I'll do anything...

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How do you get a job when you've had no previous job experience?

It's been over a year and not a single application has even gone as far as consideration.

Is it affirmative action? I'm a white male so racism/sexism is now reversed and I'll get turned down from a job?

For anyone who's had a job, how did you get your first one?

Eek. You pretty much have to scrape the bottom of the barrel -- ie. the lowest level jobs. Clerks, food service, retail, anything. Certain food service places will usually hire anybody. And, I mean anybody. My first job was a dishwasher and also a "customer representative" at an insurance agency. I snagged the latter from a job-board at the high school. It involved filing and data entry. It wasn't bad!
You can also walk around the mall and ask who's hiring. Now is probably a good time, since they'll be hiring for the holidays! Jobs for you can involve stocking or working security.

TIP: Best times to apply are Tuesday through Thursday. Why? Weekends are busy with customers. Monday always sucks so chances are lower. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, people are more focused and less pissed off. On Friday, people are usually happy to get out of work and are much less focused.

Also, beef up your resume. It involves making it pretty. There are plenty of websites around to help you with that. Hygiene is also HUGE. Certain businesses have certain appearance requirements, namely dress and hair. But, it's really important to pay attention to little details, such as making sure your nails are straight and dirt-free, as well as having a cleanly-shaven face, or a neat goatee, etc. Then there are "personality tests" which are pure EVIL. no advice on those. I don't think it's affirmative action at all! There are just little weird tricks.

Yeah, that's really true. Volunteering somewhere is really good, if you don't need the cash.

But the sad thing is I am/have been scraping the bottom of the barrel... and I need money bad for college. Parents' money situation isn't the best either, but unfortunately not bad enough to qualify for free money.

The mall thing is a good idea though... I don't know how to make a resume with no previous job experience, but could try it, worth a shot, as anything else is at this point.

Personality tests are indeed evil... introverts like myself pretty much NEED to lie on those, which I've been telling the truth on.

I had the same trouble when I was out there looking. I finally got something when a friend of mine told me there was an opening where she was, and that she'd vouch for me. I got on and then worked my butt off to get a good reference (despite the fact that the job truly, legitimately sucked big time). It was a temporary assignment, so I got that letter before I'd had a chance to really piss anyone off, I'm sure that helped, too. See if you can get some seasonal work...and ask your friends or friends of your parents if they can help you. Most people get their jobs (especially first ones) through connections. It's not cheating (something I'm still trying to see), it's just the way the world works.