Has anyone here gone through a long period of unemployment? I haven't had a steady job in the past year. How do you think potential employers would view an applicant who has been out of work for so long? I can't even get a call back after sending out dozens of resumes.

I've been keeping myself busy with grad school, but the way things are going I am going to be homeless or working in a restaurant again after I get my MS. At least I'll have a fancy education.

11/16/2006 5:25:49 AM

Have you held several jobs during the year or your haven't been able to get a job for a year? Also if I were you I'd start doing some calling back myself. If it were a job out of town but reasonable driving distance call them up and tell them you'll be in town for a couple days. Ask if you can come in and talk to them "while you're there." What happened at all of these other employment places to make you have such a long period of umemployment?

11/16/2006 6:00:22 AM

I haven't been able to find a steady, real job for a year. I've worked p/t as a tutor, but that hardly counts. I also should have said I can't get an interview. I do call and email, and have talked to a few people, but nothing ever comes of it. Should I be more aggressive? It seems that whether I contact them several times or once the result is the same. I've been fortunate with job searches before. I've read a lot about the job search process and have tried to use what I've read, but I feel that I am missing out on something.

11/16/2006 6:56:26 AM

Right now, there are tons of seasonal opportunities available at various stores. You could probably work a cash register at one place and do overnight stocking of some sort of another. Not the greatest jobs, pay sucks, long weeks, but it would probably help you with bills for a month. Having worked retail before during the holiday season, they'll get you trained REAL quick if it means an extra body around to help with the high volume.

If you haven't looked into unemployment benefits, do so. And the job search ... it really depends on your background. Some fields are more plentiful with jobs than others. BUT, if you haven't applied for 200+ jobs yet, you aren't looking hard enough.

11/16/2006 7:22:38 AM

what is your masters in - i assume your undergrad was english

11/16/2006 8:42:23 AM

i seriously sent out 50 some resumes and only heard back from one.
i dropped of 5 resumes in person (none of the firms advertising jobs) and got 3 job offers and 2 we'll def call you when we have something.


LET THEM MEET YOU & SPEND $TEXAS ON YOUR RESUME
it'll work!

11/16/2006 10:11:14 AM

have you tried getting some help at the career center?

are you applying for jobs you may not be qualified for?

do you have ANY relevant experience?

you might consider starting out with an internship so you can get some resume worthy experience

11/16/2006 7:36:16 PM

There is a big difference between you cant find A job, or you cant find a job you like, if you cant find A job period you probably fail at life, I cant see going unemployed for a year you should be able to at least find something to tide you over until you can find a decent job you like

11/17/2006 4:10:14 AM

i think i understand your situation. you need to do the following:


1) hold down the job/jobs that put food on the table and pay rent

2) volunteer/intern for free for a job in the field you want to be in. i.e. write for a local publication without pay. what you want to do is stay close to your field of study.

3) network and hunt aggressively for the "career" job until you find it.

11/17/2006 4:15:56 PM

^Sru is right on the money

find an in and work for free if you have to, but stay close to what you want to do, and fucking suck it up and barback or something at night to pay bills. it will suck but the work you put in now means work you dont have to put in later

11/17/2006 5:38:20 PM

Quote :

"you might consider starting out with an internship so you can get some resume worthy experience"

11/17/2006 6:12:30 PM

i think you should go through temp agencies while trying to get your resume to the right person. if you like the place they put you, keep making your 12-15 an hour and try to talk the boss into snaking you from the temp agency. if you don't like the place or if they won't hire you, get them to move you to another company/task and keep trying while making SOME money. even if you cant find leads, it beats the hell out of tacobell in the meantime.

11/17/2006 7:34:17 PM

we're all also doing the favor of not considering that it may be personal issue that keep you from being concurrently employed

i mean, sometimes personality flaws are serious enough that no one will hire you.

in other words

CHECK YA SELF BEFORE YA WRECK YA SELF

11/17/2006 7:36:26 PM

i dont think so, i've seen some people who are hurting for a personality holding jobs where you'd expect them to at least have a bit of one

like ive seen people tell "funny" stories to these drones, and the drones just sit there and stare at the person telling the story and make them feel all uncomfortable. i mean they totally ignore the fact that someone is trying to be friendly to them. people should at least pretend like they care.

the only time that response is appropriate is if the joke/story is totally racist or something.

even if this guy was a total zombie, someone would have overlooked it in the past year. sounds like he's not getting any bites off his resume.

11/17/2006 7:52:47 PM

grad school=people not ready to enter the real world

11/17/2006 8:14:03 PM

it does sound like that, but it also depends where he's been applying

at this point i think you're probably just not being aggressive enough as well as not networking properly. not that you're stupid, but that you just dont have a good set of connections...and im not even talking about gladhanding bullshit, just people who can vouch for you

11/17/2006 8:24:21 PM

leave raleigh/rdu where everyone and their brother is a phd?

11/25/2006 8:02:57 AM

make sure you don't have any spelling mistakes on your resume. being an english major, that may look pretty bad.

11/25/2006 9:23:49 PM

I think you'll be OK b/c you are in school. You can fill the gap on the resume and justify it.

I took a year off on unemployment after being layed off from my first job for a year. Luckily, the unemployment office paid for me to get another degree. So after the year off, I had more school and another degree so the "year off" didn't stand out. Generally not a good idea.

12/2/2006 8:38:25 AM

Quote :

"the unemployment office paid for me to get another degree."

I didn't know they did that.

12/2/2006 8:47:05 AM

They do it if you have a textile degree.

12/2/2006 12:16:32 PM