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I'm sorry, no Sympathy here. Get into the trades, its not cool to be a plumber or electrican, but work abounds. I'm in the Air Conditioning bizz. I'm not paid alot, but I can go to any town and find employment. You geeks out there that can't find work just don't want to get you hands dirty. Tough S...T! Get to work. Its there. Go to any construction site, ask for labor work. You will get it. You folks are just Pussy's!!!! Lee308

Well you got you a point there, Lee. I'd be one of the most ridiculously overqualified construction workers in history though. "Overqualified" ain't even the right word. Lemme put it this way-- construction work and what-I'm-qualified-to-do ain't even in the same coordinate system...

Get into the trades, its not cool to be a plumber or electrican, but work abounds. I'm in the Air Conditioning bizz. I'm not paid alot, but I can go to any town and find employment.

You are joking right? Most of the trades require extensive hands on training and years of work experience, before you qualify for any kind of license. That is fine if 18, but it is a no go for adults. BTW, housing starts are on their way down, contractor insurance rates are on their way up, and the market isn't quite as hot and dandy as you paint it. Just because someone with decades of experience can find a living, doesn't mean that the market is open to career changers.

My dad is a plumber. He's an extremely hard worker with his own business. He lives a great life, with no complaints. He works 12 hour days, weekends and then some, mostly in shopping malls. He never quits because he's too tired or has too many accounts.

But, you know what? The 19-30 year olds who come to him looking for a job do. It's unbelievable...they want to be paid, however they're sometimes less than eager to learn the craft; within days, the new guys want to go home at 4 p.m., they wander off into the malls, tools start disappearing, they want more money, etc...

Anyway...you've got my curiosity, Mr. "Overqualified." What do you do? Are you Bill Gates?

Lee, you a got a point! Our next door neighbor's son did the exact same thing. He is 32 and he lost a computer engineering job. Fortunately, during his teens, he had apprenticed for a plumber and took to that again within months, in addition to living with his dad(he is not married or anything). He is doing quite well for himself as a plumber and stays with his dad now to help him out. Despite being "overqualified" to be a plumber(as some here like to say OVER AND OVER AD NAUSEUM), he got out there and worked anyway and at least has made an income and decent one at that over the last 2 years! In my opinion, he's the one with the leg up. If there is never a strong market for his old profession again, this guy already has years invested in another career and one that's not likely to dry up anytime soon. I'm not thinking this "overqualified" whining is all that genuine. It seems to be used as an excuse to keep oneself out of the "general labor pool" as someone else so rudely said.

PS my husband is a professional who has been laid of TWICE in the past 2 years so don't give me the, I don't know what it's like line. If push came to shove, he would have taken any job over loosing our home. I don't see how an average job blemishes your prescious resumes. If anything, it would show your employer your resiliency. I would think too long of a stretch without any work would be more of a problem than working as a manager for Walmart for a while. Employers aren't stupid, they know how hard economic times are--I find it hard to believe they will begrudge anyone a job who had to find work in another field while things were hard in their original field, particularly if that person keeps their skills in order. In fact, I think it shows a commendable willingness to work and, like I said before, a resiliency. Can't any of you do something privately in your field while working full time in another field? Lessons? Tutoring? Teaching? Writing manuals? Questions for engineering or software textbooks? Developing software on your own to have a portfolio to make up for your employment gap or diversion? This is how I am keeping my skills fresh in my field while I am home with the kids and it's good solid money for part time work--much more even with the occasional gaps in work than I could make full time as a clerk somewhere and I get to stay home doing it.