Down But Not Out

I knew I wouldn’t be eligible for unemployment benefits because I left my supervisory job voluntarily. Even though it was a “quit or be fired in a few months” situation, my HR friend had told me that our company automatically fights any unemployment claim over $7,000 which mine would definitely have been. I was witness to 2 unemployment hearings so I know that they would fight hard for it so I didn’t even try.

At this point we were out of options financially. Even if I did get an interview, I wouldn’t have had the gas in my car to get there and my due date was approaching.  Luckily my husband had found a house for us to rent that the owners are our friends and have been very understanding about us paying what we can.  I was still trying to find a way to pay our credit cards—I should have seen what was coming but I saw my parents go through bankruptcy when I was 15 and swore I’d never do that.  I was so stressed out about money and our lack of it—I didn’t know if we’d find the money to be able to feed our family.  I didn’t have health insurance and thought that if I couldn’t pay the medical bills my OB would refuse to see me. 

With my stomach in knots and being raised to think poorly of people on “welfare,” I finally applied for and received WIC and a few months later, Medicaid and food stamps.  I cannot begin to explain the shame I felt even asking for this kind of help in the first place and then using it at the grocery store. I wanted to find a way to let people know “this isn’t me!”  and “I’m better than this!” and “I used to make a lot of money!”  Needing government assistance made me feel like less of a person.  Like I was a bad mother for not being able to provide for my children.

Every time I pulled out that card with the distinctive flag I cringed when I had to mumble “EBT” to the cashier like it was screaming “I’m poor!”  When I had to use my WIC checks, I would keep my eye out for empty registers but inevitably as soon as I pulled up my cart there would be a long line behind me. Of course the cashiers were great about it and all of my worries were internal but they were still there. I learned that the WIC checks make checking out take three times as long because each one has to be done individually, then you have to sign each one, and then the cashier would always have trouble with at least one and need a manager to put in a key and fix something. 

I now use most of my checks in one shopping trip so I only have to go through it once a month and I let anyone in line behind me cut in front (I want to avoid the eye-rolling people in line give when it takes so long).  A few times I offered to let someone cut because “this is going to take a while” but they say, “No, it’s okay.  I’m on WIC too so I understand.”  

Judy J., via email

At one point in my life I was racking in money doing factory work for many years.  This is what helped my girlfriend, daughter, and I purchase our first house.  I have come so far in life, but am now feeling the wrath of losing about everything I worked hard to get!  This factory life was paying good, but I was a hurting unit and my passion for something like that was not there. So my girlfriend and I decided I take up college online and find a part time job.

Everything was affordable just barely with me pulling in 20 hour a week paychecks at minimum wage, until the company I worked for went bankrupt and shut down.  I managed to complete my Bachelors degree in 3 years by going all year round, graduating July 2010 while out of work for 5 months.

An entire year has gone by now.  I have a college degree, but unable to find anything in my field of study without relocating 1,000’s of miles from my home.  The reality of it all is about to hit me hard with my college loans coming up by the end of the month.  I still have no source of income coming in.  My girlfriend and I fight about money constantly and are on the verge of losing our house.

Every day I browse the internet searching for any kind of job … even the ones that don’t pertain to my degree.  Over the course of a year I have applied to over 150 places online by sending them my resume and cover letter.  Out of those places, I’ve only gotten a response from about 10 and only 4 interviews were conducted.  Another struggling week goes by with high hopes of nailing any kind of job, then I get a phone call or letter stating someone else was more qualified for the job!

I was on unemployment for less than 3 months, but was eventually denied services due to me not reporting to a job session class.  With no car at the time and my girlfriend working 2 jobs just to get some form of food in the house, the instructed class session did not fit our schedule.  Unemployment has not helped me since that day.

The hardest thing about being unemployed for so long is sitting at home all day and night while your loved one works around the clock to support you.  This almost always leads to an arguement when we do have time together and hurts our relationship of 11 years.  There is a part of her that says she wants to have the bank take our house and move to an affordable apartment closer to her work while leaving me on the side of the curb.  The fingers always get pointed in my direction.  I am the reason we have no food.  I am the reason we will lose the house.

Am I really the cause of all this trouble in our family?  I start to think so.  Because she could be thriving on her own in an apartment; whereas I will be hit with a huge college loan payment and no income coming in to pay it or live on my own.  Let alone my junker car is on the verge of kicking the bucket soon and will have no means of transportation by winters end.

