You’ve already got one. Your job is getting a job. It is the worst job you will ever have, but hard work always gets noticed.
I did five hours work this week - Yeay! Much excitement, but it was all over too soon. I’ve got to wait for some sort of alignment of the planets to get paid though, but that doesn’t stop me, I was on the phone this morning begging for more.
I almost got fired last year but my co-workers rallied around me and saved my job.
[/stealth brag]
What happened to teaching english in eastern Europe? Are you still looking into that?
I have a part time temp job, and find myself filled with bitterness and envy towards my coworkers (who are actual employes, not temp workers) with their job security, full time hours, higher pay and benefits (health care, matching 401ks, paid vacations, paid sick days, paid holidays, pension plans, company gym, tuition repayment). I work part time and always know in the back of my mind if the company wants to save money, they will fire me so they can free up some funds to keep everyone else employed. That is a terrible feeling. It is like going to a party where the fire marshal says you can only have 100 people in the building, but 103 show up. And you know if they need to kick 3 out, you will be one of the three. They will get rid of you so everyone else can still have a good time. That is really degrading to face that every day. Knowing you aren’t getting paid on a holiday but all your coworkers are sucks too. So does having an illness and not being able to go to the doctor. Fucking sucks.
So I can relate to the bitterness and envy. I honestly think this period of my life is the only time in my life I have ever really felt envy. No wonder it is one of the 7 deadly sins.
Threads like this make me feel so fortunate. And when I hear people bitch about their jobs (as it seems everyone does), my thought is “at least you have one!”
Good luck all.
I got a job right before the economy tanked. Not that it mattered much, since where I work is constantly hiring(factory. Dirty job, but good pay and good bennies and the plant has AC!!). Have since got a promotion to a new job that I love. Night shift maintenance, working solo, no boss(not a direct report to the shift supervisor, so while I have to fix things for him, he can’t boss me around, not that he would since we get along famously), interesting work exercising my troubleshooting and macguyver skills, and not overloaded with it either, with my own shop that has welding equipment, torches, drill press/mill, sandblaster, lots of tools, etc, for work on any personal projects I may have.
Life is good. 
Sorry… I had to brighten the mood up. You may lynch me if you feel it necessary.
No work definitely sucks. it’s time like these where jobs are scarce that I’m glad I have a trade.
Incidentally does anyone know of any jobs for mechanical engineers in Calgary?
I’m sorry Kyla. I hope things look up for you soon.
I know my co-worker’s wife was applying to different positions with USAid a while back (7 or 8 months ago). I guess you’ve also ruled out sitting for the state department test and such?
I’m one of the guys who posted an “I got a job” thread, but I couldn’t find full time work for quite a while. I did find some things to do, however. I can give you all some suggestions of things I did while I was “unemployed”.
The first couple of links aren’t clickable because they both seem a little antsy about publicity (but they’re nothing illegal or questionable). You can copy and paste the links.
They are not MLM or franchises or any of that kind of crap.They are independent contractor positions that give you assignments (no looking for your own work), and reliably pay you. I did both of them and they are completely legitimate.
Check out http://www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-us/company/work-with-us/careers.htm
In particular, check out the “internet assesors” and “internet judge” positions. I did this from home. At the time, if I recall correctly, it paid $12 an hour and was a max of 20 hours a week, but it was income and it was real steady work. I did 20 hours every week. Any of that may have changed. Check out the other positions listed also if you think they might be appropriate, but I know nothing about them.
Also check out RQA, Inc. Jobs
It doesn’t look like they have any full-time opportunities at the moment, but I did the part time independent contractor stuff. You need a personal vehicle for it. You can pick and choose from the possible assignments in your area and perform them according to your own schedule (within reason). They pay you after you’ve successfully completed an assignment, and sometimes pay you partway through as you complete certain steps. Since you can schedule your activities yourself you could do this along with the lionbridge thing above.
Also check out this forum: http://forum.volition.com
At a glance it appears to be mostly about mystery shopping. You can do this and get paid for it. (I know there are scams out there but there are also some real jobs.) I know there’s work available because some of the companies still call me asking if I can do an assignment. However, it’s not just a mystery shopping forum. Volition is where I discovered Lionbridge and RQA.
I hope this can be of help to some of you.
Also, I posted a thread about how I went about finding my current full time position. It may or may not be useful to some of you.
I haven’t, actually. I’ve registered to take the test, but it’s only offered four times a year and the last two dates didn’t work for me.
Can you work for a construction management company that does things like LRT legs, bridges, high-rises, etc.?
I was afraid of that - no Canadian English recruitment. It looks like they never recruit Canadian English - only Canadian French. 
Wesley Clark, everything is relative - I WANT a part-time temp job! I have no particular interest in job security, especially since our healthcare doesn’t depend on our work here.
In Canada many of the benefits I listed are provided by the government, not by employers (paid vacations, sick days, health care, etc) so it wouldn’t matter if you have a temp job or not.
I am lucky to have any job in this economy, but I am still underemployed and that causes frustration too. I’ve worked on holidays and still earned less money than the people who didn’t come in because they got paid holidays. It feels degrading to know you are coming in to work on a holiday and still earning less than the people sitting at home. I earn what I normally earn when I work on a holiday, when my coworkers come in they earn 2-3x as much as normal (regular pay & holiday pay & a premium I think). Employers pay a premium to temp agencies so they can avoid paying benefits.
It is relative, but when it is in your face all day, every day, it wears on you. But like I said, in this economy, I am lucky to have anything. And I am grateful for that. But I’m still going to bitch.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to poo-poo your complaint; just trying to make you feel a bit better by knowing that you have something someone else wants.
It’s not actually for me, but I’ll ask the person in question and get back to you, thanks.
Sorry about that. I’m surprised, since Canadians and USA citizens have similar cultural knowledge (which is really what they’re interested in).
I don’t know if RQA hires Canadians or not.
Maybe you should check out the Volition forum and see if you can find something there.
How about have a job but in (mostly) unwilling exile from one’s native land? Being a (so far it looks like) permanent expatriate can grind one’s soul after a while.
I was thinking maybe they aren’t interested in English-speaking Canadians because our culture is so heavily influenced by US American culture. Or maybe they’re just one of those internet sites that are prejudiced against Canadians. I’ll look into the Volition forum.
I’m in a similar boat.
Spent the last decade of my life working my ass off, at the expense of my family, my education and my sanity to build and run a department and now it looks like I’m going to have to head back to fast food at minimum wage because I can’t even get a damned interview anywhere. (And two of those jobs, at that just to support my family.)