The Job Hunt Thread

[shanendoah]

Mostly I can't say it on FB because I don't want my parents to worry. Sometimes I just need to bitch, but not get my parents' loving concern and platitudes. (Which makes me sound like I'm almost 20, not almost 40, but oh well.)

Still alive.

Still unemployed.

• My benefit year ended, so I had to reapply. I am now getting slightly more in UE/week than I had been before.

COBRA'd insurance runs out at the end of this month, so C and I bought insurance through our state exchange.    

• If I'd stayed with the COBRA, insurance would have been $1,178/month. (I had a total cadillac plan.)    
  
• Through the exchange, the insurance is $128/month. Yes, we're getting a credit. As soon as I get a job, I have to log back in and change our income information, and they will update our eligibility and take away the credit.
• C has migraines and I am now on thyroid meds, so going without insurance was not an option.

We have also bought our own dental insurance.

We bought new windows last summer on a 1 year SAC deal. Last payment is in June. That will put $768/month back in our bank account.

We opened a savings account for Pop Tart. The goal is to put $100/month in it, so that we will have $10k+ saved for her by the time she graduates high school.

We have started the process for adopting a second child. (No placement, just doing the paperwork.)

I continue to be a "top" candidate, but not "THE" candidate. Last three interviews went like this.

• We think you're great, but then we had a guy from one of our competitors apply (I totally understand this)
• You're great for the job we posted, but we realized as we were doing interviews that we don't actually want to hire someone for the job we posted, but for something else. You're still a candidate, but we have re-posted the position because you don't actually have the background for the job we really want to hire for. (This is annoying.)
• Voicemail today- "Hey, I just looked over the information you sent us, and we only want to pay about half of what you want to make, so let's cancel our interview for later today." (I hate the "we need someone to run our business for us, but even though we are a multi-million dollar company, we only want to pay the person who actually does everything $40k/yr.)

I have applied for some other pretty interesting jobs, including some with the federal government where the posting period ended last week or ends tomorrow. And I know what those pay, because they have to tell you.
I have registered with 3-4 different staffing agencies, but nothing has come from those, so far.

Financially, we are still fine. And we will be for as long as I have UE, and then for a bit longer. But mentally and emotionally, this is starting to drive me crazy. I HATE being out of work.

I am keeping myself busy- doing volunteer work at the local dog park, taking some classes via coursera, etc, but I am not good at not having somewhere to go each day, work I enjoy and believe in to do.

[Ava]

Hang in there, shanendoah.
Sometimes I think what would I do if I lost my job?
I would be worried out of my mind.
You are fine financially for the foreseeable future, and if nothing turns up when your unemployment ends, then you and your husband will have to reassess the situation.
Keep applying, don't give up.

[taz157]

(((((Hugs))))) shane

[Deleted]

Shane you are handling this the best of anyone I have ever seen. Sorry for your stress but holy cow I'm impressed. Good luck on the upcoming interviews.

[moneymaven]

I totally agree with later.

[Nazgul Girl]

   I hope that you get the perfect position very soon.   Can you lower your salary expectations ?  
I know that no-one wants to, but you could take a lower-paying position and look for something better.  

[shanendoah]

Nazgul Girl - I can lower my salary expectations by $20k if the benefits are right, but I can't lower them by $40k.

[busymom]

A pox on the company that sent the voicemail. Doesn't sound like they'd be a great place to work for anyway. (They're probably famous for 10 cent raises).

[Nazgul Girl]

  I just wondered if you could lower your salary expectations, but I obviously have no idea what amount would be acceptable.  I just think that maybe you would get more bites if your lowered your minimum acceptable level.   Anyway, I hope you get the position that will be good for both you and your employer very soon.

[Sunnyday]

so if your benefit year ended, that means that you've been unemployed with no luck for over a year. (wow, I just read that! I sound like a freaking genius).

