When it comes time to get your first job (or even your second or third), many job seekers have trouble getting motivated. You have dreams of becoming a major league baseball player or a Hollywood starlet when you get older, and you just don’t see how a part-time job at the mall fits into your long-term goals.
Ever heard the saying, “Everyone has to start somewhere?” Well it’s true. Just ask well-known pirate Johnny Depp (aka singer for a Kiss tribute band) or Danny DeVito (former hairstylist). Even big-time celebrities held hourly jobs back in the day, so who knows—your cashier job may lead you to become a star.
Here are some celebrities who held hourly jobs before they were being mobbed by the paparazzi:
Jim Carrey. This funny man held jobs as a security guard and a janitor at a tire factory to help his family when his dad lost his job.
Chris Rock. Before he was doing stand-up in front of a sold-out audience, this comedian was a busboy at Red Lobster. He traded labor for time on stage in a comedy club where he stacked chairs and mopped the floor. The rest is history.
Jennifer Lopez. Or should we say J-Lo? Either way, the singer worked in a law office just to pay for voice and dance lessons. Her hard work obviously paid off.
Brad Pitt. Before he was the envy of nearly every man in the world, Brad donned a chicken suit and clucked around outside of a fried chicken restaurant for cash. We’re willing to bet he wasn’t getting many ladies dressed as poultry.
Vince Vaughn. This ‘Wedding Crasher’ was a telemarketer long before he was slinging dodge balls. We’re sure there are many girls who would be happy to get a call from him now.
Madonna. You didn’t think this music icon was just born famous, did you? Two words: Dunkin’ Donuts.
Many celebrities were on their way to stardom in their industry without even knowing it. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren worked as a salesclerk, Nicholas Cage sold popcorn at a movie theater - foreshadowing his own box office hits - and Robin Williams was a street mime before he got the chance to perform on a real stage.
The moral of this story is to find a job that interests you, even if it isn’t what you want to do for the rest of your life. If you work hard and stay focused, you could go from the mail room to your own dressing room before you know it.
You asked for them, and now we’ve got them. For our last Off the Clock poll, we asked you what new feature you’d most like to see on SnagAJob.com. Your answer? Funny job videos, of course.
We’ve compiled a list of the top eight job-related videos this side of the World Wide Web. And we’ve got it all—from a grumpy puppy with the Monday blues to an office prank we wish we’d thought of.
So without further ado, here are your Top 8 funny job videos, in no particular order:
The (Oval) Office– Get your fix of Jim and Pam romance drama—with a twist.
Office fun– Who says you can’t get any exercise in an office?
If you know of any hilarious on-the-job videos that didn’t make our list, let us know. Send us a comment by clicking the link below. But please, make sure they’re PG-rated — nothing that would make your Granny blush.
ALSO: Check out our new Online Degrees section and earn a college degree in one of many fields, like Visual Communications, and learn how to make your own funny films.
If you could choose to be any superhero, who would it be? Would you stay true to your hard-working roots and choose Spidey - and the alter-ego of a modest news photographer? Or would you super size your lifestyle and your bank account as Bruce Wayne and the Dark Knight? (If so, you might want to hire an accountant.)
In yet another summer awash in big screen superhero hysteria, it’s fun to play this little game. And the Guardian has a cool quiz to make the super decision a bit easier – and more interactive.
So before you try on bedazzled tights or paint yourself green, take this safer approach. And heck, maybe there’s a superhero out there whose alter-ego already shares a job with you. Then again, considering how many of these larger-than-life figures spend their days as billionaire industrialist playboys, maybe not.
Who would win in a fight: Captain Crunch or Wile E. Coyote?
What rhymes with the word “purple?” (No, “nurple” doesn’t count.)
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
There are a lot of bad job interview questions – many worse than the ones we’ve included above. (O.K., maybe not.) But what about the best job interview questions. In “Sway,” a great new book that examines why smart people do stupid things, researchers break down the 10 most common interview questions. And they come to a baffling conclusion: Only one of the 10 questions is good. And heck, that one question is only decent at best.
