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Although I’m still in the middle of it myself, I figured this would be a good topic to start and we could probably all learn from the shared wisdom. So with that in mind I want to ask everyone:
”What lessons have you learned from being unemployed? What will you do differently in the future to better prepare yourself?”
For me it’s the following:
1) SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!
At age 30 with 6 years of post college professional job experience I was working for less then what I considered to be an appropriate entry level wage since the economy hasn’t really been at a high point since I graduated back in 2004 even. I took my 1st job at a much lower wage because I was just happy to find work and it applied to my career field. When things started getting rocky there stability wise I took a new job (the one I was laid off from) and again, I was making less then what I should have been but I was happy to be working. Because of my student loans, my rent, and my car payment (not something flashy or brand new even BTW) I was barely doing any better then paying the bills and throwing a $100-$200 a month in savings.
I basically said to myself “Hey, I’m getting by with what I have so that’s good enough to me.” I was making enough to pay the bills, go on some small vacations here and there, go out on the weekends, go to dinner on a date, etc. I took for granted the fact that I had a job, and I didn’t prepare for the worst case scenario. I was enjoying the supposed “best years of my life.” I didn’t see the point in taking a 2nd job and earn minimum wage to put away an extra $300-$400 a month or make extra payments on my bills.
Now as a cruel twist of fate, I’m ONE WEEK TOO LATE for qualifying for even my Tier 1 extension, and my 26 weeks of benefits will end on Nov 28th. So much for 99 weeks. I’m screwed. I have about $800 of savings left and that’s it. I’m going to be trying to find a new apartment for cheaper rent, I’m making any other small adjustments as much as I can in spending. I’m hoping that this week I’ll land a part time seasonal job at a department store (I did this last year), and I’m going for an interview for Best Buy on Sat. as well. I’m going to be working 2 min. wage jobs for 50 or 60 hrs. a week, just to make slightly LESS then UI was paying me. And I still have to figure out what on earth I’m going to do in Jan.
Once this is all behind me someday in the future, I HAVE to change my saving habits. By that point I’ll probably be used to working 2 (or 3) jobs so I plan to continue working a 2nd job until I really do have a 3-6 month cushion of savings. Not having fun on the weekends sucks, but spending every waking moment wondering how you’re going to make ends meet like I am right now is much worse.
2) DON’T EVER CONSIDER MY JOB STABLE
When I got laid off this April it was out of the blue. My department was the busiest we had ever been in the whole time I worked there. We were transitioning over 100 products from a sister company our parent corp was closing to production in our plant. None of that product had concrete technical drawings, CNC programs, anything. We couldn’t possibly be busier. And then one day my supervisor told me to grab the drawings I was working on and go to the front conference room with him. I figured we were discussing what I was working on with the Dept. Director. Then the HR guy was sitting there. 15 min. later 6 other people from other depts. came in. We were all being let go. I had no idea.
But in hindsight I should have been looking for work a year and a half before that. In Jan of 09 they laid off about 30 office staff and who knows how many factory floor workers out of the blue. They gathered the rest of us up and told us that the company was struggling, and they had to make cuts. I was scared s**tless for about a month, but the rest of us stayed put. In June, a much bigger company that was a competitor to us in our market segment bought the company. I assumed that if they had the money to acquire us, well then they were stable enough to keep us employed too. Dead Wrong.
I’m kicking myself HARD now for not preparing for this day, and NOT looking for work the minute the 1st scare happened. I even had calls from recruiters I had worked with in the past asking if I was interested in a new job, but I declined because I thought things were fine.
From this point on I will NEVER refuse the offer for a new job opportunity again. Company loyalty be damned. Nobody is loyal to their employees now anyway. I’d rather have a bunch of 1 or 2 year stints at jobs then a bunch of 1 or 2 year stints of unemployment. If I start to feel that my job security is in jeopardy or the company is struggling financially, then that’s when I start my job hunt. Before not after. If someone contacts me about a job offer that might be a good fit, I’m pursuing it. The days of people working for the same company for 30+ years til the day they retire are gone.
