Who's Been Unemployed for 2+ Yrs Now? (letters, credit, interviewers, profit)

[Forever Blue]

Who else has ideas on how/where to find work? I know, that's the million dollar question!

[laplante]

Java has some good info, but I don't know why you made it so detailed...

a person who is looking up an IP can only find out where you are located at the state level... so unless the risk you're concerned about is only "wiping hard drive" you don't have much to worry about, nobody can physically track you... go to IP Address Lookup - Home page and it will show you all the info that's available about your IP (not much)...

btw I'm also in IT and also unemployed...

[gtsurfer05]

I'll be in that boat until January when I ship out to basic training. Finished up college at the end of 2009, and the only things that I was able to get was seasonal retail for Fall/Christmas 2010, Government Internship for 3 months (unpaid), and then a sales position which was not my thing. During that first year I applied to hundreds of positions around the country. Even did McD's and nothing.

[hopefulone]

Originally Posted by Z3N1TH 0N3

Pounding the pavement and job fairs are mostly useless means of acquiring a job.

Yeah job fairs are pretty bad especially when there are so many people packed into one small room. Pounding the pavement gets you nowhere in many cases because many places only accept online applications and will not accept resumes in person.

[parttimetechie]

Originally Posted by Z3N1TH 0N3

You'd be surprised what one is capable of. For instance, I could put a tracker on your IP and pinpoint the exact area that you're working from. With just a little more work, I could hack your system (not that there's anything of value on it) and wipe your entire hard drive of data.

So yeah, it's good to be as cautious as possible when sharing information online.

Um...NO, you can't. As much as the media and all the hype about being able to trace an IP to a specific square block and hack a computer just by knowing the IP address and password, you can't hack a computer system. Not without some very sophisticated programs and a lot of programming knowledge.

[andywire]

I luckily have managed to stay employed fairly consistently, but I have been laid off a couple times. I just pick up the pieces and make hunting searching my full time job. It also helps when your not tied down by a house that has lost value.

Having said that, my father has not been so fortunate. He has been an electrical engineer all his life, and he's 55 now. The business he worked for went out of business 5 years ago, as the recession hit Michigan extra early. He actively searched for work, but it has been so long since he had to look that I believe he went about it the wrong way. He and a work buddy did start a small business doing the work they were doing before, and they did have some contract work with Ford and GM, but the work was very unsteady.

At this point, I think he has accepted the fact that he probably will never make what he made before if he ever works again. He luckily was a saver, a quality he passed down to me. He's content and not worried. If things ever get better, he may work again, but either way he will not starve, and the house he lives in has been paid off for over a decade.

It's such a shame though that a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experience has been sitting idle for 5 years. Multiply that by the number of people in his situation, and it spells a sorry state of affairs for this country. People who can actually DO things, and have something to offer are completely worthless in this country. Meanwhile CEO's are paid millions to keep these people idle and feeling worthless.

[HDL]

Originally Posted by andywire

I luckily have managed to stay employed fairly consistently, but I have been laid off a couple times. I just pick up the pieces and make hunting searching my full time job. It also helps when your not tied down by a house that has lost value.

Having said that, my father has not been so fortunate. He has been an electrical engineer all his life, and he's 55 now. The business he worked for went out of business 5 years ago, as the recession hit Michigan extra early. He actively searched for work, but it has been so long since he had to look that I believe he went about it the wrong way. He and a work buddy did start a small business doing the work they were doing before, and they did have some contract work with Ford and GM, but the work was very unsteady.

At this point, I think he has accepted the fact that he probably will never make what he made before if he ever works again. He luckily was a saver, a quality he passed down to me. He's content and not worried. If things ever get better, he may work again, but either way he will not starve, and the house he lives in has been paid off for over a decade.

It's such a shame though that a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experience has been sitting idle for 5 years. Multiply that by the number of people in his situation, and it spells a sorry state of affairs for this country. People who can actually DO things, and have something to offer are completely worthless in this country. Meanwhile CEO's are paid millions to keep these people idle and feeling worthless.

Something is very wrong with America today and I believe that it all boils down to G-R-E-E-D !

[Forever Blue]

Speaking of a sorry state of affairs, I know someone who just today went to another employment/temp agency. The interviewer didn't like the off & on work record on my friend's resume & when asked, the interviewer actually stated that they'd rather hire someone who had a conviction over someone who hasn't had experience in over 6 mos. So there was nothing much for my friend to do except walk out. Woah!

[andywire]

Originally Posted by Forever Blue

Speaking of a sorry state of affairs, I know someone who just today went to another employment/temp agency. The interviewer didn't like the off & on work record on my friend's resume & when asked, the interviewer actually stated that they'd rather hire someone who had a conviction over someone who hasn't had experience in over 6 mos. So there was nothing much for my friend to do except walk out. Woah!

That makes sense. They can pay the convict rock bottom wages, and he'll likely accept it since he, more than likely, can't find work anywhere else. There's a chance that the person who hasn't worked in 6 months doesn't need the job bad enough to accept today's pitiful wages. I've worked with convicts who were doing my same job for half my wage. Granted, they were not very good at it, but the employer kept them hoping they may get better.

[collegeguy35]

My Aunt had an electrical engineer as her waiter not long ago. He was 52 and had been out of work two years. I had an EE sell me paint at Lowe's in 2005. He was in his early 50's lost his job. Told me he would have to work till 70. Uncle has a buddy engineer out of work almost two years in his 50's Uncle was an engineer at age 51 that is done. We are sending our R&D work overseas. Or hiring engineers as contractors. Like they did with your dad and his buddy. Can not really count on it. It does not help they can hire engineers in India. Going rate 15 to 20k a year no benefits. Things are not what they use to be.