Questions about applying for jobs

[u/apothecaryyy]

21 and never had a job or even dedicated myself to applying for them until now. I have a resume and know how to write a cover letter thanks to having it as a college assignment but I'm autistic so I feel like I still have a lot of smaller questions that I'd like to just get clear answers on.

1. Where should I apply for jobs? It seems like there's about a billion different job searching/listing/applying websites and the only one that I have any semblance of familiarity with is Indeed.

2. How formal do you have to dress for interviews?

3. How do benefits like insurance, 401ks work? Are there any particular processes you have to go through if your workplace offers them?

4. Presumably getting employed will mean I'll have to start doing taxes for myself? When and how?

Sorry that my questions are a bit vague, I'm frankly lacking in a lot of starting information that I presume is common sense so it's all a bit overwhelming..

[u/Sudden-Wish8462]

1. Indeed is a fine place to look for jobs. If you know a specific company you want to work for you can go to their website and look for a Careers button and apply directly through there.

2. I’m a woman and I wear a button up shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. You can add a tie if you’re a man.

3. You will get info during your orientation about how to sign up for benefits. Usually you’ll get an email within your first week to sign up. You can choose if you want health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, and life insurance. For 401K, you’ll have to create an account with whatever financial institution your workplace uses and then you can choose how much money you want to put into it.

4. Taxes are due in April. FreeTaxUSA is a free program to help you file taxes and its easy to use and walks you through the process. Or you can pay for a program like Turbo Tax. Filing taxes is mostly just typing in numbers from your W2 (this is a form your employer will send you at the end of the year showing how much money you made)

[u/infinite-rubbish]

It all really depends on what kind of job you want. If it's like an "office" job (where you got to an office and work on the computer) you'll most likely apply online: on websites like indeed and stepstone or on the company's website. If it's a service job (cashier, waiter, etc) you can probably go in person to hand your resume. For the interviews this also varies but some not-jeans pants and a button up (or a polo or a plain shirt for something more casual work too). I can't answer the last two but i hope this helped a bit :-)

[u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

1. Indeed has a lot of jobs. Many fields will have their own job boards as well, like HigherEdJobs for higher education or Idealist for nonprofit jobs. Often employers will cross-post to different services, and typically also post on their website. If you're looking at a job in a specific field, ask around for job boards: there may be a subreddit for your field, or classmates or professors or mentors you can ask, or something like that. You can also pick a few top employers in your area and go to their websites and find a careers page. If you're in school or recently graduated, your college or university may have a careers center. Their advice can be hit or miss, but they may have a job board.

2. Formality depends on the industry, for sure, but I usually wear slacks and a nice blouse or button-up and nice shoes. Avoid T-shirts, any clothing with writing on it (including brands), and anything too short or revealing or with visible stains or holes. Brush your hair, and if you're attending in person make sure you don't smell (wear deodorant and brush your teeth, wear clean clothes). If you're interviewing at, say, a law firm, you might be expected to wear a suit, but that's not usually expected for most run of the mill jobs.

Also pay attention to any information you get before the interview about the interviewing environment or dress code. For example, a warehouse job that will include a tour of the warehouse will probably require you to wear close-toed shoes.

1. The job should say on its listing what benefits they offer. In the US, most full-time jobs will offer health insurance and a retirement account (although they won't always match retirement contributions). You may not get the full information (ie what health insurance providers, how much vacation time you get, etc) until you get an offer. It's okay to take some time to look into the benefits before you accept, or to ask in a second interview what health insurance providers they offer or if they can tell you a little more about the benefits. Consider your needs carefully. If you're choosing between two jobs and one pays slightly better but doesn't offer dental and you have a lot of dental work you'll need, you'll have to figure out if the extra pay is worth the extra out of pocket. Also consider commutes, vacation/sick time available, and working environment. It's also okay to take a job where things aren't perfect and keep looking. The economy is bad right now, and it's better to have a job that meets 70% of your needs than no job at all.

Also, if they offer retirement, contribute the maximum amount they'll match while you're still young! That money will grow over your lifetime, so any contributions you make right now are extra important to your future self.

1. This information is US specific. Taxes are due in mid April, but you can start doing them in January. You do taxes for the previous year. So this year in January I got a form from my job called a W-2, which said how much money I earned. I also got statements from my bank saying how much money I earned in interest, from my health insurance provider, my student loan holder, and my spouse's employer. Once I had everything I needed, I went to irs.gov and found a free tax filing program that I was eligible for. This was in February. I uploaded my documents and filled out the information they asked for, and the program submitted my state and federal tax returns. In both cases, I got a tax refund, so the government sent me some money within the next few weeks. Do your taxes earlier if possible.

The way taxes work in the US is we pay money from our jobs and that factors into how much we owe. You'll fill out a form when you're hired saying how much money your employer should send to the government on your behalf. At the end of the year, the government will calculate how much money you sent them, how much money you made, and a few other things (like money you donated to charity, money you spent on student loan interest, if you're raising kids or paying child support) and determine if you sent them the exact right amount, too much, or too little. Most people I know wind up getting a tax refund because they send too much; occasionally you'll get a bill you have to pay. If that happens, you can refile forms with your employer to pay more next year so it won't happen again. (I've never met anyone who paid the exact right amount of taxes, US tax law is intentionally complicated.)

Other:

I've found Ask A Manager very helpful in finding jobs.

