# How long have you been unemployed?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 26, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947 "2002-06-26T00:06:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/1 "2002-06-26T00:06:27Z")
I have been for 10 months, but am on the verge of finally getting a job.
You?
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### Author:  [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/2 "2002-06-26T01:12:30Z")
I’ve been unemployed since October 31 last year - that makes 8 months - been pulling contracts from home - just enough to pay rent.
I am ready for a job - or at least a long term onsite contract.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/3 "2002-06-26T01:16:37Z")
Three and a half months. I start with a non-profit organization on Monday.
Hang in there.
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### Author:  [@HairyPotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HairyPotter)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/4 "2002-06-26T01:52:20Z")
Just three weeks. My previous period of unemployment, it took nine months to end up with two offers. You’ve got to keep trying, trusting in yourself, and regularly assessing how effectively you are campaigning for a job. The experience builds character. While it is hardly a pleasant situation, it is hardly as traumatic as a divorce or the serious illness/death of a loved one.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/5 "2002-06-26T02:02:26Z")
About 6 weeks. 8 interviews down…
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### Author:  [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/6 "2002-06-26T02:03:37Z")
Five months today. No prospects in sight, except for a new business venture that a friend and I have been working on for some time, that’s beginning to acquire some momentum.
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/7 "2002-06-26T04:14:25Z")
Since April 2, 2001. That’s just short of one year and 3 months. I’ve stopped looking at this point, and am going to have some surgery I’ve been putting off while I still have COBRA insurance.
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### Author:  [@tigergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tigergirl)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/8 "2002-06-26T06:08:24Z")
Negative 2.2 days 😃
My last day at this job is Friday; not sure what I’m doing after that though and I think I’ll have to take my boss to court to get all my entitlements paid. ☹
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### Author:  [@Rocza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocza)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/9 "2002-06-26T06:19:20Z")
Also since Oct 31 2001. Have had only about 3 interviews. All my experience has been in telecom and I’m having a hard time transferring my skill set. I’m overqualified for many jobs I’m applying to and have been told directly that they wouldn’t hire me because they know I’ll leave as soon as I find something better. Its really depressing and we’re in severe financial difficulty.
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### Author:  [@Rocza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocza)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/10 "2002-06-26T06:25:59Z")
Also laid off since Oct 31 2001. Have had only about 3 interviews. All my experience has been in telecom and I’m having a hard time transferring my skill set. I’m overqualified for many jobs I’m applying to and have been told directly that they wouldn’t hire me because they know I’ll leave as soon as I find something better. Its really depressing and we’re in severe financial difficulty.
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### Author:  [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/11 "2002-06-26T07:21:01Z")
10 months and counting. I sent out many resumes heard nothing. I was in tech support but would consider anything that comes my way
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/12 "2002-06-26T07:29:22Z")
Just over one year. Unemployment has run out and I have no prospects at all.
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### Author:  [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/13 "2002-06-26T08:05:34Z")
June 5 of this year. New district rules say teacher’s assistants must have two years of college. I do not. My five years experience mean squat.
I get 106 dollars a week unemployment, enough to pay the rent and utilities but not enough to eat. New diet plan you guys!
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### Author:  [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/14 "2002-06-26T08:07:26Z")
I was unemployed for 3 months, getting laid off a week before Christmas. I got a job for 10 days in March, then was laid off again. I finally found a place in April where I’m still at, and will hopefully keep this job for as long as possible–positions for pastry chefs are hard to come by.
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### Author:  [@MissUnderstood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissUnderstood)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/15 "2002-06-26T11:15:51Z")
7 months. Timing worked out well though, I got laid off 2 weeks before I intended to quit. Unemployment has been grand. Spent the last five months in India and now I’m just hanging out with some friends, _rent free_ in the UK!
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### Author:  [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-unemployed/115947/16 "2002-06-26T15:33:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Rocza \*
> \*\*Also laid off since Oct 31 2001. Have had only about 3 interviews. All my experience has been in telecom and I’m having a hard time transferring my skill set. I’m overqualified for many jobs I’m applying to and have been told directly that they wouldn’t hire me because they know I’ll leave as soon as I find something better. Its really depressing and we’re in severe financial difficulty. \*\*
Similar story here, though I’ve been in the software business (I’ve done and managed support, QA, and product management). My most recent position was a calculated risk when I took it in February of 2001, and so I made sure I was very well compensated for it. I was working for a Bay Area-based company, but actually living and working in Atlanta, so I was getting a Bay Area salary with a substantially lower cost of living. Unfortunately, every position I’ve applied for has asked for salary history, and I haven’t even had a “pound sand” response from any of them – and having been on the hiring side in the not so distant past, I know that my history of fairly high salaries is working strongly against me. The only saving grace for us is that we never really changed our lifestyle from when I was making about half of my most recent salary, and we had some extra cushion in the form of proceeds from having refinanced our mortgage last fall – we were in the process of having our kitchen remodeled, and had bought the cabinets but hadn’t started ripping out the old stuff yet. Our contractor and the cabinet company have been extremely cool about hanging onto the cabinets and waiting for us to be ready to go again. Between that and a reasonable cash reserve, we haven’t had any major financial issues yet, though we’re reaching a point soon where we’ll have to start selling off stocks at a loss unless I can find something. We can live, barely, on about half of what I was making recently, but no one’s willing to take the risk of hiring me at that level, figuring I’ll ditch them when something better comes along (which would be a distinct possibility). That’s why starting a business seems like the best long-term strategy, provided we can scare up enough funding (also difficult in this environment).