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9/27/11 7:56 P

Welcome, Eowyn2424, and thanks for sharing. I'm sorry to hear about your difficulties but it's great you are here and hope we can help each other along the way.

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9/27/11 6:50 A

Hi, I'm a jobless grad. But I don't think I can use my degree anymore as I'm an IT grad, and we all know how fast IT moves. I have no problem using a computer, I just can't program anymore. (I'm waaaaay out of date!).

I'm also a dialysis patient, I have a disability pension but it's not enough. I'm looking for alternative sources of income but most bosses don't want a person who has to work part-time like me. Why should they, when there are tonnes of normal, healthy unemployed ppl for them to choose from? (that's from the employers' point of view).

It's hard for me not to lose hope!

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Posts: 620
9/1/11 8:04 P

I wanted to thank everyone for sharing their tips. I want to share that there are a few books that I found tremendously helpful for personal development during my period of being unemployed -

1. The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart (therapeutic)
2. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (effective cognitive therapy techniques)
3. The Artist's Way (for your inner artist / creative child)

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5/19/11 11:50 P

Hi I've been unemployed for 3 years now, because of a work place injury which I had lots of therapy for and now I've been re-trained to do a new job. And it's near impossible to get employers to give me a chance even for a entry level job, even the temp agencies are being extra discriminating now. I worked through administrative temp agency's a decade ago for office work and I temped doing medical work off and on for this last decade and now none of them will give me a chance. They say since I've been out of work so long my work experience although with new and up to date education makes me an entry level worker and businesses aren't looking for that type of employee. I had to tell one temp agency I didn't know work experience expired , what kind of stuff is that? I had one agency tell me that if I haven't worked in the last 6 months to a year most jobs don't want you, well what are the rest of us suppose to do to survive?

I put as many resumes/applications as I can out on a daily basis I make the follow up calls and still no work not even temp work, and the killer is most of these jobs really don't want you to call them even though a lot of them don't say this. When you follow up with a call they all say the same standard robotic thing, if your qualifications fit what we're looking for we will call you. How nice is that :i)

Please tell me what are all of you doing to get by financially? And how are you going about your job search? I'm asking almost everyone I meet about their work place and if I can get a job through someone you know friend of a friend at work anything it's just the worst economy and job situation I've even been in.

Best of luck and care to everyone here, this job situation isn't a joke , Just call me beyond frustrated

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5/11/11 7:51 P

I'm glad I found this team, I will post more later when I get the chance I'm online applying for jobs now :O)

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Posts: 69
1/29/10 4:10 P

I totally agree about the volunteering thing. I watched the Extreme Home Makeover show last week and they showed a website - abettercommunity.com - that has a huge list of a bunch of different volunteer organizations. I checked it out and it looks like a great site to get ideas for volunteering.

For the record, I never watch Extreme Home Makeover, but only watched it because it was the one they did here in my home city of Buffalo, NY this past November. It really is a heartwarming show.

I like the idea of LinkedIn as well. I'm on it, and I think it's good for networking especially. For example, if I want to work for a company, I may not be aware that a friend of mine has a friend who works at that company, and LinkedIn will help me to discover that. It's helped me prep for interviews before, by connecting with a current employee at the place I'm interviewing at.

Speaking of networking, I wonder if we couldn't help each other network within this group. Perhaps if we created a discussion where we could put what we are looking for, where, and any other pertinent details, it could be something that all members could refer to and see if maybe we know someone who works in that field, or we might be able to help out somehow. Think it's worth a try?

Posts: 22
1/25/10 7:10 P

Something else you can do is volunteer for stuff. It gets you outside the house and active, and it helps make contacts.

I talked to someone from Trillium Staffing today, and she suggested several local and national organizations to check into. They ranged from Laura's House (which helps abuse victims) to the local community theater. She also said that it looks good on the resume.

Also, LinkedIn is a good site. I've heard it described as a business oriented "Facebook."

