Anyone jobless for a long time before?

Hrmm

You are in a sh*tty situation,

Have you considered applying in the army as a regular?

I was once in a similar situation to yourself and used connections to a job, think of your good friends or ex colleagues who can help.

Try listing out all your qualities and qualifications, likes and dislikes (job wise) and perhaps we can try to advise accordingly?

Sales is a good place to be but I agree unless you got the passion for what you're selling its like torture trying to sell things you have no passion for.

Originally Posted by Needajob

hi, i been jobless for close to 3 month now i going crazy already. im a diploma in engineering informatic but that was 10 yrs ago and i forget everything already, been in army as 3 yrs contract with extention till 2008 and been working as a second hand car salesman till jan 2014.
firstly i do not know what i want, i hate doing sales but that was one job that can earn if you don't have a degree in singapore. i love my saf days as we learn abit of this and that and teach army guys, bond was very good and no backstab etc... pay was decent and colleague is fantastic.
now that i out of job, can i ask what job should i get?
apply for dxo, spf, police warden, all got reject.
cisco is paying like 900? or 1300? i not sure but i not so sure i going that road..
i was earning 58k pa in saf and 65k pa in car sales, but things goes way down since car sales drop alot...
i know i have to start from beginning but i beg for someone to tell me which industry to go for, or a place that there is seldom backstabing, a place they give job training for a 32 year old ppl like me.. a 5day or 5 1/2day job, a job that can get above 2k.
i know i sound stupid for asking too much but i not so sure myself. can anyone advice me?
some told me to be hawker, some ask me to be construction worker, some ask me sell mlm product, i find very low potential in these few areas, yes i know some make it but its like 1 out of 1000.
i feel so useless right now.. i not sure if i did not study hard enough to go uni or i choose wrong path in my 10 yrs career.. but whats next for me? is it over for me in singapore? is it the end of the road for me?
i hope i can get some advice... pls.. guide me... what job or industry should i go for next...

i was rejected from army, dxo, spf or prison warden, i not sure why as they did not give any reason, perhaps i was in sales for 5 yrs and im too old? i not sure but all i know was reject,
Sales yes, i love selling 2nd hand cars but the market is greatly depressing... even as a broker, the chance of losing is greater than earning nowsday compare to a few years back, the 50percent loan kills me straight... but enough of cars... the good thing abt cars sales is u at the shop, ppl come in with intention to buy already, seldom is window shopping unless you don't know how to sell, and commission is good, 500 dollar per sales. thats y i love this job till the loan makes me crazy where customer drop from 15-20 sales to 2-3 sales.. and i talking overall in the company... imagine 2-3 sales share by 5 sales man per mth.. you do the maths.. most earn more is thru broker like me but like i say when sales is slow.. the stock you have is likely to deprecate faster than you earn...

sry for my english btw...

qualification is diploma in engineering info but trust me i forget everything.. and i don't know why i choose that subject 10 yrs ago...

i love sales like 2nd hand where ppl come in and we do sales and get good commission... and i hope there is another job like this out there, there are furniture sales but the commission is very low.. but then again there is some other like mlm where u have to go out and find sales...
pls don't flame me as i just speaking from my view.. don't give me the get a live and reality thing where dog eat dog out there... i speaking in a view which i love and like and hope to get another job like this... unless no choice then i join my friend selling mlm stuff.. which i till now even jobless still against it...

some say go get a safety officer job which i have no idea how to do it or where to get the qualification for it.. i believe its almost the same as i did in army and its good having this job but i need some advice if anyone could help me...

one way or another i hope i can get a 5 or 5 1/2 job with decent pay.. sales eat up weekend which i not so sure i want to go back again since i doing for the past 5 yrs...

i have a taxi licence but that will be my last resort.. i was hoping for a career that either i can learn from it and raise up in rank like safety officer.. something simple or sales where i may have a chance to earn more than regular work...

Originally Posted by Needajob

i was rejected from army, dxo, spf or prison warden, i not sure why as they did not give any reason, perhaps i was in sales for 5 yrs and im too old? i not sure but all i know was reject,
Sales yes, i love selling 2nd hand cars but the market is greatly depressing... even as a broker, the chance of losing is greater than earning nowsday compare to a few years back, the 50percent loan kills me straight... but enough of cars... the good thing abt cars sales is u at the shop, ppl come in with intention to buy already, seldom is window shopping unless you don't know how to sell, and commission is good, 500 dollar per sales. thats y i love this job till the loan makes me crazy where customer drop from 15-20 sales to 2-3 sales.. and i talking overall in the company... imagine 2-3 sales share by 5 sales man per mth.. you do the maths.. most earn more is thru broker like me but like i say when sales is slow.. the stock you have is likely to deprecate faster than you earn...

