So, How Long Have You Been (Currently) Unemployed?

[stopbush]

My position at a non-profit was eliminated due to budget "challenges" on Oct 1. Since then, I've had lots of interviews, but haven't been hired. I've noticed that the places I have interviewed at haven't hired anyone else, either. A couple of them told me they were trying to decide whether to hire for a recently vacated position or just eliminate the position and save the salary for something else (well, at least they were honest).

So, how long have you been out?

Sure sucks being unemployed during the holidays (I am drawing CA UI benefits).

Vote below:

[Hoopla Phil]

1. K and R

[The Straight Story]

2. 5 months (nt)

[MotorCityMan]

16. 5 months also

Laid off on June 30th after working there almost 10 years.

[The Straight Story]

21. I have over 15 years professional experience, which tells my age to employers

Shame that I may have to lie about all that just to get someone to return a call.

Keep hearing I am 'over qualified'...

[vadawg]

55. dude you need to tell them you started work at 15 then lie and say your 30 now

:)

[MotorCityMan]

60. Boy, can I relate

I have over 20 years programming experience. No college degree. Also spent the last 10 years working on the GM account. I spent years begging my boss to put me on another account, mostly because I hated working with the woman in charge of it. I was "Too good" to move somewhere else. So, once GM started pulling their business, I knew my days were numbered. I thought I would last the year, though.

[Juche]

45. 5 months here too

Being young isn't perfect either. I only have 1 year work experience after college. And it took me a year to find my first job out of college, and that was before the economy collapsed. So if it took me a year when times were good, how long will it take now?

Fuck corporate hegemony. Being too young is bad, but so is being too old. Too little experience is bad and so is too much.




The only thing worse than being exploited by multinational capitalism is not being exploited by multinational capitalism -Fidel Castro

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Your poll is the true measure of the "recovery".

[stopbush]

4. I thought it was time for a little perspective.

And it's really disturbing to see that the majority of unemployed DUers have been out for over 2 years!

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Yeah but ........

..... how 'bout that stock market, huh?!?! <----extreme sarcasm

[stopbush]

33. It warms my heart to read that the luxury item market is heating up for Xmas.

Let's party like it's the Gilded Age!

[The Midway Rebel]

5. Other. Underemployed since graduating/retraining.

Earned my second BA with honors, Secondary Education. Underemployed since graduating in 2004.

[endless october]

6. 5 months tomorrow. nt

[MotorCityMan]

61. Seems like there are lots of us

that got dumped on the end of June.

[Brickbat]

7. I voted before I saw other; I should have voted "other." I resigned more than a year ago and have

been freelancing from home. I have NOT been looking for a job, nor am I receiving unemployment. I couldn't support my family on what I'm doing, and I do not receive benefits.

[NightWatcher]

8. Other: severely underemployed. making minimum wage

Since I closed my business last year, it has been nothing but low-end jobs.

[lxlxlxl]

9. Jan to July - no work; July - October - job from hell; just got a new job

promotion and raise...

worked since I was 16, put myself through school, graduated into a recession (2000), temp and p/t employment and broke 2001 - 2005 (3 employers), vocational school, constant employment until this year

[Betty Karlson]

10. Unemployed for almost three months.

happily, I found a new job just five days ago. It's just for two days a week, but still it feels like a gift to me.

[Berry Cool]

11. I am getting the same hiring runaround the OP is.

Except I've had only one series of interviews in five months. Aside from that, not so much as a phone call.

The place I'm waiting to hear from I interviewed with a month ago. They have yet to make an offer and say they are still considering candidates, including internals. And here I was, figuring that if I made it through two rounds of interviews, I must be doing something right. Yeah, but if no decision is made...or they change their mind about hiring...or the internal person they've probably been needling to take the job finally says "Yes"...a lot of good it does me.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. Almost exactly a year for me.

On the plus side, I should be getting an offer letter in the mail shortly.

[Jcgrey]

13. 9 Months here...

On 1st unemployment extension. NO prospects here in Southern Oregon.

[PSzymeczek]

14. 3 years, 8.5 months

I don't expect to ever work again. I'm going on 57, and multiple health problems, just not enough to get on disability.