The 10 most popular job interview questions include the ones you’ve probably been asked a dozen times: Why do you want to work here? Where do you see yourself in five years? What’s your dream job? According to the “Sway” scribes, these are all bogus questions because the answers can be completely stripped of any honesty. Sure, faking sincerity is sometimes hard, but you can still easily “lie” about these answers without getting caught.
So what was the best question of the lot? “What do you know about our company?” It’s stupid how simple a question it is, but it’s also a question that doesn’t allow those in the hot seat to fib and impress at the same time. If you haven’t done even minimal research about a company, then you can’t fake it. And by the way, if you haven’t, then shame on you.
In “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job,” bestselling author Patrick Lencioni makes a compelling case that all bad jobs are tainted by the following:
• Anonymity: Does your manager refer to you by a 17-digit number instead of a first name? • Irrelevance: Do you heal the world one transaction at a time? No…? You’ve got company. • Immeasurment: It’s not an actual word, but it refers to not being able to even tell if you’re doing a good job. Just imagine getting a ‘Q’ on your report card.
We only bring this up because no one exhibits these unfortunate characteristics better than Pixar animated star WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class). I won’t give any spoilers for the summer blockbuster. But as the last “resident” of a futuristic Planet Earth, WALL-E the robot spends the day compacting trash and building rubbish skyscrapers, all by his lonesome. All he has are his cassette of cheesy show tunes and his pet cockroach. And those are the job perks. Yikes.
Is your job like WALL-E’s? Does your nametag just say, “Guy?” Would anyone notice if you just stopped showing up for work? And was your last performance review written on a napkin?
If so, it’s time to start your job search. Take some inspiration from WALL-E, get off your sprocket, and look for part-time jobs now.
If you ask any 5-year-old what he wants to be when he grows up, chances are you’ll get an answer like “Spider-Man” or “The Hulk.” And while that may not be entirely possible, you’ve got to give them props for dreaming big. Summer movies like “Ghost Busters” and “Superman Returns” depict people doing jobs out of the realm of possibility—but you have to admit, catching ghouls and poltergeists for a living would be a pretty sweet gig.
Andy Sachs, Anne Hathaway’s character in “The Devil Wears Prada,” was the envy of girls everywhere with her glamorous, jet-setting job of attending runway shows and wearing designer fashions. Did this inspire you to put down your Vogue and apply for a summer internship with a clothing designer?
“Anchorman” may not portray the journalism industry in the most accurate light, but it sure is hilarious. Despite the pressure to be the best local news station in San Diego, these guys have fun at work. You can’t help but wish your coworkers were more like Ron Burgundy and Brick Tamland—when is the last time your office broke out into a harmonious rendition of “Afternoon Delight?”
Whether you escape the pressures of your current job by imagining yourself as a superhero who saves women and children in distress, or you made the move to a real job after a summer movie date, we want to hear about it. Click on “Add a Comment” below and share your summer movie dream jobs here.
Some of us had perfect attendance in high school – and the framed certificate signed by the high school nurse is somewhere in a dusty attic box. Others had well worn “sleep” buttons on our alarm clocks - and were really good at forging their folks’ signatures. No matter which school of absenteeism you enrolled at, it’s safe to say many of these habits trickle down to the workplace.
Some workers are gun shy about calling in sick even when they’re funneling cough syrup. If fact, according to a poll conducted by LifeCare, 54 percent of workers who go to work even when they’re sick do it out of loyalty to co-workers or fear of retribution from the boss.
Meanwhile, one in three workers who call in sick are actually fine, and are spending their bonus day catching up on Zzzzzz’s or shopping for throw pillows, according to a Harris poll.
While we never would encourage job seekers to be dishonest or disloyal to managers and co-workers, we’re always looking out for you, the job seeker. Shopping for flip-flops may not be the best reason to take a day off, but sometimes you need a day to relax, de-stress and apologize to your cat for all the yelling.