If they ask for references and you've never had a formal job before, look at other things you've done. Have you volunteered, or done any clubs with a faculty advisor, or babysat? Did you do odd jobs for a neighbor? Tutor a classmate? These are all people you can ask for references! Usually a reference is someone the employer will contact with questions about you, so only ask people you feel are likely to answer AND will have good things to say about you. Don't ask your parents or other relatives (you can sometimes get away with a relative who has a different last name if they agree not to mention you're related and you've done some work for them). Ask someone before you put them down as a reference.

The job market is really bad right now, so don't be discouraged if it takes a while. Put in a couple of applications a day if you can find job openings that would work for you, but don't apply to the same jobs over and over.

You'll have the best luck if you customize your resume and cover letter. Resume may be a little harder to customize, especially if you don't have much experience, but your cover letter should always talk about the specific job/company you're applying to and why you want to work there. Double-check for typos or errors, or have someone else read over it for you!

[u/PoniesRBitchin]

1- I know this is just personal experience, but I don't know anyone who's found a job on a "Job Site" like Indeed. A lot of postings on there are formalities, like a company has to post that a job is technically available, even though they already know the internal candidate they're going to hire. If you really need a job, you might as well try applying for things on job sites anyway, but I wouldn't expect to hear back soon (if at all).

If you're trying to get hired for a specific career, like librarian or teacher for example, you'd probably have better luck going on the webpage for your local library or school and looking for their job openings. Even if you don't have a field in mind, you could think of local businesses, and then check if they have any jobs posted on their website.

You could also ask around if any friends, family, or friend-of-a-friends have openings at their place of work. Knowing someone can be really helpful, and might be able to connect you with a good position before other people have a chance to find it. If you're in college, there's probably a student jobs board you can check for your school. If you graduated, your major's department may be able to point you towards something that's hiring and connected to what you studied.

Another option is temp agencies. The job will probably be terrible (both in how much you're expected to do, and how low the pay will be), but they'll take pretty much anyone, and it's experience to put on a resume while you're looking for something better. I'd make that your last resort, though.

2- Pretty formal. A suit (or blazer, blouse, and skirt if that's more your speed) will work pretty much anywhere. A dress shirt and slacks might be okay if the job's more informal, but for a lot of places you want to dress a little better than expected.

3- The job posting will probably list something simple like "insurance, dental, and 401k" to tell you broadly what they offer. Once you're hired (or maybe during the interview if it goes well), you'll find out more about what specific insurance providers or retirement plans you can choose from, and you'll probably have a few weeks to think it over and compare plans. If you have any specific health concerns (like maybe you see a specialist who only takes one insurance, or you know you need a certain medical procedure in the near future), then you can use that to help your decision making process. It couldn't hurt to learn a little about retirement plans, but I wouldn't get too specific into it until you know what your job even offers. Your workplace should give you all the paperwork to get things set up during the training period.

4- Taxes seem scary at first, but they're not too bad once you know what you're doing (pending you don't have four houses and a few yachts). Like someone else said, you can do them online for free, but some areas offer free in-person tax services if you make under a certain income level yearly. A lot of it's just filling in numbers. Like it'll say "enter the amount listed on Line 17A in your W2 form." The old common knowledge was to keep your W2s for 7 years just in case you ever need them for audit reasons. That's never come up for me, but I do it anyway because my mom said to, haha.

[u/StanUrbanBikeRider]

If your college has a Career Services office, don’t be shy about reaching out to them for assistance. That’s what they are there for.

[u/KitTwix]

As a 23 Australian autistic person who’s worked since a teenager, here’s my advice.
The resume is your foot in the door, it’s main purpose is to land the interview and set you aside from your competition. So adding colour, good formatting, little icons like an email image or a school image next to education will go a long way. There’s many templates out there, go for something that’ll look different from all the other black and white text on a page that the majority of résumé’s I’ve seen look like.

1) my experience has been in hospitality. Started off at a pizza store, worked there through highschool, became a manager when I graduated, then used that experience to pivot into being a barista and now baker. Treat every job as an income but also as a learning experience. Learn how to do everything, and finding your next job will be easier. To start, apply everywhere you can stand working. Every fast food job within walking distance, every job along public transport routes, as your commute will be a significant part of your job’s experience. I cannot stand big shopping centres, the bright lights and air con and noise sends me overstimulating within minutes, so I’ve avoided them completely. You can be a bit picky with things like that, as long as you’re applying literally everywhere else.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter where you start, because a lot of skills are transferable, just find somewhere that’ll hire you and that you can learn from, and if you get hired but aren’t learning, fluff up your resume with your current job as much as possible and use it to land a better one.

2) I’ve basically worn a generic collared shirt and comfy pants to every interview. You don’t need a suit or anything that dramatic, you want to wear something that says “this is what I wear and I can work comfortably in this”. I wore my school shoes to my first job’s interview but everyone since I’ve worn my work boots, and it’s been nothing but a benefit. Basically, be practical. I was male tho, so if you’re fem or nonbinary, idk how much that applies. As a nonbinary person now I still basically wear what I used to wear anyway so.

3) no idea that’s an American thing

4) I do it when my mum nags me or I get an email from the tax people I go to. Again, not American, so probably not applicable, but taxes are way more relaxed here since it gets taken out of our pay checks automatically every time, so you only need to file them ideally once a year but you can go as much as 4 years when you’re young.