On the Dole Again: A thread for out-of-work/unemployed/laid-off Ilxors in 2010

A thread for

-commiseration
-job-hunting
-drinking before 5pm
-bad interviews
-worse job expos
-the bizarro shit that passes for daytime television
-marathon video game sessions
-hilariously aschew sleep schedules
-bothering the neighbors with music practice during dayling hours
-repeatedly posting resumes to the local craigslist/job board/badly distributed classifieds

I got laid-off from my skilled-trade/blue-collar whatzit job last thursday. Since then, things have been weird/fun/whatever.

Today: already visited the backcracker, had about 3 beers, began to update the resume, played FFXII for a coupla hours

Oh yeah, and randomly, the Sci Fi Channel is showing 8 eps of the Eccleston Doctor Who series in a row today. Click down a few channels, and there's a show on TLC with a woman giving birth in a bathtub. A couple more, and you got a demolition derby.

I've been out of work since I finished my MA at the end of December oh and guess what? My husband was laid off today. Fun times. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Yikes! That's terrible.

Yeah, I know. Things were about to get tough anyway since I'd expected to have something by now but the timing is just so shitty. Part of me honestly doesn't believe it yet. He'll get some severance but still - it really really sucks.

Oh jeez. I'm sorry.

oh wow, E. I'm sorry to hear that

Christ, I'm sorry to hear that.

yow, that's bad :( I'm unemployed but it's just general woes of "where is my life going?" etc. not tough times and shit, sorry to hear that.

Thanks guys. We'll be ok for a little while and I have a few leads in the works which is good. It's just been hard enough for me to find something and I really don't want him to have to go through that now too.

Sorry to hear about that, ENBB. Lemme know if you wanna get in cahoots and go on the grift.

Sticky Fingers ILX Crew

Hahahahaha. We'll see how it goes but I'll let you know if it comes to that.

In the meantime I should probably start enrolling in clinical trials and medical experiments for cash and then start a thread about it, y?

I'd be fucked nine ways til sunday if me and my lad both lost our jobs right now - we have high rent and no savings :( I'm reasonably confident my job is pretty stable, only the company going under alltogether would lose me it, but you never know at the moment do you?

*hugs* to ENBB and Kingfish :(

Thanks Trayce. We also have a lot of bills and no savings. :-( L will get a package so that he gets paid for the next 5 weeks during which time I will hopefully get one of the many jobs I've already applied for. I figure something good has to happen sooner rather than later.

Good thoughts to you both, E -- yipes. Hope everyone's holding on out there.

aw, so sorry e!!!

Its so frustrating, its like... wtf, they cant just fire *everyone* because the economy is bad, people still gotta make our cars and clothes and food! U&%^$%%^$ corporate asswipes.

jesus, E, that really sucks! atm, both our jobs *seem* pretty safe... but all these ppl getting laid off has me pretty worried. for those of you laid off recently, how much warning did you get? did kind of feel like things were headed that way for awhile, or was it pretty sudden?

we'd be pretty fucked too - we've got some savings, but that needs to pay for the massive immigration costs we have coming up over the next few months.

He was told this afternoon and next Friday is his last day. He will then get five weeks pay after that. He knew that the company was making cuts and since he was the highest paid administrator it makes sense that they would cut that expense but he didn't actually know his job was in danger.

My situ is cool right now in that i don't really have many bills aside from rent + student loans.

And my car has no 4th gear, so there's that. At least I can still purchase health insurance thru my old company for like 6 months at a great rate.

Yeah the health insurance is a big one. L's meeting with the finance people first thing Monday to find out all those details. Glad things are ok for you right now. I was fine with my search taking a while but now it just seems that more urgent. I'm trying not to get too freaked out though because hopefully it'll all turn out for the best etc.

I have done most of those things on your list btw and tomorrow I think I may add drinking before 5.

The anxiety part is the worst of any of it. As long as you can survive the anxiety part, and this took me years to figure out, you can handle damn near anything else. Kava kava tea and ativan helps a shitload.

I'd get so fucked up internally that i'd start to freak out and try to find a job, any job, just to kill off the anxiety.

Yeah, you're totally right. I actually have an existing anxiety disorder so happen to have ativan on hand. May have to try the kava kava. I know that if I let myself get too anxious about everything it'll just be 1000x worse so I'm trying my hardest not too.

i'm hoping my job is safe right now, but if the company starts making cuts, i'll probably be one of the first to go. the ceo recently reminded everyone that the company does not pay severance for layoffs, though, just to motivate everyone to work extra hard.

Been unable to find work for three weeks now. On the plus side I've been watching a lot of Battlestar Galactica, Adult Swim and Hitchcock movies.

yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

(;_; @ ENBB and Robbie S - I know you're watching from on high and I'll send a li'l prayer your ways)

Thread should have been called "Good Times, Great Memories: A thread for..."

just so that the greatest Dom meme of them all could live on...srsly I use that one pretty much every time I am forced to contemplate despair

http://freeringtones365.net/wp-content/funeral-for-a-friend-e28093-beneath-the-burning-tree.jpg

the ceo recently reminded everyone that the company does not pay severance

Is their no legal requirement in your country? That’s fucked. In the UK we have statutory redundancy terms of 1 weeks pay (up to £350 p/w) per year worked at the company, plus notice I think (and that seems shitty enough to me).

the US has no such thing.

I got so lucky, I was laid off in December but had six weeks notice, got two and a half months severance, and wound up with a job two weeks after my last day of work. Of course now I'm anxiety ridden all the time, I work twice as hard for the same amount of money, and am constantly worried that I'm about to get sacked. The job market is fucking horrible right now, I can't imagine looking for a job again. I fucked up so many interviews before I nailed this one.

ach this sucks

enbb - if it makes you feel any better my company did layoffs back in january and two of the folks I kept in contact with have subsequently found jobs in boston, so it's not hopeless.

Hey Edward that does help some. There is stuff available here - just not tons. I've been looking for something pretty specific but will now have to broaden my search.

I think L will have an easier time finding a job because he's not looking at something so specialized. He's on a conference call right now with the office and they're discussing the layoffs. 19 people in total were let go and there decision to let him go was def related to the level of his salary.

Anyway thanks Edward - that is helpful. I've also been looking at jobs in Providence because the commute wouldn't be so bad if I found something good and it can only be helpful to look everywhere possible.

I'm only underemployed, not unemployed (and temping at the unemployment office, lol) but I thought I'd share this contemptible bit of fuckwaddery with all you worthless deadbeats.

Rick "The Prick" Perry rejects stimulus money for expanding unemployment benefits.

Oh yeah -I applied for unemployment in December and it was contested so I'm still waiting to speak with an adjuster and it's been almost 12 weeks now!!!

Have signed on with three temp agencies and was told it's very slow right now. grrrr.

Just piping up to say fuck Rick Perry.

i was surprised (although i guess i shouldn't have been) too by the lack of laws regarding redundancies. pretty sure you can't lay someone off in new zealand, esp after the 1st year of service, without some notice and pay-out.

I have a job but I don't have a place to live, and apparently my future roommate and I can't get approved for an apt because everyone is so leery right now of extending credit/trust to anyone with a less than stellar record. Which is confusing, because everyone in NYC has to live SOMEwhere, right? So how does everyone else get an apartment?

I'm really discouraged and don't know what else to do but give up and take a share with a stranger for another 6 mos to a year, until something better comes along or the market changes.

:(

you would think in this economy they'd be glad to have someone paying rent?

i'm glad i never had to look for a place when i moved here, because from all accounts it sounds like a nightmare - tenants have little to no rights in this country.

in foreign country with no recourse to public funds. Need to find a job by the end of the month. can't afford to fly back to the US either. all badness.

I've also been looking at jobs in Providence because the commute wouldn't be so bad if I found something good and it can only be helpful to look everywhere possible.

― Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Friday, March 13, 2009 11:10 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

you'd definitely be going in the right direction traffic-wise. too bad RI's unemployment rate is #2 in the US.

what type of work are you looking for?

We'll my field is Women's Health and specifically the sexual and reproductive health of young women. Ideally I'd like to work in either education or policy work around that which probably means either at a non-profit or gov org. At this point though I'm basically looking at any and all administrative positions. If I'm going to have to be an admin again I'd like it to be in a healthcare setting but am pretty much willing to consider any admin type position at this point.

in foreign country with no recourse to public funds. Need to find a job by the end of the month. can't afford to fly back to the US either. all badness.

reminds me of the horrifying nyt dubai article. what foreign country?

there are a lot of healthcare orgs in providence and brown medical so maybe it's not a bad idea for you to look in providence

I know you're looking for gov/non-profit stuff, but lifespan is a big local chain
http://www.lifespan.org/services/hr/

and women and infants are well respected, I can personally attest they have a great nurse midwife practice
http://www.womenandinfants.org/body.cfm?id=832

xp

Wow - thank you so much E3. That is really helpful. I'm going to look into all three of those today. :-)

this is a good thread idea. sorry to hear about R Spiralli btw...

I'm in contention for a job right now which seems a rare chance to do something exciting rather than just whatever comes along, so seriously praying I can get it.

Made my first call about a job today. And am starting to update the resume.

It's weird to look at the thing, since it was written when I was still in 'the engineering industry', instead of what i've been doing for the last 19 months which has been alarms work. I got shit like 'yeah, i know matlab and unix and any number of HP benchtest equipment' when this last period has been me climbing thru attics or crawlspaces to find out where rats/squirrels/rodentia of any kind have munched the wiring or figuring out why somebody's smoke detector keeps giving off false alarms or climbing down into street vaults filled with 18"+ of water to diagnose why the waterflow tamper switches keep shorting out.

That kinda thing. Yeah it's all troubleshooting and electronics and wiring, but the differences between industries can seem a wide gulf.

At any rate, time to go get a haircut and load up on caffeine. There's tonight's free BSG-screening to plan for as well.

Got an interview on thursday, finally posted my resume to CL, had one headhunter contact me, we'll see how this goes

in other news, playing the Star Ocean PS2 game along with all the others i'm juggling right now

unemployment is great for jrpgs

Hello anxiety my old friend. Meet Ativan. He's gonna kick your ass.

rubbish year to graduate. there is NOTHING out there. :(

how do you get experience at a bar when all the bar jobs require experience? all i need is minimum wage at 30 hours a week to stay afloat, and even that seems out of reach.

sorry had a bit of a whine there

ILXing on a laptop at Einstein Bros., represent.

how do you get experience at a bar when all the bar jobs require experience?

In my experience most people get their first (/second/third) bar job through personal contacts. And in the absence of those.... lie.

I mean, assuming you're in the UK, if you've got any kind of service experience whatsoever and can handle the pace, it's piss-easy to pick up.

I used to bartend and had no experience at all but got the job through a friend.

just had an interview to work in a music/video store wooooo

Prob best not to approach that one as much more than "passionate and informed", LJ. :P

I got my bar job by hanging out a lot at a particular bar. The owner eventually approached me and offered me a job.

So: hanging out at bars a lot=sure path to gainful employment.

got a second interview for that job...so close now! (localgarda password is only on my own computer so I'm back as Ronan briefly)

YAY!!!

That's awesome Ronan!!

:-)

really psyched, it's a different interviewer this time so I guess just got to start again and treat it just as I did the first.

Possible long term temp job in the pipeline for Monday. This would be so awesome as it would alleviate some of the pressure on me to take a permanent job that I don't really want. Oh God, I really hope this comes through.

I plan on scalping tickets to Phish concerts to fund the next quarter of a year...

Yay ENBB!

Thanks!! Am still waiting to hear back from them. Called earlier and was asked if I'm available for a telephone screen tomorrow with the client for a temp job! Craziness. Of course I said yes I'm just shocked at how hard it is even to get temp work right now.

In other news today was the 500+ person event I've spent the last 6 months organizing as part of my internship and it went off pretty smoothly and everyone seemed really pleased. :-)

Great. Local unemployment office is currently "investigating" my claim b/c i had like a single night trainee/apprenticeship class which ended last week, even tho i haven't worked in two weeks. So they haven't actually paid anything out yet, and still actually tell me the "file every week" thing.

compromised ethics when updating my cv today to get job in a bar. since a.) i mostly likely won't get the job in the bar and b.) working there would probably be a compromise of a lot more than just my ethics anyway, i'm not too bothered.

anyone know about jobs at CSR/triple bottom line companies with offices in los angeles? i'm not finding a lot.

cmon hollywood limousine liberals! show me the $$$.

another interview on the 31st, for a much less interesting job but still, nice to have a safety net if the one I want doesn't work out.