Do you mind if I ask you why you think it's not working out? I've been at it for three months now, and I'm pretty depressed about my situation. At any rate, you have company.

[tloonya]

May 27, 2014 17:52:49 GMT -5 Ava said:

Hang in there, shanendoah.
Sometimes I think what would I do if I lost my job?
I would be worried out of my mind.
You are fine financially for the foreseeable future, and if nothing turns up when your unemployment ends, then you and your husband will have to reassess the situation.
Keep applying, don't give up.

You all...open the produce store. You will have time of your life!

[Deleted]

 POTD   

[Deleted]

Just hang in there!!!

[tloonya]

shane,
may I come to conclusion reading your post that there is a still a huge problem finding job in this country?
I am just asking because I had heard that we are out of the waters and unemployment is almost a joke (I know it had been but in a different way).

I had asked yesterday about how to find some job and good people of YM sent me to an employing agency.
Have you tried them? If so - are they helpful? If there are agencies that helping people to find jobs - there must be tons of jobs to be found, right?
And companies who are willing to PAy to the agencies to find jobs for people...meaning there ARE companies who are looking for people and
giving them jobs!
Does it sound right? Not from OP...so what is really going on with job market?

[tloonya]

May 28, 2014 10:41:44 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Just hang in there!!!

I can't afford a rope...and if I could where exactly your want me to hang?

[tloonya]

May 27, 2014 21:08:07 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Shane you are handling this the best of anyone I have ever seen. Sorry for your stress but holy cow I'm impressed. Good luck on the upcoming interviews.

I am not disagreeing with you later, but I think it is due to the fact that shane wrote:
Financially, we are still fine. And we will be for as long as I have UE, and then for a bit longer.

[mmhmm]

Good to "hear" from you, Shane!  I know being out of work must be driving you nuts, but I sure hope the right job comes along so you can get back into the swing of things and enjoy what you're doing.  You're a very strong person and I'm amazed at how well you handle adversity.  Good job! 

[Deleted]

[shanendoah]

busymom - actually, I was kind of glad they called. I had started doing more research on them prior to the interview and realized I probably did not want to work for them.

Sunnyday - my situation is a little complicated. I was laid off last May. I started a new job last July and worked for 6 months. When that position ended in January, I actually re-opened my previous unemployment claim, because it hadn't been a full year. This May, the benefit year ended and I had to re-apply. I am actually getting more now because the position I had for 6 months paid more than my position before that. It is also why we are still fine, financially. I had a 6 month severance from the job I was laid off from last May, so 4 months of double pay last year, which we saved, and are now supplementing UE with.
That puts me at almost 5 months not working now. I handle it by trying to make myself a schedule. Pop Tart is out the door at 8, C at 9. Shortly after C leaves, I take the dogs to the dog park, every morning (unless I have an interview scheduled). It's the one thing that makes me get up and get out of bed. I try to accomplish one thing around the house each day- lawn mowing, doing a load of dishes, putting away laundry, etc, while I am home alone. (I am better at doing chores when other people are around.) I write. I read. I play video games. I do volunteer clean up at the dog park. (Yes, I pick up other people's poop.)I watch lectures via Coursera.
As for why I think it's not working out, it has do with the fact that my skill set is administrative operations. You can't run a business without what I do, but most people think it's only worth $40k/year. I know better. I have applied for a number of government (local, state, national) positions. Those get a lot of applications, and preference always goes toward current employees. I am also applying to a number of places outside the industry where I spent most of my career (healthcare), and part of that is because I won't work for Catholic healthcare, which has made some major acquisitions up here lately and really limited the companies I am willing to apply for.
But again, a lot of it is being a second choice candidate. Often because there's someone from the industry applying (as mentioned in my OP), I am too expensive, they already have someone in mind, or I was a stretch candidate to begin with. Or I have no idea. I've mentioned (in a previous update) getting the note of "you interviewed really well. I was impressed with your relevant experience and understanding of our company, but you're not even making it to the in person interviews."

tloonya - if I started my own company, it would be much more like Sum Dum Gai's store than yours. Or C would just buy into the comic/game store in town that has one partner looking for a buy out (due to a relationship ending).
And yes, it can still be difficult to find a job. Your local economy matters more than the national one. I am registered with staffing/employment agencies. I found them to be very helpful when I was entry level or just above. Most executive positions also go through staffing agencies specializing in that. I am, however, at the middle management level, where staffing agencies are not very useful.


