Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906020)

I'm not saying it is easy, but I feel like people are really ripping Kevin a part because he thinks some people may not be trying very hard.
.

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 1906025)

Two questions:

1. In what year did you get the job that quickly?

2. Did you have any non-$7/hr experience when you were applying for your positions (outside of military service)?

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 1906028)

If you lose a job making $50,000 a year, a $7-an-hour position isn't going to allow you to continue supporting yourself/your family.

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906031)

Well, I graduated undergrad in 2007. I was hired in June of 2007, after going to interviews before school ended. Remember, that is when I took my civil service exams (Spring Break of 2007). That was my first "real" job where I was paid salary of about $24,000 (which was about $19,000 after taxes). I started graduate school in September of 2007. I left my job as a Caseworker in January of 2008 because I wanted to go from being a part-time graduate student to being a full-time graduate student.

Then, I applied to a job at a Juvenile Detention Facility, which paid about $7/ hour. I worked part-time as I attended graduate school full-time. I was hired around the end of February (I left my job as a caseworker around the middle of January). My boyfriend then got into school in New York and he moved to New York for the fall of 2008 to start school, while I stayed in our hometown to work part-time and finish my Masters until I got to my "thesis" portion of my degree. In January of 2009, I moved to New York (around the end of January), obviously leaving my job at the detention facility. I applied to about 40+ jobs and within 2-3 weeks, I was hired as a Counselor.

I worked as a Counselor until I started school in September 2009. I might go back and work over the summer there. If I don't do that, I'll be happy to flip burgers until school starts up again. Hell, I might decide I don't care for school and go back to working where I was working. We will see, but I don't get worried that I won't be able to find a job.

As far as people who aren't "passionate" about joining the military, I disagree. I wasn't "passionate" about it, but I learned some great skills and met some incredible people. I had the opportunity to build my resume while getting a chance to travel and serve my country. I didn't "LOVE" it, but I didn't mind it. Once again, that is no excuse because you don't have a "passion" for something.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06 (Post 1906032)

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906045)

Knight_Shadow, I agree. It can be tough. Keep in mind, though, that I just recently left my job in August 2009 (considering how recent you may consider that). Whether or not the country is in this economic slump, there are people who really don't try as hard as they claim they are trying.

Don't get me wrong, there are people out there doing what they can to find a job, but as a former caseworker and counselor I watched people play the system like some people play X-Box.

I'm glad you found a job. It sucks to be unemployed, but sometimes you have to take what comes your way, ya' know? I have also been working since age 14 (for a summer job, in PA it is legal).

There are other options out there. I remember how fresh out of college, I honestly applied at a Wendy's for a management position. The guy hiring me looked at me like I was crazy as he said, "You graduated from such-and-such school...with such-and-such degrees...and you want to work here? Why?" I explained that I was not above anyone else who was working there because I had bills to pay, just like everyone else. I showed up with a resume and a smile. I did my best at the interview and I was hired on the spot. This was in 2007 (when our economy totally sucked, as well). If you try, you can find SOME job-maybe not the BEST job, but it can be done.

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906010)

Solution: Why not consider checking out the military. As former military, I can tell you that, for the most part, the military is always looking to hire.

Originally Posted by 33girl (Post 1906062)

I love you hon, but oh hellz no. If there's a job I'm less suited for than health care, it's the military. I'd be dishonorably discharged approximately 3 minutes after arriving in camp.

Originally Posted by 33girl (Post 1906066)

I don't do well with people yelling in my face, for any reason. I smack them.

Not only that, at this point, my butt is too old for the military. I'm sure there are people out there who would like to do it who don't meet the age or health requirements.

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek (Post 1905993)

lol
o.k that was hilarious, but I do agree with a lot of what Kevin is saying.

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 1906078)

We already know you have gnatitis brainitis. :)

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906010)

I don't really understand why everyone is taking what Kevin has said so personally.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06 (Post 1906032)

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906059)

Knight_Shadow, you have made some great valid points. I agree that putting a person with a family out in the part-time/ hourly world has to be tough. I do have to say, however, that if it came down to joining the military and feeding your family or saying you don't feel it is for you, then you need to really think about what is important.

I'm glad that this thread turned back into something with people speaking constructively about unemployment. I really didn't find it necessary to name-call Kevin because he disagreed with some of the other GCers. I agree with a lot of what he has said.