I've had two interviews this week. Retail (high-profile independent music/video store in the vicinity of Waterloo) went pretty well, high hopes for that one. Today's online marketing (read: public domain content appropriator (read: spammer)) was less good...I mean we had a pleasant chat and all but I hadn't looked at their website properly, and I was far too cynical and disparaging about advertising. Also lol @ faffy florid earnest secretly-ruthless North London overfriendly trust-fund media-type young ladies tbqfh

Supposed to hear back from interview today, left a message at noon-ish, will try calling back before 6pm. Not knowing if they're going to use me this week along with unemployment office not finishing my claim yet is kicking up the anxiety level again.

bleah.

Still, am in coffeeshop and doing productive job-huntin', so there's that. Might even go help out at the humane society later.

Had an interview today which started with the (2 male) interviewers asking me if I was United or City (Manchester BTW). My heart sank knowing I can’t lie about this subject and I said I’m not really into football. As I expected, they looked at each other, shuffled in their chair and said shall we get started then. Not much banter after that I remember.

I hate it when that happens, something very early in the interview that makes you think "bugger, blown it already...". Worst one for me was an interview where I'd turned up wearing a suit, got shown to the interview room, and then the CEO and MD came in wearing jeans and t-shirts...

is that really so bad? I did that at my most recent interview. at the end to defuse that I said "I hope I'm not dressed too formally, I decided it was best to do so" and the interviewer said he agreed, though he was in jeans and a t-shirt.

got my second interview tomorrow afternoon. am so determined!

Had an interview today which started with the (2 male) interviewers asking me if I was United or City (Manchester BTW)

this seems totally indefensible to me - why would they assume you were into football in the first place? i mean, i guess you didn't put it on your cv as an interest, so why ask that question at all? your response should have had absolutely no bearing on whether you got the job, it's completely irrelevant. i would've asked them this directly, especially given the marked decrease in their enthusiasm following my negative response, and then be seeking legal advice. how dare they even consider asking that?

good luck tomorrow ronan!

also even if the interviewees are wearing fucking rags, you should definitely be wearing a suit. come on. this is basic. i've interviewed people before dressed casually, but i definitely expected them to have made an effort.

legal advice? for what?

vetting job applicants on the basis of what fucking football team they support is permissible? o_0

But lex, they weren't saying they wouldn't employ a United fan. If the interviewer is going to be working with the interviewee, then they will not just assess skills but also if the person will 'fit' with the office environment. If you're more qualified than anyone else they'll still go with you, but if it's a tie then they will pick the football fan because they can envisage a good camaraderie.

I do agree they really shouldn't have asked the question, though, and are probably twats.

xpost um, they just asked a friendly question. it fell flat. no one has any idea what criteria they used to select the successful applicant, in fact since the interview was only today they probably haven't decided who gets the job yet. and there's no anti-discrimination legislation which can guard against the employer just not liking you. so yeah, the grandstanding seemed a bit ridiculous.

that's why i would have asked them there & then whether my response would have any bearing on my chances of getting the job. if not, all well and good, but why even ask? and if yes, surely that is not permissible.

and bollocks was it a friendly question, it was totally loaded - the assumption that not goodwin was into football, despite presumably not having given any indication of this, put him in an awkward and detrimental position. it would be like me asking someone what music they were into - the interviewee immediately knows that they'll be unfairly judged on their response to a question which is irrelevant to the job itself.

gah...interview rescheduled for the second time, this time to thursday afternoon. nervous sleepless night for no reason! still got to keep my focus for this job tho.

seeya suckers (in a week's time when it turns out i'm hopeless at classical music retail)

good luck with this godwin, keep us posted about it on here

Since I last posted I got the long term temp assignment at local university and landed for a position I would really like. The temp position starts Monday and the interview for the perm job is next Thursday.

L has been on two interviews and already has one job offer! He finds out tonight how much they're offering but we expect it to be the same if not more than the job from which he was just let go.

Things are looking up! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

guess he won't be posting on ILX so much then ;_;

good for you & rs!

^^^that too! :)

THanks guys - I'm so unbelievably happy right now.

Very good to hear. :-)

that's great news, erica!!

we had a moment of panic last week, when ytth's boss made some comments that caused him to freak he was in a position to be laid off. but now things seem *okay*. business has picked up at my place of work - let's just hope it lasts.

the big problem is now we're getting semi-desperate to move out of this neighbourhood, but it's pretty much the worst time to look for new jobs elsewhere.

ya E that's really amazing, c-grats

Today is my penultimate day of employment. Tomorrow is the last day of my year-long contract, after which I must take 100 days off from the organization. And given the fab-o state of our economy, they're making no guarantees that they'll be able to bring me back after my 100 days. Wheeee.

excellent!

xp

I have asked ( and have been asked also in interviews) which team a candidate supports etc, Joe is OTM, if two candidates are tied in abilities, you've got to go for best fit, and indeed if someone with a better personality fit but slightly lower skills I'd go with them - a strong team will bring people on anyway. And if someone got sand in their fanny about the question, well, it's unlikely that they would be a good fit is it? And yes, I've employed people in the past who told me that they didn't really like football.

The place that offered RS a job is flying him to NYC tomorrow to meet with the CFO. Talk about a complete turnaround in less than 2 weeks - wow!

you have to remember also that interviewing potential colleagues is not a low stress task, finding some common ground and a diversionary conversational thread can be a lifesaver.

My dole lady looks like looks like Amy Winehouse's haggard older sister.

x-post - great news!

Oops, I was posting on the wrong job thread.

Congrats to you and RS, Erica. :)

I got paid last week for two months of grantwriting work I did for a nonprofit. Got a note today that their check bounced. Good times.

^(porkpie) OTM, one of my least edifying tasks was interviewing former colleagues for a promotion.

Things like the football thing can be a great icebreaker for some people, for my last job the CTO had googled me and found out about the charity I do stuff for and he used that to ease into the process. Made even easier by the fact that he lives near where the charity does some stuff.

well that's acceptable, he made an effort to find out about what you were interested in. that's great interview technique. the football thing is just thoughtless b/c as per upthread it potentially makes the interviewee feel unnecessarily ill at ease (which affects the rest of the interview), while adding nothing relevant of value.

i mean, obviously i'm taking a personal view here, of how unbelievably pissed off i'd be if someone asked me that in an interview. especially if it was a job i really wanted.

Relevance = ability to fit into an environment where people are talking about football all the time? If you got the job, you'd be wanting to stab your colleagues in the eyeballs all the time.

what if they started chatting tennis?

i guess the point is that they just don't know what you're into, so they shouldn't force any discourse onto you without deriving it first from your CV/cover-letter etc

^^how boys' clubs get perpetuated

xps to ailsa and omg lj otm for maybe the first time ever

Aye, I'm in the boys' club at work. Go me.

i really don't think sharing non-work interests is necessary to fit into an office, anyway. at least i've never worked in an office where the conversation revolved around tennis and r&b.

Wacky sitcom plot forthcoming.

Do we know it was an office? Do we know anything other than interview proceeded minus banter? No.

Many jobs in small workplaces are made much more bearable if the people in close proximity for large parts of the day can get on with each other. Sharing of interests not necessary, tolerance of the interests of others fairly important.

I have quit my London job - which was ridiculously well-paid for what it was - to move to Glasgow in two weeks with nothing lined up. I am reasonably confident I will be able to turn something up - I go through my life "reasonably confident" - and hope some of you upthread are exaggerating!

Still waiting to hear back from one company about service guy job. Need to get out of house. Haven't done anythign today.

if asked, btw, the correct answer is "partick thistle", but I'm sure you know that :-)

what are you looking for?

xpost

Well, I generally do editorial work, but I pay enough attention to certain threads on ILX to know that Glasgow is not the place to go for that just now. I have some decent freelance leads to chase up, but apart from that I'm just trusting that it is still feasible for a grown man in good health to make money for food wherever he goes.

I tried to quit my job last month but they refused, it was a sitcom farce. It's sad how this thread suggests that remembering how awful work is doesn't make unemployment any better :(

i interviewed for a job once where it was so important to them that i fit in within the office that they had me shoot the shit with the entire marketing department for almost an hour. it was like the worst kind of social situation trying to be cool and funny but also self-promoting in an interviewy kind of way. then, when i didn't get the job, i had no idea if it was because i was unqualified or if they just thought i was annoying.

FWIW I worked at a company where the CEO - the fucking CEO - made it very clear he looked down upon anyone who chose not to join the footy tipping comp every year. And after I left one of the lasses still there said he'd actually threatened another lady with the possibility of a formal warning. Because she wouldnt join the footy tipping comp. What a load of shit. But that guy was a prick (and a sexist one to boot) anyway.

My bf's co had the GM come in yesterday to say their larger branch has just laid more ppl off, and that "at the moment we all need to work with a sense of urgency!". Eep?

R's said he's considering offering to work 4 days a week if it'd help/not risk things. We can afford that I think. Hell, I'd do it too but I have too many debts. :/

Aw fuck me, the anxiety is starting up again. Didn't get the call from the guy yet, and need to call the unemployment office tomorrow to find out why the fuck they're still dragging their feet and haven't turned on the tap yet.

Aw Kingfish, thinking of you.

delighted for everybody with good news.

commiserations and best wishes to the others.

sincerely hoping i won't be in the same boat after august, which looks likely.

Been kinda productive today. Reposted resume to CL, contacted two headhunters and guy I did some work for before, trying to scrounge up more local headhunter contact info.

Haven't heard back from guy i'm waiting on a response from but will call him back before end of day.

Also have med appt tomorrow to get refill on lorazepam. Hooray for tranqs!

Okay, who wants to help me with my resume? I just need a general glance-over & whatnot

having been a pro job hunter for 6 out of the last 21 months i think i might be equipped to help, if you don't mind a uk perspective and can wait 8 hours til i get to work.

Okay.

Fucking unemployment office now tells me it will be up to a 3 week wait til they 'investigate' my claim due to backlog, even tho I filed two weeks ago.

Congrats to you and RS, Erica. :) - I'll echo these sentiments and say hats' off for the first official happy-ending of the Economic Apocalypse (as far as I know, at least).

Thanks! I webmailed you the other day, btw.

RS spent the day in NY meeting the rest of the people in the co. We're just waiting for the official offer now which should hopefully happen tomorrow morning.

Thanks! I webmailed you the other day, btw. - yep, I just hit you back.

I can see where Lex is coming from with objecting to a footy question; in some companies it's not just how boys' clubs are perpetuated, but how straight boys' clubs select as well.

just had my second interview for that job.

it went really well also, was really informal and was just asking me simple questions to see how I'd fit into their team and stuff. really must have a great chance. god I'll be so gutted if I don't get this job, it seems amazing and both interviewers seemd really good fun.

she said the guy I went for a beer with in the first interview has the final say and she was just seeing what type of person I was.

I'll know in the next week. I guess you never know who you're up against but let's hope!

good luck!

hope you didn't tell them you were a blinkers pool fan tho.....

I sang "in istanbul, we won it five times" for the duration.

It looks like I'm making a trip down to D.C. for several interviews with the EPA later this month.
*crosses fingers and toes*

:-) Yay ZS I'm happy for you.

RS is signing the paperwork for his new job right now!

itt: positive shenans

she said the guy I went for a beer with in the first interview has the final say and she was just seeing what type of person I was.

did you tell her you are lesbian? oh rong thread.

seriously, good luck!

-had doc appt to get px refill on anxiety drugs
-drove down to fucking suburban mall(washington square) to meet with recruiter for 20 mins
-met with friend working at horrible mall
-finally got to visit Lego Store at horrible mall
-drove back into town
-had chinese buffet
-stopped by cameron's books right underneath buffet joint
http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/c641f1bc-b6e8-42ea-ab65-db04c1e36eb6.jpg

-spent $5 acquiring:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/95/Shadowofwengchiang.jpg/200px-Shadowofwengchiang.jpg

AND!

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n2/n11291.jpg

so this should last me at least a day

Sending positivity your way.

me too.

Talked to guy again about possible job. He still needs to get ahold of his current service guys to find out what's up. Told me to call back tomorrow.

Bleah. Got out of house to head to punk show where's friend's band is headlining. Anxiety level is making me feel like shit, and even the comically overdone accents of the oi! band onstage aren't doing it for me.

Oh look, they're starting to slam to "alternative ulster" now.

