Please help the Jobless workers

[groovypq]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

My father in law is also laid off, and he's looking at contracted positions. He's a plastics engineer, but he's in his early 60's and not ready to retire. He hasn't found anything in about 7-8 months now.

It's just never as easy as some people make it seem.

My dad's in a similar boat. Got laid off five months ago from the company he worked for for 28 years. He's in his late 50s and also not ready/able to retire. Very, very slim pickins out there.

I have a friend who was laid off from my old company a few months before my dad lost his job. He's still out of work too. He's in his late 40s, but what he's finding is that companies want to hire some recent college grad for a third of what he used to make.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by groovypq

I have a friend who was laid off from my old company a few months before my dad lost his job. He's still out of work too. He's in his late 40s, but what he's finding is that companies want to hire some recent college grad for a third of what he used to make.

One of my associate's (not a friend per se) is in his early 40s and was making great money as an accountant before he was laid off. He is now working for just about 1/3 of what he was making and has had to do some major life changing moves to stay in his house and so forth. But, he has a great attitude about it and says a bad day employed is better than a good day unemployed.

Best believe, though, he's out there looking still! But, now he won't have a gap.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

A lot of the problem with applying for so many jobs and not getting calls is experience. I've seen friends who are working in their careers bounce around to different companies. And I've seen friends (I'm included in this) not find work because companies don't want to train anyone. They want the lazy, quick way out and to hire people with experience who know what they're doing. I get so pissed when I hear of people going from one job to another because so many others are struggling. And they aren't moving around because of getting laid off or let go. They quit those jobs and go to the other.

In the last year and half, I've sent out probably over 500 resumes. I apply for jobs almost daily, and definitely weekly. Sometimes there is just nothing I am qualified for. What have I done to change this? I've applied for financial aid. I will hopefully be starting school again in the fall for a career that will most likely never die. In the meantime, I will continue looking for a job. If I don't find one, I'll be really screwed. Thankfully I still live iwth my parents so I have that comfort zone, but what happens when their businesses flounder because unemployment stops and people can't afford to spend money or pay rent?

Did I send you a listing for some Masco jobs in marketing? If not, I can ask whether they've filled the positions already.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Did I send you a listing for some Masco jobs in marketing? If not, I can ask whether they've filled the positions already.

No! Definitely pass those on please and thank you!

[DrPhil]

Not every contracting job is advertised. It is often a result of extensive networking and marketing yourself to the right people/companies. This often comes from being seen (i.e. professional organizations, training sessions, talking about yourself more than some people feel comfortable doing including at seemingly random places, etc.) and not just composing and mailing off a lot of resumes. It goes back to, when it comes to getting in the door, "it isn't what you, it is who you know" and how you go about putting yourself out there.

There are mental health (and other fields of expertise) contractors in many cities who do unadvertised jobs for various mental health private and state-funded companies. They make a lot of money and lasting networks doing it.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

^^^Well said.

I found a job about 4 months after graduation. I took a month off, then found temp work for a couple months. I was hired at my current job about a week after my temp assignment ended. Very little had to do with things I "did right." I just consider myself blessed to have it all fall into place that way.

You did something "right." You took a temp job and did well in it to the point where you were wanted/needed beyond the temp assignment.

Some people won't take a temp job or they'll take a temp job and treat it like a temp job. It's similar to work study jobs in undergrad and grad school. For a number of reasons, most students don't treat those jobs like they will ever result in fulltime pay with benefits or a career.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

One of my associate's (not a friend per se) is in his early 40s and was making great money as an accountant before he was laid off. He is now working for just about 1/3 of what he was making and has had to do some major life changing moves to stay in his house and so forth. But, he has a great attitude about it and says a bad day employed is better than a good day unemployed.

Best believe, though, he's out there looking still! But, now he won't have a gap.

WTH? Did I really use an apostrophe to make a word plural? I'm so disappointed.

[christiangirl]

^^^I wasn't even going to say anything because I knew you'd be disappointed if you realized.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

There are mental health (and other fields of expertise) contractors in many cities who do unadvertised jobs for various mental health private and state-funded companies. They make a lot of money and lasting networks doing it.

This is what was happening at my job. There were 2 contracted workers in FT positions. I didn't even know there was such a thing.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

You did something "right." You took a temp job and did well in it to the point where you were wanted/needed beyond the temp assignment.

Some people won't take a temp job or they'll take a temp job and treat it like a temp job. It's similar to work study jobs in undergrad and grad school. For a number of reasons, most students don't treat those jobs like they will ever result in fulltime pay with benefits or a career.

Thanks! It's so funny, the interview I had today was in the mental health field, but it was my training in the temp job (internet-based customer service) that made me suitable for it. I've noticed that most jobs I have applied for in the human services field consider it a plus if the applicant has a background in customer service--it means you know how to interact with people without pissing them off. Unfortunately, this job won't work out but my cousin's bf is looking for work so I'm passing on word to him. It really is all about networking.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

pepoole

I'm just picking on you.

[Kevin]

Looks like the welfare checks will start getting written to folks on the dole for 2 years again. Ridiculous.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-naw-j...0,442499.story

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Looks like the welfare checks will start getting written to folks on the dole for 2 years again. Ridiculous.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-naw-j...0,442499.story

People whose opinions I've learned not to respect on certain topics:
My dad on racism
My sister on computers
Kevin on being poor or unemployed

[phitheta376]

Well first of all, just who was it that passed the pay-go legislation in the first place? I hate to burst your bubbles, but this legislation costs $34 million dollars, and that $34 billion will come straight from China.

I also want to point out this little gem from BO when he was passing that legislation: ""Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere." Then, upon passage of a previous jobless benefits extension, Obama had this to say: "It is fully paid for, and therefore is fiscally responsible.""

Wouldn't that mean, then, that since this legislation is not "fully paid for," that it is not "fiscally responsible"?

Democrats are only doing this to score cheap political points - at some point, benefits have to end.

[ThetaDancer]

Originally Posted by phitheta376

Well first of all, just who was it that passed the pay-go legislation in the first place? I hate to burst your bubbles, but this legislation costs $34 million dollars, and that $34 billion will come straight from China.

I also want to point out this little gem from BO when he was passing that legislation: ""Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere." Then, upon passage of a previous jobless benefits extension, Obama had this to say: "It is fully paid for, and therefore is fiscally responsible.""

Wouldn't that mean, then, that since this legislation is not "fully paid for," that it is not "fiscally responsible"?

Democrats are only doing this to score cheap political points - at some point, benefits have to end.

This is so poorly constructed that it's hard for me to understand the point you're trying to make.

1.)
2.) How to use quotation marks

[Kevin]

He's saying that we have a President who has committed to not grow the deficit any more than he already has.

He's saying that this is costing $34 billion dollars, all of which are being borrowed.

He's saying that those two things are bad and that at some point, the dole has to end. If the labor markets are to ever correct themselves, they must be allowed to do so.

We could have a nice little discussion about how employers have all of the power in this economy because of things like the elimination of trade barriers and the relocation of manufacturing plants overseas. Maybe we can talk about capitalism run amok and what we can do to fix that. But to just dole out cash and pretend there aren't any underlying problems is about the least effective means of dealing with this issue imaginable.

So we've gone well over 100 weeks now with some people. Should they continue to be eligible six months from now? A year from now? Two years? Where does it stop?

[BluPhire]

How about economist studies that show for every dollar that is spent on the unemployed, $1.90 flows back into the economy acting as sort of a micro stimulus?