Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we want to follow up on one phone call from one listener to yesterday's show that tugged at our heartstrings and prompted some of you to write in with possible ways to help. It was during our segment with New School economist James Parrott about who's unemployed in New York City. One of the most disheartening statistics was the high unemployment rate among young adult men in the city.

In that context, we took a call from a worried mother in Brooklyn, whose son is 30 and still living at home, she says, because he's been unable to find work despite an associate's degree and no lack of trying. Here's 30 seconds of that phone call from Hyacinth in Brooklyn.

Hyacinth: He has made several applications the latest one, he just showed it to me now from Mia Marco's human resource. They just said, "The position was taken." At first, everything was open up and as soon as he made his application, everything is closed, and they will keep his applications and said this has been going on for many years now. He's very frustrated and he doesn't know what to do at this point.

Brian Lehrer: Caller, Hyacinth in Brooklyn on yesterday's show, and she went on to say he had applied at restaurants and taken an exam with New York City Transit. She said they took the fee for the exam and then told her son he needed more experience, which brings up the perennial catch-22 question, how do you get experience when that's a prerequisite to getting hired?

As the segment ended, we started getting calls from people who wanted to share what they had done to find their first jobs. We didn't have time for those calls right then but we wanted to hear more for Hyacinth in Brooklyn and her son and anyone else who might be a similar position. Here's the specific question for you, listeners, right now. Since the caller's son had an associate's degree, we're going to ask it like this, if you had anything less than a four-year college degree, how did you go about finding your first job as an adult?

212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We'll assume if you have a four-year college degree, you have some advantage in this area. I know it's not always true but if you had anything less than a four-year college degree, how did you go about finding your first job as an adult? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. For anyone with however much education maybe you're an employer or whoever, what's your advice for finding that first job after high school or after an associate's degree, after some college anything short of four years and a bachelor's? 212-433-WNYC.

I'm sure that in many cases, one of the hurdles is having a lack of connections especially if you didn't have the opportunity to do multiple internships or have a robust career services office or alumni network to draw from, or parents with a lot of connections in the professional world. What did you learn or what do you wish you had learned sooner about getting a first job and breaking into the adult world of work? Call us at 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @Brian Lehrer.

Another way you might answer, what hacks did you learn for getting past the application stage, to an interview, or from the first interview to the second and finally to the author? 212-433-WNYC. I can't tell you how many people I know who've been through an interview or so and thought I must be in line to get this job. Of course, other people were being interviewed too and then they get disappointed.

How did you get from the first interview to the second or how did you get from the application stage to land even that first interview? 212-433-WNYC. If you're on the hiring side, what do you wish more applicants understood about the process that would help them be taken more seriously, for the job?

If you could share one tip with the breaking into the work world universe out there, employers, hiring managers, what would it be? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. For the sake of Hyacinth in Brooklyn and her 30-year-old son, and anyone else, here's the specific question. If you had anything less than a four-year college degree, how did you go about finding your first job as an adult? We'll also take tips from employers. 212-433-9692, right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC and to your calls on if you had anything less than a four-year college degree, how did you go about finding your first job as an adult? For the sake of yesterday's caller, Hyacinth in Brooklyn, and many other listeners. Ania in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ania.

Ania: Hi, Brian. I got my first job as an adult, it was right after high school. Before I started college, I went to a temp agency. Since I knew how to type from high school typing classes, I did really well in the typing test, but I didn't have any experience. They sent me out on a job. They said, "Well, if you want to hand out leaflets on the streets, for a clothing store that was just opening." This was in downtown San Francisco. It wasn't really what I had in mind but I did it. I did a good job and then the next thing they offered me was in an office.

Brian Lehrer: Ania, thank you very much. Good start. Joe in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hi, Joe.

Joe: Hey, what's going on, good buddy? I was 22 when I got my first job. I just came home from doing a short stint in the penitentiary [unintelligible 00:06:38] my son for about six, seven months at the top. I started at [unintelligible 00:06:43] supermarket. It's like, you got to start anywhere. I went back to college. My son went to college. My son went on and get degree and everything.

