Sucks for you. At least you have a viable long term experience, and a valuable skill set even if the market is lousy for it currently. You ought to do better than me at finding something I should think. Good luck to you.
We don’t have any of the troubles that you do at the moment, since we paid off the cars, rent, and are not having children. We get by each month. If Nashiitashii’s mother hadn’t left us an inheritance we would be in deep shit, and it is embarrassing to feel so useless and live off of a dead person’s money. We are very, very, frugal and don’t spend anymore than we absolutely need to.
I never scapegoated anyone. I said that it’s a contributing factor, and a big one. You read into that what you want, but that’s all I’ve ever thought and said about it. You can see my skill sets in the above post, outside of the art field, my skills are in basic trades which are currently SOL. Tradesmen become laborers and handymen when that market dries up, and the labor pool is flooded with illegals in SW Central Florida. That makes for a bad situation all around.
We’d like to, but money issues, lack of a job for wither us when we get there, and finishing school for Nashiitashii are all too much to overcome collectively. Absolute I was the opening manager for a Spirit Halloween outlet this year. I worked from the second week of September through October. That salary carried us over for a while, but I was not able to secure employment with the parent company for year-round work.
God i hate these stereotypical messageboard sad sack posters that have a lame-ass response for every suggestion. Fine! You win! We all agree that nothing bad that happens to you is your fault. Now what?
Also, glad to hear you have chosen not to have children. Keep those sad sack woe is me genes out of circulation.
I think some people here need to cut the guy some slack - being unemployed for an extended period of time is one of the hardest things you can go through in life, and if he wants to bitch and moan a little, let him. He’s also said that they have plans for the future to move out of this depressed area, but they can’t at the moment for a good reason. You don’t have to justify how you spend every second of every day here, Acid Lamp. You know if you’re giving it a good try every day.
Are you dropping off resumes at companies that aren’t advertising? They always say that most of the jobs are in the hidden job market. Another thing you can do is volunteer - I do mostly temp work, and it’s strange how jobs magically appear once a company gets to know you and sees what you’re all about. Good luck with your search - do try to stay positive, even when all you want to do is stay in bed and pretend the world outside doesn’t exist.
In addition to working from September through October, he was also dealing with my grief, as my mom passed away at the end of September. I was an emotional wreck, still doing my schoolwork, going to work, and trying to be helpful around the house; honestly, during that month, I was more of a burden than a help because I was so upset about the situation. I’m still upset about my mother’s death, but I’m better able to cope with it than I was during that first month.
During those eight months, Acid Lamp has been employed for about four total. He was employed throughout most of the summer, and a good portion of the fall; I had a lot of expenses because I was traveling and taking care of my mother for a portion of the time she received chemotherapy, so it was eating into our budget more than it would have been had my mother not been in need of care. From one location flaking on him when it came to continuing to teach classes to the Spirit Halloween store not being able to hire anyone out for regular employment afterward, there hasn’t been much reward for the work that he has been able to secure, and it wasn’t due to a bad work ethic on his part. I work hard and am a valued employee, and Acid Lamp works twice as hard as I do when he’s employed; it’s more a matter of getting a foot in the door within an area where we can neither move nor acquire permanent full-time employment.
When I am closer to finishing my degree (I’ll be done at the end of the summer), we will be putting our job search feelers a lot further out, as it’s going to be easier for me to get a full-time job in my field if we’re willing to move. However, right now, we’re in a shitty situation as I still need to be located where I’m at in order to finish my degree and get enough experience so that someone is willing to hire me. For now, we’re stuck in a shitty situation made worse by the fact that it seems like his entire immediate family only call up to shit on him about being unemployed as if it’s going to help. We don’t owe them money, are not asking for money, and his mom is the worst about it because she’s never satisfied with his performance and always finds something to nag about.
Acid, there is a regional finaincial services comapny located in the Tampa area. Because many of the financial services companies are getting their just rewards for investing in subprime, etc, this one is reaping a lot of new business, and growing steadily. You might check with them to see what opportunities they have available. You wouldn’t be able to be an advisor with your background, but you might be able to be an associate or something, and a strong sales background will certainly help you there.
If anyone tells me they spend EVERY GODDAMN MINUTE of their time actively looking for jobs when they are unemployed, you are full of fucking shit.
I also don’t think he is hating on immigrants. It is a frustrating time for us that do not speak other languages (and it’s not like it is simple to just go and learn one, I took a few years of french in high school and never learned shit even when I tried). And it’s frustrating to know people are crossing our border illegally and people are hiring them for low wages (very unfair to the workers of course and unfair to those legally eligible to work here already) and taking jobs that technically they shouldn’t be. That does not equal racism or hatred, you fucking jerks. If all of us americans just started flooding over to Europe without visas or whatever and working really cheap, don’t you think the Europeans would be unhappy too? And immigration is personally not affecting me in this way so I have no stake or tied-in emotion in this matter - but objectively, people entering this country illegally are getting jobs when jobs are scarce. I don’t see how anyone can really call that “fair.”
