I guess I’d go that way, if my mom wouldn’t instantly disown me if I did, her being JW and all.
Thanks everyone for your kind comiseration, and words of hope. Of course, I plan to keep at it, as stupid and infuriating as it gets to be. I just needed to vent, especially after hearing about my chickenshit bosses today.
Obama fired you? That bastard.
The modern age is a double-edged sword. The HR people use all the electronic tools of the trade to slant the game board in their favor. All those job posts to which you and I apply are there so politicians can claim how many jobs they’ve created since last count. And yet, people still think the USA is a place where hard work, integrity, and honesty will let you go far. Yeah, far behind, that is! This ain’t your immigrant grandfather’s USA, folks. We gotta drop that romantic image because this is a corporate-owned USA where innovators like Edison would be swallowed up by the corporate suits in a blink of an eye. (That’s why you can’t name the “Edisons” of today. Individual inventors’ names have been replaced by the corporate names…much like our stadiums.) Cynical? How can you tell?
Six weeks??? I’m two weeks shy of one full year. Yay, I’m coming up on an anniversary! :rolleyes:
Seriously - I look real good on paper, but I just can’t land an interview, much less a job. In these past 50 weeks, I’ve only managed to get one interview. (P.S: It didn’t pan out)
My state requires I apply for a minimum of two jobs per week to qualify for unemployment benefits. The problem is: There really aren’t any jobs out there to apply for (well, ones that I feel I would want to work and would pay me what I want). I get weekly updates from all the usual suspects (hotjobs, monster, etc.) I grabbed a screenshot of one week’s list from Careerbuilder and it was nothing but ads for enlistment in the US Army.
(PS: 12 years Army experience in my back pocket, but now I’m too old to rejoin.)
Get yourself a copy of “What Color is your Parachute?” It’s an oldie and can get pretty cheesy, but it has some solid job search advice and you may even benefit from the “what career is right for me” sections.
6 weeks? I just went 10 months without a job. Be prepared to struggle just as much; and good luck with your winning attitude.
It’s only been a week for us and I’m already very very scared. I understand six weeks without a check to be enough time for us to possibly be homeless, so I understand your fears as well.
And I too understand your sticking with what you hate, but if the situation gets desperate enough, branch out and consider other possibilities for jobs you might otherwise reject.
It’s how I went from being a sendentary chubby office worker to a buff construction gal in a matter of months.
I actually found out I loved it, and I’d do it again in a second if SOMEONE would give me the chance.
The point of unemployment compensation is not to let you find a job you like. It’s to help you find a job, period.
Hell, I’ve been out for twenty-one months now (only looking seriously in the last eight). But I’m not letting it get me down. Something’ll come along.
True, but perhaps the only jobs available in Uncle Brother Walker’s area involve flipping burgers, instead of the sorts of occupations that can support whatever needs he has.
I’ve been out 22 months and it does suck. It was a double wammy because the company I worked for just decided to quit the US market despite a global profit of Billions. Unfortunately, it was a huge blow to the region which was then plowed under by the housing market collapse and then the recession (OK, triple wammy).
I just stopped in to say that it’s up to the person submitting references to vet them first. You just don’t plop somebody’s name down without asking first. Even after that you tell them who you’re giving it too and prep them with notes about how great you are.
And as far as hating your job goes, there’s a support group for that. It’s everybody and they meet at the bar every friday… Drew Carey.
I loved my last job. LOVED IT. It was hard and frustrating work but I could look back at the end of the day and see that I accomplished something. Don’t confuse hard work for a bad job. It is possible to find a job you like.
Yes, and that part is fine - obviously, if a job doesn’t pay enough to support you/your family, it’s not appropriate - but he also says “there aren’t any jobs… …that I feel I would want to work,” which is quite different.
Find new references.
Refusing to provide a reference when listed = BAD reference. Much worse than no reference at all.
Start looking at jobs you feel are beneath you. There are no jobs beneath you, there are only jobs that you don’t want to do. The real questions then become; How badly do you not want to do them, versus how badly do you need a paycheck?
My wife was trying to re-enter the full-time job market for about a year before deciding the fruitless search was taking too much out of her. Really reminded us how fortunate we were for my income and job security - and made her part-time gig seem a hell of a lot less crappy.
For months she adotped the position that she would “do something every day” aimed at getting a job. Sending out letters/resumes, networking, etc. The net result was one single interview from a shop where I had a strong in - from which she still hasn’t heard back 3 months later. Seemed the available positions were pretty evenly divided between those who would not even respond to an inquiry, and those who replied that they had received thousands of applications for a single position.
