4 ms·

>The walk-in strategy that landed your first job bagging groceries or scooping ice cream just might help secure your next one. ha. I remember ten years ago as

by _dain_ 4y ago

>The walk-in strategy that landed your first job bagging groceries or scooping ice cream just might help secure your next one. ha. I remember ten years ago as an unemployed teen, trying this strategy in various pubs, shops, hotels etc. even for these minimum wage jobs, I was uniformly told to fuck off and apply online. my parents didn't really "get it", that things had changed since their day, they kept telling me to go out and try again. weeks of repeated humiliation.

alar44 4y ago
- _dain_ 4y ago
  alright, fine, you got me, not all of them said I should apply online. but about 90% did. it was still an awful time in my life.
- tekno45 4y ago
  this is 100% true. And it was during a time when people were desperate for jobs. 2010 was a shit year to graduate high school.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    2010 was 2010. Today? I couldn't count the number of stores and restaurants that have "Help Wanted" signs posted.
    - NineStarPoint 4y ago
      A “Help Wanted” sign is very different from randomly dropping your resume places though, it’s an invitation to come in and ask about a job.
    - antisthenes 4y ago
      What's the point of this comment? There's huge turnover in retail/restaurant jobs at every point in history. Those are dead end jobs that suck and lead you on a downward spiral to poverty. Getting better jobs by walking and and giving resumes doesn't work. It wasn't working in 2010 and it sure as hell doesn't work now. You'd be lucky not to get arrested for trespassing today.
      - ghaff 4y ago
        Yes, and if it's all you can do to get started and earn some money, maybe that's what you have to do. I never had a stereotypical minimum wage job but I did work for a caterer through high school and on college vacations to earn money. You seem to be arguing that people should never take those kinds of jobs which is nonsense even if they're not the mid-term objective. (But I generally agree that walking into places is mostly for low-level jobs.)
- toofy 4y ago
  Ill never understand why people just blatantly assume someone else is lying. Particularly strange as I know for a fact that’s a common experience. In 2016 I personally drove my down-on-his-luck brother around for two days to dozens of restaurants, shops, strip malls, and 3 different shopping malls. He was entirely convinced walking in would somehow show “dedication.” Only _three_ even took his resume (he never heard from them), the rest looked at him confused and told him to apply online. Now that these businesses are desperate, are more of them taking walk-in applications? Maybe? But it was absolutely not the norm in 2016. Even if I hadn’t seen it personally, so confidently declaring a commenter is lying is gross behavior for hn.
tekno45 4y ago
My dad would drop me off in an area with 10-20 resumes and tell me to just try dropping them off everywhere.
tunap 4y ago
Strange, as this has been my Go-To for finding meaningful work over wading through pages of stale, unsavory job offerings. I walked into a PLC shop last week & scored a tour and informal interview, on the spot. The owner is OoT ATM, waiting for their return for the real interview. If a potential employer's priority is online applications & utilizing various on-boarding agencies, IMO, you dodged multiple bullets. They likely are content just feeding a stream of fresh meat into their grinder. As always, YMMV.
- toofy 4y ago
  the comment you’re replying to mentioned 10 years ago — i’m guessing the companies who happily disregarded people 10 years ago might feel a bit different today. my brother had a very similar “apply online” experience in 2016.
matt_heimer 4y ago
What works is a combination if the business is open to the public. You apply online because that is the only method to get into the system. Then you go to the location and introduce yourself to the hiring manager.
MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
To all the people in the replies who got told to f-off: Who were you giving your resumes to? When I was working min-wage retail, the other staff were notorious for trashing any resumes that came their way. For "job security". The manager/owner never saw them. This was also around 2008-2010.
- squeaky-clean 4y ago
  I remember applying to fast food places and for shelf stocking at grocery stores around 2010. Every place that wasn't a mom&pop joint would tell me they didn't even have a way to accept a paper resume. Everything needed to be done through their online system and they had no way of manually inputting one or hiring an employee from outside their online system. I remember Publix had computers by the front of the store and their only purpose was for people without computers to apply. If you came in looking to apply in person you'd be directed to the computers and told you'll get a call if they want to interview.
moneywoes 4y ago
Same haha
joe-collins 4y ago
Agreed. Working for a major big box retailer for 12 years: never once have we accepted a hand-delivered resume or hired a walk-in. On the rare occasions fresh high school students try that (and it's never anyone older), it's always the same response: fill out the online app, because we literally cannot hand-key your paper documents and we cannot fill a hiring requisition without that digital record.
superpope99 4y ago
I had a different experience, 8 years ago I needed to get a job quickly and went round my local town pubs with CVs, had an interview the next day and a job the day after.
colinmhayes 4y ago
I did this in 2016 after graduating high school and it worked surprisingly well. I had been applying to places online and never heard back, went in and they had me working the same day. I was assuming every place would say apply online, but it seemed most employees were referrals.
- _dain_ 4y ago
  depends on place and time I suppose. 2013 was the peak of post-recession unemployment, and this was in a deindustrialised area with limited job opportunities even in good years.
ravenstine 4y ago
Same. It was the worst back in 2009. I was 19 and my dad couldn't understand why I couldn't get so much as a burger flipping job. I told him how many companies I'd applied to online, but despite how otherwise technologically savvy he is, it didn't compute for some reason. He told me to just walk in to businesses and ask the manager for a job. So I did just that. If I was lucky, I just got the fluoride stare. Most of the time I was either told sternly "you gotta just apply online" or was actually laughed at a few times. I could handle all that on its own. The real bad part was my dad thinking I wasn't really trying. Showing up IRL might work if one already has a resume full of experience, but I have to wonder how well that works when one either has no experience or is junior to mid level (in any field).

