It is hard today finding a decent living wage job.

I had an interview last month for an HR Coordinator position at Menards in Wisconsin. A week ago they called me back and wanted me to come back for a 2nd interview. I was so excited! I went back and had the 2nd interview and it went well. They wanted to bring me on board, and I was so happy! That all changed when they told me how much I will be making an hour

 

I totally was shocked! The pay for the position is only $11.75 an hr with no negotiating. Geeeze really only $11.75? I was expecting at least $15 to $17 an hour. I told the GM there is no way I can move up to Wis on $11.75 hr. There is just no way I can make it because of my school loan debt. I have over $50K in school loan debt plus my other bills & expenses and I have no money in my savings just to pack up and move to WIS and live nice and comfortable on $11.75 an hr.

 

For this HR Coordinator position, it is a requirement to have a bachelors degree. And the job description, there is a lot of work to be done just for one HR Coordinator on little hourly pay for a big store. I spent over $50K for my degree and this company can only pay me $11.75 an hour? How can that be?? I don't understand how companies like this can be so dam cheap and greedy! Menards is a billion dollar company and the CEO has billions of $$$ and can't pay their HR Coordinators a decent living wage? This is sad, how a lot of companies and CEOs don't give a dam about their employees. All they care about are themselves and getting their outrageous pay checks and bonuses. They all get billions and at the same time taking away a lot benefits and giving workers low paying wages. It is sad that it has to be like this. Shame on you Mr Menard!! So I had to declined the position because of the low pay. I was really so excited that I finally got a really job! But of coarse the pay has to be so dam low for me not to accept it. Does anyone here work at Menards? Do they pay all there workers low low low wages? I thought for sure this company pays decent but I was wrong. It is so hard today finding a living wage job just to survive and live a decent comfortable life.

My brother has the same problem but he got his degree in south africa so in total it came up to 16000usd so its all cool. Companies these days dont pay much from all the stories ive been hearing. Thing is a degree is just nothing fancy, too many people hv it so companies can do whatever they want with people. But eish living in the US must be very expensive hey. 3600usd a month!!! And you turned it down?? Here in South Africa that would be enough for a very nice apartment (2 bedroom), a brand new Ford focus Rs or Audi A1 and have plenty of change remaining. That is actually the salary im hoping to get after some 6 years work experience. Mmmm I can only imagine making that much money. 50000usd for uni, damn universities are making a killing from us, no wonder they are always here advertising themeselves like a product, promising us a better future etc. U should have just taken it. Then work your way up in the company.

Ohhh its even more money than I imagined. I wpuld be able to afford a BMW 5series or Mercedes benz C class, Same nice apartment and have 2000usd remaining. Realistically maybe 1400usd after tax. Damn life there is expensive

Welcome to the world of corporate America today. We are going to demand 500 percent from you, but not even pay you a decent hourly wage, because we need that money for our vacations and our fancy cars. Yeah, I'm being sarcastic, but the fact is I think you're going to experience more of this. And none of these employers give a hoot how far in debt you put yourself for that degree. And Pisancho obviously doesn't live in the U.S. or he'd realize that the cost of living here in a America is multiple times over what it is South Africa. Yes, we could live very well in South Africa, but then if we all moved there we wouldn't have a job that pays us what the ones in the U.S. pay. Sigh, it's the whole when you move where the living is cheaper so is the pay routine.

 

Anyways I think you can keep looking or you can do what many of us now do and work two jobs. I do have a certain skill set that allows me to work from home, so I manage to not have to pay out expenses for work and that helps, but yes it blows that it's to the point you have to have a very in demand skill set to get a good paying job.

I have a longtime friend who worked for a bit as the HR in a store for Menards back in 2006 or 2007. Similar wages like you mentioned but cost of living in the area she was at was also very low. She only worked there for a year until she found an HR position in healthcare that she wanted and she still works there today. I understand that you have student loan debt to consider but if the cost of living in the area is reasonable and it could give you some HR experience that can open doors to another position, those factors may also be worth considering.

I don't know if you know about this... but if you want you can find work in the middle east especially Dubai UAE. I am sure you will get good income there. You can also get a very nice accommodation. The only sad thing is you will have to leave everything behind Wisconsin. But you can also bring your family in Dubai. I am British and one of my friends went to Dubai as a sales manager. He was getting around £40,000/year ($66,978.00/year) and now he is getting approx £8,129.63/MONTH!!!! ($13,612.66/month). He even encouraged me to come and work there too. Also he is living in a very nice and luxurious flat. He said if you are holding UK, US, Aussie, Canadian passport, etc.... the benifit is higher. I don't know how true it is but he showed me his payslip and i was like WOW!

I understand, and I'm sorry you're going through this.

