what should i do my employer is taking advantage of me?

[themostrandom]

im working an entry level job. im getting paid $12.00 per hour and they cut my hours after 3 months so they don't have to pay me for full time or give me benefits. im pretty young , i graduated college a year ago and have been with this company for 7 months. i have asked twice for full time and the answer has been "we will see what we can do" (by the way if im not mistaken im the only person in the office working part time, im the only person without a name plate). In the time i worked there i have made a decent amount of contributions to the company.

when they i first started work for them, they had 2 crappy bad quality videos they used to train employees that was uploaded on their website. i went ahead made a nice respectable looking youtube channel for them, uploaded several videos in my own time to better train new employees, i recorded high quality training videos with my own audio instructions. the company is happy with it and uses it. i also had an idea to make payroll calculator for current employees to use , which helped many employees. i also came up with ideas to improve their facebook, several other ideas that the company uses. i also want to point out that none of this was asked of me to do, i did this at home in my spare time, so i guess i cant complain all that much.

in the time ive worked at this company, ive been given minimal training and my job duties have been limited to mostly data entry, scanning and filing. i have not learned much of anything at all to be honest from this company, i feel ive been a greater asset to this company than they have been to me (teaching others what i know moreso than them teaching me anything), the only thing this company has given me is provided me with a good track record and learning to work with others.

i really want to quit, there is no growth, promotion, pay increase for me at all. ive been looking for another job for 2 months, sent out over 100 resumes and no luck. i feel like im being taken advantage of because of my age and due to the fact its a really bad job market that i cant do anything about it anyway.

what should i do my employer is taking advantage of me??? do i have a right to even complain? should i go to work and do the bare minimum?

[G K]

Use your spare time to learn about other companies where you might be interested in working. target your cover letter and resume to each specific company to highlight what you like about them and how your skills and experience will be an asset to them.
Get another part time job or volunteer somewhere so you won't be tempted to use your time to help thee company for nothing. (Maybe they will realize that you're serious about getting more hours if you have to be sure you're on time for your other job.)
No more freebies.
Work for yourself.

[Ms. Moose]

Sounds like you get alot done! That's great. I would suggest just blending into the woodwork.. When tasks come up, do them well like always, and then fade into the background. As a question, do you really want to be with the company fulltime? If so great, if not, keep your eyes open for other opportunities. You never know where you will find them. Good luck!

[Rob]

visit ur local library for books on job
hunting. sending resumes isn't going
to do it. u have to do door2door or more.
pick up 2nd job that may be beneath u but
pays so u can save for when u have no job.
keep working at job. focus on new one.
as for advantage , probably not just they
have other things going on

[A Hunch]

I'm confused. it you are the lowest member on the totem pole and the one that has been there the least amount of time, who is using these youtube vidoes you are making?

You also don't mention at all what you were hired to do.
Your job duties and your salary reflect that you are an office assistant. If that is what you were hired to be = no you have no right to complain ~ that's what you were hired to do.

You can go to work and do the bare minimum if you want. If you do, don't be surprised if this "good track record" disappears.

[s and d e]

Sure you can complain or you can find another job. No one is indespensible in a company, they can find plenty of other people to do your job. As far as going back to work and doing the bare minimum, that's really an ethical question that only you can answer