hawk9007 said:
now as i sit here i think if i dont get a job at mc donalds there must be something very messed up on my application, or something about me that people find unimpressing.
That's a very wrong assumption.
What you need to keep in mind, to reiterate what Eve said, is that we are in a recession. You and I have grown up in a period of relative abundance and economic growth which has been long overdue for a break (a natural part of a free market economy which, when allowed to happen, is usually minor); though politicians have stupidly tried to sustain it endlessly and continue to do so (but that is another post altogether). But because of this I think a lot of our generation doesn't really comprehend what it means for themselves and society, or may misinterpret it.
Anyway. If I were you, I would actually expect unemployment. My employer came very close to having to lay off all employees indefinitely, and that risk is still there if our last ditch effort doesn't pay off. But if we fold, I fully expect to be out of work for at least 4 to 6 months aside from a bit of seasonal work in the winter. I expect this because here in the U.S. (not to mention the rest of the world which is in a similar squeeze), unemployment numbers are now at 9.8%; the highest they have been in 26 years. That means close to 1 in 10 people are out of work, and in general there is very, VERY little new hiring going on anywhere; which means the problem will most likely worsen.
To give you a practical example of the result of this, and show you that the problem likely isn't with you in this case, my local McDonalds usually receives something like 70 applications every 6 months (I think those were the figures). But over the last six month period, they received more than 250. A local gas station received 40 applications for one opening.
Of an original three major lumber mills operating in my area, two have shut down operations (one of which was even demolished) within the last year, and the remaining one is still not back to full steam. By comparison, as little as 3 years ago, all of these mills were routinely hiring to fill positions or replace workers moving on to other things; these same workers now pray nightly to keep what they have. The rest pray for an extension on their unemployment.
So it's not a matter right now of how good you are or how hard you work, hawk. It's just that there are no jobs, and soon there will be less. If you graduated early to start working, you probably have a pretty good work ethic. Your time will come to shine (though take it from me: People will doubt you because of your age even in to your early 20s. Even more so depending on outward appearances. You and I have to work twice as hard because 80% of our generation is worthless.)
Eventually it will end and growth will resume...hopefully. It ultimately depends on how much longer our beloved overlords want to try and resuscitate a cold corpse.
And if you appreciate medical humor, I personally think they have the defibrillator patches reversed.
