Damn, sorry high school students are getting hired over you, but it happens. And I appreciate the detailed advice. I have only done one year of college, about 16 credits, towards liberal arts. I also have a little labor job experience from working for a labor company, which sometimes had me in warehouses, sometimes at construction sites, and once at a junkyard lol. But I feel you. I am looking on craigslist and see ads for job that claim you need no work experience. One emailed me back saying they couldn't hire me yet. At least they implied they may hire me in the future.
Have you tried UPS? Or a job in the stock room of a department store? Anything available at the airport? There are plenty of jobs that exist that don't involve cashier-type activities. Do you ski/snowboard? Anything available related to that?
Never ski or snowboarded. I would like to eventually but it never crosses my mind. I never see any ads on craigslist for stock room jobs or ups, but I do see truck driver jobs. I would prefer to stay in the same general area though, but I could send my resume for truck jobs.
Not all jobs get posted on the internet. Pound the pavement and look presentable. A face is more valuable than an online application.
Have you tried going directly to their websites and looking at their "Careers" section? You need to search beyond craigslist, like: http://business.flydenver.com/info/employ/index.asp and https://ups.managehr.com/Home.htm Some places advertise almost exclusively on their own webpages.
Check out shopping malls, large hotels, theme parks, — places with a lot of public/business interaction.
I've not looked on craigslist, but going directly to company websites and checking out their "Careers" sections. As Garball said, meeting in person is more beneficial if you can do it, but many places will direct you to their online application. I walked into a handful of stores in the plaza by my university, and all of them told me to visit their websites and apply online. I wish I could be of more help, but I think you just have to be persistent and clever. Think outside the box. I'm still trying to come up with a new scheme. Although, I'll likely be back in Cali before I get any luck ha ha. It's hard out here for a pimp...
Job Fairs. As boring and tedious as they seem, you never know what opportunity awaits or what kind of contacts you will make. Network with others looking for jobs.
There are temp agencies in most cities that can hook you up with basic day labor. Warehouse work, light industrial, construction and the like. I've primarily done warehouse and factory work. It's probably not your dream job, but you can get a steady income at better than minimum wage, and generally you won't have to interact with customers. Being a temp is not a super enviable position and there are a lot of drawbacks (few raises, getting strung along about being hired directly, no sick days or holiday pay), but I've found that it is easy to get work this way and fairly reliable. The yard care idea is a good one as well if you have some basic equipment (lawn mower, weed eater, rake). It can be intense but you can make decent skrilla doing very basic things. If you strike out on your own you will have to find your own customers and negotiate. I am doing this kind of work while working towards other things and it's going pretty ok.
I have actually found a few labor companies in cities close by that can hook me up with work. I will need a ride to get there, but I have that covered. One in a city north of where I live looks very promising.
One more that I didn't see mentioned is custodian. Specifically custodians at universities. They usually make above minimum wage and also get tons of benefits. Plus, you'd be working by yourself most of the time which would be completely different from your past cashier jobs. It seems like a good set up to me. You'll find job ads for custodians listed in the employment section on university and college websites.