I've been unemployed for 3 years. Anyone beat that?

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I had 2 real jobs in my life, I'm 21. One was working at a restaurant for a week or two, in 2010. A year after in 2011, I worked selling windows for a month and got fired for being not cut out for it/my family going on vacation. Barring that, I've worked for my father very very sporadically, like every 4+ months he'll call me up to help him out with his business which is repairing restaurant machines, but that's very rare and sporadic. I've made cash out of it, though, but my father doesn't really like me too much I think, as in he views me as a failure for a variety of reasons and is ashamed of me. He needs help, and I've offered to even work for him for free, but he doesn't wanna associate much with me. Other than that, usually about every 3-4 months, someone will pay me a little cash to do some easy car work like put brakepads on or something.

but i know i'm gonna get a good reference, recommendation from the internship i've been doing for the past month now

Now it's nearly 4 and a half years. Anyone beat THAT?

I did. I can't remember what year I had my last job but it's been over a decade. I'm 37 now and I think I was 24 or 25 at most (probably 24) the last time I had a job.

I have had little smatterings of work, but can't hold down a job for very long.

I had a job for about a month this year, but got fired. I had a job for about six or seven months last year.

I have trouble finding employment, and then have trouble holding it down and coping with the stresses of work.

I've had a day job teaching piano at a private school, but just quit that job at the beginning of this school year. Since I'm the lower earner, I'm in charge of keeping the baby during the day, and my middle child is in pre-k, which lets out at lunch every day. So it would have been impossible to keep that job, not to mention I didn't make much money doing that.

The up side is my other private teaching gig has allowed me to reach out to retired individuals and homeschoolers, and I'm booked solid Monday and Tuesday evenings. I also have a few standing solo gigs I can count on and am working on some volunteer projects to help get my name out. Now if I could count on my band getting more bookings I'd be in great shape.

I was unemployed from the time i was 21-23 im about to turn 24 and i just passed the 7 month mark on my current job which is just a minimum wage job any random person could get.

I hate most days there, still to this day have trouble socializing with people and i know they think im a bit odd but they dont mess with me much so i get through the day and earn my paycheck every week.

My biggest problem is interviews.. I just cant go into one and sound confident and socially acceptable. I stumble over my words or give short terrible answers to questions. I feel like that will never change and it disappoints me.

Im thinking of quiting soon and going back to school or trying to start my own business type thing. Of course i tell myself im going to quit everyday but that paycheck makes me stay.

I wouldn't recommend going back to school. Do it only if you can't do what you want any other way, like if you want to go into the medical field/nursing or education. Most things you'd ever want to do you don't even need a degree for. I had a 6 month career as a paralegal while I was between degrees and I never had any training in law. Even if you had an entry level paralegal studies degree as an associate or bachelor, you'd start out as a receptionist working dictation between phone calls and correspondence with court clerks and clients. Sure, a paralegal studies degree should help someone understand legal procedure, but I think if you're going to pursue law academically, you might as well become a lawyer. I wouldn't bother going BACK to school unless that is something you have in mind.

Going back to school, in my opinion, is like getting remarried after a divorce. The problem many people have when going through a divorce is they fail to recognize the problems they have in a failing relationship and effectively deal with it. If they did, of course, there'd be no divorce. Divorce just allows them to escape from the relationship and their own problems they don't want to face. So they end up getting into another marriage bringing the same old problems into it that they had before and end up just getting another divorce. If you must go back to school, make sure you understand why you're having the problems you're having and that you have a plan for avoiding repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Also be sure to have an exit strategy for when you leave school. I got my master's degree in music composition knowing full well that I was only getting the degree for the experience and the option of applying for a doctorate and teaching at a university. But to make sure I could make a living, I still had my teaching degree and license, and I had a good 5-year run in public and private schools. When that didn't work out, and I was miserable the whole time, I fell back on my piano skills to start a private teaching studio. I'd been roughly breaking even teaching on two campuses until circumstances forced me to quit my day gig this year, but having the extra time has opened up other opportunities. I've resisted going back to school because the only point would be to work in academia for the rest of my life, and that's not what I really want. Starting your own business sucks because you don't have anyone telling you what to do and you bear a tremendous burden of personal initiative if you really want to succeed. But at the same time, that is the most awesome part of the experience!

i can't stand how the simple entry-level minimum-wage jobs, such as retail, fast-food, restaurant, customer-service jobs, have the highest, toughest competition in order to get hired!

I don't even understand why the firms are doing this in the first place it makes no sense from their perspective. if there is no change in what they produce. Wouldn't the firms have market power if it is still really hard to get a job for someone without social skills because they have few different options have a highly inelastic labor supply curve as few different options. Then you might get a lower wage and still be better off then what we have now which is basically a quota of near zero for the entire curve. I would rather face wage discrimination then get no job at all which can be like a quota at zero everyone can be better off this way the firm even.

i hate how they even make you take those personality assessment tests, multiple-choice questions tests for simple retail positions such as gathering shopping carts, stocking merchandise, or in a fast-food place

Something tells me it's a location issue. I imagine Great Britain is not the best place to find a job, especially in technology. The problem with computer jobs these days is most of them are being outsourced to India.

whats's 2.2 mean?

i also hate, it makes me very angry, as to that it's easier to get hired, to get a job during the holidays at retail places such as Target and Walmart, as in, easier to get hired as a seasonal employee than it is to get hired as a permanent employee during the normal, non-holiday times of the year

I wonder how much of it is living in small-town Essex? I have a friend who lives about 10 miles north of Manchester, but she doesn't look for jobs in the city and she's been out of work for 2 years. Have you looked for work in Colchester? I know it's a lot of travelling, but it's hard to find a job outside of the city.

I'm thinking Colchester might even be sort of too small. It would be easier to find a job in London, but commuting there would just cost way too much.

Hmm , have you tried computer programming or web designing ? Well , its kinda complicated at first but somehow its a great job . You can work from home .