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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

haim n.

also hame, haym

[ety. unknown; orig. jazz use hame, a job other than in the music business; ? ref. to collar and hames under collar n.]

(US black) a job, usu. tedious or unpleasant.

c.1953		Babs Gonzales ‘Manhattan Fable’ 🎵 He copped him a hame as a delivery cat on Lenox Avenue.
1955		Encyc. of Jazz (in Gold 1964) 346: Hame: job outside the music business.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 61: A haim is a job, but junkies don’t bother with ’em.
1977		N.C. Heard When Shadows Fall 11: Wise-ass college chicks who disdained makeup, wore sloppy, thrift-shop nineteen-forties dresses, and called men ‘cats,’ ‘dudes,’ ‘studs’ and ‘suckers.’ A job was a ‘gig,’ ‘hame,’ or a shuck’ .
1994		G. Smitherman Black Talk 130: Haim A Job.

In phrases

cop a haim (v.)

(US black) to get a job.

c.1953		Babs Gonzales ‘Manhattan Fable’ [recitation] He copped him a hame as a delivery cat on Lenox Avenue.
1967		Babs Gonzales I Paid My Dues 95: His bread (money) had dwindled by this time and he knew he had to cop him a haym (job).