Here is just a thought about potential garage door customers.   When my oldest son took drivers' Ed two of the girls in his class drove their moms' cars into their garage doors.  Maybe you could get a local driving school to hand out your business cards.   Put some of your business cards up on bulletin boards near retirement neighborhoods like Kern City.  There may be folks there who need to have their doors repaired.  Here is a link to the city of Bakersfield temp job listings http://www.bakersfieldcity....

 thanx all of you for such good  insights and leads,  I do kinda dress up,  I do have a nice resume,  and I do call back,  only to be told, they call me,  Thanx,  I wont give up and with nice people like u here,  I feel hope

I run a Garage door company now,  have had it for 20 years and in LA it made me like $50K a year, and I sold my home and moved my family here to semi retire  but I only get about 1 if that  job a month,  I do garage door repairs  springs, cables  openers,  ,  but I'm will to do about any thing just don't want to work in the sun,

 thanx all of you, please keep in touch with me,

 love ya!

Vincent  663 3891

Sorry to hear of your plight. There are a lot of good suggestions from the posts above. In the words of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, "Don't Give Up."

http://monsterres.careerper...     This link from Monster.com has examples of resumes and cover letters.     Here is a link to apply online at the Home Depot. https://careers.homedepot.com/cg/?

I hope you won't mind this personal question... How is your blood?  Many folks obtain extra cash doing plasma donations.  There is a health screening to go through and it takes some time to do a donation but if you get there first thing in the morning you could read the want ads while you donate and make a plan for the rest of your day.   http://biomatusa.grifols.co...      http://biomatusa.grifols.co...

246 Biomat USA Bakersfield Donor Center (CA)

Bernard Street
Bakersfield, CA 93305-3541
Phone: 661-863-0621
Fax: 661-863-0825   They open at 7 am Monday through Saturday.

How often can someone donate plasma?
Federal regulations allow individuals to donate plasma as frequently as two times within a seven-day period. However, the majority of donors do not donate with this frequency. Most Biomat USA plasma donors average once per week. At every donation the donor's blood is checked to make sure that his/her blood levels are acceptable for donating and that there will be no adverse health effects from donating.

Start out by going to Employer's Training Resource (Career Service Center). There is one downtown off F Street. They will review your resume and enhance it, show you websites to persue for jobs and more. Good luck!

I was in your situation once upon a time. I couldn't get a nibble from McD's. With school in session, you may have less competetion. I feel for you.

All the above advice is good. If you are not doing any of those things, give it serious consideration. Contrary to propaganda you may hear, Bakersfield is not a boom town. The economic base is agriculture, light manufacturing and getting drunk. Two strikes against you is you are over 50 and you don't have a healthy set of boobs. You darn right it's unfair, but that's the way it is in alot of places, denials notwithstanding.

Then there is this consideration: I can recall in recent months at least two bloggers on this site who gave up and relocated out of state. Both are happy they did. I wish I could be more encouraging. All I can offer you now is my wishes for your best of luck and try not to give up.

Good Luck Vincent~ i will be hoping for the best for you and yours. Kern County Human Services also has  job help ~ no need to apply for Welfare~ they have job listings,and help with resumes etc.

Another couple of pointers about resumés:

Keep it to one page. 

Make sure there aren't any misspellings. Have at least one other person read it over to make 100% sure. 

Be very aware of your formatting. 

Don't list every single job you've ever held. I don't think it's necessary to list jobs that are over 10 years ago unless they're relevant to what you're applying for. The most important is keeping it to one page.

I had a horrible time finding a job when I first moved here. It was almost as if people were turned off simply because I moved from the bay area. Eventually I landed a job with someone that wasn't from here either. Keep on trying man. You'll find something.

 I can't count the number of times I've seen someone go into a business in a t-shirt and shorts and ask for an application. They're rarely taken seriously because they aren't dressed seriously.

This reminds me of a time when I interviewed with AFLAC.  Here, I thought I'd have an individual interview, yet the first meeting was a group interview which really was more of a sales pitch than anything.  Of the dozen people at this interview, I was not only the youngest, but I was also the most professional in dress and mannerisms.  When I did get the real interview, the sales manager immediately attempted to sell me on the idea that I could easily work my way up into a position such as his.  Of course, I'd have to pay money to get my insurance license first, and the job was 100% commission only, no benefits.

