Job Hunt: Target, Living Wage

[livingdeb]

Due to continuing underemployment at my house, I am looking into short-term jobs. First I applied again for jobs scoring teacher certification tests.

How to job hunt

Step 1: Apply for jobs
Step 2: Nothing happens

Oh, ahem, surely there are other scenarios.

So I decided to hunt for a seasonal holiday job. There's a Target in walking distance of my house, so I walked over and asked them what kinds of seasonal jobs they had. Floor worker and service desk worker.

I applied online, where I was told that zero of these jobs are currently available, but they let me apply anyway.

Another weird thing is that they have a drug-free policy. One of the requirements is that employees are not allowed to buy or sell drugs or alcohol on the premises. I'm pretty sure I've seen wine for sale at Target. It would be interesting telling them that I already signed something promising not to do one of my job duties.

They have a lot of drug tests. They are allowed to test you if there are suspicions--I don't mind that. They test you before they hire you. I'm not as fine with that, but my old druggie friends used to say anyone should be able to pass a drug test with a week's notice. So if they're okay with that, I guess I can be. But they also do random testing. That just seems wrong. If the person is doing their job well, who cares if they're on drugs?

Similarly, they do background checks and credit checks both on prospective employees and on current employees who are getting a promotion or transfer. Again, why collect data that is only imperfectly correlated with doing a good job once you actually know how good a jog they're doing.

Robin points out that they don't actually know.

It's not the public sector, so they don't have to tell you what the salaries are, and they don't. They say simply "competitive."

I'm imagining them asking me what kind of wages I want. Irrelevant. They have a certain range.

Or they might ask what kind of wages I'm expecting. Pretty bad wages. By which I mean I expect the entire range to be pretty bad. "Competitive" probably means slightly above minimum wage. Minimum wage is $7.50/hour here these days. A living wage in my county for a single person is calculated by MIT to be $10.97. But various findings on Glass Door imply just less than $9 for low-level Target jobs.

The MIT estimate shows their calculation for a living wage. They calculated $3022/year for a single adult for food. That's $252/month which is about double what I spend. Admittedly I am small.

For housing, $8352 = $696/month. I think that's about right if you live alone in a cheap one-bedroom place in a non-dangerous part of town. Though it includes utilities, too, so that might be rough.

You only get $2253 (188/month) for things other than food, housing, transportation, and medical. So that is what they think people spend on toiletries, pets, clothes, tools and supplies, and fun. Less than they spend on food. Wow.

That is all.

Comments

[tamara knox (from livejournal.com)]

Is your illustrious boyfriend also seeking seasonal employment opportunities?

[(Anonymous)]

That JoAnns near your place sound be hiring seasonal as well. Craft retail is fun! Txpngwn

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

He is seeking long-term full-time jobs. But also has a short-term job and a part-time job.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I think the one nearest me is the one near the Domain, 7.5 miles away. Okay, that's not far, but not walking distance, either. But you're right, they do have seasonal jobs. Thanks!

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Target is awful. My ex worked there for a season. As soon as XMas passed, they dropped his scheduled hours to zero. He was doing stocking work overnight and it was just an awful routine. Also they made them watch terrible anti-union videos. Gross. I wouldn't advise them!

[(Anonymous)]

There's always the post office for seasonal work. Not sure I could hack it, but I have several friends who do it every year.
:-)
Cat

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I'll want them to drop my hours to zero! But anti-union videos sound mean.

From what I've read, it sounds like different stores have very different environments. And I'm in a position where I can speak up for people without worrying about getting fired. I mean, I could still get fired, but I'm in a position to be able to handle that.

Thanks for the warning, though!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes I do see some seasonal post office jobs here. They sure pay more. I'll look into it.

Why are you thinking you're not sure you could hack it?

[(Anonymous)]

Well... I'm just sorta picturing hours on end of sorting hand written envelopes and stuff like that. I think I'd go cross-eyed. I suppose as long as I didn't "go postal" it wouldn't be that bad for a few months though! :-)

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I think that wouldn't bother me. I'm better at reading than you! And I'm actually pretty good at deciphering handwriting (having worked as a typist for ten years). I'm more worried about customers going postal about things not getting somewhere by the time they really wanted it to be there.