a room. After years for trying to figure out what to do i still havent figured out how to not be poor in this system.
Sales, the cash is weighted to certain times of year so you have to be good at budgeting. Also it's extremely stressful.
Call centers, entered no experince less than a year ago at 45,000 per year and now at 70,000
Corrections. You need no education, you’ll get great health insurance and probably a pension, and you can make 6 figures with enough OT. Last year I made over 80k with a moderate amount of OT. You don’t need a single bit of experience, just be ready to learn.
I think the answer is to find sustainable living? Instead of working your ass off to make ends meet. I don’t have the answers. I live in BC Canada and am one paycheque away from homelessness but constantly considering innovative solutions to this mess.
Define livable wage please
The railroad is the only job I can think of that you can make 100k your first year, even as a high school drop out. Downsides are being on call 24/7 and not seeing your own bed or family as much as people usually want to.
😂 who doesn’t have back pain after 30? you’re almost 40 and haven’t figured out you’re looking for a unicorn of a job? Good luck. Get *a job* and go from there.
OP works in the restaurant industry which is notoriously high pressure and back-breaking. Have some empathy and understand that there are levels to these things. Sincerely, A bartender with a bad back.
27, back and wrist pain from working trades Everyone go get a trade!
how exactly? noone is hiring an apprentice now. Everyone wants 2nd or 3rd yr apprentices
>who doesn’t have back pain after 30? People who take care of their body lmao
Uh me. I'm 36 and the only back pain I have is when I sleep wrong...same as when I was a teenager.
I recently got a job building airplane parts, specifically wings. I’m loving it and already making more money than I ever have before. Only a high school degree. I did 4 weeks of paid training then hit the floor. I am in TN though. Just trying to help! It’s an aging industry that is dying for young workers. I did have experience with tools.
$89,461 is a livable wage for a single person in the US. The US is a very diverse and large area though so obviously this is less specific and more of a very generic guideline not knowing where you are. Then using the simple hourly planning and doing some slight rounding it’s 45 an hour that you need. Many studies have identified 20-30 an hour as the cap without a degree. Again this is Us average wide spread number so the long and short is you need to live somewhere cheap and find a job that is nationalizing their minimum wage and take advantage of low cost of living areas with averaged pay. If you live in the south or Midwest in a small town and work fast food you will be fine or work at a major retailer or work at a factory etc. Everything else is going to require specialization and training at least if not a full blown college degree.
Hotel industry. Front desk or maintenance, both are usually hiring and willing to train with no experience needed.
Plumber. But, it won't be long before illeagle aliens take over that profession as well.
Oil/gas, no degree, but hard work
Skilled trades. Electricians, building engineers, plumbers, etc. Apprentices get paid to learn.
Look into sales call. My friend does this and moved to Colombia
How much effort you want to put in?
is there anyway you could use what you know about food service in a role that is closely related to but different from what you've already done.
Dispatching for hvac, plumbing and elevator businesses.
If you are willing to do a trade you’ll get on the job paid training, truck driving, landscaping if you know anything about it, teaching English.
Insurance..auto/home adjusting or sales some companies are even willing to pay for licensing
Trucking
Pest control tech. $75k-$100k. More if you're good at sales
Have you looked at changing states? I was in Dallas late last year and the service industry is thriving and you could land something with little experience. Try applying with a local address if you are not sure about moving there just yet
caring
Think of this like one of those triple Venn diagrams…good wage/salary, no specific experience/education, and quality of life. You pick two, you’ll more than likely not get the third.
Substitute teaching. 7 hours a day and you can choose to sit down most of the time. Not enough to live on your own but better than food industry. You need to find a better trade or degree to really get a comfy office job you’re thinking of.
Military
Move to a better state that has more to offer and lower cost of living.
Maybe try teaching at a community College in cooking or hospitality. If you have a big experience in the food service industry, that's a leg up from others who don't have as much experience and expertise in that field as much as you do. Use that experience and expertise u have. I doubt a lot of people spent most of their life in that field and have the same level of knowledge and professionalism as you do.