It starts to eat at you.  This whole job thing.  I am left with tons of questions as to why nothing is happening even though I am applying myself.  Once you start feeling the effects of it all you lose motivation and self confidence.  I hide my emotions, but deep down I feel I am dying off.  I smile less.  Friends don’t call me anymore to do things because I can’t afford to.  I feel like a hermit living under a rock.  I feel worthless.  I feel like I’m pulling my girlfriend and daughter into a hole with me.  Our once loving relationship has turned bitter and sour.

These are the thoughts from the unemployed Jeremy from Wisconsin.  Take it how you want.  I will keep fighting this battle until there is nothing left in my life, even though I would rather not start over again.  This has been the hardest problem I have dealt with in my life and the effects of it all is devastating to my family, my inner feelings, my personal relationships, and my self worth.  I know there are others out there trying their hardest to survive.  I just want to someday say that we made it through … but that day never comes.

Jeremy L., via email

The USPS in the REC (Remote Encoding Centers) has laid off all their TE appointment positions.  All candidates, regardless of years served (I have roughly five), must reapply and compete against an open public call. Under the misguided notion of remaining employed, I have bought a house, a car, etc… now all of this is in jeopardy.  Hard decisions of selling my home plague me.  I am looking for jobs in other states now because there are none here in Kansas. 

Unfortunately, despite over 50 applications submitted to potential employers only one has contacted me. 

I qualify for unemployment but the benefits are so small that it would do little more than buy groceries. I am working on my Masters (I’ll be done in the spring) and jobs that were held by MA degrees are now being sought after by those with a PhD.  (For the same salary)

We should offer relocation grants, they are cheaper than paying unemployment and welfare benefits.  For those unemployed for awhile, moving to a job is unrealistic as our savings have been annihilated. 

Eva B., via email

I was a stay at home mom after I finished my associates degree. When I divorced, I discovered such an incredible downturn in hiring, that would have affected me negatively anyway, but add that to my recent lack of work experience and I was in serious trouble. I went from a household with close to $100,000 in annual income, to being unemployable. I decided to return to school to get my bachelor’s degree, but found, after I graduated, that I couldn’t find a job due to the “unemployed need not apply” policies. My future and that of my children is in serious jeopardy.

I had a great career prior to having children, and I have always worked hard, and to find that I am an unattractive employee is hard to take. I feel like a failure to my kids, and I hate not being able to provide for them, or give them the things that “normal” kids have. We wait for everything, including clothes and sometimes food. I feel like a personal failure and a failure as a mom. And the only thing that changed was my marital status.

I had a strong resume before kids, and I really thought finishing my degree in marketing would give me the boost I needed, but I couldn’t even get to the interview to sell myself.

Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for benefits and have been in survival mode since my divorce in 2008.  It’s hard to be poor for a short term, but long term, it is heartbreaking.

I think employers are overwhelmed with the response to job openings, and I see a tremendous amount of people who are unemployed and applying for jobs for which they are greatly overqualified for. When a family breadwinner is applying to Walmart and McDonalds, it has trickle down affects. Now, those who need those entry level jobs are also jobless, and those overqualified employees are dealing with emotional issues of incompetence and failure.

I have become a “patchwork” worker. I piece together an income through various jobs, such as working at Walmart (you mean I got a bachelors degree to work for minimum wage?), online content creation (blogging, etc), and a party plan business.  Not a single aspect of my income sources is enough to provide for my family, and I continue to seek steady income at a level commensurate with my education and background, but until that time, I am working overtime just trying to survive.

Part of the problem is those employers who are unwilling to hire someone who has been unemployed.  In this economy, anyone and everyone was a potential unemployed person, from a company CEO down to the janitor.  It’s time to adjust the thinking that someone who has been unemployed is lazy or unemployable.  They are victims of the economy, and most are so hungry for a decent job that they will be amazingly loyal employees.  We need to alter our perceptions to fit the reality of this economy. When the economy recovers, it will be time to stretch out and seek a job for which you are qualified and paid well for, but right now, income is income.

Cindy S., via email

I have had potential employers tell me that I am overqualified.  I have had them tell me that they are looking for someone “fresh” (young and cheap) for the position.  I have had them tell me that I’d be bored with the job, etc.  One employer asked me what I had been doing all this time and I blurted out “clipping coupons!”  While the interviewer may have thought it was a humorous response, I literally had spent the morning scouring the internet for coupons in an attempt to pick up a few groceries on the way home from the interview. After all, I couldn’t afford to use the precious fuel in my car JUST for food!

