[null and void]

That’s exactly the truth - businesses have no agenda but to hire the best person for the job in most cases - simply because survival is too difficult to factor in any other issue. While there are exceptions to every rule, in general, someone who was willing to do some kind of stinky part time work is a much better candidate for a good job than someone who laid out for six months. That’s just common sense and human nature.

Yep. That why I worked for two high tech start-ups, we never got funded, I never got paid, I've done repair and resale of mobile homes, cleaned storm drains, shoveled alpaca poop, moved rocks, direct marketing, and done my best to keep my engineering skills close to current on line and via meetings, seminars and trade publications.

I'm 60 and near dead broke, spending a few years and a hundred thousand dollars to go back to school doesn't make sense, unless I'm missing some wisdom you could impart, naps?

Maybe I could be a TSA groper or an ObamaCare Navigator...

[yldstrk]

naps has some fancy government job pulling down the big bucks on the east coast, you and I pay his salary, it is next to impossible for him to be canned, so he can pretend to be all safe and secure, but you know what? God can change all that in an instant and pride goeth before a fall

[C. Edmund Wright]

I don’t know where your venom is coming from. Your experience is not at all reflective of the long term unemployed. And crooks are crooks in any industry, but to assume legit biz has an agenda because you’ve run into non legit businesses is needless and adds nothing to the discussion. Crooks are crooks period.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Are you asking me for advice? If you are a trained engineer, it would seem to me that you might have more valuable skills and knowledge than I do....(I’m a Poli Sci major!). Without knowing the details of your situation, it’s a little difficult to offer constructve advice. Do you have a college degree? Where do you live? In a big metropolitan area or a rural area or small town? You might have to move to find a job. You mentioned you are 60. But many people who are 60 keep in good shape these days and look like they could be 40 or 45. My mom is in her 70s, looks like like she is in her 50s. She works at a hospital and has no desire of retiring anytime soon. In fact, her superiors at the hospital have found that she is much more reliable than many of the twentysomethings who work there. I think retirement is an over-rated concept for some including myself. I have colleagues I work with who are in their 80s. I have no great interest in golf or daytime TV. I want to work as long as I can.