Usually managers are busy, and if they have set aside time to interview, that is the time they want to do it.  There is no telling how many people like that they have had bug them all day long.

I disagree with this based upon my personal experiences. When I first moved to California 2 years ago, I landed a job as a shift manager for Pizza Hut due to my recent Pizza Hut management experience in Florida right after my college graduation.  Though I was being tailored to take over the most profitable store in the entire LA area, I knew that it'd be a dead-end job that I didn't want to continue with, so I began walking into and calling specific businesses.  Almost every time that I did this, I spoke with a manager who was not only helpful, but in some circumstances agreed to give me a formal interview.  I landed a job with a $100 million company in LA by grabbing the bull by the horns and going straight to management, instead of dropping my resume off at the front desk.  I had virtually NO experience in Project Management, yet because I was ambitious and proved my willingness to learn, I was given a trainee position with a better salary than I made w/ Pizza Hut, and had I stayed with the company would have led to a very competitive salary as a full-fledged PM.

When I came to Bakersfield, I did the same thing, and the first company I went to here offered me a job within 2 weeks of me meeting the owner of the company.  I turned them down only because they didn't offer what I thought I was worth.  In the 5 months that I job-searched in this town before accepting an offer, I had at least 25 first interviews, with an additional 10-15 being 2nd and 3rd interviews.  There's no way I'd have that kind of success had I just sat around waiting for a call back.

The point of the story is not to sell yourself short.  If you want the job, you must get in front of the decision maker ASAP.  Don't wait for your application or resume to somehow make it's way to their desk - you're setting yourself up for failure.

It's better to have a strong resume that highlights your skills, that really stands out.  And make it easy to understand.  It's not a life story, but a general synposis of you.

Yes,  a strong resume is important, but that won't always get you in the door.  With the job market being so competitive, you must stand out, and unless you have very competitive credentials, you're not guaranteed an interview based on resume alone.

HOnestly, you may need to revamp your resume a bit too.  I found in my recent job search, that my resume was just outdated and hard to understand my qualifications.  Attacking it the way you currently are you need a good resume.

I'm not a big fan of bugging people at work like managers.  Personally, having been a manager, I would never talk to someone that was just dropping off an application.  As well as taking follow up calls about the resume.  Usually managers are busy, and if they have set aside time to interview, that is the time they want to do it.  There is no telling how many people like that they have had bug them all day long.

It's better to have a strong resume that highlights your skills, that really stands out.  And make it easy to understand.  It's not a life story, but a general synposis of you. 

FSG has some good points. I just want to emphasize the line about dressing in your best suit when going in. I can't count the number of times I've seen someone go into a business in a t-shirt and shorts and ask for an application. They're rarely taken seriously because they aren't dressed seriously. If you don't own good clothes, run on down to Goodwill and you can probably put together a presentable business-casual or even business-formal outfit for pretty cheap. At minimum you want to have a nice pair of slacks, a dress shirt and a tie. If you have a jacket, that's a plus as long as it fits you well. You can get one fitted at a tailor for fairly cheap too, no need to go buy a brand new one just to get it fitted.

I'd also suggest following up with anyone you submit a resume to within a few days.  Don't wait for them to call you back, because chances are they won't.  Employers like to see persistence (but not over-done). 

It could also be that your resume might need a bit pepping up...  employers oftentimes glance at them for no more than a few seconds - if something doesn't catch their eye, they won't even consider it.  If you need help in this arena, let me know.

I would suggest going a step further and walking into any business that you even remotely would like to work for to not only deliver a resume, but also to speak with management firsthand if possible.  Dress in the best suit you have.

When I moved to Bakersfield a little over a year ago, I had only my Bachelor's Degree and a couple of years of restaurant management coupled with 9 months in project management.  I found much more success when I walked into doors or called places asking to speak with the sales manager, or office manager, or whomever.  People are a lot more interested in hiring someone who literally puts forth the additional effort, rather than someone who just submits a resume.  I had a number of local businesses here who either gave me offers through this way, or really considered me and kept me in mind if an opening came up.

Of course, 6 months later, the company I picked to work for was found through careerbuilder.com.  Either way, treat the job hunt as a job itself, and you'll reap the benefits.

Hang in there. My husband was jobless for 8 months before going back into the oilfields.  Good Luck!

 Try Career Services, they place many people into jobs.