Knight_Shadow and KSUViolet, you both had some great points to add, too. MysticCat, I think you put some things into perspective well, also.

Originally Posted by Kevin (Post 1905485)

Tom Delay made that assertion. I did not. I simply stated that welfare has to end at some point. These continued extensions of benefits are to the detriment of society... and yes, if an otherwise healthy individual runs out the clock on their benefits, I do think they ought to bear the burden of that and I do think they have to be somewhat complicit in their situation.

I think you're assuming facts not in evidence as well, counsel. I have stated over and over that at some point, the burden needs to shift away from society and back onto the individual. At some point, their plight is not my fault, nor should it be my problem. It seems we're in agreement there.

I don't think simplistic or real thinking is happening right now in Washington. At least nothing that is focused on cost/utility as it should be (unless the desired outcome is political capital).

In principal, I think that all transfers of wealth from public to private entities should be closely scrutinized. I think everyone outside Goldman-Sachs understands that in the long run, these sorts of relationships are arguably the precise reason for our current economic situation. (Fannie/Freddie anyone?)

What I'm sure of is that the status quo is not only not working out very well, it's rewarding complacency and inefficiency. That don't cut it in my book.

And those advocating for the status quo or for more governmental help when we're already way, way past being able to pay for that help are not advocating useful solutions even if those solutions are arguably workable in the short term. Selling out our future to make marginal improvements in the present is absolutely not a sound way of managing any crisis. Passing out more free money like this and not actually doing anything to reconfigure our systematic issues is only setting us up for a much more dramatic and much more serious failure than those in the past.

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 1906084)

That isn't really the topic, though. ;)

Did als463 essentially post her resume`? LOL :p For the record, there are many things that younger people don't know that older people know through direct and indirect experience. Success at finding a job when you graduated from college in 2007 doesn't necessarily mean much. And what salary, experience, and resume` circulation mean for a relatively new college graduate is different than what it means for someone who has been out of college longer.

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906097)

To sit there and say that "success at finding a job when you graduated from college in 2007 doesn't necessarily mean much," seems to go against this whole thread, doesn't it?....yet you think that finding a job right away is not a success?

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906097)

Well, when Knight_Shadow asked what I had done with myself, I told him. I was showing that you can find a job if you really-really try. To sit there and say that "success at finding a job when you graduated from college in 2007 doesn't necessarily mean much," seems to go against this whole thread, doesn't it? You have people on here complaining that they attempted to find jobs as recent college graduates, but couldn't fnd a job. Then, there were people saying that they were "over-qualified" for jobs because of their college degrees, yet you think that finding a job right away is not a success?

Considering many people are talking about having trouble finding a job, I think it is very successful. To get technical, I graduated college in 2004 with my A.A., so I find it very successful to have worked up until I decided to go back to school. I put out tons of applications, so I realize the hard time people may have finding a job, but if you aren't willing to put out (at least 20 resumes a week) all over the place when you have been unemployed for more than a year, then you aren't trying that hard, in my eyes.

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906020)

I don't think it puts you out of touch with reality if you suggest that people look at alternative options. It took me 2 weeks to find a job, only after sending out 40+ resumes. That is what it took. Did I enjoy sending them out, only to hear that I was "over-qualifed" or not qualifed enough? No. That sucked.

Once I graduated college, I took a job as a caseworker. I made about $19,000 a year, once taxes were deducted. Instead of going on Spring Break my senior year of college, I chose to take my week and head over to the State Capitol to take every civil service exam for which I qualifed. It paid off. Sure, I made horrible money. I loved my job, though. Then I went back for my Masters.

As I worked on my Masters, I left my full-time job and worked for about $7.00/ hr. (part-time, so I could attend graduate school full-time) while being talked down to by people with far less education than me (some who had no degree, at all) to make ends meet. That job was horrible. I hated how rude people were and catty some of my co-workers were. I did my job, and I left. No less, no more. I was "over-qualified" for the job, but I was hired to work part-time because I was honest with the employer letting them know that I was going to school full-time.

My employers have been impressed with my resume and all the things I have done because even when I wasn't working, I was doing community service and doing things with my GLO as an Alumna.

I'm not saying it is easy, but I feel like people are really ripping Kevin a part because he thinks some people may not be trying very hard.