Some times things don't work out due to my own stupidity, though. Yesterday I modified a previously written cover letter for a new company. I THOUGHT I took out all references to the original position and replaced it with the current, but this morning, as I was using it as a base for another application, I realized I hadn't. Not even getting a phone interview there, I can be fairly certain. But that's totally my fault.

On the good side, I did get a call to schedule a phone interview for Friday morning. So there's that.

[Sunnyday]

Thanks for your explanation. maybe it's the title that is a problem, if you're going for administrative support, $40K sounds about right, but if your skill set is more in the Operational side of things, I would think that the salary would be much higher.

and just to be fair, you don't pick up other people's poop, you pick up other people's dog's poop! right? (Wait English majors! are all my apostrophes in the right places?) I certainly wouldn't want to go to a park where people defecat outside. yuck!

[Deleted]

May 29, 2014 10:04:53 GMT -5 Sunnyday said:

Thanks for your explanation. maybe it's the title that is a problem, if you're going for administrative support, $40K sounds about right, but if your skill set is more in the Operational side of things, I would think that the salary would be much higher.

and just to be fair, you don't pick up other people's poop, you pick up other people's dog's poop! right? (Wait English majors! are all my apostrophes in the right places?) I certainly wouldn't want to go to a park where people defecat outside. yuck!

Are all those people sharing one dog, Rainy?

[flamingo]

I feel for you Shanendoah. I was let go (read: fired) at the end of January (very unexpected for a variety of reasons), and was in panic mode. I was let go on a Friday, I took Saturday to be bitter and hate life, then Sunday started applying for jobs. It sucks. It's hard enough to find another job when you have a job; it's really bad when you don't have a job. I feel lucky that they didn't fight my unemployment. My only saving grace in the job search is that we were not tied to the area we were living in (Central Florida). We have no kids, my husband works from home and is actually based in the mid-west. So I had the luxury of looking anywhere in the country there was an interesting job.

I had 6 interviews in February and March. 2 of them progressed to in-person interviews out of state 2 of them were Skype interviews, and 2 of them phone only. The two in person interviews were for very different positions/salaries (same industry though). I was lucky, I was offered the job with the higher salary. But there was a $30k difference in the two salaries. I was willing to go pretty low in my salary to get a job in my industry because I felt, right or wrong, that I NEEDED a job and I WANTED to stay in my field. My thinking was, just get a job quickly in my field. Again, I was LUCKY. I fully expected to be out of work for a year or more. We were ok financially for that, but mentally, I don't think I could have handled it. And, we did have the back up plan to move "back home" so my DH could go back to full time in the office work, and I could do admin type work for him or open a small business or something. All of which sounded like torture to me, so I made sure I applied applied applied for those jobs!!

Anyway, all of that to say, STAY POSITIVE. I know it's hard, but it sounds like you are doing well with that. I had given myself until June to either find a job within my industry, or go get a job at the local grocery store. While that's not what I wanted, I also couldn't handle not having a reason to get up in the morning. Plus, with my DH working from home, we were having a bit too much togetherness. 

I wish you the best of luck. As I've just recently been in your shoes, I certainly can empathize with what you are going through. It sucks. But, it seems like you have a lot of family support, and you ARE getting interviews. You will find that perfect job for you-hopefully sooner rather than later.

[shanendoah]

flamingo - C has been (and still is, though the end of summer) in school. I am the sole earner for our family. That means I cannot take a job that pays too little.

