Friday, May 27, 2011

Random Thoughts

Unemployment is in a way a job. If you treat it like work, it will be much easier to make it through the tough times. If you get lazy and treat it like an extended vacation its going to be harder to land on your feet.

I get up everyday at a reasonable hour,take a shower, and get dressed like I'm going to work. I have my coffee, walk to the store for a newspaper and a pack of cigarettes, maybe run across the street to get a donut, and head home. The first thing I do when I get there is turn to the classifieds and see if there are any jobs listed. Most days there are not, but the day I stop looking is going to be the day my dream job is posted.

After browsing the paper, I head into my "office" and its off to the internet to browse the job boards. I don't limit myself to monster.com, I am on craigslist, careerbuilder, and helmetstohardhats. Anywhere that I can find classifieds I am looking. I have done this for two years now, and I will do this for two more, until I have a job.

I don't limit myself to what I want to do. In this economy you need to be willing to do anything that will put money in the bank. I have applied at fast food restaurants, hotels, police and fire departments, cable companies. I once applied for a job as a nanny. If it comes with a paycheck, I send them a resume. I have applied for over two thousand jobs, and still counting. Someday will be my day.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Time

The hardest part of being unemployed are the endless hours in a day that used to be filled with work. Now I sit around the house and think. Everyday that goes by without a response to an application weighs heavily on the mind. I begin to feel less and less valuable to society.

The hardest thing I do is convince myself to stay positive and keep trying. I always tell my self "Today is the day, for real!". I fire up my computer and hit all of the job search sites and send my resume off to every job I can. Once I have applied for every "outside sales job" monster.com has to offer, I grab the newspaper and look for something there. One day it really will be the day if I keep trying.

It is hard not to get depressed when you have mailed out thousands of resumes and only got two interviews. It is heart-breaking when McDonalds won't even call you back to be a fry cook. I spent eight years serving in the Military, and I now have to beg for enough money to get a suit from the goodwill if I ever get an interview. Unemployment is not going to break my spirit though, I am going to keep on going to school and keep on trying to work, and someday, it will turn around.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Volunteering

Last night I was having drinks with some friends. In the course of the evening, one of them mentioned that she volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. That got me thinking. I have never volunteered for anything in my life. Sure I enlisted in the “all volunteer” military, but I wasn’t donating my time, I was getting paid for that. This morning, I started to sign up to give back.

I thought long and hard about it and I realized that volunteering was more than just giving up some of your time to help someone in need. For someone in my position with no job and no call backs on any of the resumes I send out everyday, it is an opportunity. When you volunteer, the first thing it does is get you out of your house.

In this day and age when college is so accessible, candidates for employment need something to set them apart from the pack. Add some volunteer experience to your resume, and you will have a leg up on others. Nothing shows a potential employer that you care like building a house for the poor or feeding the homeless. Giving to the community will give back to you tenfold.

While you are out there working and helping others, you get a chance to meet new people. You are out networking, the person serving food next to you or helping build the house may be a manager, a ceo, a company owner. By meeting someone in a volunteer setting, it is an informal get to know you, and they aren’t judging you by what you write on your resume, all they know is that you give back.

Even if your volunteer time does not land you a full time job, at the very least, you can feel good about yourself. For those few hours that you help, you are doing something for someone else, and that brings a warm fuzzy feeling. So friends and followers, lets give up a little bit of our time, and help someone in need!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Expanding Horizons

When you are looking for work, consider expanding your horizons. If you are able to relocate don't rule that out. I am single, with no kids and own no property. I would love to be able to stay near the friends I have made in school and be within an hours drive of my family, but now that's just not feasible.

Do your research. If other areas of the state you live in have more opportunities, apply there. If you aren't rooted in your present location, expand your job search to a national level. Sure the economy is weak all over right now, but some places are better off than others.

Right now, and I probably should not give away this secret until I have secured a job, Texas is doing all right for itself. When I realized all of the jobs I was looking at in my local area were way above my pay grade and education level, I expanded the search a few miles. Then I read an article listing the best places to find work, and I began looking nationally.

When applying to a large company that has many locations, if they ask if you are willing to relocate, say yes! It may be hard to pick up and move at the present time, but they are more likely to look at a candidate who is willing to work for them anywhere they need them. So what you have to live in a new location for a little while?

I for one am looking forward to starting over in a location that does not consider three inches of snow in an hour "light flurries". I'm excited to work somewhere that does not consider it a "summer day" when it breaks 75 degrees. The weather is just one advantage to a new life. Where I live now the taxes on a case of water are more than the case costs on sale. Even if I did find a job, I still couldn't afford to live here, so I am getting out while the getting is good!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Hope

The hardest part of being part of the long-term unemployed is keeping the faith. You start to see yourself as a loser, as a bum, as someone who is no good. The longer you go without finding gainful employment the easier it is to give up the hunt.

In the two years of hunting I have applied to every open job I was qualified for, and some that I wasn't. in my area. In all of that time, with several thousand resume's out there, I have had two interviews. I keep trying though.