Posts: 69
1/24/10 2:26 P

Hello? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Posts: 69
1/22/10 4:24 P

On a non-job search related note, I thought I'd ask what everyone is doing for their workouts now in the dead of winter. Do you belong to clubs? Walk with friends? Videos?

I've been using the Exercise tv on demand feature of my cable tv. It keeps me from getting bored with one dvd and it's free, which is nice. I've done this Jillian Michaels Quick No Trouble Zones workout twice in the last 3 days and holy wow, I ache _everywhere_. OOF! I've tried a couple of her workouts before and didn't like her because she seemed so mean, but she seems nicer (or less harsh) in this workout. Go figure.

Anyhoo, I hope everyone is doing well, staying warm, and having a good Friday.

Cheers,
Sarah

Posts: 3
1/21/10 3:39 P

Thanks for the sites. I use some of them, but not all, so it will be nice to have a few extra resources.

In addition to yours, I would add
Idealist.org - Non-profit jobs and volunteer jobs
USAJobs.com - Federal government jobs
HigherEdJobs.com
Dice.com - tech jobs
craigslist

I keep all of my job applications in a spreadsheet, so I can track my progress. It's also helpful to see if the same job pops up again and again with the same company. I also save all my job descriptions in job files according to the day I applied for them.

Posts: 69
1/21/10 12:41 P

It is definitely a tough job market out there and it's hard to not start losing hope. But we will all find new jobs eventually. We will. (No, I'm not really Pollyanna, I just am trying to keep hope up.)

So you asked for tips. I check a ton of job posting websites almost daily, and get alert emails from many of them as well. I'll just list them here in case there are one or two that people haven't checked out yet.

Monster.com
Careerbuilder.com
Indeed.com
Sologig.com - for temp, consulting, contract work
CPGJoblist.com - Consumer Packaged Goods jobs in all functions
CareersInFood.com - Food Manufacturing jobs, from Maintenance Supervisors to Food Scientists to Sales Managers
AmericasJobExchange.com - I got there through the NYS DOL website, some other states have their own state-specific job boards on their DOL website
recruitstaff.com - can search a ton of national job postings in their database

I found this website to have good ideas for the Buffalo and Rochester, NY areas, but it's also got some good websites listed for national searches. http://www.infobuffalo.com/employment.htm

I've also gone to the websites of companies I'd like to work for and signed up for job alerts from their career postings (not all companies have this, but it's nice when they do). I also have a list of company websites that I check about once a week for new postings.

I've also started checking out blogs to find advice and motivation. I found one recently that I think is just great. http://timsstrategy.com/ He writes about every other day and asks good insightful questions, makes good points, and helps to keep the job search motivation level a bit higher than it would otherwise be. He's also got some great tools (free and downloadable) for making a watchlist (to keep your eyes peeled to help your friends with their searches), a one pager to bring to networking events and job fairs, and other stuff.

I also keep a notebook and write down everything I do for the search, whether it's check websites, make calls, anything. That way when I'm feeling stuck, I can flip through it and see if there's something I haven't done in a while or something to follow up on.

Whew! So that's a whole lot of information overload from me. I would love to hear about what everyone else is doing.

--Sarah

Posts: 22
1/3/10 12:45 A

Hi everyone.

I see that this is a very quiet team.

Last fall I took part in a discussion group at my local community college that was composed of out of work and frustrated people.

One of the biggest things we took out of that group was that we weren't alone in this. I live in Michigan, which currently is the "Land of Unemployment." There's a lot of people looking for a job, and it feels like every one of them is going for my job.

It's common now for people to spend 18 months or more looking for a new job. Employers typically get 600 applications for one job opening. Most people don't get any response from employers. That's the joy of our "new economy."

In times like these, it's easy to get depressed, but you can't let that happen. I'm not telling you to look at things through rose colored glasses, just don't get to the point where you give up.

Talking to others helps, so let's get talking!

What tips can each of us offer to help the others out?