3) CONTRIBUTE TO MY 401K MORE
After reading here and elsewhere about so many people nearing retirement age who are losing their jobs and having to spend their retirement savings just to live off of and make mortgage payments, I need to be contributing more to mine. I have $5K in mine after 6 years of working. That’s not enough. Instead of just putting in to meet an employer’s 2% or 3% match, I need to start putting in 5% or greater if I can. Half the problem is not meeting vesting. Most of these places won’t make your 401K fully vested until you’ve worked there 5 years, 10 years whatever. It gives you a false sense of what you’re earning when half of that or less comes back to you when you leave. I need to consider what I’M CONTRIBUTING, not what they are.
4) STAY MOBILE
Thank God I didn’t buy a house! So many people now are trapped underneath a mortgage that would make them lose $50K or more in selling their house vs. what they paid for. If you can’t move to find a new job (especially in a rural area) it really limits your employment opportunities.
My Step Brother is a great example of a horror story. He moved from rural South East Michigan to Milwaukee for a job 2 years ago, and he still had not sold his old house. He bought a new one in Milwaukee in the old one just sat there empty and unattended. Then someone broke in and cleaned it out. All the copper wire, plumbing, doors, etc. GONE. It was basically considered a total loss, so they let it foreclose because they already had a new house. Then he started to worry about his job security because he felt they were scapegoating him for the problems that their outsourcing was encountering. He can’t exactly control the quality or the production time for stuff coming out of China! So he found a new job and he’s now living in an apartment 3 hours away while his family stays at the house until it sells. They have 4 of their own kids, and 5 foster kids so it’s not like they can just cram 2 kids per bedroom in a 3 bdrm apt, they have to have a house.
So I’m not going to be buying anything unless I REALLY feel like I have extremely solid job security or a house is a necessity. And I sure as hell won’t be taking on a huge mortgage in a house that’s bigger then my needs.
Last edited by Further North; 10-28-2010 at 09:57 PM..
Now as a cruel twist of fate, I’m ONE WEEK TOO LATE for qualifying for even my Tier 1 extension, and my 26 weeks of benefits will end on Nov 28th. So much for 99 weeks.
I'm in the same boat. My 26 weeks ends in mid December. Isn't it funny how somebody might be on unemployment for over a year, yet because whatever tier they are on runs out before the deadline, they will be able to move to the next tier and be able to continue to draw unemployment while people like you and me go without. It doesn't make sense and it definitely isn't fair.
I'm in the same boat. My 26 weeks ends in mid December. Isn't it funny how somebody might be on unemployment for over a year, yet because whatever tier they are on runs out before the deadline, they will be able to move to the next tier and be able to continue to draw unemployment while people like you and me go without. It doesn't make sense and it definitely isn't fair.
I hear ya. We're getting 73 weeks LESS then some people. Why are they not staggering the Tier deadlines, or giving some priority to people that have only done their first 26 weeks?
6 months just is NOT enough time. I'm used to seeing hiring for most higher paying skilled positions to take MONTHS not weeks for companies to make a decision. The worst part is now I'll be working MULTIPLE jobs, or locked into a job that won't give me time off for a long time. I have to risk getting let go if I call in sick to take an interview out of town.
Further North:
Thanks for providing a detailed response. The morning of the day I was laid off I had a feeling that my job was going to be axed. I even said so to a co-worker who thought I just had to be wrong. My intuition said otherwise. Actually, I had a hunch it was coming a few months before it happened. I just kind of knew. So, I agree that you can't be in denial- if you sense some bad mojo start putting your resume out and if opportunity presents itself go for it. It's nice to be loyal, but it's nicer to be loyal to yourself.
1. faith is not a joke, and God is real (ok i already knew this but it never hurts to relearn something).
2. this country sucks in many ways.
3. 3rd world territories have more respect for their citizens than americans have for each other (especially the upper class).