So, here are a few excuses NOT to leave on your boss’ voicemail at 5 a.m., whether you’ve got a 103F fever or just spring fever:
1. I need to take my Segway in for an oil change. 2. My sister is going to be on “Springer” and my TiVo is broken. 3. My Magic-8 Ball advised me against leaving the house today. 4. I’m on NASA’s short list for the Mars mission and need to buy more Tang. 5. That short actor from “Cocktail” wants me to go to church with him.
Some hourly workers graduate from dishwasher to manager. And apparently a few others graduate from dishwasher to the voice singing the pop songs pumping through the crackling kitchen speakers right above the dishwasher.
Music website Spinner.com has published a list of the top 20 worst pre-rock star jobs. But let’s be honest, in comparison to rock star, any job stinks. President stinks. Stuntman stinks. Even being a stuntman who plays the president stinks. When you have someone separating M&Ms by color in your green room, and bevy of good-looking stalker-groupies waiting outside your trailer to sign your abs and maybe shoot a YouTube video of you changing your socks, life is good. Sort of.
But enough with the rant. The list includes Sting’s gig as a tax officer, Madonna’s stint slummin’ at a doughnut shop and Snoop Dog’s J.O.B. bagging groceries. Among the creepier entries: Rod Stewart worked as a grave digger. (He should have buried his atrocious, 10-lb. blond mullet then and there.)
Summer is weeks away, but with “Iron Man” opening at movie theaters today, the summer movie season is underway. Get ready for laughs, chills, thrills, butter stains on your favorite jean shorts – and most likely – disappointment.
For every great summer movie, there’s a complete bust. For every “Spider-Man,” there’s a “Pearl Harbor.” (Let’s be honest, in terms of Michael Bay movies, “Transformers” was more historically accurate than “Pearl Harbor.”)
And with the high price of movie tickets these days, which can cost as much as $12 in some metropolitan areas, you can’t afford to roll the dice on a flick about talking cartoon chimps in outer space. (Yes, that movie really comes out this summer.) Think about it: With minimum wage now at $5.85 an hour, you could be working your summer job 90 minutes to over two hours to pay for a seat watching primates drink tang in zero gravity.
So be careful when choosing your summer popcorn flicks. Don’t be lured in by fancy fast food promotions or other movie hype. Back in 1987, it’s not like the families who poured into “Harry and the Hendersons” thought it would be awful. It just was.
[One last thing, if you ever utter the phrase, “Two tickets for ‘Made of Honor,’” never read this blog again. We kid, we kid! We’re not movie snobs. Heck, we’ve already got advance tickets purchased for “Space Chimps.”]
The gang from “Beverly Hills 90210” chilled at The Peach Pit when the going got tough. The ladies from “The Hills” crash at mommy and daddy’s million dollar vacation pads when money can’t buy happiness. And when President Bush gets bummed over his approval rating, he can golf, fish and play the Risk board game deep in the heart of his Crawford, Texas ranch.
Everyone needs somewhere to hang out and relax. To reflect and move forward. And now America’s hourly workers and job seekers have Off the Clock. Think of it as yoga for your paycheck. Sure, the beanbag chairs and the old school “Donkey Kong” arcade game haven’t arrived yet, but please make yourself comfortable.
Within the walls of Off the Clock – SnagAJob.com’s new community/hangout for hourly workers and job seekers – you’ll find a ton of resources for both your working life, as well as the hours before and after you punch the clock: Connect to our MySpace profile and accelerate your job search. Get personal finance tips, hourly job news and plenty of punch lines in SnagABlog.com, our job search advice blog. And even send us your job stories, read others and win prizes in our new Share & Win! section.
Have fun. Tell your friends. And be sure to check back often. Off the Clock is a work in progress and we’ll be adding cool new features in the near future. We welcome your ideas; if you have any, please send them here.
When it comes time to get your first job (or even your second or third), many job seekers have trouble getting motivated. You have dreams of becoming a major league baseball player or a Hollywood starlet when you get older, and you just don’t see how a part-time job at the mall fits into your long-term goals.