And don’t even get me started on temp agencies.  I have wasted hours on tests and achieve mastery level on them.  They act impressed, they tell me I’m quite qualified, but then they never call.  I mention a position in the paper that is EXACTLY what I’ve done and they tell me that I am not a good match?! 

I am still looking for full time employment and mentally, I have given up.  Physically, I keep going through the motions.

I accepted part time work and am working two part time jobs making 8.50 an hour and working less than 5 hours a week combined with the two. Plus, I am working as an independent contractor and will have to pay self employment taxes, which means that I am working for almost nothing.

We need an employment website for the older crowd.  It will be an understanding that these are qualified people, some older, all seriously in need of work, and willing to do something that does not pay as much or that isn’t quite in their old field.  Something that would appeal to the crowd that adopts shelter animals …  You are taking a chance on a used pet, but they are often the best ones.  If that mentality could be positively marketed … Wow.

Janet H., via email

I believe my story will be quite different than most. I became unemployed in June of 2009 from the University of South Florida. I was employed at WUSF TV-16 as their staff lightning grip. I had started there in April of 2006 and had never had a bad day while working there. A month before being laid off, we were told that the state was going to be unable to pay us so 10 of us would be laid off. I worked in my job capacity up until the afternoon I was let go. The hardest thing about being out of work is that I don’t feel like I matter anymore. I don’t have any family anymore besides my dog and I’m not sure he really gets the fact that I matter to him.

I think I should mention before I say if I think employers are wary of me not having worked in awhile. I am a male to female pre-op transsexual and unfortunately I live in the state of Florida which has no anti-discrimination laws concerning gender identity. So I have already been turned down by many jobs because of this fact alone. I’ve even been told straight out that that was the reason why I wasn’t being hired.

The jobless benefits that I’ve been receiving have helped to keep a roof over my head and food on my table but unfortunately is hasn’t been enough and I’ve had to turn to other means of making money. Nothing truly bad just selling myself and getting paid for what I do best. I am still looking for work and have noticed that there really is a lot of competition out there for even the lower paid jobs that I’ve been applying for. In the past, I was paid pretty well for my field but unfortunately in today’s job climate beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take any job at this point. 

I think that the only way for people like me to find a job is to make more laws concerning discrimination for us. I am moving out of this state at the end of my lease and back to NYC because they have laws concerning discrimination against transsexuals.

Ashley C., via email

My job was terminated for a personal vendetta from a superior. The termination went to a State Unemployment hearing after the company attempted to also block my unemployment benefits. The Judge found “no fault” at all on my part and awarded me my benefits. 

I’ve been unemployed now for nearly two years. Saying that out loud is extremely difficult, being that I’ve worked since my early teens. After a few months pass by, you start to take it personally. You start to hear a voice in your head that tells you, “perhaps you’re just not good enough”. You know it’s not true, but it feels true. You then began to feel ashamed when people, who know of your situation, keep asking if you’ve found a job yet. Despite the fact that I never stopped looking and, as of today, have applied to over 300 jobs, you still feel lazy and begin to feel sorry for yourself. It doesn’t help when you hear numbers like “14 million still unemployed” when you know it’s more than double that in reality. From what I understand, the moment people’s unemployment checks run out, they are no longer counted on the unemployment numbers. I find that extremely unsettling! I cringe every time I hear somebody spout out a bogus figure. I know that’s not correct by far!

I’m not proud. I apply to any job that I can do, no matter how small. Unfortunately, even the small jobs get pounded by huge volumes of people. I once drove past a line of about 40 people who were waiting for a mattress sales position! That’s the reality!

I have had one official interview out of hundreds of applications. The interview went great, the people loved me and felt I was a good candidate. I received a letter from them a few weeks later that stated that they were uncertain about whether or not they could take on another person and decided to cancel the job entirely. I don’t know what employers think. I doubt they would tell a person something like that either way. (I do freelance work when I can, so my resume doesn’t have any gaps anyway).

Jobless benefits were a HUGE help for me!! It wasn’t close to what I was making before, but it was just enough to get by on a very lean budget. I did exhaust them and it is very difficult for me now. However, I felt guilty for getting them anyway! I never thought I would ever need them in my life. Very humbling.