sry for my english btw...

qualification is diploma in engineering info but trust me i forget everything.. and i don't know why i choose that subject 10 yrs ago...

i love sales like 2nd hand where ppl come in and we do sales and get good commission... and i hope there is another job like this out there, there are furniture sales but the commission is very low.. but then again there is some other like mlm where u have to go out and find sales...
pls don't flame me as i just speaking from my view.. don't give me the get a live and reality thing where dog eat dog out there... i speaking in a view which i love and like and hope to get another job like this... unless no choice then i join my friend selling mlm stuff.. which i till now even jobless still against it...

some say go get a safety officer job which i have no idea how to do it or where to get the qualification for it.. i believe its almost the same as i did in army and its good having this job but i need some advice if anyone could help me...

one way or another i hope i can get a 5 or 5 1/2 job with decent pay.. sales eat up weekend which i not so sure i want to go back again since i doing for the past 5 yrs...

i have a taxi licence but that will be my last resort.. i was hoping for a career that either i can learn from it and raise up in rank like safety officer.. something simple or sales where i may have a chance to earn more than regular work...

hello friend, every industry has got its ups and downs. nice to hear you have been thru some of the ups. sales job is never stable, high chance of retrenchment when your prime is over. there is always hope if you are willing to look for it. property and insurance are good sales job. or go enroll in another polytechnic course and learn some new and upgrade your skills.

Thanks for sharing,

Unfortunately your situation is quite bad, but luckily you are still young and that's the only I can see you got going for you.

Its possible that some clerk is blocking your application, to them they see a piece of paper but to you its a career. Do you have any old contacts that can help you find a way back in? Usually when you are away from the sector for too long (even private) this is an issue, pulling strings is the few options to get back in.

I agree, a lot of sales jobs are quite xianz especially if you don't have the drive for the products or business is just slow in those areas.

I won't flame you for sure, it seems that you have tried a lot of avenues already before coming here for advise which is more than most people on this forum dishing out advise here.

Your options are limited bro, do you have any hobbies you can turn into a business? The entire economy is not looking too rosy at the moment in all sectors. If you are going to look for prospect in the regular sales lines competition is steep and I can't say certain future prospects, maybe you should consider something off the beaten path (i.e find sales opportunities outside of Singapore i,e Myanmar, Malaysia Thailand etc) I know a friend who left SG to try just that.

On an extreme you can try taking a part time accounting course (this depends on yourself though) every year there are loads of small companies hiring ad hoc people to help them do their accounts. Pays a few 100 per to do a small biz accounts, I also heard of small accounts firms hire such people as well. Doesn't pay alot but quite a stable job. At your age you have to consider this carefully, also accounting is not for everyone.

Sorry afraid I cannot advise too much, good luck in finding what you're after.

Originally Posted by Needajob

i was rejected from army, dxo, spf or prison warden, i not sure why as they did not give any reason, perhaps i was in sales for 5 yrs and im too old? i not sure but all i know was reject,
Sales yes, i love selling 2nd hand cars but the market is greatly depressing... even as a broker, the chance of losing is greater than earning nowsday compare to a few years back, the 50percent loan kills me straight... but enough of cars... the good thing abt cars sales is u at the shop, ppl come in with intention to buy already, seldom is window shopping unless you don't know how to sell, and commission is good, 500 dollar per sales. thats y i love this job till the loan makes me crazy where customer drop from 15-20 sales to 2-3 sales.. and i talking overall in the company... imagine 2-3 sales share by 5 sales man per mth.. you do the maths.. most earn more is thru broker like me but like i say when sales is slow.. the stock you have is likely to deprecate faster than you earn...

sry for my english btw...

qualification is diploma in engineering info but trust me i forget everything.. and i don't know why i choose that subject 10 yrs ago...

i love sales like 2nd hand where ppl come in and we do sales and get good commission... and i hope there is another job like this out there, there are furniture sales but the commission is very low.. but then again there is some other like mlm where u have to go out and find sales...
pls don't flame me as i just speaking from my view.. don't give me the get a live and reality thing where dog eat dog out there... i speaking in a view which i love and like and hope to get another job like this... unless no choice then i join my friend selling mlm stuff.. which i till now even jobless still against it...

some say go get a safety officer job which i have no idea how to do it or where to get the qualification for it.. i believe its almost the same as i did in army and its good having this job but i need some advice if anyone could help me...

one way or another i hope i can get a 5 or 5 1/2 job with decent pay.. sales eat up weekend which i not so sure i want to go back again since i doing for the past 5 yrs...

i have a taxi licence but that will be my last resort.. i was hoping for a career that either i can learn from it and raise up in rank like safety officer.. something simple or sales where i may have a chance to earn more than regular work...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thanks for sharing,

Unfortunately your situation is quite bad, but luckily you are still young and that's the only I can see you got going for you.