Sunnyday - I started as administrative support, but now I do administrative operations. One of the positions I have applied for is an administrative officer with the federal government.

[Spellbound454]

I have been out of work and its pretty soul destroying

Just get on auto pilot and make sure you take all the chances you get. Put the rejection letters in the bin and move on to the next opportunity

There will be something on the horizon, you just cant see it yet.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2014 10:50:33 GMT -5 tloonya said:

May 27, 2014 21:08:07 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Shane you are handling this the best of anyone I have ever seen. Sorry for your stress but holy cow I'm impressed. Good luck on the upcoming interviews.

I am not disagreeing with you later, but I think it is due to the fact that shane wrote:
Financially, we are still fine. And we will be for as long as I have UE, and then for a bit longer.

That definitely helps. She is also being proactive about health care and finding good solutions.

[movingforward]

So sorry you are going through this... I was out of work for 8 months a few years ago.  It took everyone who was let go 5-12 months to find employment.  Luckily, I was okay financially as I had savings and unemployment pay.  I had LOTS of interviews which I felt really good about considering I knew a couple of people who weren't even getting those.  I think it is was because they didn't have degrees and had worked their way up in the company.  I think their lack of a degree was not even allowing them to get a second glance.  As long as you are getting interviews you will eventually land a job (at least IMHO).  I HATED being out of work... By the time month 8 rolled around I was about ready to take a McJob, and not because I needed the money but just to have a job.  At any rate, I ended up in a wonderful place that really values my work.  I feel extremely lucky to be where I am and actually feel like I landed in the right place.  I am glad I didn't take just "any old job" because I would probably have missed out on the opportunity to work for my present employer.  Best of luck to you and I feel sure things will work out for the best. 

[Sunnyday]

May 30, 2014 10:41:16 GMT -5 movingforward said:

So sorry you are going through this... I was out of work for 8 months a few years ago.  It took everyone who was let go 5-12 months to find employment.  Luckily, I was okay financially as I had savings and unemployment pay.  I had LOTS of interviews which I felt really good about considering I knew a couple of people who weren't even getting those.  I think it is was because they didn't have degrees and had worked their way up in the company.  I think their lack of a degree was not even allowing them to get a second glance.  As long as you are getting interviews you will eventually land a job (at least IMHO).  I HATED being out of work... By the time month 8 rolled around I was about ready to take a McJob, and not because I needed the money but just to have a job.  At any rate, I ended up in a wonderful place that really values my work.  I feel extremely lucky to be where I am and actually feel like I landed in the right place.  I am glad I didn't take just "any old job" because I would probably have missed out on the opportunity to work for my present employer.  Best of luck to you and I feel sure things will work out for the best. 

I keep hoping that this is the case. There was one job that I didn't get that would've have been such a good fit, and it really depressed me. And there is one now that I don't think that I'm going to get, but I keep wanting to believe that I have to keep at it and stay prepared and eventually there will be a great fit that comes along.

A job I can grow in, a job with good people, a job that gets me excited in the morning, a job with decent pay and benefits...I'm not asking for the impossible, am I?

[movingforward]

May 30, 2014 11:19:13 GMT -5 Sunnyday said:

May 30, 2014 10:41:16 GMT -5 movingforward said:

So sorry you are going through this... I was out of work for 8 months a few years ago.  It took everyone who was let go 5-12 months to find employment.  Luckily, I was okay financially as I had savings and unemployment pay.  I had LOTS of interviews which I felt really good about considering I knew a couple of people who weren't even getting those.  I think it is was because they didn't have degrees and had worked their way up in the company.  I think their lack of a degree was not even allowing them to get a second glance.  As long as you are getting interviews you will eventually land a job (at least IMHO).  I HATED being out of work... By the time month 8 rolled around I was about ready to take a McJob, and not because I needed the money but just to have a job.  At any rate, I ended up in a wonderful place that really values my work.  I feel extremely lucky to be where I am and actually feel like I landed in the right place.  I am glad I didn't take just "any old job" because I would probably have missed out on the opportunity to work for my present employer.  Best of luck to you and I feel sure things will work out for the best. 