To Knight_Shadow, if you couldn't find a job and the only thing being offered was a military position, if you don't take it (and you are qualified for it) then that is your fault for not doing what you need to do in order to make a living. My uncle, a college professor, always told me that he didn't believe people (in this day and age) had ANY excuse for not having a college degree because if they were able-bodied, they could join the military and apply for loans if that is what it took. Do you think I LOVED being in the military? Nope. I did it, though. If you have kids (which I don't, yet) then you have to set aside your pride and take what comes your way.

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 1906101)

I'm saying the same thing that knight_shadow said.

Originally Posted by KAPital PHINUst (Post 1906114)

als,

I want to say thank you for sticking up for Kevin the way you did. I think you helped explain the points he was trying to make very well. I also thought he got needlessly flamed, then again, I fully understood, and I daresay, agree with what he was trying to convey, though he didn't make it very clear, and I think that was why he got flamed.

As for your post here, it serves as a testimony to your tenacity and commitment to find and maintain work. Working a crappy job you can't stand takes a lot of guts and a lot of heart. Been there, done that. And yes, I am also without a job, per se; I'm starting a consulting firm. What am I doing in the meantime?

What else! Street accounting, hey sometimes I have to take it to the streets, literally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcZpAVXfew

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906115)

No. You really aren't. If you are college-educated, and you put out applications everywhere, you will eventually find something. I knew people who were caseworkers with me that had degrees in agriculture, recreational park management, etc. and they were willing to take the civil service test and become caseworkers.

People are on here complaining that they can't find jobs, and when I say that I found jobs, you find a way to tell me that I'm not successful for getting something that other people are saying that can't get. I don't feel like you are trying to be constructive, I think you are trying to find something wrong with what I say, so you can have something flippant to say.

I consider myself very successful. I also realize that if I wasn't willing to take a major pay-cut and get some job to pay my bills, that was my fault. Had I not joined the military when I was able-bodied (but unemployed), that would have been my fault, but I joined at 17, so I didn't really worry about that. Being unemployed sucks. I get that. What I don't get is people going on GC and name-calling Kevin and people who agree with him. By telling someone that they have gnats for brains because they agree with him is pretty immature.

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906115)

No. You really aren't.

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

FYI -- 2007 =/= late 2008-2010. The country was not in the same state at that point in time.

And salary history makes a difference. Many employers now ask for salary history. Even if you leave off your additional degrees, the amount of money that you've made in the past makes a difference.

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 1906124)

I think the point that everyone is trying to get across is that it's not as cut-and-dry as some might think it is.

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 1906132)

That should really go without saying but has been said for pages.

If these people REALLY agree with Kevin's tone and overall message then all of my posts to him also apply to them.

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 1906129)

Yes, I am. Finding a job fresh out of college in 2007 means nothing (in the context of the present recession and discussion in this thread).



There, I spelled it out for you. You're welcome.

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 1906081)

*Dead*

I can haz signature, please?

Originally Posted by agzg (Post 1906139)

That's freaking ridiculous. RIDICULOUS! You leave someone else in your signature for weeks and weeks and weeks, but when it's me, I only get a DAY! WHAT TO THE FUCK!

Originally Posted by agzg (Post 1906139)

That's freaking ridiculous. RIDICULOUS! You leave someone else in your signature for weeks and weeks and weeks, but when it's me, I only get a DAY! WHAT TO THE FUCK!

Originally Posted by agzg (Post 1906144)

You didn't get it right. :(

It's "Shit the bed" or "Fudge your undies."

By the way.... you've reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally fudged your undies now!

Originally Posted by agzg (Post 1906139)

That's freaking ridiculous. RIDICULOUS! You leave someone else in your signature for weeks and weeks and weeks, but when it's me, I only get a DAY! WHAT TO THE FUCK!

Originally Posted by als463 (Post 1906137)

Apparently you didn't read the rest of my post. I'm shocked by that considering you complain when other people don't go back and read.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06 (Post 1906148)

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 1906142)

Happy now!? lol

Originally Posted by agzg (Post 1906139)

That's freaking ridiculous. RIDICULOUS! You leave someone else in your signature for weeks and weeks and weeks, but when it's me, I only get a DAY! WHAT TO THE FUCK!

Originally Posted by Senusret I (Post 1906152)

You a gump!

LOL

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 1906153)

LOL. He honored your request. Knight_shadow is a GC signature whore.