I still haven’t found a job. The area I live in also plays a huge role. It was hit hard. Obama himself has been here, at least, four times. I still look and I still apply. I have cut back somewhat, but not for obvious reasons. When I was first unemployed, I was full of panic and shot resumes to everybody and everything. Now I choose a little more carefully and with greater focus.

To help the long-term unemployed, we need to: 1) Be honest with people. Let them know the actual numbers of unemployed, let them know the REAL situation and give reports constantly on who is hiring in a given area via local news. 2) Give companies greater incentives to keep factories in the U.S. 3) Give companies who hire the ‘unemployed’ tax breaks calculated by the number hired. 4) Tell the president to not put all his eggs in one basket. He has been very generous with his hand-outs to Union industries, but unfortunately for unemployed Americans, most of us aren’t road crew workers. 5) Have the government be honest with Americans, keep politics aside, man-up and give a definitive list on taxes and other expenses planned for businesses, big and small, so that they can plan, run their figures and know ‘if’ and ‘how many’ people they can hire. Keeping businesses in suspense with uncertainty and double talk halts progress!! Not a single unemployed American cares even the slightest about the coming election or Osama Bin Ladin’s death. 6) No more bail-outs!!! Paying down the debts of American would have been a better idea than just giving the banks billions. Doing that would have helped the banks and the people, rather than just the banks.

Stefan K., via email

I was managing a specialty retail store and the owners believed selling the property the shop was on was more lucrative in the recession than keeping the store open.  The new owner closed the store immediately.

Going from believing I had worth and value in the retail industry to feeling like a complete loser was the hardest part of being out of work. Either I was too qualified, or unqualified, but primarily I could feel the eyes on me because of my age and soon felt as if I was no longer able to have worth in a youth oriented society. It became extremely depressing, especially when continually turned down for jobs that paid minimum wage, etc.

Have potential employers been wary? Very much so. As if it were my fault I was unemployed regardless of the fact that I had put out hundreds of resumes and applications.  What I can’t understand the most is that I’m willing to work for low wages and give them my 20 plus years of retail experience in return. Instead, they seem to prefer hiring people who are young and inexperienced for the same amount of money.
Jobless benefits were very helpful, but eventually I exhausted them. I can’t qualify for any state services other than a little help with food, so I’ve had to borrow money from relatives to stay afloat.  It’s extremely humiliating.

I can’t recall a time I couldn’t walk into a store, show them my resume and be hired almost immediately. Now, I walk in and there’s multiple retail managers applying rather than the one or two before.  I’ve noticed a great deal of inequality now.  Age is major barrier, but being female and over 50 is worse than being male and over 50.  It’s as if being a 50 plus woman puts you in the automatic ‘reject’ category.

I selected three companies I really wanted to work for, applied and kept going back and going back until they either told me to leave me alone or hired me.  Two told me to leave them alone, the third hired me. I obtained a part-time job (5 or so hours a week) and am still looking for a full-time position. This job is extremely hard on my body, as I am disabled, but I’m not about to quit and can’t apply for disability while working, so I just suck it up and come home and cry after work.  They are giving me more hours at other stores, but it by no means is enough to live on. I’ve taken to making jewelry and will see this weekend whether I can sell it and earn enough to pay rent and utilities.

To solve unemployment, we must stop the age descrimination, firstly. Teach hiring managers to understand that we older people are offering them vast knowledge in our field for the small amount of money they’re now willing to pay.  When there is a job fair, please don’t waste our time by having a bunch of businesses show up to do nothing but promote their business, as many are clearly not there to hire, and stop the colleges from using up the space businesses who are hiring could be sitting in.  Monitor the job boards for companies only there to collect applications with no intent of hiring.  Offer free courses through public libraries or job centers for some of the older folks to upgrade their skills in technology, etc. (I’m fortunate to be a geek and progressive, lol.)  Post sites that do offer free education such as Allison to upgrade skills and become certified in more modern software programs, etc. Mostly, re-educate hiring managers to adapt to this new age of unemployment.  We are not unemployed through choice, but by limitations placed by them.

Susan W., via email

I’ve been in Silicon Valley technical jobs my entire life. Recently, our start-up company, BCInet, closed it’s series B round of funding in Aug 2010.  Later, we were told in Jan 2011 that our investor (a VC) was running a $250M Ponzi scheme. Our investment was immediately frozen by the SEC.  It took the courts until Apr 2011 to tell us that we owed the balance back to original investors of the fund, so we had to shut our doors.  I haven’t had a paycheck since Dec 2010.