4. politics and all politicians are a joke...ALL of them. don't believe anything they tell you.
in the future, i have learned, like others...to save! i was always trying to keep up on bills and have better credit and yada yada yada...and now i am left without a penny, trying to stay on top of the crucial bills because ive paid into the bills that i don't need to pay to live, and all of the companies have my money and their jobs.
pay what you NEED to pay to survive, and give everyone else WHAT YOU CAN when you CAN until you are financially stable and can once again spend a little here and there without consequence. sure my credit is taking a beating now...but it obviously was inevitable that this day would come, so i feel as if i gave them precious money for nothing, just to hold them off until now. i could have saved that money to help me now and had my credit take a beating months ago. because now i have nothing to pay them anyway and i am really feeling it financially.
in the future the only bills i'll be worried about are rent, pseg, food and our phone/internet, which we need to be safe and maintain work, and my school loans. other bills will get paid when we get it and not a moment before (admittedly--we don't have that many bills at all or that much debt, but i was always giving them money and it just never was done being paid for). i am resigned to pay myself before i pay them.
Further North:
Thanks for providing a detailed response. The morning of the day I was laid off I had a feeling that my job was going to be axed. I even said so to a co-worker who thought I just had to be wrong. My intuition said otherwise. Actually, I had a hunch it was coming a few months before it happened. I just kind of knew. So, I agree that you can't be in denial- if you sense some bad mojo start putting your resume out and if opportunity presents itself go for it. It's nice to be loyal, but it's nicer to be loyal to yourself.
ita! i feel like i was being loyal to the idea that i needed perfect credit and blah blah blah and to pay money i should have been saving for my family to other bills *the ones that never go away but always have you owing them*, and now i realize pay myself first. if they don't provide immediate needs for my family (ie. rent, heat/hot water/food), they can wait.
i might be wrong, i might be biased or financially unsavvy with this idea...but i don't care. after this hellish experience, i am going to be loyal to myself and family before any institution.
Take this time to get inside your soul - get to know what you really like to do, and what you don't.
Don't lie around feeling sorry for yourself (I was guilty of that the first few weeks). Be angry as long as you need to, vent and get it out of your system until things get better for you, (that's what I did on here, LOL). That's what this board is for. We're all angry. The economy dealt us a handful of s**t and we didn't expect it. Some of us (Baby Boomers like me) at one time thought if we got post-high school education, and worked hard, we'd have an easy ride the rest of our lives. Not so.
If you want to learn a new field, go to school and do it. If school isn't for you (it wasn't for me), explore your interests and hobbies. Maybe you have a secondary skill or a talent that would be valuable in another field. I really like baking and cooking. I had a lot of experience in food prep and worked weekends for years in bakeries, in addition to my full time office job. I actually liked working in the bakery better than some of the office jobs I've had. I've realized that (other than visiting this forum) I really hate computers, and technology stresses me out. I'm sick of the corporate culture and offices. We own our own home now (we are in our early to late 50's), have no major expenses, so it wasn't crucial for me to find a super high paying job, even though I felt obligated to search for one. I lowered my standards and found a decent paying job in food service (a high school cafeteria). It will give me summers off to pursue my other interest - growing produce. We are lucky enough to have some land, so I started planting lots of vegetables - and I sold them at my daughter's health food store. I developed a small clientele. I'm going to do more this summer. Expect to tone your life style down a lot - you'll appreciate the simplicity in the long run. I got rid of my cell phone, among other things. I don't miss it.
Anyway, don't let anyone make you feel inferior because you refuse to be a square peg forced into a round hole. Don't pay attention to the holier-than-thous (especially the young ones) who have jobs and don't know what it is like to be in your shoes. Take some time, trust in God, and listen to your inner voice.
How much I'm tired of looking for a job after 2 years. While I just picked one up I am still going to keep looking as it isn't enough in the long run. It will just keep my head above water for now which I am grateful for as I have 3 weeks of UI left.
Lessons learned? Being employed it better than not being employed.
On a more detailed note-
The need to reach out to every single person I ever met whether I like them or not- to ask for help. Very hard to do but it is a MUST now. It's called networking.
Stretching a dollar has become an art form and I will never forget that I can make it on next to nothing.
How much I love where I live and the thought of losing it brings me to my knees....(Appreciation for what I have).
How much I wish I had known what was coming so I could have planned better.
It's lonely in the day time and I hate day time tv. Can't imagine how stay at home people by choice do this without going insane.
Things are looking up though. Two interviews this week already.
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Can't imagine how stay at home people by choice do this without going insane. 
