i've always wondered why the restaurant and retail industry are so difficult to get into. one would think with my all of my years of customer service and well, 'serving' the public, that i would be a perfect match for any type of retail or restaurant position.
during the summer of the recession, i couldn't find a job either, similar to many canadian university students in that time period. but i applied to numerous places. i did only have one summer of work experience on my resume; but i still applied everywhere i saw a posting. hostessing, dishwashing, serving, sales associate, stocker... you name it and i probably had a resume with that company. these places, however, only tend to look at resumes that have already had experience with those positions before. and since i didn't, they probably threw out my resume.
there are two summer jobs that i apply for every summer since i moved to niagara falls. one is for a tour desk person at either embassy suites or howard johnson. with a degree in tourism and environment, you'd think a job like that would be my calling. every summer, i add to my resume about all the wonderful education i have and how i've learned about niagara region tourism blah blah blah. i talk myself up quite a lot in these cover letters when there's a job that sort of relates to my field of study. and every summer, i get no calls or no emails from either of these places.
frustrated and fed up with these two hotels, i didn't apply for this summer -- and then i found out that someone else from my program (a friend of mine!) got an interview for the job, which she turned down. thinking that i might have a small chance this summer to get in with one of those hotels, i applied. i talked about how i'm now a graduate and my education was awesome. hell, i was a tour guide now. i even worked library reception for 3 years! i had tons of tourism and customer service experience. and yet, i still received no calls.
the second job i apply for every summer is with garage clothing; sales associate. yes, i don't have any retail experience. except for when i 'volunteered' for the christmas holidays at jones new york and when i sold glow items on clifton hill sometimes last summer. i'm charismatic when it came to those glowsticks; tourists are attracted to cute girls selling glowsticks. that's a fact. needless to say, i ruled at that aspect of the job. these newer past experiences are on my resume. jones new york is like 4 stores down from garage as well in the same mall. i expected at least this summer to get a call for an interview. but that wasn't the case.
in the end, i've decided to play a game with my job search. i have applied for several hostessing, serving, and bus girl positions without any experience. recently, i've added a totally fake work experience to my resume: hostessing during a summer of high school at a restaurant in blue mountain that doesn't exist anymore. i'm curious to see if i finally get a break and receive a call for an interview in the restaurant industry.