The hardest thing about being out of work for so long is trying to pay the bills.  I live off my home equity line and simply borrow every month to make ends meet.  With my son going to college next year and my daughter soon to follow, it’s making life difficult.  My house has lost so much value that I cannot refinance either.  So, I still have big mortgage payments and lots of expenses.  If I try to restructure my mortgage, they will take away what’s left of my home equity line and I will be on the streets with my family. So, I don’t whisper the word “restructure” to anyone.  I figure that I will soon be in the red completely in a couple of years. I’ve been going backwards during the last decade. I thought I would be sitting comfortably by the time I hit 50.  It is quite the opposite. I have quietly eliminated some of the dreams that I once had just to remove some of the stress in my life. My future apartment in Paris has been replaced by the government food stamp program. 

I simply have a tough time getting an interview these days.  I have my suspicions that my age and salary expectations are huge negatives.  I would take much less, just to find work again.  But, employers believe that a guy my age with the experience I have would jump at a better opportunity once things improve (if they ever do).  So, they don’t even want to look at me anymore.

I had very little pay in 2010 as a contractor. By late 2010, I became a full-time employee with my company.  Unfortunately, your earnings during a contractor period are not counted.  So, I had a small window (Aug 2010 - Dec 2010) where I put money into the unemployment system, but it is small.  So, even though I am getting unemployment money, it will only last about four months (soon to run out).  Then, unemployment is no longer an option.  I will be off their books and no longer considered looking for work. Statistics are really deceiving. 

I don’t know how many other people are applying for the same job that I am.  I am assuming that, since I don’t hear back from employers, that they have chosen someone else over me.  And, that is that.

I have been out of work over six months now.  Over time, you lose faith in your ability to find a job. You simply don’t peruse the job boards as much.  You start looking at the alternatives.  I started applying to out-of-California jobs even though my family would stay. I toned down my resume to look less qualified for some positions.  I drastically lowered my minimum salary requirements. I removed dates of my education and sliced off my early job experience to look like I am younger. I’m just looking for some tweak that I can make to become attractive again to some employer.

I have an MBA, BA and Secondary Education Teaching Credential and I still don’t seem to qualify for much.  I think many people think that more education and training is the answer, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone.  I got my MBA in 2006 and it’s still not sufficient.  There needs to be some way for people over 50 to get hired more easily.  There is a lot of brain power sitting on the sidelines while you hear our politicians saying how we are not educating our people to be competitive.  Ultimately, this country needs to find a more efficient way to harness that brain power and not let it sit idle.  It’s just like a piece of factory equipment that no one ever decides to turn on again.  It just sits there all day long—-leaking oil.  When, in fact, the machine could be producing as much, if not more, than most of the other machines.  It’s just a pitiful waste—leaking all of that oil. 

Greg H., via email

I was working for a small custom publisher in Greensboro, North
 Carolina.  In late 2008 they lost half their publishing business in 
the span of 1 1/2 weeks which resulted in a large layoff of otherwise 
qualified people. The work did not disappear, it simply went to other
 companies. I looked for an entire year for the same or similar job
 with one phone interview out of over 100 custom written cover letters, 
resumes, and follow-up networking.

That potential employer decided on
 their own that I would not be happy with the position which led me to
 wonder how anyone can possibly know what will make another person
 happy without knowing them

Everyone that is out of work struggles with bills and budget issues,
 but the hardest thing for me was going to a shopping mall with a 
friend and seeing things that might be nice to purchase but knowing 
that I could not purchase them because I had to watch all my pennies. 
It was kind of depressing. Since becoming re-employed, going to the
 mall is a nice activity and even though I do not purchase much, it’s 
nice to know that the possibility exists that I could purchase
 something if I wanted to.

The longer one remains unemployed the more potential employers look at
 you like you’re a bum. I think legislation should be enacted to
prevent the active discrimination against the unemployed that exists
in companies all over the country. The attitude of, “well, if they 
got laid off they must not have been the best employees…” is not
 true.  Perhaps the company someone worked for was like mine, it simply
lost half their business and there was no work for the recently
unemployed people from that particular business, but the people who
were laid off were well-qualified, eager to work, and were not 
slackers.