[FirstLight]

15. It will be a year in January

worked PT as a church secretary, till they ran out of money to pay me...

now on TANF/food stamps and working some freelance gigs,

Got help through the EDD to get a Certification at CSU Sac (in HR Management, no less)... completed in Sept...STILL NO JOBS...not even 60 miles away in Reno (and for the right job, i would totally commute)

Meanwhile trying to get my freelancing stuff off the ground ...maybe i can fund my own recovery...

bad juju man

[Kat45]

37. Wow! I worked as a church administrator and they ran out of money too.

My job was gone in January. Sucks that you can't collect unemployment when you worked for a church.

[tonysam]

39. Reno is a total shithole now. People are moving out of here in droves.

Not a day goes by that I don't see lots and lots of moving vans, and I know most of them are not intercity moves. I am next once I can get in gear and do it.

[RubyDuby in GA]

17. 4 months

Was an office manager for an architectural firm. It was twofold - 1. Nobody is building anything and our last project was a St. Regis so that tells you what kind of higher end stuff they did and 2. They were the worst businessmen ever!

[marketcrazy1]

18. K, N/T

[TwilightGardener]

19. Over a year now. But I chose not to look for another job for the time being.

We're making do on one income.

[marketcrazy1]

20. 60 out of 68

respondents out of work for six months or more............ green shoots my ASS!!!

[madrchsod]

22. over two years then i took my social security at 62

it`s not much but it pays the mortgage. hopefully part time jobs will be opening up next year.

[csziggy]

23. I was self employed but pretty much have been calling myself "retired" for four years

I had a small business, leased out the facility and turned over the business to someone else in 1999, but still kept my hand in until they left in 2005. Since I was not able to re-start my own business due to health problems, I've been considering myself retired, but I cannot afford to stay idle.

Being self employed for over 30 years makes for a strange resume. It is absolutely impossible to name all the types of work you have done when you have run a farm, bred and boarded horses, given shows, done your own publicity including photography and set up for programs and brochures, etc.

I don't own the right clothes for regular work. Somehow jeans and T-shirts or even my horse show outfits are just not what they expect an older woman with a BS degree to show up for interviews wearing. I need to get some clothes, but I can't afford to buy any until I know what kind of jobs are even possibilities. I own one suit, but I need to do some alterations to make it fit.

So far I have applied for only one job - a Census job. I figure if I get it and stick with it, that will give me something relevant for my resume for the future.

[tonysam]

25. Over a year and a half, and nothing in sight

Almost 55 years old, cheated out of full retirement and with reduced Social Security benefits because of a wrongful termination. Cannot go back into my line of work and have to retrain--for something.

[Snarkoleptic]

26. Voted - Other I'm massively underemployed.

[laughingliberal]

27. Other-2 years to the day nt

[aikoaiko]

28. I wish you all the best during these horrible economic times.

[stopbush]

29. Thanks. I've been through this before, and have been unemployed for 2-year stretches.

I made the decision to make a career change back in 2003 - out of the recorded music biz. It's been a tough transition, but it would have been worse had I not made the switch. Everyone I know in the music biz has been out of work for very long periods. Since I made the switch I've had 3 full time jobs in 3 different locations separated by hundreds of miles. My friends who stayed in the music biz have been out of work that whole time, living off their dwindling bank accounts and their SO's income. Now that I've learned the non-profit ropes, I'm trying to not relo again. I'm 55 and I want to stay put for a while. I'll commute 50 miles, but that's got to be the limit (it can take 1.5 hrs to drive 50 miles in SoCal).

There's no room for a 55-year-old in the music industry these days. At least the non-profit world values experience, and they're used to older types hanging around because most of the big donors are older types. Still, the pay is often half what the private sector offered, but as the private sector has dried up, it's a moot point. Right now, I'd take just about anything that would bring home more than UI (which is $475 a week in CA). My wife works part time, so we have that. But, damn! CA is expensive, especially with 2 kids.

[tonysam]

31. Age is working against me now, and there is no way I can go back

to school since there is no spouse to support me and there is no way I am going into debt--I still owe on student loans from ten years ago.

[stopbush]

32. I hear you. I wonder what the use is in going back to school and retraining

when kids coming out of school with those same skill sets can't find a job to save their lives.

