I'm 4 Years Unemployed in Chicago Now... (Schaumburg: unemployment, school, college)

[rparz]

Buckle in folks, I feel a torrential downpour on the horizon.

[brian571]

At this point, the gap in your work history is probably the biggest issue. The other stuff is just icing on the cake. If you want to get back in your field, you're probably going to have to swallow your pride and take whatever you can get and probably take a pay cut. If you're living with your parents, $45k is still a decent chunk of change. With so many people looking for employment right now, it's a buyers market for employers. They can afford to be picky because they're getting a stack of resumes every time they post a job. The gap in your work history and the felony conviction is going to take you out of the running for most jobs.

I can somewhat relate. I was laid off during the height of the recession in 2009. It really sucked and I felt down for a few days, but after that I made getting a job my job. I knew that the longer I was out of work, the tougher it would be to get a job in my field. I took a contract job without benefits and a pay cut and kept looking for a full time gig in the mean time. It only took another month before I found one. All in all, I was only out of a job for 3 weeks. Most employers understand if you were laid off at some point over the last 4 years. What they don't understand is going years without a job. It makes you look unmotivated.

I wish you luck, but you need to be realistic at this point. You're not going to get market price anymore.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Genghis

He's a cross-dresser with a criminal record whose family helps support him, you're wasting your time here. I'm not making this up.

Lol...what???

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

That was only once, and I did that for a Secret Service job.



My record is clean since 2002. I don't crossdress at work and they shouldn't know about this unless they spy on me or else if known by gossip. But they shouldn't discriminate against gays, but I'm not totally gay either.

I can't move back to Houston because the Governor hasn't pardoned my felony, and almost all Apt complexes in Houston don't rent to felons.

What is the nature of your felony?

[Aleking]

i wouldn't hire you


and lol @ long term unemployed losers with few skills refusing to work for less than 48k.

[Jandur]

Oh man. I missed Jesse.

[madpaddy]

Originally Posted by brian571

Most employers understand if you were laid off at some point over the last 4 years. What they don't understand is going years without a job. It makes you look unmotivated.

Bulls-eye

4 years of continuous unemployment carries much more weight than your previous work experience. At this point you have to re-prove your worth and should be grateful to anyone that would offer you a job in your field at any salary.

While you've been holding out for a salary that you think is "worthy" of your education and experience, hundreds of similarly qualified people in your field have take low-level, low-paying jobs and worked their way back up to the kind of income you say you'd like to have.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

I have a BSME and I'm 44. I have 5.79 years experience doing CAD, some engineering, and tech writing. $48,000 / year should be a minimum for someone with my skills and experience, especially for a mfg related tech writer job. I have some knowledge of automated machinery and PLCs, great procedure documentation, plus I use artificial intelligence in writing comprehensive documentation. Companies in Chicago are too cheap to pay good money for a Mech Eng / Tech Writer combo. I also interviewed at Cozzini, for a Tech Writer position taking the place of a Mech Eng Tech writer there too, - who was white and moved from Engineering to Tech Writing. I bet they were paying him more than $60,000 a year to be their Tech Writer, since he went from Eng to Tech Writing. Yet they were to cheap to pay me $48,000 / year and they said my ideal $56,000 a year is "way out of league."

Part of my unemployment problem is that I'm mostly stuck to Chicago area or suburb jobs. If my mom lived here all year round then I could work temp contract jobs around the nation. But my mom visits the Philippines every year to take care of my Dad there.

Entry level Mech Eng salary is around $56,000 a year. I'm 20 years out of college and yet I can't get that. I get a rare few jobs for jobs that pay $60,000+ though, but they contract jobs / no health insurance.

Sounds like you might want to resolve some other ''issues'' first which may then help you secure employment. $60,000 isn't enough for you let you live on SSDI and, at 44 years of age, live with your parents who are footing all the bills except internet?

[nikitakolata]

Jesse, based on your posts it seems like you really don't want to work at all. You've made it very clear that you don't want to work for less than a certain salary. I believe this is coming through in your job search and if I were an employer I would probably get the impression that you wouldn't work very hard and wouldn't care much about having the job. I wouldn't hire you.

You have been living off of others for 4 years now. If you wanted to work, you would be working. Personally, I would be stir crazy and would have taken a part time job by now if for no other reason than to get out of the house. You haven't done that because you don't want to.

Also, you have less than 6 years experience and that experience is 4 years old now. At 44 years old that is not impressive. I had 6 years experience when I was 28. Most 28 year olds don't share your attitude about salary and most don't consider themselves to be experienced by that point, even though they have the same amount of experience as you.

If you actually want a job, then take a lower paying one and prove your worth. Once you have a job, finding another one is not that difficult and you could probably get the salary you desire within a couple years.

[Jesse69]

E2b2r – I don’t suffer from autism-spectrum disorder, just paranoid schizophrenia. I don’t like like a weird person in person.

ColdAilment – my worst employer spied on me after work, and after they fired me I felt they were following me around. So one morning at McDonald’s I thought a man was a spy / harasser and I punched him once in the cheek. He was 60 years old and they gave me a felony for that. If this was NYC = no felony.

Aleking, I don’t have a few skills, I have a lot of skills.

Back in 2010 there was a lot of news on long term unemployed people. Lots of people in other professions are unemployed too, even though they have lots of skills and experience.

I’ve taken lower paying jobs to prove my worth, like CAD Drafter or Tech Writer jobs… Those are easy compared to being a Product Design Mech Eng.

I’m also starting to search for Technical Support jobs. I applied to this one job on monster and I got a JOB INTERVIEW for it on Friday. Hopefully I can get hired at $55,000 / year.

Technical Phone Support Job in Schaumburg 60173, Illinois US