I fell off the unemployment roll even though it was largely advertised
 that people could go to school to retrain and retain their
 unemployment benefits. It seems counterproductive to me for the
 government to consider that if you’re in school retraining that you’re
technically employed. I would think it would be in the government
interest to give people a hand up and not a hand out so that they end
up employed again and contributing to the system via their payroll
taxes, etc. Of course the fact that I left the state where I had been 
living and moved back to the one where my extended family resides may
 have been less than helpful. It’s hard to put up and adequate appeal
 with the state where your benefits were coming from when you can’t go
to the unemployment office to make present your case.

I retrained for healthcare (nursing) and there is a LOT 
of competition for jobs out there. I live in a county where the
 unemployment rate is around 18 percent.  Health care jobs are one bright area 
in an otherwise dismal economy around here. I feel lucky to have
found a new job as a freshly licensed nurse. I’m very grateful that
my employer is willing to extend the offer to work and gave me this
 opportunity.

I did give up after a year of
 looking in my old career field.  When I was only able to get one phone 
interview after a year of looking, and was basically told, “we don’t 
think you would be happy here …” I decided that career path was over 
for me and went in for retraining for a year. So far it is one of the
 best decisions I have ever made.

 I researched the 
employment situation where I am living and decided to retrain in
 something it appeared people would want. After I received my nursing
 license it took me 3 months to find a full-time job. My tips to other 
people are to take a long, hard look at what you’ve been doing and if
 it is in a declining career path, study what careers are up and coming
 and do what you can to retrain into them. It does take some money,
but if you know where to look there are grants and financing available 
to you.

I’m not sure there is a way in the current economic situation to make 
it easier. The only thing I can suggest is that our politicians need 
to take a long hard look at what caused this issue in the first place.
 Regulation may not be the best thing if there is too much of it, but
there needs to be common sense regulation. We cannot return to this
Old West style of economic activity. The great depression happened
 for a reason, and I think when those politicians who lived through the
 depression retired and we started moving further and further away, the 
institutional knowledge of what happened and why the regulations were 
there in the first place, was gone. That’s when we went through this 
massive deregulation cycle, and I think that is what ultimately led to
this problem. Bring back common sense regulation and hopefully we can
 avoid this severe of a decline in the future.

Chris C., via email

I worked for a company that had 3 divisions: A Sub-Prime Mortgage division, A Commercial Real Estate division and a Retail Bank division.  I worked in Corporate Finance, so I didn’t work directly with the 3 revenue generating divisions, I was the financial support for the G&A cost centers that supported the divisions.  The federal government ordered the company to cease & desist from all sub-prime operations because they didn’t like banks that were also sub-prime mortgage companies, so that division of the company was shut down.  I continued to do the financial support for the G&A cost centers until the Commercial Real Estate and Retail Bank divisions were sold, at which time there was no more work for me to do.

I’ve been out of permanent, full-time work for over 2 ½ years.  It’s been a struggle to take care of my family (a wife and 2 daughters) financially. I’ve done some some part-time consulting work, but it’s intermittent at best and provides no benefits.  My wife and I no longer have medical/dental/vision insurance because we can’t afford the premiums. 

I’ve had a few promising interviews that eventually never led to fruition (a position), but I don’t know if any of those employers were weary of hiring me due to being out of work so long.  I filled my time with intermittent jobs and volunteer work so that filled the gap for the most part.

Jobless benefits definitely helped, although they were a mere fraction of what I made when I was working a permanent, full-time job.  I exhausted my UI benefits over 9 months ago. There are so many people out of work, looking, and when there are hundreds of applicants for the same position, the company is bound to found someone with a background in the industry that company represents. 

We need to create jobs by once again becoming a nation that produces goods, rather than just consuming them.  Our country hardly produces anything anymore.  If we start producing more, like clean coal, oil from drilling here in the U.S.A. and nuclear energy we will create many, many long-term jobs.

George C., via email 

My story is pretty simple and straight forward. I was part of a reduction in force of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and my last date of employment was June 15, 2010. I immediately packed up myself and my ailing dog (he was recovering from cancer and cancer treatments) and moved home with my parents to Spring Hill, TN. I also immediately started taking doctoral level classes to work on completing my doctorate in education.

The hardest part of being unemployed was redefining my identity. I was a professional always … Either a professional student or a School Psychologist. I don’t have children, not married so much of my identity was wrapped up in being a professional and I enjoyed that role. Being unemployed I had to be okay with the new label unemployed-living-at-home-rapidly approaching-middle-age person.