I'd just like to complain that this thread keeps making me get "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson stuck in my damn head all day, thanks a lot guize ;P

PS hang in there Jer, you'll be ok *hugs* dont let it get to you too much :(

ok, i feel a little better. the band ended with "So What", which I haven't heard since I used to play it on my show and i've never seen a band cover it.

Then the band i went for came on and they tore it up. Kinda like street punk chuck berry played at hardcore speed

And they remembered me, even tho i haven't seen them for 6 years, so that's always cool. They played my basement 9 years ago in Ann Arbor.

The unemployment funds being delayed so long is what's really bothering me.

I'm going to make a run to the cd/dvd/game shop to sell a buncha of stuff, and the unused pedals are going up on craigslist. Whee.

cross posts by many dozens, but it's illegal (in california at least) to even ask about what sports teams you support in an interview. I've been through many many many sessions with laywers and HR people and gone over what kinds of questions you can ask in interviews and they options are very limited. you also can't ask anyone's age, where they live, or hundreds of other things. but this obviously might be different in the UK.

So that semi-perm temp job I was so excited about? Fell through. Yeah, fuck . . .

:/

That sucks. I had to argue with a lady on the phone about the stupid form they finally sent me, 3 weeks after I filed. The fact that the lady didn't really know what the form was asking and didn't really have English as her primary language didn't help.

I've reached a point where I don't have any money in my bank account, no cash, and I'm even out of change. I'm going to have to ask my parents for money just to ride the fucking bus. I feel like dogshit.

I've been there. I fucking hated it

chin up & stay strong rev (and everyone else in that position)

so glad to hear some sense in akm's post, big ups california. have been thinking about this way too much & will probably end up haranguing real life friends about the injustice of it all

im on JSA at the moment, which is kinda saving me financially tho making me feel guilty whenever i buy something i dont exactly 'need'. been doing little bits of freelance work on the side but the moneys shit and all the effort im putting into that is stopping me from actually doing as much job hunting as i need to. this week i will definitely get on it.

RS started his new job today which is great but I still haven't found anything since the temp thing fell through and am really bummed out that this whole process is taking so long. I thought going back to school and getting my MA was going to, you know, help me advance my career and yet it's apparently rendered me completely unemployable. YAY! /drama queen.

Tell me about it - seems that more skills = less employable, because managers are too scared to employ you in case you show them up as incompetent.

I'm going to go pick up RS from the train station soon and am seriously debating whether it's worth changing into jeans or if i should just go in my pajama pants. Good lord I need a job. Maybe someone will pay me to write about daytime television.

OK, turns out it's not quite that bad yet. I got dressed.

Unemployment office finally called to follow up on my claim, hopefully they're actually turn on the tap so i can, you know, pay rent & all that.

Got a call from another place looking for alarm inspection guys and installation techs today, so they got a resume zipped off to them.

Now, time to watch "K9 Cops" on Animal Planet

I'm playing the waiting game after my second interview last week. Fingers crossed, have a v good feeling about it.

Well, I generally do editorial work, but I pay enough attention to certain threads on ILX to know that Glasgow is not the place to go for that just now

Er, yeh, that's one way of putting it ... but it might not be as unremittingly bleak as you think. What kind of "editorial work"? Drop me a line off-board if you want (the webmail link from my username page should work fine) ... I'm really not sure how much use I can be, but you never know.

Supportive vibes and heartfelt good wishes to everyone posting here. Man, these are some shitty times.

Just phoned an insurance company to enquire about a position, not exactly my ideal job, but it’s a 10 min walk down the road. The girl took my name and then started to telephone interview me (this was not advertised), I was totally not prepared and didn’t have my CV or anything to hand. Will know in 24 hours if they er liked the sound of my voice and want to see my face.

Have any other U.S. unemployeds figured out the whole COBRA/stimulus package subsidy thing? As far as I can tell, the subsidy will kick in at some point after I start paying, but I'm wondering how long that will take. I'm also wondering if I really have to pay for the three months between when my health insurance ended and when I opted on COBRA, considering I haven't been to the doctor in that time.

wooo 3 hours til not having a source of income

Unemployment check status now listed as "Waiting Week", which is a step up from not being listed at all. Except I don't know if they're going to pay for the last 3 weeks that I've been waiting around.

If you claimed for those three weeks then you should get paid. I am still waiting for a decision on my claim but if it's approved I should get paid for the end of December until now which would be sweet.

ah.

hmm.

-hilariously aschew sleep schedules

THIS is the one I fear the most. You want a call but your half-asleep and feel you cant answer one question with dignity.

You want a call but your half-asleep

I've gotten these about 3x in the last week. Still got requests for my resumes, at least.

Cool for you...follow up. I'm trying to be up by nine...just in case.

just got called by two agencies about the same job with a sports equipment manufacturing company, bodes well.....

YAY!

I have an interview on Friday for a different long-term temp job. I'm really hoping I get it for a number of reasons. We'll see!

best of luck with that porkpie

still waiting on a call about my second interview last week, pretty optimistic though, they said a week's time last thurs so not worried yet!

had an assessment which could lead to an interview for another job on Monday too, I was v half assed in my preparation as the job doesn't seem great but it seemed to go v well anyway, no thanks to my slacking!

x-post good luck!

xp jeez this thread is a roller coaster; started catching up on it w/the post about yr last possible job falling through

GOod luck to you too Ronan!

CAD - Tell me about it. This whole process is a roller coaster. This new possible temp job is right across the street from L's new job at the Pru which is sweet because we could commute together. It would also be through August which should be plenty of time for me to find a "real" job. So yeah . . . *fingers crossed*

In disappointing news, I was supposed to have an interview tomorrow for a perm job in my field that I really want but was called yesterday because the person conducting the interview is out unexpectedly for the rest of the week. ARGH. They said they'd call back first thing next week to reschedule. I really hope they do.

don't let it spoil the match tonight LG

haha yes really looking forward to swearing at paul mcshane and kev kilbane and now andy keogh for 90 mins

Got myself an interview on friday, waiting for details via e-mail :-/

To Do: (wednesday edition)

-call 2-3 headhunter companies today to get my info updated in their system
-sign up at day-labor/temp place
-call back two guys about job, one i've already interviewed for, one who asked for a resume
-call unemployment office again
-meet with friend at pub who's a former headhunter and now starting her own professional resume eval company
-ride bike, clean place, volunteer at humane society for a bit

and

-need coffee and breakfast

Stay grinding kingfish; not having a gig and looking for one is some top five nasty shit thing to be doing but you only need to win once.

Holy shit, they just finally paid all my back unemployment. It's only two weeks worth, but fuck, I can pay rent now.

Beers on me tonight.

where do you live again, kf?

pork land, oil gun

Yay Kingfish. That's really great news and am happy to hear it.

ah. I was gonna offer you a beer, but I don't think it'll keep on the plane over.

Oh that's okay. Judging from recent trends, there's a good chance that more than a few of you will wind up relocating to the PacNW at some point anyway

has anyone here ever bothered re-applying for a job that they were rejected for, only to see same job re-advertised a few months later?

I think I've tried that, just to see what would happen.

Aye, and I got an interview, which was better than I managed the previous time, though I still didn't get the job. May be worth a call/ask around/google to find out what happened to the person they took on in front of you the last time? Or a call to their HR department to ask if previously-unsuccessful applicants would be automatically reconsidered (i.e. is it worth bothering my arse applying again).

nothing to lose re-applying i guess. i figure they never actually filled the vacancy the first time tho (thought maybe they'd contact their 2nd choice from the original process to see if they were still interested rather than re-advertise).

nothing more disheartening than seeing the same position come up every eight weeks or so (and for jobs that can't have gone unfilled) and yet you still never even get an interview. But hey I shouldn't be here, I'm employed. Then again, I could rant forever about my current benefits situation, where being under 25 I'm left living on less than I would be if 25 and on JSA, and with a potential £130 (!) less housing benefit every month.

while I'm working now, I should say that I know where yr all at, being unemployed for more than six months after graduating (and my girlfriend is currently in her ninth month - luckily she's also a part-time student, so hasn't quite had her soul destroyed yet). I think I got incredibly lucky - three months after my interview I got offered the job, and later found out that they were going to start the job filling process all over until they found out they couldn't get funding for it. So I guess they were forced to settle for someone (me) who they didn't actually think was good enough, hooray!

So the job I recently had a second interview for (it'll be two weeks ago on Thurs) said I should hear something in "a week or so" (a week would have been last Thursday) and I've heard nothing so far. There were only 3 people getting second interviews tho I think I was the first of those. I'm not feeling pessimistic really until I hear further, but I am wondering: is it okay to email the guy who interviewed me and ask when I might know more?

I can't decide if this is good as it shows my interest in the job, or bad as it is hassling them.

Hmm, not really sure about that, at the end of the day though, it can't hurt too bad to email them, it's not like if you're the one getting the job they're going to decide to give it to someone else because you hassled them, and if you're not getting the job who cares if you annoy them!

I am currently doing a job application full of interview type questions as well as a personal statement. I fucking hate this. Leave the questions for the interviews and just give me the statement ffs.

if you do it once, i don't think it's hassling them

I am currently doing a job application full of interview type questions as well as a personal statement. I fucking hate this. Leave the questions for the interviews and just give me the statement ffs.

kinda agree. presumably they're trying to get a better sense of best potential candidates before interview stage but otoh what do they want you to say if you do reach that stage that wasn't already written down (is it really worth re-iterating?).

my draft is:

"Hi ****

Just wanted to quickly enquire about when I might hear more on the job, just for my own info. Was delighted to have the chance to come back for the second interview.

Hope all is well with you guys,

Local Garda's Real Name"

It was pretty informal so I've tried to keep it BREEZY. This is too like calling a girl after a date or something.

xp. yeah, this is exactly it, the written version is going to be at the very least as fleshed out and well put as it will be when I'm in the interview, so it will just be total redundancy, unless they ask me different questions, which will be really annoying as it's quite a few here that they're asking.

Local Garda's Real Name

This...this is perfect. It's a band name, a blog name, a life.

would giving them a call be too fwd? at least then you might get direct answer more quickly

Ronan, I've done this before and tbh, if they're going to offer you the job an email or a phone call is not going to cause them to reconsider. if they said they were going to let you know by last week they won't consider it hassling and will prob be apologetic themselves.

I think an email is good since they've used email a lot for arranging interviews etc. I feel I've a great chance for this job and it's more just that if they say "Oh we will have news next Monday" then I can stop ringing my message minder everytime I emerge from the subway or checking my email frantically!

Hmm he said there's a delay in launching the project so they've put the role on hold and "hopefully will get back to you in the next couple of weeks".

Doesn't sound great in the current climate but fingers crossed. I have other interviews coming up but that is the job I want most. Ideally I don't want to take another role only to leave after a month, but I suppose that is what you do if a job you want more comes up?

Yeah, you'll piss 'em off but it's not like you'd need them to provide with a reference or nuffin.

I used to worry about seeming too desperate but until I figured a company is not like a girl, and it won't be off-putting to them if you seem really enthusiastic about "getting with them". For one job I made a mash-up of bits of songs to create something that expressed my keenness to work for them.

Didn't get the job though. :-/

Spoke to a friend of mine who is a person who makes many hires and she says what's impressive to her is when the person goes the extra mile and says they really want the job. You can register such interest once.

Just talked to a friend who was laid off last week, after 32 years at the same company - no severance and given less than an hour to clean out his office.

omg.

That's so horrible Jaq. My condolences to your friend.

Wait, maybe that was a weird thing to say? I don't know. Anyway, that really sucks. I can't even imagine.

Between the cold weather and no job, sometimes I won't even leave the house unless I have to return a netflick :(

NYC people should drop me a line and I will take you out to see live music and pep your spirits.

I had to watch my gf go through some nine months of unemployment not so very long ago; I'm REAL sympathetic about the mental ugliness and unhappiness it can engender.

I know ENBB - I was stunned, but I also know the owner of the place he worked is a total jerk. I'm helping my friend get set up as a consultant and he's taking it all pretty well, considering he's had his retirement ripped out from under him.