Like I tell my kids, you have to start anywhere. Now I was making $4.25 at that time. Now job is $15, $16, $20 an hour. Now I just got a job two days ago working for Citibank. I'm at my job right now. I applied online and now I'm working. It's so easy now to get a job, I think.

Brian Lehrer: Did you find that there was any particular hurdle with you and anything in your background that you're referring to how to get past something?

Joe: Well, my background was the biggest thing because I came home from prison. It was difficult, but I didn't give up. The thing about it is not giving up, keep applying and keep applying and something's going to come up. You got to keep spinning the wheel. I tried to get jobs in the city, they wouldn't give it to me because of my background. Once I got the [unintelligible 00:07:51] and that was $4.25 back then. I tell the young man, who's 30 anything's possible. You got to keep trying. [unintelligible 00:08:01] people even go to Whole Foods, and we still have a Trader Joe's economy right now [unintelligible 00:08:08] $20 an hour.

Brian Lehrer: Joe, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Call us again. Appreciate it a lot. Martin in New Rochelle says he is an HR manager or hiring manager. Hi, Martin, you're on WNYC. Thanks for calling in.

Martin: Hey, guys, a bit of advice. I've been doing HR for 25 years and my advice to young people is this, you prepare, do your homework about the company you're applying. Have someone look at your resume, work with people in your high school if you can. Preparation is key to this and also, presentation. How you present yourself to the hiring manager is critical. Don't be going in there with your pants halfway done your backside. Just presentation is very important and being honest, and know what kind of job you're looking for. Don't just take anything, don't look desperate. Just get to know what you're looking for.

Brian Lehrer: Martin, thank you very much. Few tips. Concisely stated. Dana in Long Island City. You're on WNYC. Hi, Dana.

Dana: Hi. I wanted to be an editor. I had an associate's degree like our friend and I walked into the office that was offering a job and I lied. I put it in my resume. I said I finished my bachelor's. I imagined in my mind, I finished it but it was at the University of Florida far away from New York. I got the job. I really wanted to be an assistant editor to do proofreading and the rest. They had to teach me how to proofread and I had also lied that I had an experience about that.

Brian Lehrer: I don't know if that's good advice because if you get caught lying on your resume, you're going to get blacklisted. That's not to say everybody in every other hiring position is going to know about it but that's a big risk, isn't it?

Dana: At the time, 19 year old, I wasn't thinking that, well, I put it in my resume, I stood up for it. I did a good job of staunchly imagining myself with the bachelor. By the end of the job, I had gotten the requisite experience not to lie anymore for my next job. That was it.

Brian Lehrer: You got away with it, Dana. Thank you very much. Debra in Jersey City, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debra.

Debra: Hi. I have used temp agencies all through my career. I'm retired now, but I actually had left a job registered with a bunch of temp agencies in 2006, worked six months at a company, and actually got hired with the company. Then also in my late 50s, my company closed, and I couldn't get hired. I had registered with a bunch of temp agencies, so I worked three years doing different office work in temp agencies.

Actually, even though I'm retired the temp agency keeps me on file, and when there's something that they think I'm interested in, they call me, and I actually worked a week last year. Temp agencies are very good. You just have to register with a whole bunch of them. You'll find a good one. Actually, I'm still with one that I registered with in 2006.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe that is a good way in for a lot of people because there's not much of a commitment on the part of the employer, right, if they don't like the individual who the temp agency provides, then they can ask for somebody else. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a way for people to get a look at you.

Debra: Well, it's a way for people to get a look at you now. Some positions I've actually had to interview for like a regular job. You go, you be prepared. Some you can just go, but you go with an open mind. It gives you a chance to experience different positions, getting your foot in the door. It actually helped me get more confidence and to be able to work on my own because if I'm going from company to company, I'm basically on my own until maybe I make some friends or whatever on that job. It's a good way.