 

Key words are 'entry level,' and most coordinators are entry level. Factor into that location. A coordinator in New York will be paid more than a coordinator out in heartland country.

 

If you're living with your folks, you may want to consider doing temp work to expose yourself to corporate cultures in your area, then apply from within for permanent work. Most companies 'try out' employees that way, and this allows them to screen out people who don't own soft skills, such as work ethic and professionalism.

 

Through temp work you can get inside companies, and the role you use to do that doesn't matter.

 

Think of any work you can get as a 'starter job' that builds the experience you'll need to apply higher, whether within same company or another one.

 

Head high.

I agree with the other posters here, I think this salary has a lot to do with the location being Wisconsin. I'm in the northwest suburbs of Illinois and I do think wages are higher here, for example a coordinator position like you mentioned in most major local companies would be around 17-20/hour. However, the cost of living in Wisconsin is quite a bit lower than where I live. I think it's a good idea to take something in your field, at least you're getting a start, get some experience, and in the interim continue searching for something else. As you gain experience, you'll become more valuable to other companies and in higher positions.

 

When I re-entered the work force after being home raising my children for over 16 years, I faced a tough job market, and ended up taking a receptionist position that technically was a security officer position, at 11/hour. I saw a team that needed admin support and took them under my wing, did tons of extra work w/out getting paid for it but it added a lot of good experience. It was tough going, but I was frugal, and after awhile got to 13/hour. After 4 years of struggling I got hired as an Executive Assistant at over 20/hour

 

Point is, we all have to start somewhere. I know you're frustrated because of your degree, but it's also the experience that brings in the money. We all have to 'pay our dues'. Good luck, I wish you the best, I know you'll find something, just keep trying!!!

Entry level HR positions notoriously pay very little, because your function is just one step above being an administrative assistant and is not considered skilled, so there are many people applying for those jobs and willing to take them.

 

When you first get out of school, you may need to take whatever job you can get to get experience under your belt to look for another better job. Just look locally rather than at far away locations so that you don't have the expense of moving. You can frequently negotiate deferred payments on student loans or reduced payments inititally followed by higher payments in years to come, so investigate that.

 

You don't say what your degree is in, but you might get better money if you look in departments that aren't HR departments. And always ask what the salary range for a position is before interviewing so you don't waste your time. Sometimes they won't give you the range, but will ask you what you are looking for in terms of salary, and if you'd told them $15-17 it would have saved you a trip and the hassle. So do that in future to weed out really low paying jobs before you even start them.

btw, you have to be very careful about not equating what you paid for your degree with the salary of the job you will get from that degree, especially when you are straight out of college. You need to do research to discover what your chosen career will pay, and there are many careers where a degree may be a wonderful thing to get, but it doesn't translate into a well paying job (i.e., philosophy degrees, anthropology, literature etc.). They may be great fun to study, but you need to do research into what your particular degree qualifies you for in terms of jobs, and what those jobs pay.

 

What was your degree in?

Your student loans, your degree choice, your career choices are not the problem of the company you applied to work for. Someone else, perhaps someone with different living expenses, someone who had their degree paid for fully or partially by family, part time work, or scholarships will be happy to take the job. Maybe they're in the exact same position as you but figured any job was better than no job. It's an employer's market.

 

I get that we're all being screwed over in this western corporatocracy, and it's been going on for decades now - a slow degradation of our value and rights not to mention the effects of globalization, but I think you need to focus your energy elsewhere. Instead of fighting it and thus remaining unemployed for even longer, hurting your own financial health in the long run, it's time to do what you need to do for the now (like take nearly any job you're offered) and then you need to look outside the box for your future.

 

I truly believe that being an employee in the western world is nearing its dying days. Businesses are choosing to hire part-timers, contract workers, temporary workers rather than hiring someone at the bottom and nurturing them to move to the top. Why would they do that when they have pick of the litter, when they can hire someone already incredibly experienced at a bargain rate on contract rather than having to invest in someone who is entry level?

 

You my friend need to look outside the traditional employment route, because it will likely get you no where. Either make yourself (your whole self, your entire reputation) marketable, desirable, as a self-employed person, negotiating on contract, offering a skill you have but perhaps don't realize right now that it's in demand or that is marketable with the right angle or start your own business. Not necessarily something you want to do, but something that people need. Small business is about finding a problem and solving it. Making peoples' lives easier. Either individuals or businesses. EVERY local economy has some opportunity for self-employment and small business, the trick is finding a need and filling the gap, providing the solution - at a cost, of course. Business and people alike are crunched for time, what can you do to take advantage of that? What is lacking where you live? Be it a service or product that you can do to improve the lives of people and/or business? For example, say the town you're in is chock-full of mechanics. But is there a need for say, a GOOD mechanic? A reliable one who promises work done on time, all the time? A truly trustworthy mechanic that caters to women who feel intimidated and worry that they're getting screwed over every time they're going for an oil change? See what I'm getting at? Keep your eyes and ears wide open for opportunity like this!

