Down But Not Out

‘You are scared all the time about where your money is going to come from’

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

‘Painfully obvious they were looking for the younger shake-‘n-bake folks at substantially less money’

I assume we would begin at the end. “Terminated” suddenly on a Friday afternoon by the new owner of an auto repair business I had successfully run for over 7 years, Sept. 10, 2010.
 Prior to that enjoyed a career as a retail sales and facility manager for the Winston Tire Co. from Jan. of 1988 thru Dec. 2002 after 23 plus years as a supermarket manager back in my home state of Michigan. WOW! Jobless after over 47 years of continuous employment which of course included paying into unemployment funds, social security, etc … Two functions required my immediate attention, filing early for social security AND unemployment.

As to job search, certainly I “made the rounds” of all my contacts and aquaintences within our industry locally. Lots of good talk and ideas exchanged, but, painfully obvious they were looking for the younger “shake ‘n bake” folks at substantially less money. Ah! Age discrimination alive and well. Don’t blame or condem them, far too many years in their shoes.

Over the past 9 plus months have filled out well over a hundred online employment applications as well as attending what can only be termed as the occasional “cattle call” where a company drags in numerous applicants for physco babble type interviews aka “tell me why you are the best candidate here today”. Gone with the wind are the days of an actual job opening being interviewed for by honest and ethical folks with a respectful personnel department representative.

Loyalty? Dependability? Integrity? Work ethic? Forget it! Those are qualities considered old-fashioned and out-dated by today’s movers and shakers. 
But alas … all is not lost. And we’ll keep searching as long as the good Lord strengthens me to do so. God has blessed wife and I for well over 43 years now, we know He’ll continue to care for us until it is time to go home.
 B of A is threatening to take our house of 22 years, having denied a home loan modification application back in March (just like they have to millions across our once great land). We’ll see how that shakes out before Christmas, I’m quite sure.

Thomas, via comments

‘Once I submit my birthday or graduation date, I’m invisible’

I left my job last fall to assist in the care of (and spend quality time with) my ill father, who lives out of state. I’ve been working in my field for 16 years, climbed the ladder and was at the top of my profession. I thought I would easily find new employment. Boy was I wrong! I’ve now been unemployed for 9 months. I send several resumes daily, responding to all jobs posted on any and all career sites, mail resumes to facilities, follow up calls, etc … I’ve even applied for minimum wage jobs with Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, etc … I am always shocked to receive ‘thanks but no thanks’ for these minimum wage jobs, saying I am not qualified. WTF? What qualifications do the kids out of high school have?

For jobs in my field; I get to phase two of the interview process, but feel once I submit my birthday or graduation date, I’m invisible. I’m 51 and unmarketable. 
I don’t regret spending quality time with my Dad, just leaving my job to do it. It’s amazing how just a few years ago I could pick who I wanted to work for, and name my price … now I can’t even get a minimum wage job. What happened? 
Unemployment isn’t enough to keep your head above water. I’m renting a room … when unemployment is out, what next?

Donna, via comments

‘I have received consistent feedback that the problem lies not with my competencies or interview skills, but instead with the fact that I have an MBA’

I wanted to share my story with you as I feel that it presents a bit of a dilemma involving recent MBA graduates. I attained my MBA in Marketing from a top-20 business school in 2009 and began work at a renowned sports marketing company shortly thereafter. After executing a successful product launch in two major metropolitan areas for one of the company’s clients, I was laid off in November 2010 when the client suspended its marketing budget due to unexpected cash flow shortcomings. The suddenness of the announcement was surprising, but I began an intensive job search immediately and fully believed that I would land another marketing position within 1-3 months. As of today, seven months later, I have yet to secure a new job despite countless leads and over a dozen interviews. 

