Do you worry about losing your job , do you feel lucky

[blues90]

to even have one ? I wonder because I am jobless and about to just give up looking , I have had no luck at all and it really gets me down beside all the other horrors I hear every day .

What do you do for a living , what's out there ?

[NMDemDist2]

1. my husband is now driving a semi truck in spite of decades of telecom

experience

everyone is begging for drivers :shrug:

I'm back tending bar instead of using my extensive graphic design and PC skills too

you do what ya gotta do yanno?

[MountainLaurel]

2. I'm almost where you are

Working part-time in a job I hate after a relocation spurred by a spouse's job. In 6 months, no jobs within my specific area (university libraries) have opened up within an hour's drive of where we live. Because it's likely we will move a year from now so that Mr. Laurel can go to law school, I probably will stick it out where I am until then, in a job that makes me cry for an hour at a time, which also means spending 1/4 of my salary on keeping up my COBRA, which will run out before we move. Or, I will quit my job and try to find anything, even Starbucks, for the benefits.

Originally, we had moved here so that Mr. L could attend a public law school at in-state rates, but the dearth of jobs is going to make that impossible.

[Progressive_In_NC]

3. I work 65 hours a week as a billable consultant

I paid my salary for the year by March, and now I'm in pure profit mode for the company.

Unless the work completely dries up then no I am not worried about losing my job at this time. I took a calculated risk as a programmer and learned to do tools implementations (Biztalk, Sharepoint, WebSphere, etc. etc.). These tools are not outsourced because they do mission critical tasks at corporate headquaters.

The market for those skills is through the roof and there aren't enough people to fill those jobs. Now ordinary programmers, if I had stayed with my original goal of programming for a living then I'd probably be out of a job.

But companies love these short term projects I do for $150/hr (for my company). They pay it smiling because they don't have to have full-time employees learn the stuff (most are way under-staffed as it is).

I do feel extremely fortunate to be able to learn these tools though. They are not the easiest things in the world to pick up, and the risk was worth it.

[BluePatriot]

4. *shrug*

I worry that if I quit that it will just be the same old crap in a different environment. I hate my job. The money is enough to get by on, and, we get decent free insurance, but every day there's reinforcement of the fact that you are a mere peon serving at the whims of management and you are at the bottom of the chain of command. They want you to mimic back learned helplessness, powerlessness, desperation, and when you don't, when you are confident, you are punished for it.

The same week the HR manager got a shiny new BMW, we got handed out some squeezy stress balls. Cuz, you know, HR generates revenue, works Saturdays like we do, and stuff. A perfectly logical choice :crazy:

I wish I had the resources to pursue even small, compromised versions of my dreams from college.

It's an open joke here that if you are dressed nice you must be going to a job interview somewhere else.

Best of luck on your job hunt.

[Daphne08]

5. After his well-paying career in the engineering department

(of a huge multinational aerospace corporation) was "downsized" out of existence, my husband is presently employed as a "hands-on" technician/analyst.

It's taken him almost five years to even come close to the salary he was making before, and now he has to pay for a portion of our health insurance (which was paid 100% by his former employer).

We're adjusting.

[BonnieJW]

6. I'm an executive assistant.

I've never had a problem getting a job and I'm not afraid of losing this one. So many women went on to become executives, the supply of EA's ran out and we have become a rare commodity. I have been an EA for 20 years, it is my career; that is, I'm not doing admin work while I wait for something else to come along. I have good pay and good benefits. It used to be that if you could type, you could be a "secretary." It's much more now. I basically partner high level executives. A few years ago, I worked at a very large company and there were as many male EA's as female. My present company is much smaller and there are only 3 EA's here; all women.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Been there, done that

my husband lost his job and got one that pays half of what he used to get, and it's only 8 hours a week. I got a job paying a little over minimum wage and am supporting both of us, basically.

I learned Quick Books and became an office manager. QB is a computer program that a lot of small businesses use--if I lose my job here, I think I could maybe freelance doing books and payroll for a lot of different small businesses. I also create and maintain websites for people (non profits and ministers are good), and so pick up a few coins from that. My husband also sets up computers for the computer literate, but the work is sporatic.

You have my complete sympathy. I've been there, done that. Hope some of these ideas help you. The best of luck to you!

[onethatcares]

8. I'm a nail banger,

been in the construction industry for over 30 yrs, it's starting to get a bit lean here on the left coast of Florida but hopefully it will pick back up now that tax time is over. We need real people that want to learn a trade. I work for a non union remodeler that pays ok, but I've been with him on and off for about 6 yrs. We have no benefits except for a week vacation after a year. Not much, but my wife works for a benefit package provider company which pays our health insurance. She lost her job of 18 yrs and the cobra was a monster to pay. 785.00 month.

I'll add, I'm 56, I still set trusses and frame walls, my title is one of supervisor of one. If I break a leg tomorrow, it's over. No one wants to hire an old fart in this business.

[bleedingheart]

9. 80% of the people I work with got their notice today

they are all out of work at the end of summer...

I worry....it is only natural...

No job is safe out there and I even work in technology..engineering.

[AlCzervik]

10. i don't worry because it's out of my control. Don't get down, something will happen for you.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. I am in exactly the same boat. It seems that

at 45 I am becoming unemployable. Not very optimistic after the last 5 months. :(

[Dr.Phool]

12. I worked for 31 years for a steel railroad.

I finally worked myself into a seniority position where I would never be laid off again. Then they went bankrupt and shut down.

Best thing that ever happened to me. I took my Railroad Retirement disability pension, retired at 49, five years ago, and moved to Florida.

Now I spend all my time making life miserable for Republicans.

The only negative is health insurance.

[blues90]

13. Some here seem to be ok , others are not ,

I worked for over 30 years for ford car dealerships and since ford has really gone to hell I was laid off with others and there are no jobs at ford or any other dealerships here in southern calif . I woeked for my father as a carpenter for many years and this too is difficult , for one I am too old to be considered now as a carpenter it is not what it used to be even though I can still do the work and have most ot the tools except now they use air nailers instead of hammers .

I have only limitied computer skills that I used at my ford jobs nothing special there . I tried every dealship within driving range and even AAA and other companies that deal with customer service work .

Many times I feel it is my age 57 that makes finding work difficult plus I never networked , I was not the typical car guy with friends in the business .

Southern calif is a youth area and this does not help . It won;t be long before me and my wifewill be out of luck and hope and she can;t work and the SSI she gets does not go far . Oh well there is always a way out of this mess beside life on the street .