I know you asked 'How do you women do it' and I'm a guy but if I may...

Don't be so quick to discount life experience. You know the value of a job. You can probably even define hard work. We come from a different generation and we are not so quick to think of a job as beneath us.

When I went to college as a non-traditional student I was intimidated but I wasn't there to party, meet friends or escape from mom and dad - I went to get an education and I'm not sure anyone in that school wanted one as badly as I did. I quickly found that though my mind wasn't as sharp as it once was, my determination and desire MORE than made up for it. It's the same with a job.

When you're at a job interview and they ask me your experience, don't answer, "No. I do not have experience in the field I am applying for, but I have lived". you look them in the eye and you tell them, "I am lacking in experience but you've never had an applicant who wanted this job more or was willing to apply herself more." I've been self-employed for many years now but I remember going and applying at jobs I wanted once upon a time and telling them, "No, I don't have the experience but I'll make a deal with you. You bring me on; let me work one week. I'll work for nothing. If you can't do that, I'll write the company a check right now for my first weeks wages. If you don't think I'm the hardest working employee you've ever had after that - tell me and you won't have to fire me and pay unemployment, I'll quit....and I'll put that in writing." No one ever took me up on that by the way - but I meant it, they knew it, and I got a lot of jobs that way.

Look, I've read alot of your posts here on pc, you are smart, you have common sense and you're personable. You can do this. I don't tell people things just to make them feel good - and hollow cheerleading isn't my style, I truly believe you can do this.