by _dain_ 4y ago

alar44 4y ago

_dain_ 4y ago
alright, fine, you got me, not all of them said I should apply online. but about 90% did. it was still an awful time in my life.
tekno45 4y ago
this is 100% true. And it was during a time when people were desperate for jobs. 2010 was a shit year to graduate high school.
- ghaff 4y ago
  2010 was 2010. Today? I couldn't count the number of stores and restaurants that have "Help Wanted" signs posted.
  - NineStarPoint 4y ago
    A “Help Wanted” sign is very different from randomly dropping your resume places though, it’s an invitation to come in and ask about a job.
  - antisthenes 4y ago
    What's the point of this comment? There's huge turnover in retail/restaurant jobs at every point in history. Those are dead end jobs that suck and lead you on a downward spiral to poverty. Getting better jobs by walking and and giving resumes doesn't work. It wasn't working in 2010 and it sure as hell doesn't work now. You'd be lucky not to get arrested for trespassing today.
    - ghaff 4y ago
      Yes, and if it's all you can do to get started and earn some money, maybe that's what you have to do. I never had a stereotypical minimum wage job but I did work for a caterer through high school and on college vacations to earn money. You seem to be arguing that people should never take those kinds of jobs which is nonsense even if they're not the mid-term objective. (But I generally agree that walking into places is mostly for low-level jobs.)
toofy 4y ago
Ill never understand why people just blatantly assume someone else is lying. Particularly strange as I know for a fact that’s a common experience. In 2016 I personally drove my down-on-his-luck brother around for two days to dozens of restaurants, shops, strip malls, and 3 different shopping malls. He was entirely convinced walking in would somehow show “dedication.” Only _three_ even took his resume (he never heard from them), the rest looked at him confused and told him to apply online. Now that these businesses are desperate, are more of them taking walk-in applications? Maybe? But it was absolutely not the norm in 2016. Even if I hadn’t seen it personally, so confidently declaring a commenter is lying is gross behavior for hn.

tekno45 4y ago

My dad would drop me off in an area with 10-20 resumes and tell me to just try dropping them off everywhere.

tunap 4y ago

Strange, as this has been my Go-To for finding meaningful work over wading through pages of stale, unsavory job offerings. I walked into a PLC shop last week & scored a tour and informal interview, on the spot. The owner is OoT ATM, waiting for their return for the real interview. If a potential employer's priority is online applications & utilizing various on-boarding agencies, IMO, you dodged multiple bullets. They likely are content just feeding a stream of fresh meat into their grinder. As always, YMMV.

toofy 4y ago
the comment you’re replying to mentioned 10 years ago — i’m guessing the companies who happily disregarded people 10 years ago might feel a bit different today. my brother had a very similar “apply online” experience in 2016.

matt_heimer 4y ago

What works is a combination if the business is open to the public. You apply online because that is the only method to get into the system. Then you go to the location and introduce yourself to the hiring manager.

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago

To all the people in the replies who got told to f-off: Who were you giving your resumes to? When I was working min-wage retail, the other staff were notorious for trashing any resumes that came their way. For "job security". The manager/owner never saw them. This was also around 2008-2010.

squeaky-clean 4y ago
I remember applying to fast food places and for shelf stocking at grocery stores around 2010. Every place that wasn't a mom&pop joint would tell me they didn't even have a way to accept a paper resume. Everything needed to be done through their online system and they had no way of manually inputting one or hiring an employee from outside their online system. I remember Publix had computers by the front of the store and their only purpose was for people without computers to apply. If you came in looking to apply in person you'd be directed to the computers and told you'll get a call if they want to interview.

moneywoes 4y ago

Same haha

joe-collins 4y ago

Agreed. Working for a major big box retailer for 12 years: never once have we accepted a hand-delivered resume or hired a walk-in. On the rare occasions fresh high school students try that (and it's never anyone older), it's always the same response: fill out the online app, because we literally cannot hand-key your paper documents and we cannot fill a hiring requisition without that digital record.

superpope99 4y ago

I had a different experience, 8 years ago I needed to get a job quickly and went round my local town pubs with CVs, had an interview the next day and a job the day after.

colinmhayes 4y ago

I did this in 2016 after graduating high school and it worked surprisingly well. I had been applying to places online and never heard back, went in and they had me working the same day. I was assuming every place would say apply online, but it seemed most employees were referrals.

_dain_ 4y ago
depends on place and time I suppose. 2013 was the peak of post-recession unemployment, and this was in a deindustrialised area with limited job opportunities even in good years.

ravenstine 4y ago

Same. It was the worst back in 2009. I was 19 and my dad couldn't understand why I couldn't get so much as a burger flipping job. I told him how many companies I'd applied to online, but despite how otherwise technologically savvy he is, it didn't compute for some reason. He told me to just walk in to businesses and ask the manager for a job. So I did just that. If I was lucky, I just got the fluoride stare. Most of the time I was either told sternly "you gotta just apply online" or was actually laughed at a few times. I could handle all that on its own. The real bad part was my dad thinking I wasn't really trying. Showing up IRL might work if one already has a resume full of experience, but I have to wonder how well that works when one either has no experience or is junior to mid level (in any field).