Posted on 12/08/2002 7:27:22 AM PST by I_Love_My_Husband
Jobless checks to end Dec. 28
BY ADRIENNE SANDERS Of The Examiner Staff
Steven Wilcott has sent out hundreds of resumes, checks the want-ads daily, is signed up at a half dozen temp agencies and makes weekly visits to The City's job service office on Franklin Street.
In almost a year of looking, he still hasn't found a job. Wilcott, 43, was laid off in February after seven years of working at a nonprofit.
Now Wilcott, along with thousands of other workers, is getting the equivalent of coal for Christmas: His meager $284 a week unemployment checks will end on Dec. 28 because of Beltway bickering.
Wilcott was part of a federal program that extended unemployment benefits to cushion the blow for people who lost their jobs after Sept. 11. The benefits were set to expire Dec. 28 unless Congress continued the program, which it planned to do, until House and Senate chiefs disagreed on the next deadline.
They ended in a deadlock when Congress adjourned for the year three weeks ago.
"They're leaving a lot of people stranded with this," said Wilcott. "It's not a matter of people not looking for jobs."
As many as 300,000 Californians will see their benefits end, said California Employment Development Department spokeswoman Loree Levy. Levy doesn't know exactly how many San Franciscans will lose benefits, but conservative estimates put it at several thousand.
For Wilcott, it's a serious blow after 10 months of surprisingly fruitless searching. He has a college degree, sparkling references, and is willing to work. But he's found there are too many applicants for too few spots.
At least, he says, his one-bedroom on Nob Hill has rent control.
"I'm in a race against time," he said.
Levy said Congress could pass a retroactive extension of benefits when it reconvenes in January. Doling out the money to the state's unemployed, however, could be a logistical nightmare because it would require re-interviewing all those who may have been eligible for benefits.
In addition to updating my resume and applying to every job agency I could find, my family and I did something else.
WE PRAYED. We prayed, and we contributed to charity.
Thank G-D, He listened. A miracle happened. Within two weeks, I found another job IDENTICAL to the one that I got laid off from. All right, it is somewhat less pay than I was making before, but at least I am still in my field and working at something that I love. I consider that a blessing, and I feel very fortunate.
We don't want to move, but with 6500 layoffs in his field in Denver, it is something we will seriously consider. It's not the end of the world. It's just another chapter in our lives.
Yah, the people on this thread will laugh, heartless bastids that they are (cause they haven't lost their jobs yet or are working at a subsistence wage) but I've sent out hundreds of resumes as well and paid for an agency to send out a thousand resumes around the first of Dec. I have excellent references and work the cutting edge of technology.
The problem isn't only no jobs. Businesses aren't even willing to set up interviews. All that and I've had 2 interviews.
SInce 911, the IT industry has lost over 650,000 jobs. 20% fewer airline flights means 20% fewer reservation systems and 20% fewer IT jobs, and this is one industry (and besides the 100,000 computers that went down in the WTC/Pentagon). Those that still exist are being filled by H1B visa holders from overseas because they'll work for significantly less money.
Sure. We can take a burger flipper job. But why should we. It's happened to the IT industry and it'll be coming to an industry near all these nay-sayers. Their solution is to make all of America burger flippers.
What morons.
The solution is to stop giving away America's plum jobs to foreigners who work for next to nothing. American business, American government and American people like those on this thread are what have done me out of my job, not me or mine.
I've resigned myself to giving up my house and the standard of living that we've enjoyed for almost 20 years. I'll probably be pushed into a janitor's job and life will go on. I'm not lazy nor am I stupid. I'll hate my new job because it's going to be far below what I'm qualified for and the only reason that I'm forced to work it is because my company wanted to save a few bucks and sent its computer operation to another state and there are no replacement jobs out there to be had, no matter how bad one wants to work. I love my job - my old one that is.
Godspeed
but if I tried to get a job that required some other degree than I have, I'm not sure I'd be hired. Say for example I applied to be a tool and die maker but have never had that apprenticeship or any experience, why would I be hired? Or nurse when I'm not one, and teachers have to be certified with an education major. It's not always that easy to change fields.
Let me make my point about limitations a bit differently. Sometimes a limitation is only a point of view and a plan of action.
I am an amatuer machinist. I have no where near the qualifications or experience to be a tool and die maker (one example you used), and wouldn't even think of applying for such a job. However, should I want to do this (become a tool and die maker) I doubt that I would have much of a problem. The fact that I wouldn't even know how to turn the machines on would not hinder me a bit. So, how would I become a tool and die maker? Simple. I'd just start a tool and die making business and hire people with the necessary experience to actually run the machinery and do the skillled work. Thus, I'd become a tool and die maker without any knowelege of how to make tools and dies. And, of course, I would eventually master every aspect of the trade while I worked at it.
This isn't just an immaginative example. This is exactly how I have gotten into several lines of endeavor over the years, including my current business. It doesn't take money either. Sure, you have to make a few sacrifices and work your tail to a stub, but it' worth it. I learned this from a man I knew who started a multi million dollar retail business with a single roll of dimes and no asssets, not even a location (I was part of the hired help in this case). When up against a wall, sometimes it's better to just find a way around it than to ponder its size. Instead of looking at all the reasons you can't do something, ask instead "How can I do this?".
P.S. Wanna bet you couldn't become an accountant if you really wanted to? I'm betting you could. If you're betting you couldn't, then you're arguing your limitations.
Vannrox, I agree with you about engineering; I have a degree in the field...decades ago, you couldn't pick up a newspaper without reading of the coming shortage of engineers...and I'm glad to say I was out of the field in a few years. It has always struck me as odd that engineers - with a wealth of knowledge and education - are so very expendable.
America's Resolve, may I offer a suggestion? Consider substitute teaching. No, I'm serious. On the one hand, you may only get $80-$100 per day - but there is a considerable demand for substitute teachers, and the qualifications are far less than what yours appear to be. You might even enjoy it, and might be able to create a job for yourself.
Yes, I know there are drawbacks - but please consider it.
I've been luckier, so far, then you both have...but there's no guarantee. I have a feeling that the current economic malaise may last quite a long time, on the order of 20 years. I have a basis for that, but I won't bore everyone with it right now...the key is to survive; which I'm confident both of you will do.
PS: don't worry about the heartless b------s; bad economies tend to bite the arrogant in painful ways. They'll get their's.
"Pride goeth before the fall" isn't just a clever saying. Some people are just too proud to take jobs they consider below them.
It takes a lot of money to start up a business like this, something you wouldn't necessarily have if you suddenly become unemployed. I'm not arguing my limitations as far as ability, I'm arguing that when a job market is tight, employers can find experienced, degreed, or certified people and may not be interested in hiring those who would still need training. It's not always as easy to switch careers suddenly ---you often have to have about 2-3 years to get the degree. I could be a CPA but I'd have to have the time for the needed courses, possibly internship.
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