[tonysam]

35. Seven years left to go to take early Social Security, although

I will be screwed there because of Nevada PERS and WEP/GPO. About the only thing that even remotely interests me at this point is self-employment if I can do it. I have already "been there and done that" with undergraduate and graduate degrees.

[FirstLight]

49. BINGO!

I retrained...and there is NOTHING in my field..I have decided to roll my retraining into my current freelancing and try to mnake a go of it on my own...right nowit is all i can do...and i can;t just sit on my ASS and feel bad.

My student loans are 10 years old and in default, so credit is non existent for me..

[aaronbav]

54. Sorry to hear about your situation - maybe it would help others

though to know what you retrained for... I'm wondering myself, but I have no idea which direction to go, especially since all my working career has been spent as a residential designer. I have a BA in architecture and I have been drafting, first by hand, then with CAD, for years - I started drafting in high school, and before that I was always sketching and drawings houses... I have always KNOWN what I wanted to do - and was able to do it for a GOOD number of years...

Now I have NO idea what to do - tech would probably be my best option - I did do some Software support for a time, I have also often served as the Network Admin for the companies I worked for, but my general impression now is that UNLESS you are a programmer with some high level skills, if is quite hard to get a job - I am NOT suited to be a programmer, and at my age - I will be 50 soon - I don't really feel that is where I could go. Maybe Web design but I have a feeling that the better positions go to younger folks with "hip" skills...

[FirstLight]

62. Certificate in HR Mgmt

of course all the indicators before I started school were of 30% growth, etc, etc... that was based on stats BEFORE the crash last fall...

Now, I have to wait until jobs return before I will see any jobs for HR professionals. It will be AFTER all the hiring starts before companies realize they need more people to help with all the new employees...so I am kinda screwn.

I was sponsored through the EDD and something called the Workforce Investment Act. I don't know what the requirements are to qualify, I was reccomended into the program in January by my HUD housing coordinator because I've been in public programs for quite some time and I guess they saw me as a good bet. You have to take tests to evaluate what your skill sets are, and then you can go a few different directions...
1) If you can get an employer to give you a position in the field you want to expand into, and provide you training... the govt will reimburse the employer 1/2 your first years wages and you have to be guaranteed a position after the year of training (i think)
2) You have to find a vocational program in your state that fits with their timeline, etc and they will pay for the schooling/retraining... there is an extensive information packet you have to fill out beforehand, yu have to talk to people in the field you are interested in, and potential employers to show you have a clear understanding of what you are going into and the opportunities in the field. It can also be cool because you make connections in the field that can be beneficial after the fact. (though it is hard when there are no jobs anyway...)

PM me of you have any other questions, otherwise i would look on the EDD website in your state and see if there is a link to the WIA program....

[undeterred]

30. It will be six months tomorrow.

Thanks for reminding me.

[aaronbav]

34. For the first time ever I was laid off in Jan '08 from the Architectural firm

I worked for (they have now closed their doors also)

Searched until November '08 then found another job that lasted until the end of March '09 - Been looking ever since.

Come Jan. it will have been two years since I was first laid off, and in that 2 years, I've only worked 5 months. Unlike the original poster, I am not even getting interviews - I guess because my career has been in the Residential Architecture field - which is totally dead, as is commercial architecture now FWIW. For those of us in any way related to the building industry, our chances of finding work appear to be nill.

I have tried other fields as well (tech - I have tech experience - Server, PC repair, Network Administration), but still never receive ANY calls for interviews.

I've even tried Wal-Mart, Grocery stores, Convince stores - nothing.

At this point I have NO idea what to do.

[Robeysays]

52. im not even getting calls back or emails...

let alone interviews.

[RubyDuby in GA]

63. I was let go in July this year. I managed an architectural firm

We did mostly hospitality and like I said upthread, the last big thing they did was the St. Regis Atlanta. No one is building anything. I don't miss my bosses at all, but I do miss my coworkers. I had been there over 10 years and they were like family.

I'm sorry you're in this predicament, but you're not alone. :hug:

[Kat45]

36. My job got eliminated in December, they paid me through January

Did a bit of part time work for the census back in March but I've been looking since January, had only 4 interviews in all that time. I found a pt dick job, phone customer service nights 'tii midnight, that brings a tiny bit of money in while sucking the life out of me. I'm 54 and don't even know what I'm qualified for anymore. Oh, and I haven't collected a dime in unemployment benefits because I worked for a church and am therefore ineligible to collect.

