Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
227
0
I am in a tough spot. Very tough. I got offered a job through a car dealership 20 minutes away from my house. To be a shuttle driver, also wash cars, help out with the parts department sometimes. Also bring in cars to the garage so the mechanics can work on it. They want me to start tomorrow. The parts manager told me in a few months I can move up to work as a full time parts runner. I speak Spanish as a second language and he told me it's valuable to have working in the parts department. The pay starts at $9.50 by the way. The job is M-F usually and work on Saturdays as well. The schedule will change though depending on the needs of the dealership. They told me that.
This car dealership has a few other dealerships around the state.

The other job is through a staffing agency. They also want me to start tomorrow. I will be a order puller for the mechanics at a military base. So I already have my background check and drug test done a week and a half ago. This job is guaranteed M-F with every other Friday off. it pays a bit more $10.00 an hour. The company at the base is a huge corporation.

Both jobs will give me my 40 hours a week. The dealership job will sometimes have less hours.

I have not worked in a long time. It's a tough job market out there. I have applied numerous times and have had about 15 job interviews in the past few months. These are the first two real job offers I have had in a long time. I am with other staffing agencies and call in every week to see if they have any jobs.

I am not sure which job to pick. I will have to burn a bridge with one of the job offers. You see my wife and I only own one car and she is due to give birth around March 31st or before. You never know though. She is also not pleased with waking up early in the morning and taking me to work that early in the morning. I'm talking about the military base job.

The car dealership job starts tomorrow at 8 and ends at 5. That is not the original schedule. My boss at first said Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 7-7 pm. With some work to make up my hours
on Mondays and Fridays. I think I will work the original schedule next week or the week after.

The staffing agency job starts tomorrow at 7 am and ends at 3:30. The regular schedule will be from 6:00 to 2:30 and some days at 5:30.

I really don't know what to do and not sure which job will I like the most.

At the car dealership I will be a full time employee. If I go to work for the car dealership I will have benefits in 60 days. They don't give benefits to part-time employees. Only full-time employees that have 36 hours or more a week.

The staffing agency does have insurance benefits. But truly it's not the greatest insurance coverage. But it's better than nothing. It starts as soon as you get your first paycheck for the staffing agency insurance. The people at the staffing agency told me if you do work hard, rarely call in sick and always be on time there is a good chance you will be hired on with that company. I think it's after 90 days. But they told me it's not a guarantee. I really don't like living in a "At Will employment" state.

Also I'm not sure which job will be okay with taking two days off when my son is born. That's the real question.
 

jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
227
0
Aren't you cutting it close if you have to start tomorrow?

Did you say yes to both jobs??

Yes I am cutting it very close. Unfortunately I did say yes to both jobs. I did not expect the car dealership to call in the afternoon. Also I was waiting to hear back from the manager for the military base job. The manager wasn't sure if he needed one more person for the job.

I may have to go with the car dealership the more I think about it. My wife is pregnant and she needs all the sleep she can get. She would not like waking up so early in the morning, drive 20-30 minutes to work and then drive back home.
 

mobilehaathi

macrumors G3
Aug 19, 2008
9,368
6,352
The Anthropocene
The dealership job sounds slightly more secure. You implied the other was a temp job with the possibility of full time employment.

It is a hard choice, certainly not one we can make for you.
 

jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
227
0
Yes you're right. I do have to provide. I just hope I will like the job. Never have worked for a car dealership before and not really sure if I will like it or not.
 

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2008
1,474
2
2nd Star to the Right
Military spending is going to be extremely unstable over the next few weeks to months while our government fafs about. The dealership will probably be more stable over the long run.

The exact opposite would have been true in the past.
 

ucfgrad93

macrumors Core
Aug 17, 2007
19,522
10,810
Colorado
Military spending is going to be extremely unstable over the next few weeks to months while our government fafs about. The dealership will probably be more stable over the long run.

The exact opposite would have been true in the past.

Agreed. I would go with the car dealership job.
 

heehee

macrumors 68020
Jul 31, 2006
2,469
233
Same country as Santa Claus
Yes you're right. I do have to provide. I just hope I will like the job. Never have worked for a car dealership before and not really sure if I will like it or not.

I know I'm too late for this and you probably picked one already, but if you hate the job you picked, it would be better for you in the long run. Think of this as a temporary job and educate yourself for something better in a few years.
 

Squilly

macrumors 68020
Nov 17, 2012
2,260
4
PA
Tough spot. I'd choose the military job though. Main reason: it's a governmental job (I think). You'd get a pension. Only problem is the sacrifice of getting up that early.
 

eawmp1

macrumors 601
Feb 19, 2008
4,158
91
FL
Through a stafffing agency you are costing the employer more than if you were a direct hire. I'd go with the car dealership.
 

GermanyChris

macrumors 601
Jul 3, 2011
4,185
5
Here
DO NOT take any job right now that depends on money from DoD especially contract type work you will be the FIRST to go. We are looking at furlough's once again temp and term federal employees getting cut. Contracts and contractors are easy low hanging fruit without protection.
 

SilentPanda

Moderator emeritus
Oct 8, 2002
9,992
31
The Bamboo Forest
My wife is pregnant and she needs all the sleep she can get. She would not like waking up so early in the morning, drive 20-30 minutes to work and then drive back home.

Not to dismiss your wife's needs, but she's due at the end of March you said. We're talking about a month and a half. If you think the military job would be a better long term fit for your family, she should be able to deal with the month and a half of hardship on her sleep. You could potentially try to carpool with somebody or take public transportation also. I don't care which job you take, but think about your families long term needs instead of her few missed hours of sleep for the next 6 weeks.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.