During the course of my unemployment, I have received consistent feedback that the problem lies not with my competencies or interview skills, but instead with the fact that I have an MBA.  I’ve been told off-the-record from numerous companies that they are hesitant to spend extra money to hire qualified MBAs when job competition is so fierce.  That is, for any mid-level managerial position, I seem to be competing against either respected internal employees or candidates who possess between 10-15 years of industry experience.  From that perspective, companies have been hesitant to hire MBAs (reputation for being a bit more expensive) when cheaper options are readily available.  I feel that, instead of aiding in job placement, my MBA has actually negatively impacted my search due to common misconceptions tied with the degree.

Over the course of my journey, I seem to have experienced every emotion in the book: from anger, frustration, helplessness and despair to exhaustion, worthlessness, self-pity and disappointment.  I have taken a part-time job with Major League Baseball not for the salary it pays, but instead for for the love of the game and so that companies don’t become wary of my long-term unemployment.  In fact, I’m not 100 percent sure that the salary for my part-time work covers what I lose in my unemployment checks due to the work hours that I must file.

Zvee G., via email

‘One assignment overseas, and the career of a military spouse is dead’

I’m really glad you asked, because yesterday I was just wondering how I could convey a situation that affects a small segment of society, more now than ever—and that is the life of an educated military spouse.  I have moved three times in the past seven years with my husband, and have managed to find work in each location (eventually) until now.  

I was forced to quit my job in Seattle last summer, due to his re-location to Germany. Many may think it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to live in Europe for several years, and to a degree this is true.  However, one assignment overseas, and the career of a military spouse is dead.  It’s not as though this is a select point in time where I won’t be working, and I will go back to the states and miraculously get a job again. A three year resume gap is career suicide for decades to come—if my resume ever recovers.

The antiquated way the military works, where service members (specifically officers) re-locate every two to three years used to work when America was a single income family society. But in contemporary times, when both spouses have separate career fields and educational backgrounds, the one that takes the hit often never regains the original career momentum or progression.  

I have spent over a year applying to the few jobs that exist in this remote region of Germany—all U.S. government positions, and have been denied each time for one reason or another.  It is a brutal landscape for people in my position, and I can’t speak for all, but speaking for myself—I’ve lost hope. I’m currently working on an M.A. in International Relations, but am worried that I’m spending money toward a degree that I won’t be able to use (regardless of what field it’s in). But at least I feel I’m doing something.  

S.W., via email

‘I still apply to roughly fifteen jobs per week’

I listen patiently as I hear others talk about what they used to do for a living, who they used to be.  The sad truth is that I never got to be anything.  I didn’t lose a job.  I came out of a Master’s program in May of 2010.  I graduated on time and with a 4.0 GPA.  The world should have been mine for the taking.

The hardest part of this experience has been having to come home, tail tucked, as a failure.  Out of necessity, I am now living with my parents again in a rural, Arkansas town.  For financial reasons, I had to leave the thriving job market of Austin, Texas to come back to a place where there are no jobs at all.

I have tailored my resume and cover letter for each job to which I’ve applied.  I have experience working for non-profits, in customer service and have held positions in both retail and office management.  I have not heard back from anyone.  I have not been called for any interviews.

As a recent graduate, I was never entitled to any unemployment benefits.

I still apply to roughly fifteen jobs per week, here and elsewhere, making it clear that I am willing to relocate, but still have not found employment.

I hope that my story and the stories of others are put to good use in the interest of rectifying this issue.

Jill B., via email

‘It’s peanuts and ham sandwiches for me!’

I am a 39 year old recent college graduate (2010).  I have a degree in English with an Education minor. I’m not officially unemployed, because I have two part-time jobs: occasional substitute teaching and delivering pizza for Domino’s.  I have to say, I sort of kicked butt at the whole college thing: I graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, while juggling work and single (read: completely alone) parenthood of two teenagers. One summer, I studied at Oxford on scholarship. I have letters of recommendation that make me sound like Mother Theresa, and dozens of adoring notes from my student-teaching students. I am a certified English teacher who is willing to work anywhere in the country, except the southeast and the extreme southwest, because I just can’t handle heat. To that end, since February of 2010, I have applied for literally hundreds of teaching jobs around the country. I lost count somewhere around 350, because I started using a different notebook for documenting my applications. I have attended about ten job fairs, sometimes driving hundreds of miles to do so. I have had something like seven interviews, and no job offers.