It would be very easy for me to give up hope. I could say "I'll try when I finish college" or I'll try when the market improves. No. What I did was start looking outside of Illinois. I know that I need a job, and I know there will never be jobs in Illinois as long as Pat Quinn is Governor. I started my search in Texas.

As long as you maintain hope and don't slide in to self loathing and depression, we the long-term unemployed still have a chance. We have to look harder, and cast a wider net, but our job is out there somewhere. It is just a matter of keeping the faith and staying on the hunt.

Good Luck my fellow job seekers, and just so you know...there are NO security jobs left in Dallas. No really, they are all full, don't even try...

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Applying

When I found myself out of a job, I told myself it would be a matter of weeks before I was back in the money. I totally ignored the economic realities of the Country, and I plunged ahead, activating my accounts on Monster.com and carrerbuilder. I thought who wouldn't want to hire an eight year veteran of the armed forces who worked in a highly technical field?

I ignored the fact that I now had to compete against people my age who had spent the four years I was in the Marine Corps going to college. Don't get me wrong I do not regret my service at all. In fact if I hadn't gotten injured I would still be there today. The only problem with that is in today's highly competitive job market, I am left with fewer tools in my box compared to my peers.

I don't let that hold me back from trying, since I lost my job I have sent out a few thousand resumes. Sure they don't have the education that my competitors have, but maybe just maybe they will recognize the value of an employee who was leading men in battle while his peers were doing beer bongs in the frat house.

My advice for my fellow labor challenged Americans is to just keep trying. Someday, it will be your turn. Don't ignore a job you think is beneath you. I have applied for McDonalds, housekeeping in a hotel, retail work, and jobs that are closer to my field. What is important right now is to have an income. When the country hits the turnaround and your field is hiring, there will be something then, but until that day comes, don't let your pride get in the way of a paycheck.

Sacrafice

One of the first things you learn on unemployment is how to make sacrifices. When I was working I would come home after a long day, throw my heavy boots in the closet and go to the fridge and grab a cold beer. Back then I was drinking beer that cost nearly twelve dollars for six. I love the micro-brews, the craft brews and the imported stuff. Once I had my beer in hand, I would go to the fridge, get out either some pork chops or a steak and put it in the oven to cook while I took a nice hot shower to wash away the grime of a hard days work.

When I lost my job, the first thing to go was my car. Without the income, I could no longer afford the $365 a month payments. I had to walk everywhere I went. Shortly after the car was gone, I had to change my eating habits. Less steak and more ramen noodles. I had to downgrade the beer from Stella Artois to Miller Lite.

A couple months after my car drove off into the night without me, it was time to give up the apartment. I could no longer afford the $800 a month rent on the $620 every two weeks I was getting from unemployment. I moved in with a friend where the rent was only $400 a month. I had to sacrifice a little privacy, but the savings were worth it. Sure I could no longer invite a girlfriend over to spend the night, but at least I could afford to take her on a date again.

I had to move out of that house about six months ago because my unemployment ran out. I am now living with a relative and going to school. Since I am poor I qualify for financial aid, and after all of my education expenses are covered I can get a refund. When the refund comes in I get to “treat” myself to a six pack of Big Flats beer a pack of Newport’s and a subway sandwich.

When it is written out here, it seems sort of depressing. Really though, it’s not. In some ways it seems my life is now richer. I am free to further my education and pursue the career aspirations I put on the back burner for the job. Thinking about it, I sacrificed more in the way of my dreams while I was working than what I gave up when the income stopped.

2 Years and Counting

I lost my job on December 23, 2008. I was a technician for Comcast Cable, and I worked my butt off. I was scheduled four days a week, 10 hours a day, but I often put in 12-15 hours a day, five days a week. When I was working life was good. I had a nice car, had a nice little place of my own, and had an active social life.

The day before Christmas eve in 2008, that all changed. I showed up to work at seven a.m. just like I did every day that I was supposed to be there. That day I didn't get my normal route. I got called into the managers office along with my supervisor and the HR woman. Apparently I had screwed up on a job by taking care of a customer rather than following the companies book. I went to a call, and found the problem was outside of the home. I scheduled a line technician to come out and correct it, and I left the customers personal amplifier in the house so they still had some service through the holidays. I left the customer my card and arranged a visit to remove the amplifier after the necessary repairs were made. Comcast didn't like that. I guess they would rather have the customer cancel their service.

After they terminated me, my supervisor actually had to audacity to wish me a merry Christmas as he escorted me from the building. I'm sorry, but there is nothing merry about having to go home and tell your family you lost your job.

At first I wasn't worried, I had decent savings, and I was going to apply for unemployment. I figured it would be at most a month before I was working again. I had been unemployed before but never for very long. I looked at it like a little vacation time. Well that was 2 years ago and counting, the savings are gone, the car and the apartment belong to someone else now, and I am still looking for work. At least I'm still on vacation, Right?