No severance??? thats horrible. People are getting laid off at my co but at least most of them have been there 15-20+ years and theyre getting 3 weeks per year. Id be on a plane to europe before security could escort me out. If i get laid off im screwed because im not even 3 years yet.

so I got laid off, or, more accurately, fired this morning. It was quite awful, having never been given the axe in quite this way; they frankly told me that they thought I was "terrible" (my work was fine) and that they weren't a "welfare agency" (??? I fucking worked ten and eleven hour days for these douches, six days a week for a month). Ultimately I'm pretty sure I was the scapegoat for a project that has been sinking since before they hired me, and they wanted to try to save face in front of the clients in the hope that they can get more work out of them if it looks like they're "dealing with the problem". I'm wondering if I have any legal recourse; I had no "at will" sentence in my offer letter (I was full time, salaried) and was given no written explanation of my termination, just a bunch of belligerent asshole crap (I had to argue with them to agree to pay me my accrued time off as well, which they didnt have ready and didn't want to do). this is a tiny web development company with only four employees including my two bosses, no HR department or anything. Weirdly they did this just two days after passing the 90 day mark whereby they have to pay the agency that they found me from a huge fee; said agency called me tonight and was like, "uh, what the hell? we talked to them last week and they said everything was fine, and we reminded them they had to pay us next week!"

okay, done venting.

That sucks, dude. Welcome back to the land of the living.

Sorry to hear that ... but it does sound like you might be best off out of that one. Commiserations, though.

that is really horrible, i'm so sorry.

My mate just e-mailed me to say he's been made redundant. Christ's teeth, I didn't expect that. (I think he did, mind you.)

my job today let it be known that there would no longer be a meeting on the 27th to let us know who would be made redundant, but that there would be a meeting 'sometime before then' to let us know when they would be ready to announce the date of a meeting at which they would confirm the date when they would let us know which of us would be made redundant

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since I started doing ebay part-time while I look for a job, and I'm already at around $300. I may end up just doing this for a while, unless they pull that internet taxes bullshit.

what do you do on ebay adam? I've known various clever people who made good $$ on that site, but I've always been hesitant.

SNES videogames, old 80s action figures, lots of misc books, comics, VHS tapes, etc. I got to a point where I had all this stuff stored at my folks house that I've been holding onto since I was a kid and has seen daylight in over a decade. My parents kept bugging me to pick through it so they could bring the rest to Goodwill and I need money and have all the time in the world so instead I took it all and put it on ebay.

Got around 200 things posted now, sell maybe 30 a week. I go to thrift stores constantly so I'm considering getting even more serious about it. As for now I'm just throwing it up and seeing what sticks.

Sometime I'll search "Lots" and just look at what has been selling the most, sometimes it's really surprising and out of nowhere. One time I saw a set of 30 Nancy Drew Files paperbacks from the 80s sell for like 600 dollars. It wasn't even a complete set.

Just something I stumbled across that may be of interest to UK ILXors (science journalism). The site is pretty useful. Should be an interesting job. Money is not good at all though.
http://product.researchresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=7

Feh. Another week of waiting. Called the company I had a great interview with to find out that they want me to call back on friday to see if any of the prospective contracts have come thru yet.

Also found out the disappointing if not unsurprising news that the local trade group that I was going thru the apprenticeship program for lets its douchebag suburban republican members post stupid conservative news bits & talking points on their official site.

We have a skilled trades union urging its members to attack the Employee Free Choice Act and the recent Admin move to favor unionized companies with a certain amount of recent contracts.

And I have to attend their monthly board meeting tonight out in the suburbs just to be excused from attending the trainee class for this term, on account of not actually having a job to be trained at & such.

for example:

http://iecoregon.org/newsevents.asp

first bit is announcing a trade event coming up, second bit links right to FoxNews.

Finally given on just looking for low-voltage jobs, as the response has been long in coming, so i'm applying to engineering spots again.

And some of them are heart-rendingly perfect, which always jacks up my stress level when applying. It's the same way when you see somebody who's just so fucking hot that you clam up around them.

Goddamn I hate job-hunting. I'm going to read some Snakepit for a while, see if that breaks the anxiety.

It's the worst. But you're still thrashing! That's good!

Fuck this. I'm going to go walk some dogs at the Humane Society.

aw they will love that.

wait a minute, do they call it "the dole" in america?

no

waiting is the name of the game it seems...one job I want is majorly delayed, another I don't really want but have to want would prob have got back to me by now.

I'm out of work almost 6 months now.

have been placed in limbo by job who out of the fkn blue told me today that they couldn't offer me any more work "for now", which translates as "we do not want to pay someone for the next month, and you, as the new kid, were easy meat"

they expect me to stay on their books, i think

im for the high jump next friday and frankly looking forward to it. i figure ive 2 months before the shizzle hits the fizzle. ive been doing all my design bits in my spare time so now i can attempt the big push to go freelance

Interview on Monday at 9am, with a reputable, ethical food company, small offices in pretty good location. Really trying hard not to over-want it.

Will hit six months a week today.

which translates as "we do not want to pay someone for the next month, and you, as the new kid, were easy meat"

fair enough, obv

wait a minute, do they call it "the dole" in america?

Most people would think you were huffing pineapple slices if you told them you were on the dole.

managed to get an ongoing freelance gig for a pretty good 'for-profit non-profit' company (like newman's own, but not them), although I'm worried now that taking any freelance work screws me for unemployment...I already had some freelance things lined up that I needed to finish, but is the state (california in this case) now going to consider me 'self-employed' and not eligible? because I'd have to get a LOT more freelance business in order to actually survive on that alone.

Dogs walked yesterday:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2880/iphone291.jpg
"Porter"

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2687/iphone293.jpg
"Bender"

Called one place to find out there's no work for another week, biked around, went to the library's used book store and bought a few, biked more, walked this snorting pug beast:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/755/iphone300.jpg

now at Florida Room for happy hour(again). Feh.

Most people would think you were huffing pineapple slices if you told them you were on the dole.

LOLOOL

Oops, sorry I'm not supposed to be on this thread, I'm "working"...

had 2 employment agency interviews conducted by people 20 years younger than me.

not a real sniff in 18 days.

Bleah. Few things remind you of your own impending mortality than when headhunter types are noticeably younger than you.

Been over two months now. Cash I saved is drying up and I had to swallow hard and ask the mom for a loan. Spent too much money going to the zoo yesterday, and back to job hunting again today. I hate this so much.

i hear ya. :( rejected after interview last week that i thought went quite well. *sigh* here we go again.

OMG Kingfish pugwalking would be one of my ideal jobs.

Finally got a job, part-time, but it's something. I applied in January and had an interview in February and a few days ago they finally got in touch with me.

Heard yesterday that the economy = 'not in free fall' and it seems 'that the bottom is in sight' but this doesn't mean jack unless people can get back to work.

Had this message from a friend working at the BBC ... she's cool with me posting it here, so:

I need to speak to people who have bad experiences of using employment or recruitment agencies. Anyone who's had wages withheld, or been placed in a job they're not qualified for, who hasn't had their ID checked when working through and agency or just generally seen dodgy tricks pulled in order to make money for the agency. This also applies to employers seeing these sorts of problems too!

Ideally she's looking for people in Scotland, though the rest of the UK would be fine ... think anywhere else would be stretching it, though. Anyway, if anyone fancies going on the record and moaning, then drop me a line via the webmail link and I'll pass on your details.

Sorry if anyone thinks this is spamming/inappropriate; I don't think it is, given some of the discussion upthread.

Just received an e-mail from the agency that I’m waiting to get back to me about a few vacancies I’ve shown an interest in. They seem to be in no rush to do so, but find time to try and get me to purchase stuff that if they read my CV, they’d know I would not need. It was basically a learning pack for Word, PowerPoint etc

It really is a joke; some kid on the phone suggested my CV needed improving. I told him I’d copied the format from a friend who’d had a professional company do his (he’s a commercial director), his response was “how much was it?” ,cheeky fuck!

I've had two discouraging offers in the last day, both discouraging because they sounded like dream jobs from the descriptions, exactly where I want to go careerwise, but one was contract-only through august with no idea of how many hours they could give me and completely inaccessible via public transportation, and the other had a salary so incredibly low that I couldn't believe it; the recruiter practically begged me to take it "just for a while, then look for another job"....they must not be able to find anyone who will work for what they can pay. back to looking at asinine web development jobs.

in the meantime I've panicked and freaked out so much I overloaded on freelance work I now have absolutely no time to complete and so am about to look like a giant ass to three companies. fear is not a good motivator.

what are you doing on here with no time to complete workload?

local comm. college is having their job fair on tuesday, so will probably go to that.

found out from one lead that they're not hiring apprentices yet, but may use me for temp work.

christ do i hate job-huntin'

One guy who wanted my resume is busy with hip surgery, so nothing there.

Other guy who interviewed me says he wants me to work a day or two with his guys next week as a working interview, will call by end of Monday. Let's see what happens.

I got a freelance job doing some work for the local PBS/NPR station and went to their (very nice) offices this week and waited around on an ikea couch for two hours for someone to submit my paperwork for a VPN connection; everything was soft colors and quiet lighting and some guy was ranting about a book he'd read about Heidegger on the phone to someone else; then 'free burritos' showed up and it was like feeding time at the animal pen, but for some reason there were NO FORKS in the entire building, just spoons and knives.

I keep getting calls for jobs in NY and LA. I live in SF. Recruiters seem very astonished that I am unwilling to uproot my family for a contract job across the country.

free burritos are the bestest burritos

this no forks in the entire building business sounds like a clue, but to what i do not know.

I now have a shorter alternate resume for when I do not wish to appear "dated" (ie someone who worked when Reagan was president).

jesus I need a job

alliterated sequel to "heaven i need a hug"

o lord ronan i need a job too and more pertinently one that lasts for more than a month

jesus I need a job

― Local Garda, Saturday, 2 May 2009 01:16 (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

is that praying, cos i might have to join in.
6 months now, but only been looking for 3 and i'm ready for work. i really (am i really saying this) miss everything that goes with a job, not just the money. i miss annoying people who are cheery in the morning, listening to people talking about crap, getting squashed on public transport.

maybe i've just lost the plot and gone mad though?

only missing the money thus far.

I miss all the annoying aspects of office life as well. I did work for three months this year and had none of that though, it was a tiny office with three neurotic egotistical engineers. I miss bullshit marketing people and their personal lives.

so, last Monday I had a pretty decent interview, went well and got on with the interviewers. We parted well, they said "I'm sure we'll see you very soon for psychometrics and an advanced excel test" Yesterday agency says "sorry, they decided to hire someone else" no feedback yet, and no second interview/test.

Gutted, especially as it was in perfect location, lovely offices and a reputable, fairtrade company.

I got a freelance job doing some work for the local PBS/NPR station and went to their (very nice) offices this week and waited around on an ikea couch for two hours for someone to submit my paperwork for a VPN connection; everything was soft colors and quiet lighting and some guy was ranting about a book he'd read about Heidegger on the phone to someone else; then 'free burritos' showed up and it was like feeding time at the animal pen, but for some reason there were NO FORKS in the entire building, just spoons and knives.

― akm, Friday, May 1, 2009 7:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

This sounds like a dream I might have.

Guy called me back today, wants me to drive over to the office to fill out the paperwork, and start tomorrow. This for another local small alarms/electrical place.

So it looks like I have work for a little while at least.

'Bout time.

i need to work, going on holiday to barcelona next month and need money for good food and drugs :(

got a couple of weeks, possibly, with bbc again assuming a meeting on wednesday goes well, prob won't lead to anything permanent but good to have some money.

now I realise I've got scared of the workplace in my time being unemployed, not least a newsroom where other people passionately want to be there and I'm just unsure.

worst part about being unemployed for me is I have no idea what I want to do.

i hear you on that.

contemplating moving to berlin and being a bartender. Friends have a spare room and since i just seem to be drifting between shit jobs here without forging any sort of career i may as well drift between shit jobs somewhere cooler.

Congrats KF!

oh yeah, that too, sorry for solipsism! Congrats.

berlin would be brilliant. I have friends there fucking about doing nothing and in some ways it sounds amazing. Except I dunno, I'm conservative in some ways and I want direction and money and to know I'm going somewhere. Prob no point putting pressure on myself like that when I have no specific ambitions/dreams though.

also just moved to London, I'm not sure I'd like to move again.

good to hear kingfish...this thread was a great idea btw...nice to know we're not alone!

Oddly enough, I feel kinda weird now. I've spend 2 months out of work and only the past month not worrying about the finance part. Now that somebody is going to bring me in to try to me out for a week or two, it feels like I'm losing something.

Of course, the thing I'm losing is the aimless and directionless sitting around and/or drinking during the day, which is just stupid after two weeks. My lack of motivation will conquer all!

Part of it is that since I can easily overthink things, I'm really indecisive about stuff like job choices as I can see the different benefits in each one. Also, more crucially, I can't stand missing out on things or disappointment, so I can go down one path and instantly question my own judgement as to whether the other was better. I fear & despise disappointment and regret so much that it can paralyze, which is why you'll never see me running for public office unless I'm good & drunk.

