Government jobs are awesome. Especially in Canada. The benefits (vacations, overtime) are so much better than plebian jobs. Unfortunately, my understanding is that if you want to get anything above janitor you need to be bilingual.
RPGC has slowed down quite a bit in recent months, certainly. The site and the forums. I think the old guard is growing up and getting busier with their lives, and the new guard have all these newfangled chat rooms and Facebook thingies that they hang out on.
I can’t weigh in on recommendations for your job, unfortunately… my understanding has always been that actually making a living off of being a writer is really, really, REALLY hard. You’re still young, no one says you have to make a splash yet, so get a half-decent job to pay the bills and write when you’re in the mood and have spare time. If you really enjoy writing, maybe think about writing for a newspaper or magazine to start?
You have to sign up for a special exam. It’s not hard, basically it’s supposed to show that you’re capable of reading messy handwriting and making basic arithmetical calculations. After that, I guess they’re supposed to pick people based on their scores.
That’s what I’m in the process for. I passed their aptitude test. The hardest part of which was the time limit. They gave you 12 minutes to do 50 questions. Pass grade is 23 correct. After that they’ll get in touch with you for a written test for your grammar. Then an in person interview. If they like you after that they check your references. Then they do a background check. Then you’re hired. Whole process takes 6 months. This is why a government job isn’t right for you if you’re looking for something right now.
Sinistral’s story is a bit of a long one and very unhappy one. Currently I’m doing genetic engineering and I created a novel immunostimulatory protein capable of working at concentrations equal to billionths of a gram (ie good).
I’m sorry to hear about your end, I can truly relate. The having to live with your ex is something particluarly phenomenal on the scale of horrible things to deal with and be reminded of every day. I sympathize with you strongly on that one. I worked in data entry for a couple months while waiting for med school to start and yes it does pay well. I can do 2 days work in half a day, so it made me wanna cry like a little girl. Thank god for portable gaming. For some reason I am reminded of the age old joke about humanities and flipping burgers…
Well, the thing is that in the Syracuse area, there are barely any jobs in the Medical and Engineering areas. If I moved down to NYC, I’d probably be able to pull a copywriter job, and all that. The problem is, until the lease is up, it’s somewhat pointless to look for jobs out of the area. But right now, I’m not too worried. Things are looking up. I’ve (finally) got a few job options that look good (even if they are in the military), and my ex is realizing that she can’t “take a break” and work retail and still be able to afford the things that she enjoys (like WoW). So she’s getting a job that paid her more than before.
The best part of this whole thing is that her old place of work was going to take me in as a copywriter, but when they looked at the address of my resume, they laughed at me and tore it up. They still think I’m her boyfriend, because she never told them. -_-
No, it’s for a call centre job with the Canadian Revenue Agency. It’s a stepping stone to getting a government job 'cause I’ll have access to their internal postings.
You don’t need a college degree for it. If you live in Canada you can look up the Public Service Resource Centre online. Or is it Public Resource Service Centre? They’ll have a list of all government jobs for all provinces.
Except for my lack of a college degree, I too am working a menial job for low pay. But, it pays the bills and I’ve had enough brushes with eviction.
Life sucks Ken, I think I just got the memo too :\
I’ve been so busy working and starving and sweating (man, it’s been sooooooo hot in georgia) that I don’t really come around here much anymore. I may finally be bored with this place. Took long enough, it’s almost been a decade.
In that case, the procedure might be slightly different in the United States. The exam I mentioned is more specifically tailored to postal jobs (particularly data entry or filing at a local post office), and I think it could take less than six months if there was already an open position.
yeah, the biggest bar for a government job is finding a vacancy. But, I’ve read that the Post Office is possibly the largest employer in the country (maybe WalMart eclipsed it, my data is real old), so you should consider it. I’m sure you’re more than qualified to pass the exam.
Wow, that sounds so cool. Count on me to be the one interested in that.
I’m so tired right now that I can’t offer pearls of wisdom. I’m spent from visiting my guy in the hospital, which is another entirely different sucky story.
Ken: I’m glad some jobs are looking up, that’s at least something. If you can work another job while doing writing, it’ll make it less of a burden to get published. Also, have you looked into editing? A lot of that is done through the internet, or at least across mail, so location shouldn’t be an issue, and a creative writer would be a great majour to go into editing with.
Sinistral: That sounds really cool, I’d like to hear about it.
Vicki: Shit, that sucks, what’s he in there for, if you don’t mind my asking?
On the life sucks track, I gotta go to court in a couple days.
My parents worked in the Post Office for 20 years and are pretty well off. So, yeah, it’s a good choice. Great job security since they don’t lay off and you really have to screw up to get fired there. There’s a guy who’s skipped the last week or so of work because he got Madden 08 and their just sending him a letter of warning.
Plus, on the writing side, Bukowski worked at the Post Office for a time. So that just proves that writers can still flourish with that kind of job…he did hate it but look on the bright side, eh?
On the life sucks track, I gotta go to court in a couple days.
Traffic court?
Also, anyone have a link where you apply to these $12.00 per hour government/postal jobs? I’m sure they have it online at this point, but I’m not sure if you’re all talking about the Civil Service Exam or something different. While I’m sure such a job would be kind of isolating, that is some pretty good pay…
No, I-broke-like-thirteen-bones-in-a-dude court. While it was technically self-defense, and obviously so, there is question as to whether the level of force I used was justified or not.
I never actually hit him in the face, but that was my first thought. It still could work; “He tried to kick me and I blocked so hard I broke his shin. Yeah, that can happen. Swear to god.”