I really don’t understand it. When I am delivering pizza at midnight just to keep my utilities from being cut off, it’s hard not to be bitter.  I find myself thinking things like, “I should be at home grading papers or making lesson plans!  Or better yet, sleeping at this hour!” I always heard that education was a recession-proof career choice, because “we’ll always need teachers.”  That is evidently not the case now. None of my three geographically closest districts appear to be hiring a single teacher this year. It looks like the state of New York, which I took a chance on getting an additional teaching license for, is hiring only about 100 teachers, according to the state website I regularly check.  One hundred teachers in a state with a population of over ten million, I would guess? I can’t say how many times I have gotten a letter or email from a district where I have applied, saying “we have received HUNDREDS of applications for this one job opening. We’ll get back with you if we want to interview you.”  I believe I am a very attractive applicant, but obviously I can’t compete against hundreds of others, or I’d have a job by now.

This year I have expanded my job search to legal secretary-type jobs, as this is my original training, and what I had been doing for about eight years before deciding to get a Bachelor’s. I really do not want to do this, as I found the work to be singularly unsatisfying, and most lawyers as a whole to be unsavory people. However, I have got to have regular income and insurance, and so on.  I do not have the benefit of unemployment insurance, as I quit my last full-time job (as a teacher’s aide at an alternative high school) so I could be free to student teach. That position no longer exists, so I couldn’t go back to it.  This has been the most emotionally draining 18 months I have ever experienced. I tend to job-hop a lot because I get bored, and I have occasionally lost jobs, but I have never, in twenty years of working, been out of work for more than about a week before.  I have always been able to bounce right into another position, before.  The hundreds of rejections and just lack-of-responses to my applications is depressing and makes me want to give up.  I have gotten feedback from a couple of schools as to why they hired someone else, and they say they went with an experienced candidate.

On a bright note, I have an interview on Thursday for an administrative assistant job in Albany, NY.  Albany is my first choice for a place to live, because I love cold weather, and it seems like a fun place to live: not too big, not too small. This is with a title company, which is an industry I have some experience in.  I hope it will lead to an underwriting job someday.  I am making an intrepid 9-hour drive up there on Wednesday in my 140,000-mile piecer, praying the whole way my car doesn’t blow up because if it does, I am sunk.  I’m taking snack food in the car in a cooler, because I can’t afford restaurant food.  It’s peanuts and ham sandwiches for me!

It makes me sad to give up on my dream of teaching (at least for now).  I really think I’d make a great teacher: I am intelligent, passionate and caring.  Maybe I’ll get my Master’s degree and try again in a few years. Who knows, maybe then I’ll have a snowball’s chance in hell. 

K.R., via email

‘We need to focus on the amount of educated people schools are producing that are being forgotten’

For the past three years, I have been in law school, hoping that I would be able to find a job after graduation. However, since 2007, any jobs for people like me (college graduates) are far and few between. It is become apparent that people are focusing too much on the people who had jobs and are now unemployed, and are not focusing on the college graduates that are entering the workplace. If we want our economy to get better, we need to keep in mind that the education sector is creating employable people, but those people have no opportunity to get hired. For me, being part of the class of 2010 has been awful. As the economy “starts to pick up” (which I have yet to see), employers want people with experience, or the employers are now hiring directly out of current law school students. So, it leaves a graduate of 2010 between the cracks: I do not have “experience” and I am not “brand spanking new.” So, what is left?  Well, apparently nothing. 

If we are going to focus on jobs, we need to focus on the amount of educated people schools are producing that are being forgotten. If we get people like me employed, the rest can follow inline. Otherwise, we end up with a backlog of educated people, who will remain unemployed, and then they will become the new unemployed class: those that have educations, but have never had the opportunity to get jobs. Moreover, education really is going by the wayside in America. You do not need a college education to survive now, and with education costs increasing exponentially, what would be the point in getting a degree, especially when it will be of no use to you.