It's this insecure, self-questioning, & hilariously non-confident thing that I have, where I've internalized so much criticism(thanks, high school teachers Mom & Dad) that I doubt my choices on many things. Except for stuff like getting my engineering degrees or moving to Portland. No doubts or regrets about that at all.

But anyway, work: it's good. I base the overwhelming majority of my self-worth and self-esteem on accomplishment and pleasing others, and so I'm lost when I can't fix something or solve some other problem that somebody has. At least now I'll get to paid to muck about with gear again, which is what I'm best at.

Congrats kingfish!

Thanks for all the congrats, tho. I appreciate it.

KF, all that stuff is absolutely normal. Just think of whatever you're doing now as a step forward, not the final goal.

also don't drink at work

maybe just a little

Of course, the thing I'm losing is the aimless and directionless sitting around and/or drinking during the day, which is just stupid after two weeks. My lack of motivation will conquer all!

I hear you. Nobody telling you what to do, not having to speak to people in an office setting, not having to get up in the morning when you feel like shit etc. Cos of illness stuff I have the fear of the extra effort required to work is kind of nasty.

It has to be overcome though.

what do you guys think about whether I should send a big jazzy cover letter to jobs where it's done through a recruiter. I can't decide if that comes across as overly pompous and they actually just want to scan your CV or it's a mandatory.

it says in the ad "send a CV to b✧✧✧@recruit✧✧✧.c✧✧"

blah at recruiters dot com

Always do a cover letter, not sure about jazzy, but always do a cover letter, missing one out just gives them an excuse to bin it.

Yeah I definitely am including one but not sure whether to go v standard, as in "Hi Person's Name, I am writing to apply for the post of ....., please find my CV enclosed. Sincerely, LG" or say why I want the job etc

Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong! I've just been sending out the CV.

Seriously dude, I was doing that for ages then when I started doing cover letters I got two interviews!

And no job! (Though one could still work out)

Daaaaamn, I shouldn't have stayed up til 20-to-5AM, I'm gonna be totally wiped tomorrow and not wanna work on a cover letter.

Im pretty sure in a cover letter you should give some sort of hint as to why you want the job/would be good for the job. a teaser if you will so they will be motivated enough to look at the actual cv.

only a few sentences though

Its also a good idea to slightly personalise your CV to each job - ie, if there are irrelevant skills on your overall CV, dont include them for that job unless they're really going to bring something to the party so to speak. Big up the strong points depending on what kind of role/skillset it is, I think I had about 3 or 4 CVs going at one point. Partic. difference was between corporate jobs and govt jobs.

Govt job apps are a pain. They ask you to address specific selection criteria. If you miss on any of the points even a little bit, thats it you're off the pile.

I have a weird Midwest-instilled bonehead sense of modesty/honesty that makes it really difficult for me do all this. I do not know how to sell myself. But also making this difficult is my laptop powering off at random and also deleting my CV and everything else I lazily save on my desktop (which is a LOT). Computer also seems to think my desktop folder is inaccessible / doesn't exist?!? WTF. Like I've accomplished nothing today!

%#%($#ure$(#$^*ier

LOL I was really impressed that I spelled "shure $" in my keyboard mashing but then realized that's not how you spell "sure".

(NB I'm not quite *that* dumb, Shure is brand of microphone, just had a momentary lapse. You foolios!)

You sound like you need a drink ;)

Those couchsurfers did buy us that bottle of wiiiiine....!

Whatever deleted my CV and desktop also deleted Google Chrome from my computer today :-\

But on the up side, my gf is helping me rewrite my CV and stuff. <3<3<333333

Gotta question: I'm mostly applying for labor positions, construction jobs and the like. Resume or CV?

dunno if this will be of any help, rabies:

http://www2.careers.govt.nz/new_to_nz.html

write a cover letter, if you don't your resume will get chucked; I didn't pay any attention any any resumes that didn't come with a cover letter when I was in a position to hire someone. There is tons of information on resumes, cover letter needs to distill that and give it context to the job applied for. If you don't write a cover letter for a job you are applying to, you don't want it enough.

weird...I went to meet a producer from the show I was hoping to do 3/4 weeks at that I mentioned above, midway through the "informal chat" she mentions they actually have a 6 month contract going. conversation went really well and today the woman who runs the training scheme that got me into the BBC rang me to say that same producer asked her for a reference for me.

suddenly looking v good for a job on a really cool programme!

best of luck with that!

Fingers crossed, LG: I really hope that works out for you.

im having trouble knocking out the apps like i should be doing every day. just cant be fucked at the moment. and not really getting any response from the ones i have done either. i feel a tad aimless. i hope my letters are at least decent.

if you feel that aimless way my tip is to check the dates when the app needs to be in. obv ideally you'd want to send apps in as quick as possible but if you're at that kind of low ebb then just make sure you note jobs that you are interested in for future reference as you will want to do the application at some point.

thanks grimly and darragh, i'll let you all know. like I say the fact she asked for a reference looks good but let's wait and see...

I'm in much the same boat as Titchy after last weeks fiasco - still no feedback......Agent has gone on holiday

Fingers crossed for you Ronan.

My mother gave me grief yesterday about still not having a job. She is "disappointed" in me and is sad that she has to lie to her friends when they ask how I'm doing. Thanks Mom, I needed that. Happy Mothers' Day, btw. Grrrr.

i suggest banned your mom

thanking u

Btw I am fucking temping so it's not like I'm still sitting around on my ass doing nothing. Yeah, she's sort of a bitch sometimes.

i SBed her as well, and her reports-wanting friends, but <3 to you.

:-)

She is "disappointed" in me and is sad that she has to lie to her friends when they ask how I'm doing.

That’s awful, what’s so bad having a child that’s out of work, or in your case temping? Both my parents completely understand (which is weird, but that’s a whole new thread). It’s really hard at the moment to find employment that you want to do, I know people say beggars can’t be choosers, but there are limits.

Yeah, idk. My mom can be clueless and . . . difficult (read: hurtful) sometimes (read: often).

rejected again. :/

:( for Roz and ENBB and Porkpie. And good luck LG!

It's really a pain to write cover letters when your computer keeps crashing. Same goes for trying to figure out what the computer problem is. Jeeez.

Oh and thanks again Just1n3. That was actually really helpful!

....

second rejection in one day. drunkness officially commences now.

:`(

I should also mention that when I sent my CV to my gf to help me edit it she said parts were totally garbled and unreadable. So this whole time I've been sending out a corrupt file to all these jobs that makes me look totally retarded.

oh man, rabies... you need to get a new computer i think.

lol job first

ha true. :(

re: parents, i am doing voluntary and VERY occasional freelance work (had to cut down cos i was doing that instead of applying for jobs), but i do feel a bit crap that my dad is currently working more hours than i am!

My wife hasn't worked for a year cos she had TB. Now she's pretty much recovered she's been applying for jobs for over a month and hasn't even been dignified with a rejection :(

I guess the gap in her employment is going to fuck her over? We're pretty much skint right now.

i got one rejection email today. result!

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii317/RabitesAngelatin/WAHT.gif

I am getting fed up.

Colonel Poo, does Mrs Poo mention her absence being due to illness in her cover letters? I started doing that, and found myself getting more interviews when I put in a sentence like "having been out of work for some time due to ill health, I am looking to return to...", so that there's no ambiguity about the big gap on my CV.

i think i'm going to have to put a big lie in my CV saying that my six months unemployment has included a number of months in South America, when in fact I was only on holiday there for 3 and a bit weeks. I need to look less shit.

╓abies, re-write your resume with google docs or something.

!

Thanking uuuuu

Worked from Tuesday on at the place, and they want me back in on Monday. So that's good.

Of course, I was working on pre-wiring installations, so my forearms are all scratched up from having to deal with drop tile ceilings and their wire supports.

I have slept an hour because of the worry. I have made a pot of coffee. Today I will be a finely honed stream of ambition until I turn a new shade and pass out. F this.

Spoke the squirrel from his people face.

Kava kava tea would probably be a better choice.

Hey, I forgot about that stuff. Not just this second though.

Well, speaking as someone who's had to deal with much finance- and job-related anxiety over the past 3 years(you can track it by my thread revivals, unsurprisingly enough), that tea and physically getting out and running or going for a fast walk(be it at 1am or otherwise), does great wonders to calm things down.

Applied for a few more jobs, individual cover letters n everything. Gonna take your advice kingfish, takin a nap now and getting out for some air / purchasing somma that tea when I get up. And then more on this job huntamajig.

GOT THE JOB :)

6 week probation stage starts May 26th, then with a view to a contract after that. so psyched.

Congratulations, may you never need to post on this thread again.

Well, let's see how I get on through the probation!

:)

The probation thing is more for the employer rather that the employee, it basically gives them the opportunity to get rid of you without having to worry about unfair dismissals and explanations. You'll be fine as long as you turn up.

Nice one btw.

yup, what not_goodwin said, good work dude!

I got a phone call today from an unknown number, got super pumped it might be re a job.

Wrong number.

Sigh.

Great goin, LG!

thanks guys...I won't abandon you all here when I go to "the outside".

YAY!

Tell us what it's like, LG, go be a real human.

*to

lol

Go be a real human! Pfff.

congrats ronan!

Congratulations, Ronan!

FIVE redundancies in the office of Edgy Style Mag, read all about it here before MediaGuardian....

Rah Ronan. :-)

good, LG

I have an interview today I've been trying to get scheduled for over a week. so of course, I woke up completely sick, worst cold I've had in ages. I can gulp down medicine and fake my way through it...should I, or should I try to reschedule?

try and reschedule, no one's going to be happy if you infect them

woha ronan conrgats!! already it on fb but wanted to congratulate again.

^ This. Top work, matey.

excellent news Ronan!

hello i am now officially unemployed!
claim filed.
a;lsdkjg

Sorry, that's awful.

well, she knew it was coming.

it's still awful.

:-( Sorry Tza.

Sit Home & Rot Or is looking for a job the new definition of 'work'? Some sense of humor at the bleakest of times needed.

not for long tza

Sorry to hear that.

For me, they ran out of work for me to do yesterday, so i'm back home today. It was a nice 7 days of work, and this time they actually said they'd call me back to help them set up their computers.

So, the hunt continues.

Hey, a rejection e-mail!

ugh my unemployment rate is soooo low. way lower than i thought :(

I just got a call from the EPA. Looks like I'm moving to DC!

:)

Welcome to DC ZS! (from someone who has been here two minutes)

Never thought I'd say this, but, I totally wish I was an experienced Cheesemaker!

Congrats, Z S! That's gotta be exciting.

tried and failed to get my reflux-pill prescription refilled for the second time yesterday. they claim it will work today. COBRA is a joy.

Congrats Z S. I am off to DC today I shall tell them to prepare for you.

I had a whole host of problems trying to get my medications when I was on COBRA, my sympathies Morbs.

DC used to have an awesome DCilx gang.

And then we all died.

I guess I should start hitting up the DC thread, now that I'm looking for advice on places to live.

yeah that thread kind of died, too. but there are still a few of us about who would be happy to help!

Once again, I realize that i need to leave the house in the morning in order to be productive.

I have became so crap and lazy because of this extended stint on the dole that my having to get up in the morning, not even particularly early I may add, and go to the dentist tomorrow seems like a total chore. I'm dreading it when it's just a check-up because I can't be bothered walking a few miles and getting a train. Think I better make a bee-line to some temping agencies or whatever afterward to make it feel worthwhile.

fuck. ive hardly done any job apps this week. couple more rejections though. need to get on this more.

Didn't realise you were in the land of the unemployed again jim. We need that Glasgow FAP maybe, not seen you for a wee while.

do any of you actually email back to people and ask for reasons as to why you didnt get the role? been thinking i should do that more. its hard finding the right roles. some im too experienced for, others not perfectly suited but theres no reason i couldnt do them. fucking me off.

yeah, I mailed the guy about the one I didn't get the other week - not heard a F***ing thing.