I keep hoping that this is the case. There was one job that I didn't get that would've have been such a good fit, and it really depressed me. And there is one now that I don't think that I'm going to get, but I keep wanting to believe that I have to keep at it and stay prepared and eventually there will be a great fit that comes along.

A job I can grow in, a job with good people, a job that gets me excited in the morning, a job with decent pay and benefits...I'm not asking for the impossible, am I?

Well, I have all that... Okay, I wouldn't say I am EXCITED in the morning (lol) but I don't mind going to work and I definitely like it.  It is hard to find the right job these days which is why I feel extremely lucky.  No job is perfect though and I do realize that everything can change in the blink of an eye.  I have seen it happen to people.  They love their job and everything is great then they merge with another company, or some new asshat comes in and takes over.  You just never know... Anyway, I got off topic a little there... best of luck to you! 

[Phoenix84]

Shannendoah, you mentioned you were applying for federal jobs.

I thought I'd share some experience with the federal jobs process, if you're interested.

Most federal jobs have a pay band with several grades.  There is often a "full performance" grade, but you may not be able to qualify to go straight into full performance.  For example, a job might be posted as a GS 7 with a full performance grade of GS 11.  Generally, unless you have spent one year or more at the next lowest grade level, you'll start at the bottem.  Usually the grade increases come every year until you reach full performance level, sometimes skipping a grade.  Like you might get a GS 9 job, then next year you get an 11, and then a 12.  Even though the starting pay may be low, you can get significant pay increases fast up to your full performance level.  I went from making about 30k as a GS 5 to making 75k as a GS 12 in about three and a half years.

The feds use computer software programs to pre screen applicants.  Basically they scan your resume for words that are in the job description.  The best advice I ever got for federal job searches was to put as many words from the job description into your resume so it's flagged by the computer.  I'm not saying copying it word for word, but if you are listing previous job experience, you should try to work in as many words and phrases as you can without being robotic about it.

Anyways, that's my advice to anyone looking into federal employment.  Take it what you will.

[shanendoah]

laterbloomer - I didn't say it before, so I'll say it now- Thank you.

tloonya - Yes, I am able to handle it better because we are in a financially good spot. However, we worked our asses off to be in this kind of spot. I totally had other plans for the money in savings that is currently supplementing UE, so in that sense, it sucks that I have to use it for this, but I am proud of the fact that we had that money there. We are in a good spot because we made the decision to put ourselves in a good spot. (Because we were in a terrible spot when C was laid off in 2009, and have worked very hard to overcome that.)

movingforward - I am getting close to the point of taking a job just to have a job, but for now, I am still trying to hold out for one that will be a good fit for me and the organization. It is hard because I really thought I had that with my last position at the University, and it was very difficult to basically hear- "That skill set we knew you didn't have when we hired you, yeah, now we want you to try and develop 10 years worth of experience in that in 3 months or so. That didn't happen? Too bad, because that's the skill set we want this position to have."
Still, I am only applying for positions that I look at and think, not only "I could do that" but "That would be fun and interesting to do".

Sunnyday - Hang in there. You'll find what you are looking for. I was pretty depressed after I didn't get one job I really wanted (that I went through 4 interviews for- I was the #2 candidate), and I got really depressed two weeks ago when, 6 hours after an interview I thought went really well, I saw they had re-posted the position on Craigslist, with new copy (so this wasn't an auto thing). I have to believe I will find the right position for me, and by extension, I believe that for you, too.

Phoenix84 - Thank you for the advice. All 4 of my parents worked for the federal government, my mother in personnel, so I have a pretty good idea of how it works, but it never hurts to learn more from someone whose in the trenches currently.