Turned down from a retail job

[Anonymous]

So I've been out of work for 6 months and I thought I would give applying for retail a try. I applied for a full time position at JC Penneys, and I was able to speak with the department manager. She told me very bluntly that she wouldn't hire me because she wants someone who will be there long term and that with my credentials she felt that as soon as another job came along that I would be out the door. She was right, but that's beside the point. I just can't believe the market is that bad that not only can I not get hired in my field, but I even got rejected from a retail job!!! Has anyone else had this experience?

[Anonymous]

Don't tell them about all your credentials. You have a much better chance of being hired.

[Anonymous]

So in other words, I should lie on my application?

[Anonymous]

Do you know how much it costs to hire and train someone? Do you know the time involved? That's why people sound so stupid with the "mcdonalds is always hiring" ummmm it is not that simple. Go apply at a call center, they are used to dealing with high turnover rates.

Or come back down to earth and learn the game. Play down your job title to the most basic thing. Yes, dumb it down and change your attitude. You are not too good for customer service. If you think you are then add that to the list of why you won't get hired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know how much it costs to hire and train someone? Do you know the time involved? That's why people sound so stupid with the "mcdonalds is always hiring" ummmm it is not that simple. Go apply at a call center, they are used to dealing with high turnover rates.

Or come back down to earth and learn the game. Play down your job title to the most basic thing. Yes, dumb it down and change your attitude. You are not too good for customer service. If you think you are then add that to the list of why you won't get hired.

If I thought I was too good for customer service, I wouldn't have applied in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I've been out of work for 6 months and I thought I would give applying for retail a try. I applied for a full time position at JC Penneys, and I was able to speak with the department manager. She told me very bluntly that she wouldn't hire me because she wants someone who will be there long term and that with my credentials she felt that as soon as another job came along that I would be out the door. She was right, but that's beside the point. I just can't believe the market is that bad that not only can I not get hired in my field, but I even got rejected from a retail job!!! Has anyone else had this experience?

It's not really beside the point. The manager wants an employee who isn't going to jump ship at the first opportunity. Look at it from her perspective. She doesn't want to have to go through the hiring and training process every 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in other words, I should lie on my application?

No, when you fill out an application, they ask for relevant employment experience. Frankly, office and professional work is not relevant to work a retail job unless you have experience with the products they are selling. So, essentially you are submitting a lot of extraneous details about your life. You do so at your own risk and in this case, the retail manager used it to evaluate, correctly, that you were not looking for long term employment in this position. So why should she invest the time and money to train you to do a job when you will spend time looking for other work and will leave at the first sign of "better" jobs. It doesn't work in professional settings (who wants to hire an attorney with significant experience to be a legal secretary?) and it doesn't work in retail.

So, until you get out of the "just until I get a better job" attitude, you do need to eliminate the superfluous details from your life. If they ask, say that most recently you've been a SAHM and that you are getting back into the work force. If they ask for more details, you can say that you used to be X (your career).

[Anonymous]

Do you really need to discuss your credentials on a retail job app? Only put the experience that is relevant to what you're applying for.

[Anonymous]

Also, do you type? Consider contacting a temp agency and trying to get temp jobs. There are still many offices that are looking for temp administrative types. It often pays quite well and I know a couple of IT types who type well who were able to get much better transition jobs temping than they could in any other line of work. One in fact worked one job for almost a year, spent the time teaching himself to do computer support (because the computer support staff was always overworked and behind) and then ended up getting a permanent position doing computer support.

[Anonymous]

The last time I worked in retail was over 10 years ago, I really don't think that would help land a job either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I've been out of work for 6 months and I thought I would give applying for retail a try. I applied for a full time position at JC Penneys, and I was able to speak with the department manager. She told me very bluntly that she wouldn't hire me because she wants someone who will be there long term and that with my credentials she felt that as soon as another job came along that I would be out the door. She was right, but that's beside the point. I just can't believe the market is that bad that not only can I not get hired in my field, but I even got rejected from a retail job!!! Has anyone else had this experience?

It's not really beside the point. The manager wants an employee who isn't going to jump ship at the first opportunity. Look at it from her perspective. She doesn't want to have to go through the hiring and training process every 6 months.

Well who knows when that opportunity will present itself. That would take another 6 months or longer the way this market is right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, do you type? Consider contacting a temp agency and trying to get temp jobs. There are still many offices that are looking for temp administrative types. It often pays quite well and I know a couple of IT types who type well who were able to get much better transition jobs temping than they could in any other line of work. One in fact worked one job for almost a year, spent the time teaching himself to do computer support (because the computer support staff was always overworked and behind) and then ended up getting a permanent position doing computer support.

I've tried a few of them with no such luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in other words, I should lie on my application?

Not the pp , but I would say you should lie. How else will you get a job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I've been out of work for 6 months and I thought I would give applying for retail a try. I applied for a full time position at JC Penneys, and I was able to speak with the department manager. She told me very bluntly that she wouldn't hire me because she wants someone who will be there long term and that with my credentials she felt that as soon as another job came along that I would be out the door. She was right, but that's beside the point. I just can't believe the market is that bad that not only can I not get hired in my field, but I even got rejected from a retail job!!! Has anyone else had this experience?

It's not really beside the point. The manager wants an employee who isn't going to jump ship at the first opportunity. Look at it from her perspective. She doesn't want to have to go through the hiring and training process every 6 months.

Well who knows when that opportunity will present itself. That would take another 6 months or longer the way this market is right now.

It is not about you, it is about them. Nobody cares about you, surely you should have learned this by now. Your credentials mean nothing. How are you going to help the company? What tangible benefits do YOU provide? Your pieces of paper mean nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know how much it costs to hire and train someone? Do you know the time involved? That's why people sound so stupid with the "mcdonalds is always hiring" ummmm it is not that simple. Go apply at a call center, they are used to dealing with high turnover rates.

Or come back down to earth and learn the game. Play down your job title to the most basic thing. Yes, dumb it down and change your attitude. You are not too good for customer service. If you think you are then add that to the list of why you won't get hired.

If I thought I was too good for customer service, I wouldn't have applied in the first place.

You have completely misunderstood the OP's posting based upon your very weak response.