Had a call from an agent today, a role I applied for sounds good, not too far away, "they've already seen a couple of people". It's a complete departure in terms of market but I should be able to do it - forecasting/ordering/stock movements etc.

im not sure what to do when so many jobs seem like stuff you could easily do but just dont have direct exp of doing. was considering interning and all that shit but i feel too old to be doing that again.

ah, yeah, I've been steering clear of that kind of thing so far. The one above - I've done all the stuff before, just with food not with clothes.

bloke was due to call me back at 1, still hasn't and I need to go shopping and do some gardening, not good.

couldn't afford cobra so went with private blue shield for me and my family; affordible premiums but horribly high deductibles. still it's something. HOWEVER, I applied a month ago and while they approved my wife and son almost immediately, I haven't heard a peep. And I have no pre-existing conditions (or at least, none that I admitted or that they would know about)

Got an email to tell me I have an interview for a job that I applied for in March. I suppose this is just because the public sector are slow bastards. I'm surprised, but happy. Still, this will be the third or 4th interview since I've been unemployed so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Also this means I will have to shave my crap, whispy moustache before next Thursday :(

still, interview is good, nice one.

so today I've had a cv put forward for consideration and 3 rejection mails from the chunk of apps I put through Monday/Tuesday..... could do better.

have had a mail from former supplier asking how I'm getting on, might see if I can tap him up for a job of some sort, even though I don't really want to be back in the food game.

Can someone explain cobra to me because depending on what I do next people tell me that cobraing my school health pln would be a good thing

ah goddammit, my girlfriend just got laid off.

:( sorry Forks..

not looking forward to the sit down and budget discussion tonight

Ooft, my commiserations.

This thread is really bittersweet. The really good with the really bad.

*lazy ugly zing* ;-)

cobra is just the ability to keep getting health care (the same package you had via your employer) but, you have to pay for it yourself.

Interview on Tuesday.,.....

Well, I might have two new roommates, so I won't have to live in the house alone. Currently in coffeeshop, attempting to be productive.

good luck porkpie. my new employers seem really nice, I was a bit worried cos of doing the 6 week probation before signing my contract but they rang and were asking if I was okay and had any worries/questions etc, and talked a lot about doing training courses which seem unnecessary if I wasn't going to be there long term. also sent a nice email just saying subject line "welcome" and just few bits of info which I thought was really cool.

hope you guys are hanging in there.

nnnngh

thought of actually going to work tomorrow is pretty scary...been so long. it's hard as I have to think about the problems my health causes a lot more when I am working, but trying to be as positive as possible, it's a new job and they seem nice and stuff. first week will prob be a case of meeting/learning so nothing too hardcore as of yet.

anyway no doubt I shouldn't be complaining with how hard it is to get a job.

Hope the first day is a breeze, Ronan!

sorry about R, forks, give her my best.

will do; she's putting together a linkedin thing and starting to do base work now.
How's your hunt coming?

thanks suzy! it went pretty well, the job feels v bottom rung of the ladder but it is a much bigger ladder than usual! some of it sorta donkey work but I do get to contribute ideas for stories and stuff, plus am involved in live tv broadcasting for the very first time, doing real basic video stuff but still was really exciting today. part of me feels a bit weird doing an almost entry level job at 26 but I guess the opportunity to make it more than that is there.

That's TV, people I know that were doing runner work at that age now run tings at C4. You're also more measured/mature than someone younger so yr eyes are open to more things to do right. Chill.

2nd interview on Friday! heard about 3 hours after finishing interview so not looking too bad.

best of luck!

Blech, i still hate looking for jobs online.

Good luck porkpie!

what are good looking-for-jobs-online-in-a-big-city websites beyond cl and monster.com? I have only been using those + my school's career center listings, but I imagine there're some others that are half decent?

my hunt is nowhere for now, forks. My biggest development has been a rejection letter from the MLA.

I don't call em decent until i get hired, but I look at Mediabistro every day cuz that's where I got my last job.

Yeah, it's a hideout.

oh my, just had an interview, it went reasonably well. Quietly confident. Then they tell me the shift times. Early shift starts about half an hour too early for me to get their by public transport. Late shift ends about half an hour too late for me to get home on public transport. I don't drive. Fuck.

Bikable?

second interview pushed back to a week tomorrow, head honcho wants to meet me.....

if you do any tech work, iatee, dice.com is very good

also there is hotjobs, where I've had more luck than monster.

dice is also great for telecommuting only jobs

(which, imo, should be all IT jobs)

But if you don't meet clients in person they won't be able to see the war in your eyes...

Got a call from one place that apparently had already filled all their spots, but the engin manager wanted me to send in my resume anyway, so there's that.

Other than that, at least i worked out a good amount today.

Might have a hookup at a casino!

The listings on job sites since Memorial Day have reached "blowing tumbleweeds" level.

I don't need to look out of the window to tell that the weather's sunny in England. Lack of vacancy listings = everyone who works for an agency/HR dept. is outside skiving off.

Oh man, when you actually write this on your CL job advert, you a dick:

Absolutely no phone calls will be accepted!!! Candidates who call will automatically be disqualified.

is craigslist actually a good place to look for jobs?

A good place to your post your resume.

At least, it was; the previous two times I was laid off, the next place found me by finding my resume.

Nowadays things is grimmer

I am now unemployed (until the fall when I start grad school). Cross your fingers for me, I must have better financial management skills to get through this summer. Also, I really really hope I find a cheap apartment really soon.

On the bright side, I will be in school in the fall so there is the promise of future stability. Good luck to you guys on the job market, I hope things look up more soon.

I have a TA job in the fall. But for now....sperm donorship, SAT tutoring, part-time office assistant? fuck the world, it was not meant for someone like me to make money.

forks, i've heard of ppl getting jobs via CL. that makes it good enough.

I am having a hard time leaving the apartment before 4pm, now.

this is odd, have gone from feeling like I'm nowhere to having second interview tomorrow (down to 2 people apparently) and getting 2 calls/emails today from recruitment people looking to move quickly on other things - one wants to meet me tomorrow afternoon, and another has just put me forward for a senior planning role in W!mbledon.

CB, every time I see you've revived this thread I hope it's hire news. Best of luck.

i've been strung along by a company for almost a month now. every time I'm ready to write them off, I contact them, ask them what's up, and they say "you're still in the running, we're still deciding and will let you know soon". how fucking long does it take to decide? are they interviewing 500 people? WTF I hope I get a job somewhere else first so, if they do offer it to me, I can say "yeah I'll get back to you next week"

slept until 10 AM today and felt really lazy. the long-term unemployed friend i'm staying with felt like it was a normal/early hour. WHOA.

:(

^ had a similar thing many years ago whewn a headhunter told me for about 2 months "You're still #1 at Drexel" (Burnham, now happily extinct)

xxp

Sometimes I get the feeling that this is just sorta passing miasma that everybody(us, HR-types, actually employed people, etc) all have to hold our breath and to survive thru, then things will get better.

The alternative is just eldritch-inspired madness, and I'm not ready for that yet.

offer letter in post :) Starting 5th of July ie just after we get back from dorset, phew. Decent package too, only 20 days holiday but you do get between Xmas and New year on top.

Pretty good news then, especially when you consider that I got a letter from the social today saying that my dole is stopping as of the 10th of June....

CONGRATULATIONS

thankyou

well done sir

I had an interview earlier this week and the woman who interviewed me had a birth defect, her head was squished. I was really alarmed by it at first and it threw me off the entire time. She did a technical quiz and I had a hard time
concentrating because of her pinhead. This sounds horrible but it's true!

god I hate interviewing.

only 20 days holiday but you do get between Xmas and New year on top.

oh, you english.

yeah, from an american pov that's decent :) congrats! i hope you like the job!

i get, i think, between seven and ten days of "holiday" per year, including national holidays

jesus that's not human

that's a bit tight for americans even, but not crazy over the top.

20 days holiday and between xmas and ny is the same as 25 and "we don't open the office so you have to take it as holiday". Fair dos in my book.

Congratulations.

I have 12 and a half for a 6 month contract in my current job, pretty good all things considered. Now if the fuckers had just paid me today as they were meant to I'd be fine!

in defence of US jobs, in general I think they pay better than UK ones, so that kind of makes up for the vacation. kind of. not really.

also we don't have tea

I'll have no tea, but there's a starfux downstairs. Vicky has about 30 days - which is about standard for UK gov/quango/public jobs. At 3m/Racal I used to get 25 days plus up to 1 per month flexi.

Congratulations!

how do you britishers get anything done?

wooo more rejections

Hey Jeremy -
I heard back from that co. in Hillsboro. They are fully staffed at the moment (in terms of ground level positions). They are looking to hire upper management in the pharma industry only.

sorry!
-k

Bleah. Why do I get the feeling this whole summer is going to be screwed?

I have an interview! For an organization I'm actually interested in! The position itself is a support role but I don't care considering it's in my field and I just want a MF job so badly at this point. Here's hoping . . .

Going in to take test for a second-shift job. :/

I HATE THIS.

calm blue ocean.
gf is spending next few days with sister, working out budget.

Attacked backyard with hoe, transplanted some tomaters, bought comix and ran errands today. Will job hunt at some point.

Have also started doing an hour of "self-improvement" reading/studying at night, in order to actually get thru the unread bookshelf. The tome I've started with:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CYR03XYTL.jpg

okay question for CA-ilxors -

currently unemployed, had a low paying internship (for a foreign gov't who basically said "figure out the SS implications yourself") the first 3 months of the year - didn't think to file taxes for it and didn't think I'd be eligible for unemployment $ coming out of it. but I have a friend who was also only employed for 3 months, and apparently he just had to wait long enough til his 'quarter' of working fit into the base period and now he's getting some paltry gov't $.

so, is there a possibility I can qualify? / is the fact that I didn't report the income in any sense gonna fuck me up?

what are the seven qualities of authentic adulthood, please?

http://roughnotes.wordpress.com/2006/04/13/a-conscious-life-cultivating-the-seven-qualities-of-authentic-adulthood-franx-cox-louis-cox/

#1 – “I am here, and you are over there”
#2 – “I am safe and sound in my own skin”
#3 – “I am curious about everything that goes on inside me”
#4 – “I learn from my emotions”
#5 – “I know there is nothing but now”
#6 – “I always have power”
#7 – “I always have limits”

Book takes pains to separate "being an adult" from "being a grown-up"

#8 – "I have the cognitive abilities of one who does not suffer from more than mild mental retardation"

...

Conversely, the 7 operating principals of the grown-up, which gabbneb tends to demonstrate, are:

1. I Must Control, Dismiss, or Merge with You
2. Appearing Vulnerable or Flawed Must Always Be Avoided
3. I Pay Attention Only to "Reality"
4. I Must Control My Emotions at All Times
5. I Must Manage the Moment and Not Let It Surprise Me
6. I Have Power Only When I Control, Dominate, or Win
7. My Limits Are Either My Fault, You Fault, or God's Fault

8. I Must Demonstrate Superior Understanding And Adjustment Vis-a-Vis Gabbneb

Uh huh. Exactly.

nothing personal, dude, we all like structures. see: religion.

Actually, the book is fascinating as every single trait listed in the 'what grownups do' was publicly and repeatedly exhibited by Dubya, from the pathological denial of any curiosity to the constant seeking of approval by Those In Charge.

Not bad for a book published in 1996.

So my boyfriend just got made redundant for the second time this year, and while maybe I'm not getting both sides of the story it sounds like it's for not fitting in with the in-the-office-at-all-hours spirit: coworkers send work email at 5am, routinely stay working until 10pm, get blind drunk in the office between 10 and 2, and are back in before 8; the bosses never approve anyone's leave requests, and send employees away on business over weekends at only a day's notice.

I want to hope he'll find something better now, but it was hard enough finding that job, with its shitty conditions and major pay cut, and it sounds like all commercial IT and engineering jobs work on the same staff-screwing policies. And once you get to yr late 20s you seem to be locked into whatever career you stumbled reluctantly or unknowingly into a decade earlier, refused for even temping jobs because you have skilled work on your CV and they think you'll be too expensive or you won't hang around.

Life, huh?

I am in the process of a career changed, aged 29, admittedly going through some expensive grad school, but so far it seems to be working so if he wants to make the jump it can be done.

"Oh hey! A response to that ad I put out. I honestly didn't think that'd get any--oh!, spam. Right."
O
o
.

I saw an 8 year old girl working at a kebab place today. I couldn't even get an interview for a job cleaning hotel rooms. Siiigh.

This, it is getting old.

What is it 8 year old girl has that I do not have WORLD OF BUSINESS

kebab skewers?

family members who own a business?

Yeah, it's discouraging nonetheless.

It was actually kinda adorable watching her try to figure out how much change to give me.

I am in the process of a career changed, aged 29

I'm 33 and I'm doing something not dissimilar. Getting temping work can be fraught with difficulty, yes, but a career change is always viable if you want it.

I would wager that around 30 one has a much clearer idea about what you want from life than at age 18 or 22.