I will also say that whoever thinks he should just pick up and move ASAP is a fuckface too. If you have the kind of life where picking up and moving is a snap, then good for you I guess. Most people don’t. His girlfriend or wife (not sure which she is, sorry) is trying to complete a masters degree - it would be very stupid to move. They are not homeless yet, moving is a last resort unless you have no nearby friends or family, no pets or kids, no mortgage or lease you can’t break, no possessions to move…
I will say that I think Acid Lamp did not choose something very viable to get his college degree in…a major of passion not that useful in the job market. But it takes years to get a new degree and it costs a lot of money too…not really an option now either.
I think all of you are just crabby or something and feel like being assholes. Yeah he’s not perfect, he’s not doing every little thing he could absolutely possibly do to get a job, but he is trying. Maybe some of you forgot how hard it can be to get stupid shitty jobs? I’m in college and can only really work these types of jobs because of classes - you almost have to know people to get hired even at fucking pizza joints. I’m a smart, honest kid willing to work, but I still had to get hookups from friends working there to get interviews at most of my crap jobs. The one time I didn’t have a hookup, I filled out 10 applications to get one interview. It makes you feel like a fucking loser when you can’t even get hired at Target when you damn well know you can do the job just as well as anyone working there now.
So fuck all of you being dicks and hope everyone piles on you too when you are unhappy with something.
Gotta love the well-meaning family - first question from everyone; “So, are you working yet?” No, I’m not, and I had put it out of my mind for the weekend while we had a nice time socializing, but thank you for reminding me. And if they’re not well-meaning, then Acid Lamp needs to tell them to STFU. Here’s my suggestion - “Thank you for your concern. The situation is being looked after.” Repeat as necessary until they get the hint.
I had a devil of a time finding a job, even when the market “wasn’t that bad.” Having graduated from the university in December '07, I moved back home and figured with my education and experience, finding work would be a snap. Hmm, not so much the case.
A lot of companies I found hired within itself. That is, they posted the openings in the classifieds to meet some requirement I suppose, but ended up just promoting or transferring someone that was already working with the company to that newly opened position.
Also, it really comes down to who you know. They always stress networking starting in high school and definitely in college, but I never really took this to heart. It took me nearly eight months to find a good job, and this was thanks to a family friend.
Acid Lamp, please do not get discouraged. I don’t know why people are attacking you and gloating about themselves being employed. Stay positive and persistent, and things will work out. Best of luck.
My two cents: Take a shitty job even with a longer commute. As long as you’re making some profit, it’ll make you feel less like a loser and not seem so desperate for the other jobs you’re still applying for. Plus, it will widen your resource and contacts network to meet new people and you can check out other job opportunities in that area.
Plus, go ahead and become more fluent in Spanish. It can only give you a leg up, no matter which part of the country you move to.
Also, I think you look better without the beard. You do look very young but better than with that beard.
Interesting that the Government of Ontario has a big billboard up on our side of the border begging American doctors to move there. You know, because there are just so many qualified people streaming to Ontario these days.
Gotta face facts. The beard looked OK but it still it said “I’m a nonconformist, I’ll cause trouble” to the HR dweebs. When there’s 100 applicants for one job - the dweebs look for anything they can use to make the selection pile smaller and your beard gave them a real quick excuse.
Quit blaming everyone else. Accept the fact that looking plain vanilla harmless may just be that little thing that keeps your application on the pile long enough for somebody to recognize that you’ve got the skills they need.
Its a tough market and there is definitely some truth in your opening rant but I gotta tell you, the beard just wasn’t the right thing to have to get a job.
This is a great idea. If you’re looking for a job 30 hours a week (don’t remember if this was your math or someone’s guess, sorry) then volunteer somewhere for 10. I’ve had several job offers come my way through my volunteer work and while I ultimately didn’t persue any of them they were opportunities I wouldn’t have been aware of otherwise. Even if you don’t want to work within the organization you’re volunteering at it’s a fantastic way to network.
I can’t believe how nasty people are being about this. Yeah, whining doesn’t find you a job, but it also doesn’t fix traffic jams, crappy customer service, SUV drivers, or any of the other things people rant about in the pit. I get that people blaming their problems on everyone but themselves is annoying, but it’s stupid to pretend that Acid’s sown everything he’s reaping. Sometimes shitty things happen. The economy sucks, that’s hardly his fault. I hate the “you deserve everything you get because you didn’t plan your whole life perfectly starting in junior high so just PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR BOOTSTRAPS and fix things outside of your control”.
I thought the beard was kind of cool looking, but a little wild. You look fine without it.
I think you’re being unfairly snarked here also, the job market is in the toilet and sometimes the jobs simply aren’t there. In my wife’s case (no “real” work for over a year now), jobs she applies for invariably are flooded with hundreds of other resumes. To raise to the top of the heap, she of course tries to appear very qualified (and usually is) but only means that she prices herself out of the lower unqualified schlubs willing to work for less (since businesses now don’t want qualified, they just want cheap immediate work-for-hire). Saying you are “career focused” gets your resume thrown into the trash bin these days.
I went through this same spell in the early 90s, can’t tell you how many box-folding and envelope-licking jobs I took to survive, and the only thing that made my several hundred applications per month get answered was a recovering economy.
*edit, started to fix crappy grammar, then said 'fuck it, it’s the Pit" *