The other day a friend of mine called and asked if she might be interested in a job. It isn’t really what she wanted, and pays maybe half of what she expected/hoped to earn, but she’s looking into it.
My sympathies to everyone who is out of work and looking.
I’m 26 months into the job search. Result so far: 3 interviews. 2 part time temp jobs. A whole lot of manual labor that pays little as a self-employed laborer. Now I’m on food stamps and still wondering how to pay the rent next month.
The economy has simply discarded millions of workers.
Networking? Everyone I know who did the same work I did before has been laid off. How do you network when the entire network is unemployed?
Wow, that’s discouraging. But I keep trying, because there is no real alternative.
I have been told by a lot of people that my policy for getting a new job sucks. I was laid off in Dec 08 and had a job by Jan 09.
I moved…well over 1000 miles. I found out a long time ago, jobs don’t come to me so I go to them.
From Knoxville, TN to Oklahoma, then to Oak ridge, TN, then to Wash DC, back to Oak Ridge, Then 2 years in S. Korea, Back to Wash DC, then off to Orlando for 5 years currently sitting in Reading, PA.
I am a SW engineer and I am flexible; have code, will travel.
It’s a cliché but that doesn’t make it less true - when you’re unemployed, your job is looking for work.
OP, I’ve been where you and everyone else is many, many times. Something always comes through. One summer it was working the counter at Subway, but it paid the rent. An entry level, menial job isn’t below anybody if it keeps some money coming in. It’s not forever, either, and even your supervisors wouldn’t expect you to stay at it once something better comes along (well, they might, but only if they’re really stupid).
The advice about calling the temp agencies every day is good advice; there’s one agency in town here that encourages people to show up early in the morning, dressed nicely and ready to work, and they’ll send those people out to the jobs that come in from people calling in sick, etc. Once you’ve done a good job for a temp agency and shown that you’ll take any assignment, you’ll go to the top of the list to get called. They always say that you’re free to turn down assignments, but the reality is that if you do, you probably won’t get called again. Not being picky about assignments also helps - I hate answering phones so always say I don’t want reception work, but that always eliminates quite a few jobs for me.
I just had someone ask to apply for a job (I have a small business). He was told we were not hiring. He asked to speak with me. He told me that he wanted to apply for a job specifically because I was not hiring. He was looking for ways to satisfy the state’s UC requirements without risking a job offer. I told him no thanks.
I listed these two bosses because they told me as they laid me off that they would happily provide me with references. The big boss said to just have the person call him. The little boss prefered that I have prospective employers e-mail him for a reference. Now they’ve both backed out it seems. They always seemed happy with my work, so I didn’t worry about telling them how great I am.
Jeez, I always knew they were weasels, but their true natures were never in my face that hard before.
Well, I would certainly hire you with that attitude. As you haven’t won an Academy Award for acting, don’t think that your attitude can’t unknowingly come across during an interview. I understand everyone likes to complain, but you should get into the habit of not doing it, even here. At least until you settle into your new job. It doesn’t help find a job and can actually be counterproductive.
While job boards, blind submitting resumes and temp agencies are a good enough passive job search technique, really networking is the best way to find a job. And I’m not just talking about calling up your friends and asking if their company is hiring. You need to go to LinkedIn or other web sites and figure out who the hiring manager is at the companies you want to work at. Then you call that person directly and try to set up a meeting.
“I’ll take any job” doesn’t cut it. You have a certain set of skills, experiences and interests that qualify you for particular jobs. I mean you aren’t looking for neurosurgeon jobs or jobs in coal mining are you? To find a job, you need to be able to sell yourself as someone interested and qualified to work at the job. Even if you are just doing low-level office crap, you call up the office managers for local offices.
Any sort of networking group is good (alumni, local networking breakfast clubs, etc). Just be careful it’s not just a bunch of other unemployed people bitching about their job search.
The biggest challenge to any job search when you are unemployed is psychological. You are often isolated (since the rest of the adult world is at work) and have huge amounts of time on your hands. In spite of the “treat your job search like a job” mantra, you really can’t spend 8 steady hours a day doing it. There is nothing that feels more depressing than sending out resumes and emails and then having to wait for no response when you have nothing to occupy your time.
Me, I used to spend most of my morning from about 9 until noon working out, running, and getting breakfast and lunch. Then I take a few hours in the afternoon doing research and finding companies and setting up meetings.