^^ No question.

Somebody motivate me to call start calling back companies I've submitted resumes to; I hate asserting myself over the phone in a situation where I can be easily rejected.

Also, someone please bring me some nachos.

if you don't do it, someone else will and then they'll have a job and you won't.
do it do it do it

http://www.myteespot.com/images/Images_d/d_7210.jpg

and look how well paid they are! Nachos for days!

after stringing me along for six weeks, I finally get confirmation that the job I interviewed for, which seemed like a lock, is "on hold". of course I had to email them three times to get this information. what is wrong with people? the executive recruiter there also emailed me back with 'ill let u know'. I was tempted to write back 'OMG yay LOLZ'.

my job today let it be known that there would no longer be a meeting on the 27th to let us know who would be made redundant, but that there would be a meeting 'sometime before then' to let us know when they would be ready to announce the date of a meeting at which they would confirm the date when they would let us know which of us would be made redundant

― thomp, Thursday, April 16, 2009 7:32 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

hey, today i found out i'm being made redundant

jeeeeeeeeeeez. sorry.

Okay, I called two people today. One wasn't hiring, and left a voice mail for the other. I feel a little better now.

xp jeez that sucks

nobody on this thread answered my question! also I went to the unemployment office today and it was about as helpful as you'd expect. then I talked to someone on the phone and she was a new worker and...knew absolutely nothing. but apparently someone who knows stuff will now call me in 10 days.

I guess the bigger question is: (in CA) if I'm working on a short-term contract for a company (well, foreign gov't), and they didn't pay taxes on this contract - is the UI office going to figure this out when they look through the data and say 'no UI taxes were paid for this guy - thus no unemployment check'. Or, are they just gonna verify that the job existed and that I exist?

If you are an independent contractor, you don't get unemployment benefits. Google "california independent contractor unemployment" and you'll get some links from the state gov and EDD sites about determining whether or not you were truly an independent contractor or whether you might be able to contest this.

hmmmm could be bad

(but thanks)

I don't think they can check the actual dates you got paid. If you had/have to fill out a w9, that is for your employer only, as far as I know. They keep that, it doesn't go to the IRS. At the end of the year they file a 1099 that reports what they paid you, but I don't think it is attached to any dates. So it's my thought that if you are collecting unemployment because you got laid off from somewhere, take a contract (w9/1099) job, you can probably get away with continuing to draw unemployment and getting paid, as long as you don't have an honesty attack and tell them, in your unemployment stubs, that you did work for someone and got paid. because then you get classified as self-employed and they kill your claim right there.

At least, that's what I've been doing. And I'm basing this on a bunch of research, and the fact that I got paid family leave benefits (which are like unemployment) while continuing to collect a paycheck a few years ago (in california) and they never gave a shit.

no my problem was that this contract *was* my only employer - and I know for sure that they didn't pay taxes on me and so I guess I def qualified as an ind. contractor - so the question, I guess, was whether somewhere in the process they verify w/ the employer whether I was an employee in the legal sense. which I'm beginning to think they will.

oh right, yes, they will.

argh. I need to find someone to hire me and then fire me for real.

easier to get unemployment if they lay you off, so go for that instead of getting fired :)

You might want to check into the independent contractor issue - even though the company didn't pay taxes, depending on what you were doing for them and how your work was managed by them, you might really be considered an employee under the state's definition. It could end up being a long process, but you never know.

not optimistic, but I will look into it! I mean I worked in the office, got overtime etc. etc.

recent college grad == this is all horribly new

the only advice I really have: www.usajobs.gov; pick some stuff that looks good, re-write your resume to fit the advertised requirements (crucial) and wait, I promise you can e-mail me if you have any big questions after that.

there's also always www.todaysmilitary.com, they can put you up for a room for a few years and teach you how to fix a busted helicopter and stuff

man I sound derisive as fuck, I'm really not trying to be though

yeah, I actually applied for some stuff on there some months ago. you don't sound derisive! I'd love to have a government job...

I guess I just feel like a dick because I have the job and am out of place on this thread.

Not too long ago though I was doing cold-calls to set folks up with interviews for fed positions in our program and I realized about three in that these positions had all been opened back in fucking NOVEMBER. I was talking to people and looking at resumes that said "October 2008-Present" for their last position and, uh, they weren't working there anymore.

The most depressing was calling one dude who had been doing what seemed like pretty decent technician work, not your average helpdesk shit, and he had to hang up on me to assist a customer - at FedEx Kinkos.

This is terrible but dropping out of college in 1999 and then enlisting later that year is quite possibly my equivalent of winning the lottery. If I stayed on and finished in 2002 or whenever, I'd still probably be fucked for a job. If I enlisted that year or later, I'd be in the shit with people trying to blow me up and such. They always say timing is everything but most of your life timing is all but out of your hands!

hunt....hunt...hunt...call from recruiter dude....hunt...hunt...hunt...water garden....hunt..hunt...play with dog...hunt....play Secret of Mana....hunt hunt...ride bike...hunt...hunt...nap...hunt

Great, this thread is already 3 months old

I had an interview this afternoon and I think it went pretty well. *fingers crossed*

so I had the job offer verbally a week and 3 days ago, no letter/contract through yet. Getting slightly nervous.

I would be too. It's really disheartening how poor and unprofessional some places are about getting back to you. That I had to pester this place repeatedly before they finally told me that they'd had to put the job on hold after stringing me along for over a month is really ridiculous; if you get a hiring freeze imposed on you, tell the candidates you had lined up for the job, for christ's sake.

Incidentally I landed a 3 month (possibly longer or even permanent) contract job finally, and have what I hope will be a final interview at a permanent position (with benefits) this week that I have reason to believe will work out as well. Time to start regretting my decision to work again!

OK, not happy with my laziness and lack of motivation

Good luck akm! Are the permanent and contract positions at the same place? I had a long tale of woe back in Nov/Dec/Jan that had promises of full-time employment implode to nothingness (while I had intentionally shut down all my other freelance income streams b/c the new job required it). So there was massive mad scrambling for cash/contracts. Eventually, imploded full-time place came through with a 3-week contract that has since expanded through the end of this year. I'd still come work for them full time though, if they offered it again.

btw, El Tomboto thanks for that usajobs link - some very entertaining stuff there. When I was a kid, I sent a letter to then-prez Nixon about wanting to work for the FBI (I read a lot of mystery and detective stories) - now I can dream about being an admin/IT person for them or the US Marshals or the IRS ^_^

the key is to apply for three gigs a day every day regardless of how you feel or what's going on. That's been our keyword around the house and it seems to be helping motivate.

that's a good thing to do if you can find that many jobs to apply to in your field. I was pretty lucky, working in web development in the bay area meant that I applied for at least a job a day for a while there until I got annoyed and tired of doing it; but I also know people (copywriters, in particular) who find maybe one job every two weeks.

my contract job is at a different place than the full time job. the contract might expand to permanent, but I'm not going to pass up a fulltime permanent job NOW for something that MIGHT happen three months from now.

Okay, went to job interview skills thing today. Guy tells me that I need to network 70% of the time, but I don't know how to do this, job-wise.

How does i schmooze for work? I can hook anybody else up with places to live, bandmates, etc, but I can't get ahold of a job for meself.

it just means putting the word out among people you know that you need work. sign up for linkedin if you haven't and reconnect with everyone you've ever worked with. this is all assuming that you know people who have jobs.

well hello there

Shit has become dire.

Shit, fan, pawning, etc.

followed up by a phone call 5 mins later- "by the way, we need you to attend a meeting with the department on Tuesday, can you cancel your leave? Ta."

in rare good news, my friend finished re-doing my half-assed business cards that I threw together:

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/7725/gview2p.th.png

I like the result.

Posting these here as they might be useful:

10 ways to use LinkedIn to find a job

How at least one dude found a new job via Twitter

In other news, my brother got his severance check on friday. He's planning to grow a beard now, and says that he'll make as much on unemployment and not have to pay for child care as he did otherwise.

gf just had her first interview today.. with The Nation! fingers crossed

finally got scanned copy of contract today, sigh of relief there. Hard copy to follow. and yet still have to sign on in Wymouth while we're on holiday so that I can get my national insurance paid, it's nuts. (I couldn't sign-off last week as you can only sign off 7 days in advance of starting work.

Now I am officially no longer a student: Hello!

Also, how long till I can sign on after I finish uni? Because it's looking unlikely someone's going to offer me a job in the immediate future.

(Generally avoided this thread because ignorance of forthcoming doom is bliss, obv.)

sign on now, if you do it over the phone they'll count your claim as of today. Just ring the number on the jobcentre plus website.

Also if you have a student loan, they will stay off your back while you're signed on

Cheers. Was gonna go in tomorrow to ask about jobs 'n ting anyway, just wanted to know if I stupidly had to wait until I officially graduate or something.

I wonder if the neat gear/tech jobs require you to enlist:

i see stuff like this:
---
Aerospace Propulsion Apprentice
AEROSPACE PROPULSION APPRENTICEAfter the fundamental techniques and principles are taught, you will be assigned to your permanent base where you will perform flight-line maintenance on engines installed in the aircraft, perform in-shop engine repair on engines removed from the aircraft, or operationally test engines in a test cell after repair.Your job will be to keep these engines in first-rate operational condition. You will troubleshoot (diagnose problems) in engine systems such as the fuel system, oil system, electrical system and the engine airflow system. You will remove defective components and install serviceable ones. You may perform a test run of the repaired engine installed in either the aircraft or the test cell. To diagnose engine problems and perform engine checks, you will operate various types of highly sophisticated engine test equipment. This test equipment includes engine start, engine control, engine-bearing vacuum tester, ignition test and the vibration analyzer.Benefits include:- Education assistance- Specialized Aviation Maintenance Technology training- 30-days of vacation with pay each year, starting with your first year- Comprehensive medical and dental care for you, your spouse and children- Thrift Savings Plan (similar to a 401K)- Low-cost life insurance- Tax-free housing and food allowances- Opportunity for regular promotions based on skills, abilities, time in service and time in grade- Excellent retirement program after 20 years of continuous serviceAll Air Force careers fields are based on qualifications and job availability.Do you want to learn more about this job? Please click "Apply" to request an info pack.
---

Has anyone ever transferred unemployment benefits from one state to another? The NY state handbook says I can transfer my claim if I move out of state but I feel like I will somehow get duped.

may have had a stay of execution on my situation, but they're finding it hard to justify renewing my temp contract while permanent staff (ie can't be sacked) in other departments have no work to do.

I just got a rejection letter from a place I interviewed at for a position I really thought I had a very decent shot at. Seriously - fuck my life right now. God damn.

ouch, sorry E

Thanks. Just going through some stuff right now and this would have made things a little easier. Oh well . . . back to the searching. Yay!

Damn, that sucks.

sorry enbbroseph

thx guys

I can't transfer my claim because every time i call it tells me there is an extremely high call volume and to call back later and then hangs up. Gah! So do I file for last week like I was in NY the whole time just so I can get my money or will this get me in trouble?

The worst that might happen is you will have to pay the $ back, so I'd say go for it.

Busily job-huntin' / cat-sittin'.

Kitty doesn't like pizzeria Combos.

The cat-in-question:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2526559&id=681036595

Cat currently trying to eat my earbuds, too

oh my, just had an interview, it went reasonably well. Quietly confident. Then they tell me the shift times. Early shift starts about half an hour too early for me to get their by public transport. Late shift ends about half an hour too late for me to get home on public transport. I don't drive. Fuck.

― languid samuel l. jackson (jim)

i've over exaggerated how tough getting to and from this job is going to be, now that I've just been told I have it I'm not as bothered as I was before :)

http://www.cardisland.com/graphics/products/2287/thumbnail/AX5BG7419.jpg

tza, have you emailed Unemployment, or is there *shudder* an actual office you can go to?

having to spend 15 mins "becoming a member" on the site of every fucking company you apply to... depressing.

I just got a rejection letter from a place I interviewed at for a position I really thought I had a very decent shot at. Seriously - fuck my life right now. God damn.

condolences, the same happened to me this week; I had great phone screens, did a coding test for them, felt like I knocked the interview out of the park, follwed up with thank you emails, did everything right and everything looked fine. Hired someone else this week. No idea why.

they were better (j/k). you can't let that stuff kill you. but it sucks, sorry.

i think they were probably cheaper; I'd already (stupidly) told them that I was used to getting $5k over what their top of the range was. wont' make that mistake again.

no, my answer on that score is usu some variant of "whatever you got," as long as i can live on it.