Its possible that some clerk is blocking your application, to them they see a piece of paper but to you its a career. Do you have any old contacts that can help you find a way back in? Usually when you are away from the sector for too long (even private) this is an issue, pulling strings is the few options to get back in.

I agree, a lot of sales jobs are quite xianz especially if you don't have the drive for the products or business is just slow in those areas.

I won't flame you for sure, it seems that you have tried a lot of avenues already before coming here for advise which is more than most people on this forum dishing out advise here.

Your options are limited bro, do you have any hobbies you can turn into a business? The entire economy is not looking too rosy at the moment in all sectors. If you are going to look for prospect in the regular sales lines competition is steep and I can't say certain future prospects, maybe you should consider something off the beaten path (i.e find sales opportunities outside of Singapore i,e Myanmar, Malaysia Thailand etc) I know a friend who left SG to try just that.

On an extreme you can try taking a part time accounting course (this depends on yourself though) every year there are loads of small companies hiring ad hoc people to help them do their accounts. Pays a few 100 per to do a small biz accounts, I also heard of small accounts firms hire such people as well. Doesn't pay alot but quite a stable job. At your age you have to consider this carefully, also accounting is not for everyone.

Sorry afraid I cannot advise too much, good luck in finding what you're after.

This doing free lance accounting idea is quite attractive to me. What kind of courses is required for a certification? Do we need to advertise in a small website to get businesses?

[aspenx]

Originally Posted by Needajob

i was earning 58k pa in saf and 65k pa in car sales, but things goes way down since car sales drop alot...
i know i have to start from beginning but i beg for someone to tell me which industry to go for, or a place that there is seldom backstabing, a place they give job training for a 32 year old ppl like me.. a 5day or 5 1/2day job, a job that can get above 2k.
i know i sound stupid for asking too much but i not so sure myself. can anyone advice me?
some told me to be hawker, some ask me to be construction worker, some ask me sell mlm product, i find very low potential in these few areas, yes i know some make it but its like 1 out of 1000.

Your expectations for >2K is not high. But what exactly are you expecting and what exactly are you filtering out?

It sounds like you don't want to do sales nor want to work hard. I don't understand.

I have been to sales position interviews before where the employer was willing to pay ~$4300 a month with no commission though. All they asked for was sales experience (which unfortunately I didn't have much of).

Are you looking in the right places? (if you still want to do sales that is)

Maybe you just have a problem writing up a competitive resume (and hence more likely to get blocked by HR).

Find out your problems/weaknesses for starters even if you don't know what you want to do now.

Good luck. Many less people earned much less than you did before losing your job. Hopefully you have sufficient savings from the good times to tide you over.

[aspenx]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Do we need to advertise in a small website to get businesses?

Example of one such platform to find work: https://www.elance.com/r/jobs/q-singapore

Google for more.

[floralpeace]

I have 90% hit rate for interviews for companies in my prev industry. The prob is tat when I go for interview its always a smaller company cz my previous was the biggest in the industry I want to enter. They r skeptical of why I quit without a job from a popular company and try to enter a smaller one now even though I explained comprehensively regarding the reason why.

Wanted to ask how can I project myself. Also I had no problems getting offer out of my industry but I only want something im passionate about. Else im going towards full time tuition.

[floralpeace]

So far I have interviews every week and they always start with questions like
How was your relationship with ur previous superiors
How was your previous workload and how you manage stress
What was difficult in ur prev role and how u managed to overcome it.

Truth is tat I left because of politics but I answered those above questions confidently but they are not convinced when I say I quit because I wanted to change a specialization as well as explain why. Many interviews were left with the leader of the interview half doubtful and I didnt get an offer.
When I go out of industry interviewers didnt grill on why I left and I got offers.

[aspenx]

Originally Posted by floralpeace

So far I have interviews every week and they always start with questions like
How was your relationship with ur previous superiors
How was your previous workload and how you manage stress
What was difficult in ur prev role and how u managed to overcome it.

Truth is tat I left because of politics but I answered those above questions confidently but they are not convinced when I say I quit because I wanted to change a specialization as well as explain why. Many interviews were left with the leader of the interview half doubtful and I didnt get an offer.
When I go out of industry interviewers didnt grill on why I left and I got offers.

I remember your thread regarding your situation. Are you still looking for a job? In the same industry?

There is one thing you can do if you are looking in the same industry. Try to get recommendations from peers/ex-colleagues etc. Solid and quick offers are very possible if you have someone reliable and with some familiarity with the hiring put in a good word for you.

Been there, done that. Just prove you are all that your contact makes you out to be and more at the interview(s) and they will be more likely to believe you.