Down But Not Out

‘With every potential fun outing there is hidden stress’

I am married with two children, a 12 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. I have been out of work for nearly four years. Before I was unemployed I was a counselor, involved with teens and children in a residential treatment setting for almost 10 years.

My wife and I found ourselves living off of a part time job in southern Oregon, with our bills quickly closing in on us. We moved to Northern Alabama at the end of the summer. We had family living in the area. They had told us that the job market was more stable, and the public school system was providing a solid, quality education. We moved in with my wife’s cousin and her family of four. The eight of us have been sharing a four bedroom house. We feel very blessed that they have put a roof over our heads for the last three and a half months. My wife was able to quickly land a low paying full time job and things were looking better. I, however, have not been as lucky.

Our daughter is very aware of our financial struggles and, fortunately, is helpful with both her little brother and with keeping a positive attitude about the situation. She is aware that this will be a much more subtle Christmas than she has been used to. She will probably have one gift under the tree this year as opposed to the seven to 10 she is used to. I’m sure she will miss the Christmas Eve celebration at Nana and Papa’s house. And sharing Christmas morning with Grammy and Grandpa. Our little boy is just a happy kid and I try everyday to keep him that way. Luckily, he still enjoys the cardboard box as much as the gift within. We were able to buy some discounted costumes after Halloween and put them aside for him, he’ll love them. Our family has already found holiday fun in driving around looking at Christmas lights and free local holiday celebrations. Although, we still have to be careful about the amount of gas we use. With every potential fun outing there is hidden stress.

We applied to the State food stamp program, and are able to put some food in the house. We have a large binder filled with coupons that we haul to the grocery store every couple of weeks. Coupon clipping is one of our biggest financial saviors. We have three to four different stores that we circuit to help us find the best deals. We are hoping to focus on holiday meals. Sitting together as a household of eight is the best way for all of us to feel like a family.

I resolve not to focus on the overwhelming negative. Not to focus on what hasn’t worked out. Instead I will see the blessings in front of me. I will take the opportunity to tell the people around me how much I appreciate them. I will continue to search, everyday, for work; staying positive that I will find the right job to help my family.

Let’s hope that resolutions are enough.

I know we are not the most unfortunate family out there. We may not be the most unfortunate family in our neighborhood. I just hope we all can get just one break now and again.

Jake Moyer; Northern Alabama

‘How is it that you have had so many jobs but you never been hired?’

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 am a firm believer keeping health insurance if at all possible, and paid the extremely high premium per month as long as I could just for my own piece of mind’

I worked in a car dealership for 12 plus years and in 2008 decided to make a career change to selling indemnity insurance with a great company who has a great product and great opportunity for financial growth.

At the same time I met the love of my life that lived in another state and I ended up relocating not thinking it would be so difficult to find another job (I could have stayed in the insurance business when moving but at that time realized the economy was not allowing people to purchase any extra health insurance so the timing in my career change was off). I realize now I should have done some homework before moving however, I was in love and never had a problem with finding work in the past and felt I was marketable in many other fields.

Trying to stay motivated and reminding myself that I am smart, hard working and have tons of potential was the hardest part of being out of work. Each week it became harder and harder to stay motivated. I would go on an interview thinking I would finally have a job, only to be let down by no call back or no real understanding why I wasn’t hired. I applied for jobs that fit my work history and even jobs that I was willing to start at the bottom in hopes to work my way up.

In all the applications and interviews I went on know one actually said it out loud but I did notice over time that when filling out applications the questions being asked became geared towards them trying to find out how long I was unemployed.

I did have COBRA health insurance with its astronomical pricing and did exhaust the time frame allowed to carry it. I am a firm believer keeping health insurance if at all possible, and paid the extremely high premium per month as long as I could just for my own piece of mind. I was trying to obtain individual health insurance before my COBRA ran out but the insurance company I was applying with, repeatedly kept asking for more information (letters, blood test, ect.) and I eventually gave up because more blood tests were asked for after the my COBRA expired and couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket for more tests to obtain it.

When you are looking for employment it’s really is hard to tell what the problem is when applying for a position. If I had to guess it would be a couple of factors. More competition and employers being overwhelmed with the amount of applicants. There is no standard way to apply for job it depends on the company. Some employers will say “You need to submit an application online from our website and it will go through HR” and when looking online some employers will say “Please see the store manager in your location for open positions.” If you are lucky you will actually get a human being to see who you are and possibly have a conversation with them.

On several occasions I had 2 or 3 interviews with 2 or 3 different people at the same company only to find out that they decided to go in another candidate. That is very frustrating especially when you haven’t got a clue as to what happened. How do you go on 2 or 3 interviews and not get the job? No explanation given!

My other favorite is the company that tells you are overqualified. Can someone please explain what this term means when you are looking for employment? Especially, with this economy and job market. Sure I may be overqualified, but wouldn’t that be my call? These employers don’t have a clue what my financial status is so how could they judge that way?

After search for almost a year I did finally find employment. But after being in my new position for over a year now, I am on the search once again. I have found that employers are using the current employment crisis to there advantage. I unfortunately found a company who is lining there pockets with no care for who works for them.

Initially when I started looking I was looking in the newspaper, looking online, or just walking into businesses and asking. After the first several months of doing this, I found out that most businesses in my area like to use employment agencies. This came from looking on careerbuilders.com by accident. I have been very fortunate over the years with my employment so this was weird to me and didn’t quite get it at first.

I found a company and position that I was interested in and applied. The employment agency called me. I come to find out that when applying for quite a few positions online the employment agency offering the position is the one posting the job(s). So here is what happens. You are browsing around online at administrative/clerical jobs; you find something you are interested in. You click to read more about the job and get excited because it fits what you are looking for. The name of the company is XYZ and you apply. The next thing you know you get an email or call for an employment agency about a position you applied for. At that time you are little perplexed and explain that you didn’t apply with an agency you applied to XYZ. Who ever you are on the phone with explains that this position was posted by them and they would like to set up an interview with you.

So you go to XYZ Employment Agency were you are interviewed about the position(s) you are looking for and tested before you are even considered for a position this company or any company that goes through them. At first this seems like a great thing. Someone else helping you look. The problem with this is the people working at the employment agencies are just as overwhelmed with people looking for work that it’s impossible to expect them to actually be any help or have your best interest at heart.

 So, the agency calls you and says we have a position that came in for EFG Company and gives you the job description and asks if you would be interested. You say yes, so the agency submits your resume to EFG Company. Now you sit at wait just like you would if you applied yourself the difference is, if EFG Company is interested they call the agency who in turn calls you to set up the interview. You go on the interview and give your best and now you wait for the agency to call you to see if you have been hired. Plus, once you do get a position with a company using the employment agency you have to work a certain amount of hours under the agency (equivalent to about 90 days or 3 months) before you can actually be considered to be hired full time/part time permanently with the company you are actually working for.

Then if you are actually hired by the company you have been working for, for the past 3 months you have to wait another 90 days before any benefits are available (the catch—the company you are actually working for doesn’t actually have to hire you if they don’t like you or feel you are qualified). My tip is this; don’t give up, if you are a hard working, dedicated person you will succeed if you just keep trying. Use everyone you can to help you find a job no matter how weird it may be. Times have changed so we have to try and change with it.

Annette F., via email