I did anything. I did surveying door to door. I needed to support myself, so I did office work. I did lifting boxes. I did anything and everything I had to because it gave me a chance to check out different companies, try different positions. I did it for three years until I took a crossing guard job for a year because I decided to retire early. That's another thing, crossing guards usually, cities are always hiring, and you can apply for a crossing guard as well.

Brian Lehrer: Debra, thank you so much. Thank you very, very much. Let's see, caller who didn't have time to wait to go on the air says they're an employer, and one simple tip is a really well-constructed professional-looking resume, and this person says it shouldn't have cute photos like your my Facebook friend. Interesting, so a professional presentation, whatever that means. No cute photos like your my Facebook friend says this employer, which reminds me that one thing that comes up and some of the lists online of tips for job seekers is to clean up your social media.

Is that a stumbling block for applicants? We know that's a stumbling block for some applicants. Managers have probably seen it. Maybe, listeners, this sounds like you. You've at one point realized with hire that something on your social media that you weren't even thinking about, sunk a potential job for you. We could do a whole call in on just that, I'm sure, but scrub your social media might be another good tip. Reggie in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Reggie.

Reggie: Hey, how's it going?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What's you got?

Reggie: I actually started in restaurants. I started entry level. I was lucky enough to be in a restaurant that allowed me to promote five different times into management until I reached a higher level of management. Then I took those skills, and I transferred them to a different industry because I had the leadership skills. I built that by working my way up from the bottom so really, really giving the advice around making sure that you're willing to do the work to get where you need to get and really approach with curiosity. The other part of it for me was networking. I'm where I am today, not just because of the skills I gained, but because of my network.

Brian Lehrer: Reggie, thank you very much. Tim in Washington Heights, you're WNYC. Hi, Tim.

Tim: Hey, Brian, so I'm about your age. I currently work here in Manhattan as a construction site supervisor. I don't have a college degree. I make a six-figure plus income, and that's that I'm able to live here in Manhattan, which is pretty rare for a middle-class person. I started out as a laborer, and I learned how to use a broom and a shovel, and a pick. I always wanted to do the best job I could whenever I worked.

Today, I find a constant need for a good labor, who will work hard not who will take instruction and show up on time, particularly women. There's almost no women on construction sites in the industry that I work in, so I think there's a great opportunity for women and other people who think they might not want to have a college degree that can eventually work to the level that I'm at. It takes time. It takes hard work, but it can be done.

Brian Lehrer: Tim, thank you very much. Dhiraj in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Dhiraj

Dhiraj: Hi, Brian, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good, what you got for us?

Dhiraj: Literally, I just want to say that you have to decide what you want to do, and then go into that field and volunteer. That's what I would say. That's what I did, actually, when I-- I'm from [unintelligible 00:16:18] and I came and I started volunteering. Show the people that you are worth hiring. That's how it works. I volunteered for a year without pay affording myself on my own.

Brian Lehrer: Afford to work without pay for a while. Then volunteering sometimes is a way in. Dhiraj, thank you so much. Let's see, one more. Kenric in Brooklyn, an employer. Hi, Kenric, you're on WNYC. One more employer point of view here.

Kenric: Hi, Brian. Longtime listener, love your show. I'm the head of recruiting for an accounting firm. One of the things that really works for us, we love referrals. Use your network. I think another caller called in and talked about using your network. Referrals are a great way to get in, really great way to get in.

Brian Lehrer: There we leave it with Kenric Brooklyn and everybody else. Well, Hyacinth, hope you are back in the audience today and that maybe, just maybe, something that somebody said here might help your son via you. We hope, we hope, we hope, and thank you, everybody, for your calls and for your big hearts with your suggestions. That's the Brian Lehrer show for today. Produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Emily Lowinger.  Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces Our Daily Politics podcast. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio, and we have Matt Morando at the audio controls. I'm Brian Lehrer.

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