Most of my commentary is directed toward the legal profession, which I believe has greatly contributed to the economic decline. There seems to be a correlation between law and society. If lawyers are employed and making money, then the economy is doing well. If lawyers are unemployed, the economy tanks. Something needs to be done to reform the education system, maybe to limit the amount of educated people we put out (harsh, but a solution). Second, the experienced unemployed are actually the ones that are getting jobs in the professional sector; I can’t speak about the general blue-collar sector. It seems that we are in a reversionary cycle. It is better now to become a blue-collar worker because the chances of entering the workplace are better from the beginning, rather than becoming a professional, where all of our work is being outsourced and there are no entry-level jobs, and experience is all that helps.

With all of this being said, I was fortunate to receive a low-paying law clerk position in state court. While this is not my ideal position, I am not complaining. I realize that I will never have the opportunity that people had five years ago. I am just trying to make ends meet, and pay my crushing debt. 

J.S., via email

‘When I tell employers that I was laid off in December and have not found work yet I get the look’

I was laid off in December 2010 due to my entire department being outsourced. I was working for an MRI company with 7 locations doing worker’s compensation claims and legal cases. If someone was in an accident and had an MRI at our facility we would wait until their cases concluded for payment. I was the person making contact with the patient, their attorneys and the insurance companies. I made sure we got paid in the end. 

The hardest thing about being off so long is the despair. I have a degree and many years of experience and simply can’t find a job in Maryland. I am considering moving; however, it seems that all states in the U.S. are having this problem. 

When I tell employers that I was laid off in December and have not found work yet I get the look. Even though my previous employer gave me a great letter of reference explaining that I was not the reason for my being laid off but the company’s decision to outsource for financial reasons. 

I had to move back home to mom at the age of 40 due to the loss of my job. It is very hard but I am thankful that I have a home to go to as so many Americans do not. I am still receiving state unemployment benefits; however, they run out in 3 weeks.  Then I go on federal unemployment until it runs out in January 2012 or I find a job. I am scared to death of what lies ahead.  I have no idea if I will find a job or not.  

Of the 100s of resumes I have sent out in 6 months I have had 3 interviews. That speaks for itself as to how bad the situation is.  I am a legal assistant/paralegal with over 16 years of experience and I have a degree and certification in my profession. 

I am not hopeful at all that this situation will end soon. After reading this article it is clear that I’m only at the 6 month point of being jobless and if the average is 9 months then I better prepare for the worse.  

Karen P., via email

‘One of the major reasons I haven’t been able to get a job is that I don’t know Spanish’

One of the major reasons I haven’t been able to get a job is that I don’t know Spanish (or other languages, such as Chinese, Korean, etc.) Many jobs require these languages now. The problem is that the state offers free ESL support, but nothing to learn other languages. Additionally, we are barred from enrolling in school while collecting unemployment. (If you were already enrolled, you can continue, but you can’t start anything new.) So—how do you become fluent in these languages? Things like Rosetta Stone are unaffordable, plus they don’t give you the same experience as a classroom to become truly fluent. 

I also wanted to enroll in school to finish my BA (I could have been done by now, and I was already planning on finishing this before I was laid off starting in January 2010.) But again, I couldn’t enroll because of unemployment rules. They seem really contrary because you can’t get ahead without certain schooling, but you can’t enroll to get that schooling. They only offer programs for skilled laborers. I’m not even asking the state for financial support in getting the education I need (although it would be nice for them to offer the equivalent to an ESL class for English speaking workers, since that seems rather discriminatory. You can’t force someone to speak English-only in the workplace, but you can force them to speak Spanish, or other languages, and then the state doesn’t help with that education.)

I just want them to allow us to enroll in school if we want to.

Liana H., via email