You have to pay to get your foot in the door by taking these entry jobs, otherwise you will have no access to those great jobs you think your degree entitles you to do.

I guess the pay is low because it's a retail store. I hear you about the low wages these days though. Have you tried applying to Menards stores where you live now? It looks like you're going to have to find a job in your city if you can't afford to leave. I remember you didn't take some other job a few months back because it was temp and far away.. I feel for you, man.

I believe there may be a push-pull in effect.

 

For years, the companies have been putting on the table what they are offering for the work to be done, and for years, employees have been taking as much as they can get and then using every means possible to get everything they didn't get. Companies have been telling us they cannot provide that for that job, and they have been telling us they Won't provide those benefits for those jobs. And we've gone ahead and got everything pushed through anyway.

 

And now the companies are evolving to operate under the rules, while reorganizing as effectively as possible to make their bottom lines.

 

We can cry about rights and how so many things are wrong, how businesses should pay a "living wage," how we're not getting enough, but at the end of the day it's their decision to have jobs available in the first place. As soon as it's convenient to them, they will go elsewhere, and elsewhere they have. It's the same problem all accross the developed western world, including the UK and Europe. Until we close the tarriff/imports law loopholes, we're not going to be receiving those golden parachutes any time soon. Problem is, at this point companies could simple pull their entire empires up and sell direct, as I see so many electronics going. You want LEDs? Buy them direct, China, online.

 

Take what you can get, it's all we can do...

Why are you mentioning your school debt to someone who is interviewing for a job? All companies have a budget they have to stick to which is probably why they are offering you $11.75 an hour. So either you can accept and take another job or just decide not to accept the job at all

Ohhh its even more money than I imagined. I wpuld be able to afford a BMW 5series or Mercedes benz C class, Same nice apartment and have 2000usd remaining. Realistically maybe 1400usd after tax. Damn life there is expensive

What are you talking about? $11.75 an hour is $470/week before taxes, based on a 40 hour week. That's about $2000/month BEFORE taxes are taken off. I haven't the foggiest notion what form of math you're using to calculate that at $11.75/hour you could save $2K a month and afford a luxury car, on top of paying back a luxury car's worth of student loans.

 

OP, what the others have said that you have to start somewhere. There aren't many professions where you can graduate and get loads of money as a starting salary any more (remembering the 90's when anyone with an ability to code HTML was practically guaranteed a job with a high starting salary). Moving to Wisconsin may not be something you can afford on that salary and that's the way it is. Hopefully you will find something closer to where you are soon.

What are you talking about? $11.75 an hour is $470/week before taxes, based on a 40 hour week. That's about $2000/month BEFORE taxes are taken off. I haven't the foggiest notion what form of math you're using to calculate that at $11.75/hour you could save $2K a month and afford a luxury car, on top of paying back a luxury car's worth of student loans.

 

OP, what the others have said that you have to start somewhere. There aren't many professions where you can graduate and get loads of money as a starting salary any more (remembering the 90's when anyone with an ability to code HTML was practically guaranteed a job with a high starting salary). Moving to Wisconsin may not be something you can afford on that salary and that's the way it is. Hopefully you will find something closer to where you are soon.

 

 

maybe he means if you are single without kids lol

3600usd a month!!! And you turned it down??

maybe he means if you are single without kids lol

Nope. I think this is just a failure to be able to do basic math. I mean, I used a calculator to figure it out because I don't trust my ability to do this kind of stuff in my head but I have no idea how Pisancho arrived at a figure two times more than what I did. If the starting salary was that, I bet the OP would have taken it and never have needed to start this thread!

Nope. I think this is just a failure to be able to do basic math. I mean, I used a calculator to figure it out because I don't trust my ability to do this kind of stuff in my head but I have no idea how Pisancho arrived at a figure two times more than what I did. If the starting salary was that, I bet the OP would have taken it and never have needed to start this thread!

 

I think only if someone is living with their parents it's possible

Or you rent with roommates, or you get a girlfriend who pays half the rent.

 

Welcome to 2014.

Or you rent with roommates, or you get a girlfriend who pays half the rent.

 

Welcome to 2014.

 

women assist with bills and food, not pay half the rent

Oh no, I did not stutter, half the rent. And half the bills. And half the food, or close to it. In the end food is very cheap, if you've lived in the low income bracket long enough.

women assist with bills and food, not pay half the rent

 

What the what?

What the what?

 

 

I never heard of a woman paying half of rent

I never heard of a woman paying half of rent

 

You are hanging out with the wrong women.