Down But Not Out

I have been out of work for two and a half years.

After working for AT&T and former AT&T companies for about 17 years in Yellow Page Sales, I was terminated. I was 59 years, 11 months old. I was told that I was terminated because I had a hearing loss. My termination happened to come the same week as downsizing was announced. I was one of the top sales reps in the company, having won President’s Club three out of the previous four years. The company offered me the equivalent of three months severance if I signed a release, saying I would not sue them for anything including age discrimination.

I had no choice. My husband had lost his corporate job a couple of years before and was working in real estate, although he wasn’t selling anything. I was our sole support. I signed the release. I used all the money in my 401K to pay off debt.

Here I was a 60 year old woman, who made about $120,000 a year. I was a loyal, long term employee of a major corporation, and for the first time in my life I was unemployed. I had a fine liberal arts education (Harvard Extension School), but was unable to find a job.

Since we were renting in Florida, my husband and I had no choice but to move from Florida to Park City Utah, where we owned a condo. My husband, who was 61, and I applied for job after job. After a year, my husband (who had been a corporate vice-president before his company reorganized in 1995 … a few months before his options became due) found a $10.00 an hour part-time job at a ski resort, as a ski valet.

I applied for many, many jobs. I was interviewed and labeled as overqualified. Perhaps that is another term for too old and hard of hearing.

For the first time, we had to rely on the government for help. Fortunately, it was there. I was thankful that Obama’s COBRA assistance allowed us to keep the AT&T medical insurance. My husband has heart risk, and his medications run over $1,500 a month. Without the insurance, we would not have been able to purchase his medication. In addition, I collected unemployment. My husband never collected unemployment when he was terminated from his corporate job because I had enough income to support us. I received $250 a week from Florida (the maximum) until it ran out. My husband was forced to take early Social Security when he turned 62. After looking, every day, for employment I filed for disability benefits. I had no choice. The benefits were denied twice. During that time, I continued to look for work. In March, 2011, the government approved the Social Security Disability benefits.

We never expected to be in this situation. We had savings in our 401K’s. We invested in real estate. We never thought our life’s savings would be wiped out by two and a half years of unemployment. We never expected to retire at such a young age.

I lost my job in December 2008. Two and half years later, my husband still works his seasonal ski valet job. I still fill out many applications for employment each week, hoping I will find the right opportunity. My husband collects Social Security and I collect Social Security Disability. We don’t tell anyone we do this, but it is the only way we can survive. We are penniless. We own the condo we live in, but we have a $10,300 special assessment pending. We will have to take a reverse mortgage to pay it.

When the government encourages people to work until they are 70, they forget that working is sometimes out of the individual’s control. We expected to work at least another 10 years. We feel lucky that we feel young, strong and healthy. We hope that when the economy turns around we will again be able to find employment, Until then, we have no choice but to take the government benefits. Sib M., via email

I started out as an accountant at a law firm that started downsizing in early 2008. I was fortunate enough to find another job but it was a temp-to-hire. Since the economy got worries I never got hired and the department I was working in was outsourced. This was the start of my three year journey of being unemployed.

The hardest thing about being out of work so long was never having a consistent check. Each temp assignment was different by pay and length of assignment. The most I made was $26/hr the least $8/hr. Some lasted 6 months others only a day or just a few hours.

There was a number things that kept me from getting jobs besides not having one:

1. The amount of jobs I had in such a short period of time would make companies ask, “How is it that you have had so many jobs but you never been hired?”

2. They never wanted to pay the finders fee from the temp agency, so a lot of times I would be on jobs while they did interviews and trained new people for the job I was already doing.

3. When I would apply for jobs that were well below what I used to make, employers would see my degree and work history and tell me I was over qualified for the position. I had one experience where I did a phone interview and when I was invited to come down to talk to the manager, as soon as I walked through the door he began apologizing to me. Saying, “I’m sorry to have you come down here but you are way to over qualified for this position.” Pretty much was shown the way out before the elevator I was on closed its doors.

The jobless benefits were very helpful in filling in the gaps of when I would go long periods of time with no work. I never did get a chance to exhaust them. But I did take full advantage of all the government programs that were available that I would qualify for such as WIC and many other programs provided by utility companies for low income families.

Yes competition is tough, its to the point companies become really picky and start dismissing good workers for the silliest things. I remember temping for one company where the hiring manager didn’t like the car the person was driving, or the shoes they were wearing.

In the end, after three long years, I was able to find a job.

I pretty much signed up with every temp agency in my area and I took any job they gave me. Temp agencies have a list of who are good workers and who are not. To get on the top of the good worker list you need take any job they give you, no matter how much you hate it, and just do your best. Overtime they will keep calling you for more and more work. This is what helped me to support my family and it extended my unemployment benefits for over three years without filling for an extension.

The easiest way to find work is to not lock yourself in to only being able to do one thing.

My work history shows accounting, but the three years I was out of work I did electrical, car detailing, small business consultant, auto mechanics, baking, and construction. Never think you are too big for any job, also look at certain hobbies you have, you never know you maybe able to make money off of it.

Most of the things I did I knew nothing about—like electrical work I knew someone who did it and I was his helper. Car detailing—a major car wax company has free classes on the weekends that teach you how to detail a car, and auto mechanics I used YouTube to learn how to do basic auto repairs.

Think outside the box and never be afraid to ask for help or use any government assistance program. You have to remember when you were working you paid taxes into those programs so you have every right to use them.

Mason B., via email

I was working as a customer service rep at Time Warner Cable for three years when they began downsizing and restructuring. They moved the call center that I worked at to  another city in Wisconsin, so I lost my Job I haven’t been able to find any job since then.

I lost that job back in June 2010 so it’s been exactly a year that I’ve been out of work.  The hardest thing about being out of work so long is that you are scared all the time about where your money is going to come from, about being homeless or possibly having to live with relatives, and overall its depressing, you feel hopeless and worthless.

I am getting unemployment which is below what I could make if I was working, but that has some difficulties as well, they are always holding your benefits back for some frivolous reason or another, and that’s really hard to depend on. I need security and I don’t want to rely on unemployment benefits anymore, I know won’t get the benefits forever and that’s what worries me.

Recently I’ve been applying to jobs that I’m over-qualified for like at a grocery store or a coffee shop, I’m at the end of my rope here. Still I’ve been getting responses like, “We found a better match for this job,” so I wonder if I’m ever going to work again?

It’s even hard to get temp jobs now. This is the longest I have ever been out of work, I am still looking for work right now, I have been on a few interviews recently but I haven’t heard anything so far, so we’ll see.

I’m not very sure what can be done to help the thousands of unemployed people, but I know what shouldn’t be done: they are trying to cut unemployment extensions in Wisconsin, and if that happens 100s of people will be homeless, so they should definitely stop that action from taking place.

Kenya S., via email