Hee hee. There's at least two, maybe three regulars on this thread would will be endlessly delighted/violently angry at this one. It's proof that we can learn from even the greatest tragedies:

Six Things Michael Jackson Can Teach You About Job-Search

...Although his life took some very interesting and controversial turns he still remained an important figure in the music industry which was very obvious from the reaction to his death. A lot can be learned from the way Michael Jackson carried himself throughout his life and career, including the following six lessons that can be applied to the way you conduct a job-search...

i have an interview this friday! so fucking pleased. was just beginning to write job hunting off entirely. this actually makes me want to do more applications now. anyway, must read about what MJ can teach me about job searching.

Job interview tomorrow afternoon! First one in months, whoop whoop!

good omens for all - my girlfriend, after 12.5 months (!) unemployed, just got two job offers in two days.

My post ends in March, I should probably start looking for a new job now.

lol I work night stock at a grocery store again

congrats to everyone with good stuff happening, best wishes to those still waiting.

dittoed

every time i call it tells me there is an extremely high call volume and to call back later and then hangs up.

what state is this happening to you in? i know i ca, for instance, you have to call like a jillion times in order to get ahold of someone.

btw hello! i am unemployed also dudes

Am actually researching company before interviewing. Hope this works.

that was calling ny state.
i finally got to talk to someone, who told me they would send my change to wa and then i should start filing in wa but when i called wa they were like no no no you just keep filing in ny. lol. whatever. i tried. i hope this works.

srsly did not realise that finding a job was gonna be so hard literally every job shite no money. found a fiver clearing out my wallet, delighted.

Interview was weird, more of an informational session than anything, since they didn't technically have a contract to hire me on.

Girl is on interview number two
moving right along

Nobody wants to hire me. I obviously suck. GAH! It's so frustrating. Temping at this assignment for another month but meeting with the staffing ppl on Monday to discuss assignment after that. So glad I quit my job and went to grad school at such a perfect time. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! /venting

I'm "working" but 1099 now, it's quite frustrating not knowing how long I'll be there. everyone is very nice; I had/have a family emergency going on as well now and they were pretty "oh my god, take as much time as you need, don't worry" and I'm like, "well it's not like I have vacation time, so I can't do that, and is there still going to be work for me if I'm gone for 3 weeks?" I know there is no such thing as job security now but stuff like this brings it really into focus

I had an interview for a better job in the programme I'm working on at the moment y'day, went really well so fingers crossed. Even if I don't get it, and I don't expect to having only been there for 7 weeks or so, it'll stand to me for the future.

I have to say I love the place I work now, nice people, new friends, nights out, it's the first time I feel my career is on a good track in ages. Hoping that that comes across as "don't get too down, things can change" rather than "OH HAI guys I have a job!!!"

www.indeed.com

nifty site

see also: http://www.simplyhired.com

my interview was quite informal. they seemed to be in a bit of a hurry half way through but i think that was just cos they were running a bit late, who knows. went ok though, was quite pleased overall (despite saying 'i really like what you do... so yeah, thanks' - wtf - after the goodbye handshakes) but after going over it in my head, im now thinking i prob didnt have everything they wanted. he did compliment me about 3 times on my covering letter though. think ill give it til friday before emailing to see whats happening. still hope i get it though, cos if i dont, that means i have to do more bloody job hunting. :(

Nice work Ronan, from my experience dropping by up there every couple of weeks last year it has to be one of the nicest workplaces going.

uh oh my main freelance client looks like he is on the ropes. Anyone any tips on design jobs in london?

Didn't get that job I went for but got really good feedback. My editor said the score I got in the interview would normally have gotten me the job but the standard was unusually high. Also said he'd spoken to production about whether there could be a job made for me as I was being wasted on my current role, he stopped short of any guarantees as he said the likelihood would be he'd be interviewing me again so he couldn't be seen to be biased etc, but also offered to vouch for me for any other jobs elsewhere.

Frustrating to be so close and not get it but I'm a six month contract in the more basic role so fingers crossed I get another chance. I could prob be looking at other jobs outside the programme I'm working on except I love it, which creates a problem!

nice one.

http://www.quintcareers.com/interview_follow-up-dos-donts.html

have to say i have never done the 'say thanks to interviewers after an interview' thing.

was about to email my interviewers from last week to ask when they might let me know but i dunno if a week after is too soon? (i forgot to ask when theyd let me know somehow)

I always say thanks and if I want the job I always say something positive about the place or the way they've made the job sound.

too late. just sent them an email saying thanks for seeing me and asking when i might find out the outcome of the interview. tho the 1st person is away til next month so i just sent an email to the other guy. dont think im seeming desperate and i do have a feeling i didnt get it but just want to know either way really. think the fact they said 'we might send you the test!' made me think 'im through to the 2nd round!' a little prematurely. never mind. onwards/upwards etc.

I was considering the 'seem as desperate as possible so they might pity me' strategy before I got my current job. It was that or get a subleaser, leave the country, hitch-hike back from LA, and move in with my gf and start the whole process over over there. *Or* wind up on the street if I didn't have the money to bump my return ticket ahead. Mentally preparing for that was a new one for me. I was at ropes end / outta ideas and had sold almost all of my guitar pedals and just...man!

Good luck alla ya. It's stressful.

okay, quit my shitty kitchen job tonight after a chef simulated anal sex on me, then swung the hot pan in his hand around and burned my arm. lamest scar ever.

as a stranger in a strange land, i'm ineligible for the dole. i have a visa that runs out in a little over a year. i have virtually no money at all (nothing beyond being able to pay next month's rent and bills, actually).

i am absolutely terrified.

whoa that is harsh

damn. not nice.

Sounds horrible.

uggh they lost the big contract at work and apparently the word is 15 ppl are going to get the sack, mostly tradestaff but still :/

it's kind of shitty that i may lose my job because the operations guys and the business dev. guys did a shitty job in the retender..

i just wasted 30 min googling someone with an ambiguous name so i could find out if i should address a cover letter to 'mr.' or 'ms.'

a;lsdkjg

^Have done

xps we're on the shortlist for a new big contract apparently. still i'm updating my cv :|

uggh they lost the big contract at work and apparently the word is 15 ppl are going to get the sack, mostly tradestaff but still :/

it's kind of shitty that i may lose my job because the operations guys and the business dev. guys did a shitty job in the retender..

basically what happened at the place i wz at : /

i have had two interviews for the sort of entry-level office stuff i feel i should have moved on from and got neither, sigh

I'm thinking becoming a strikebreaker or a scab is a good line of work to be in about now.

xpost yeah and apparently the new gm of the division is anti-finance ppl and i am a finance ppl :|

Dammit, they hired another guy b/c my car was fucked, and I won't have another ride until next week at the earliest. Feh.

Still, the place was like a 40-odd min commute east of Portland, so it may not be so bad.

so i think i definitely need to swallow some pride and start doing the apply for 1 job a day thing. there isn't 1 job for every day in my field, but i fear i should start expanding my scope/applying for inappropriate things to save my bank account.

Have you tried doing more of the networking thing yet?

working on that.
it's slow, because i am new here. but i have had 1 coffee networking session that yielded some good info if not any direct leads... and i'm trying to connect with a few other people.

oh hey tza, jordan saw this amazon job while he was looking at listings and asked me if you'd be interested and should he send it to you and i laughed at him and said you were too awesome to work for amazon, but now i'll get him to find that link and send to you.

it was some kind of e-marketing job for their book department or something. it sounded pretty alright.

lol i am not too awesome to work for anyone who will give me salary + benefits right now. unless they are shady or something. new amazon bldg going up not too far from my house!

also: have e-marketing experience

I'm trolling thru the local LinkedIn groups to find any that have networking events, also upgrading my listing so that it's pretty much a full on resume, as LI profiles apparently get visited by people hunting.

just got a letter telling me that I've got to see a New Deal Advisor next week. Nothing new there, standard stuff. But this is where it gets weird, some new thing they're doing...

"If you cannot show that you are looking for work a Decision Maker may have to decide if your (JSA & NI credits) should be stopped."

I mean, a Decision Maker?! This is a whole new Kafka-esque level of bureaucracy.

ive become lazy with making applications and its getting me down.

ive become lazy with making applications and its getting me down.

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2)

That's exactly the way I would feel. But I had an interview last Saturday with Starbucks in Kroger, and a drug test on Sunday. Hopefully tomorrow I will know if I got the job or not. A temporary morning job at that. Then I guess it's back to the writing block.

good luck, CaptainLorax!

Did Starbucks drug test you?

(Also, good luck!)

Girl is still putting in three apps a day.
Two job interviews prior, one this week and one next week.
We're hopeful.

good form.

I've been on unemployment checks for almost a month now. It's the best thing ever, like a paid vacation. I'm sure I wouldn't be so happy if I didn't know where my next job was.

This is my first time to drawl an unemployment check, but since a certain amount of my pay goes towards a pool for unemployment; I figured why not take a vacation.

i have my third fortnightly jobseekers' interview tomorrow, which i guess means six weeks now i've been on the dole. i wish it didn't bother me so much and i could get more writing/reading/etc done

i mean, until my late teens i really DID NOT want to work, and i seem to have absorbed some kind of work ethic by osmosis. if the government would say 'here is your fifty pounds to go and read old SF paperbacks for a week' i would happily go and do so, but 'here is your fifty pounds to support you while you TRY AND FIND WORK HOW'S THE WORK FINDING GOING YOU LEECH ON THE BODY POLITIC HOW COME YOU HAVEN'T FOUND ANY WORK YET', well, you know

there was this booklet called something like 'landing on your feet', at the dole office; it was about two-thirds energising platitudes for the unemployed and the rest about why heavy drinking would be a bad idea: when i looked at the back it was actually paid for by an anti-alcoholism charity. i find something weirdly chilling about how targeted that is. that there's a 'why turning to alcoholism is a bad idea now you're unemployed' leaflet

i'm having an agonizing and irriating afternoon.... working 'contract' at this place where they haven't given me a definite time-length for the contract (except "at least thee months"...it's been about two so far). I really like working here for a lot of reasons, mainly because they are flexible about hours and stuff; as I mentioned in a few other places, my wife has cancer and is starting chemo soon, my son is starting preschool, so I'm going to really need that kind of flexibility. I just got a job offer somewhere else; but, haven't told that place about my family situation, etc. So I forced the issue here, "I got another offer, I'd rather work here, even on contract, can you keep me on at least through the end of the year?" no answer....have to talk to the other company in 30 minutes. Do I tell them about the flexiblity issue? Do I just accept the offer with a two week out start date and then deal with all of that next week? WTF do I do?

I'm still hanging on in my job. I know of about 5 ppl who were made redundant. I've contacted this recruitment agency who were previously helpful to let them know I may be in the market..

god, i am sorry about all of that, akm. i...think i would tell the other company about the flexibility issue? i am really not sure what the smart thing is to do in such a difficult situation, though. :(

xpost

oh shit, sorry I didn't read the post above mine :(

Makes my situation seem like some bullshit

akm, you are in the US and it is illegal for a company to ask you the sort of questions that you might want to volunteer information for. If you do volunteer it, it is not illegal for them to use that info in their decision process. Everyone has life issues that impact their work - it's pretty much a given. I still say don't bring it up until after they have made their offer to you, but before you have accepted it.

okay that seems much smarter; i agree with Jaq!

except, wait; they've already made the offer, right?

they made a verbal offer (paperwork coming tomorrow). but it's contract-to-hire through an agency, so I don't think those things matter in that case. they're going to know about it at some point (like, immediately after I start), and they can cut you from those kinds of contracts for no reason and you have no recourse. they obviously liked me enough that they extended the offer right after interviewing me though.

finally talked with where I work now, and more disappointing news: they love me, really need me through sept. to finish this project, their project is very important to them, they really really really want me to stay. BUT they can't guarantee they'll have anything else for me after that. Althgouh they might. And by next year they're sure they will, and they'll PROBABLY be able to hire me permanently. but they don't know now. But they REALLY want me to stay on.

so I don't know what the fuck to do. I'd better tell company that made the offer about my situation and make sure that is still going to be okay, because if it isn't, I'd be fuck out of luck.

Yeah, if this was a couple years ago, I'd say take the offer and tell them later, because companies often would rather figure out how to accomodate the workers they have, rather than deal with having to hire someone else. But in this market, you're a lot more expendable. I'd definitely bring the issue up before accepting the new company's offer.

Really sorry to hear about your wife ... hope it's nothing unmanageable.