I did have a few interviews where the elephant in the room was preparing the charge … I would try to focus the interviewers on the fact that during this unemployment time I was teaching at the college level in my area as well as taking graduate level courses to lead to a terminal level degree in my subject area. Sometimes they were impressed … other times not.

Jobless benefits were extremely helpful for me. I came from North Carolina, from a position that paid well so my benefits were very high. I am also lucky that I have a part-time job as an adjunct with a couple of online colleges and schools. This helped me not exhaust my unemployment benefits and even pay out of pocket for my graduate classes.

I am seeing more competition for jobs in my career field. It use to be rural and small districts were always hiring school psychologist as no one wanted to work those areas, lower pay and being in the middle of nowhere were hard sells, but now even those positions are seeing more than double the typical applicant pool. In interviews they are letting you know upfront that X amount of people are being interviewed for this position and they are also letting you know that many positions are dependent on a budget being passed.

I forced the issue. My decision was if I did not get a job offer by August I was heading to South Korea to teach English. I passed my interview for South Korea and have started the paperwork process but (recently) I have been offered a position with an urban mid-western school district. I am also in the process of getting my license and paper ready for that. I have learned best to keep all your options open.

I landed these two jobs by applying to any and everything that remotely fit me and my skills. I also did not limit myself geographically. In this day and age the worker has to go where the jobs are. I am pretty free at the moment, no kids, no husband, and my dog passed away a few months ago (the cancer returned). So if my opportunities are in South Korea then so be it.

I think the federal government can help the long term unemployed by giving a small tax incentive to businesses who hire people who have been unemployed for 6 months or more. Call it, “Americans back to work tax break.” … Also businesses that are found to discriminate in the hiring of the long term unemployed need to have large fines places against them by states and the federal government.

Yvonne P., via email

Two years ago, my wife and I were doing great.  We were living in a nice rental house in Phoenix and had the best jobs of our lives.  She worked for a small insurance company and I worked as an accountant for a commodities broker.  Not only did I make a good hourly wage, I got generous quarterly bonuses. Things seemed to be looking up for us.  In February of 2008, we had arrived in Phoenix with a couple hundred dollars and everything we owned in a thirty year old maxivan. Now we had a real car, a nice place to live, and we making enough to begin furnishing it.

That changed in January of 2010. My wife was laid off.  It was a blow, but like I said, I had a decent job and got bonuses quarterly.  I loved my job and my best friend in Arizona was my boss. I had been there a year and a half when my boss called me into her office April 14 and told me “it wasn’t working out.” I asked what she meant and she told me “people had been telling her to get rid of me” and that, legally, they didn’t have to give me a reason.  So, in the space of a few minutes I lost both my best friend in our new city and the best job I had ever had. 

We both looked for work around Phoenix but were homesick for Sacramento (where we both are from).  In the Summer of 2010 we decided to move back to Sacramento and temporarily live with my mother-in-law in the house where my wife had grown up.  My mother-in-law has been very generous with us and I love her a lot, but she is a hoarder.  We live in a six bedroom, three and a half bathroom house and every room (aside from the two we live in) is full of stuff.  Stuff?  Stuff—if you can imagine it she has collected it. You have to walk sideways through the living room to get to the front door. The past eleven months we have been living in two bedrooms and a small bathroom upstairs, about 300 square feet. We turned one bedroom into a living room/kitchen and wish dishes in the shower. It’s pretty dodgy, but we both understand a lot of people out there don’t even have a roof over their heads and count our blessings.

Fortunately for both of us, we had unemployment benefits which I am still receiving to this day. My wife got a job in December at another insurance company, but was laid off in March. The lay off was painful for her and I have never asked the reason. Because she had worked, she could no longer get unemployment so we were down to my unemployment benefits and have been since then.

In April, I decided to pursue something I have contemplated since I was a teenager:  Truck driving.  A local charity offers truck driving class for about $250 and six weeks of working as an intern.  I started the training and was doing really well.  More importantly, I had a feel of optimism:  I was on my way to having a decent job with a more marketable skill than administrative assistant.  During the DOT physical all truck drivers have to take, they discovered that I have a small hernia. I told the head of the truck driving class about it and I was removed from the program (because I can’t lift anything and working in the warehouse is a requirement).  I consulted with another doctor and he confirmed the hernia and that even when I can get it repaired, he recommended against truck driving (which involves some lifting/putting on heavy tire chains etc). So, I have gone from having optimism about the future to having no idea what to do. I try and remain optimistic, but it is really hard sometimes. To top it off, the strain had finally begun to affect our marriage and I am not sure it will survive this.