[waiting for hope]

38. It will be a year come next March ...

and it isn't looking good. Craigslist has been a bee hive of job scams - so much so I'm tentative to reply to any postings now.

[tonysam]

41. For state EUI I have to do it by mail until it runs out and I can qualify for Tier III federal

I will apply online--almost exclusively so--and I make sure if I have a Craiglist application, I list the number on my EUI certification. Same for anything on Nevada Job Bank or America's Job Exchange. It makes it easier for them to verify my searches, provided they have time to do it.

I have to put six or more jobs in a week, and I am not looking for teaching at all; there's no point when there is only one real employer in that line of work, and those were the assholes who fired me wrongfully.

[stopbush]

46. I doubt they have time to check. When I filed my claim in CA on 9/30,

it didn't go through until after I had a phone interview with CA UI on 11/3. The reason given for the delay was that budget cuts in CA had UI down to a minimum staff and that they were overwhelmed.

IN CA, you must use the CalJobs site once every 60 days to maintain your eligibility. Three weeks ago, the site was shut down after it was hacked and people's SSNs were stolen. We file by mail here, too. it's pretty painless, though the top benefit is only $475 a week which doesn't go very far in CA.

[tonysam]

47. Nevada is working on getting the Tier III federal online.

It's great to be able to file online on Sundays and get your payment on Tuesdays.

[supernova]

40. Since Oct 08 for me

and I'm 47.

So age is working against me.

I have a history of not doing transitions well. I've been laid off three times now since 2002 and it takes me over a year each time to find another job.

I would love to work for myself, but have a lot of self-doubt to over come. Wish I were more egotistical.

edit: I'm planning on applying to grad school in the spring for next fall. That would be a great boost for me personally, even if it doesn't translate to a better or more secure position.

[tonysam]

42. Self doubt is a biggie for me

I'd like to try it, but I don't really know how to go about it. I really hate the idea of ever going back to work for somebody else again. It just stinks.

[supernova]

43. What kind of work are you looking for?

[tonysam]

44. I am still mulling that over

I am undecided right now, but I do have a few ideas kicking around.

[stopbush]

48. When I worked in the private sector, I was constantly moving up

and being recruited to better positions at different companies. I was never fired from a job. I always left on good terms, often giving an employer 4-6 weeks notice before moving (and I was never once told to clean out my desk that day).

The non-profit sector has been the opposite, mainly because I get hired for one of the lead positions, I'm paid a decent salary...which makes me the first person on the chopping block when the NP is looking to cut overhead. I was let go from my most-recent non-profit gig even though I had met my 2009 fund raising goal by mid-May, ie: 7 months before the deadline! I left on good terms and with a recommendation in hand, a victim of the hard times that all NPs face in this economic downturn.

So, the layoff routine is new to me. I can't say I like it.

[Juche]

50. On another note, I'm lucky

I complain about my situation, but I'm damn lucky. I've been unemployed for 5 months and will probably not get a job anytime soon (I have no idea what my long term prospects are) but I don't have any kids to support, I have family that will let me live with them until I get back on my feet, I have almost no debt (just a few thousand in student loans which are manageable), I have no serious health problems right now, I have fairly good mental resiliency (low anxiety and I deal with stress fairly well) and I qualify for UI.

It could be a lot worse.

[Robeysays]

51. 2 years

:(

[wickerwoman]

53. Thirteen months.

I quit my job the week before the big crash because I had a job offer in another city. Spent most of my money on the move and then the job fell through as soon as I arrived. I had twenty-two job interviews last year and still no joy.

Going back to school in February and have pretty much said fuck it for now. By the time I got hired, I would have to give notice like a week later.

[eridani]

56. Pushed into early retirement, and hoping to stay retired

Unfortunately, if the health care "reform" passes, I'm going to have to try to turf out someone in their family-forming years in order to be able to afford health care.

[annonymous]

57. I lost my job at the beginning of February 2009

I didn't qualify for unemployment because I hadn't worked there long enough. Thankfully my husband is still employed.

[NightWatcher]

58. wish to change my answer from UnderEmployed to Laid Off this morning

I cant even hack a damned minimum wage job.

[stopbush]

59. That sucks.

Who is working out there?