To get some of the jobs I've had, I did leave off my advanced degree. I worked retail for years until I finally got a position in my field. At first I was totally against working in any other field other than what I went to school for. But nothing was coming in, so I eventually resigned myself to applying to whatever I could. This meant retail, fast food, etc. I landed a job at McDonald's pretty easily, but I was very depressed, and on rx painkillers and drinking heavily, and I was so miserable there that I left to go on a week vacation and never went back. I then got a job at Kmart. Not a horrible place to work, until I broke my back and had to move back home. The last job I had was at Lowe's, which I loved. That was a great place to work. I stayed there until my current job opened up and I was really cynical about applying because nothing had come of it in the past, but I got the job. If I hadn't gotten this job, I'd still be with Lowe's. They're a good company to work for. The only problem is most of the jobs are part-time and in the winter the hours are cut back dramatically. So there were times when I had to take a second job. Anything to try to make ends meet. My experience with the employment office was never productive. Nothing I ever did there came to fruition. It was me looking at company websites, looking through the classifieds and going into local businesses that got me my jobs. I've had to take menial jobs to survive in the past, anything to pay the bills. But if you wouldn't mind retail, Lowe's is a good place to work if you have one near you.