I have sent out a few hundred resumes and have had one job interview. Employers have never given me feedback about my long period of unemployment although one trucking company did say they couldn’t hire me because I have been out of work over a year.  There definitely is a lot of competition for jobs out there and, more importantly, there are less jobs for us to compete for.  Every “permanent” job I have gotten in the past has been through a temporary placement agency.  It used to be I would never be more than a week without work, now they have nothing for me.  I had one assignment for a few days where I was making $9.75 an hour as an administrative assistant, but that dried up.

I don’t have any answers for looking for work or how to make it easier in general.  It’s a tough situation and sometimes it’s hard to have any hope at all.  But, like I said, a little over three years ago my wife and I arrived in Phoenix in an old van with no job prospects and a spare room in a friend’s house and ended up with the best jobs of our lives.  I have to believe things will get better again someday.

Izaak D., via email

I’ve been out of work since October. I’m a 50-year-old male and I live alone. My bills have gotten the best of me and I’m about to be living on the street. I’ve have tried every place I know to get work and if anyone out there thinks its easy I would trade places in a minute.

Yes, I have slowed down hunting a job because I don’t have the gas money to run all over town following up on ever lead that turns out to be a dead end. I have got a tent and other things that I might need to sleep in the woods because that seems to be where I’m going next week. Yes, I have given up hope of working again and when you hear about some guy being found starved to death in the woods of Winston Salem you will know it was me.

William G., via email

At the beginning of the recession I was living in Cheyenne, Wyoming and I was enrolled at the local community college and had a work study job that kept me working during the beginning of this time. After dropping out of school in 2008, I had two jobs and was still barely keeping myself afloat. I lost the job I had working at the local Sears, which in conjunction with my job at Wendy’s, provided all I needed for rent, food, my phone bill and transportation. So one thing led to another and I had no money to cover the rent and started to fall behind.

My car was fairly old and after going to visit my mom, the engine threw a piston and I was out of a car. After that, I stayed in a homeless shelter for about three weeks and then stayed with another friend for about a month before I had to go live with my mother in the next town over; Laramie, Wyoming. I couldn’t afford transportation between Laramie and Cheyenne on a daily basis in order to get to work so I was also forced to quit my job working at Wendy’s. Since then, I have held two jobs; one working for the University of Wyoming Residence Life and Dining Services, followed by a job working as a sign waver for Liberty Tax. After I left my job at the university in order to search for better opportunity, I was unemployed for nearly 8 months before I found the job as a sign waver.

It has been hard for me to find work not only because of monetary and transportation issues, but because there are so many people looking for so many jobs. There are jobs that I have experience in, but because I don’t have a working vehicle of my own, I am not hire-able. I honestly believe that the associates degree from any school has become what a high school diploma used to be, with high school diplomas becoming almost useless. Employers are contributing to this problem by significantly raising their standards to where almost anyone without a degree cannot work for their company. So due to the difficulty I have had in finding a job, I have decided to go back to school. My advice to people who are having trouble with finding a job is to go to school, and brush up on skills employers seek by keeping themselves educated. Thanks for posting this article and allowing me to share my story. 

Israel M., via email

I have been unemployed for a year now. I am 25 years old, and I have almost 9 years of retail sales experience under my belt. I have applied at numerous places, more than once and I don’t even get so much as a phone call. I have called the places I have applied, but I always get the same response: “We’ll call you if we’re interested, please don’t call anymore.” I am married, and I have a 20 month old son, so money is stretched a bit thin with just my wife working 40 hours a week. We always make sure that he has food and milk, while most of the time, we go to bed hungry. Yes, I have applied for food stamps, but the process is long, tedious and pretty much a waste. According to a lot of places that help with food and such, my wife makes enough money for our household. The thing is, they don’t take into account other bills, like food, cell phones, gas for the vehicle and especially baby stuff.

I can say that the longer I have been unemployed, they less hopeful I am of ever finding work. Most places see the big gap in my employment history, and they automatically assume that I have no work ethic. Unless I decide to start my own business, with the no money I have, then I am screwed, and so is my family.

David W., via email