Tag: Unemployment

My days being unemployed are coming to a close

It looks as though the national nightmare known as me not having a job is almost over.  I’ve been offered a position with a Fortune 500 company that I have accepted.

Yea!

I was offered the position this past Thursday over the telephone, and UPS delivered my welcome packet this morning.

My first day of work will be December 14.

To say I am excited about this is a huge understatement.  As fate would have it, this is actually a much better job than the one I had before.  I wont be working with my hands and the job doesn’t involve electronics.  No soldering, no desoldering, no dealing with burned up circuit boards, and no troubleshooting of tiny surface mount components I cannot even see with the naked eye.

This job involves computers and the Internet.  I’ll be working with people over the telephone.  It still involves troubleshooting, but instead of electronics, it will involve html and php.  It’s something I see myself really enjoying.

I have something to be very thankful about this Thanksgiving.  Not only have I found a job in a time when finding a job is somewhat difficult, I think I’ve landed one that I am really going to enjoy.

8 Comments by Rick on November 23, 2009
filed in Personal
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Rejected by attached form letter

About a month ago I applied for a job advertised in the local newspaper. It was for a job I didn’t really want, for a company I didn’t really want to work for, but I felt that I had a responsibility to apply for any job that I was even remotely qualified for. With the national unemployment rate now at 10.2%, I feel as though I shouldn’t let any opportunity for gainful employment slip on by.

Last night I received an email from this company concerning the position I applied for. Here’s a screen shot:

rejection e-mail for ESP

By the name for the document they attached to the email for me to read, I don’t think I need to bother opening it. The title of the document says everything I need to know. I’ve been rejected.

I went ahead and opened the document and read it. Nowhere in the letter does the word “rejection” appear. In the letter, they are much nicer in how they tell me that don’t want to hire me.

Being unemployed is so much fun.

4 Comments by Rick on November 10, 2009
filed in Personal
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It turns out my hands really like being unemployed

oct9lefthand

It turns out out that getting laid off from my job as an electronics tech last month does have at least one positive side effect; The psoriasis on my hands is practically gone.

Granted, there are a few tiny rough spots, but if you compare this photo with the one from June 15, 2009, it’s like night and day.

Of my two hands, my left hand is the only one with any psoriasis. As this photo shows, I have a few spots here and there, but nothing really serious. Nothing that I can’t just put a band-aid on and go forth and have a regular life.

My right hand is completely psoriasis free.

I should point out that I’m not taking any psoriasis medications. No steroid creams, no oral medications, and no hardcore biologic injections. I’m not even seeing a dermatologist, nor will I ever see one again.

I essentially gave up on getting my psoriasis cured.

As far as I can tell, the only thing that has caused my psoriasis to go away is that I’m not working. I’m not subjecting my hands to the trauma of working and using tools.  So what’s this mean? Well, I guess it means that I should try to find a job where I don’t work with my hands.  A job where I don’t have to use tools.  A job where I don’t have to do any soldering.

I’m sure I’ll have no problem doing that, especially considering the current job market.

3 Comments by Rick on October 9, 2009
filed in Psoriasis
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Unemployment rose to 9.8% in September

The Labor Department announced that the official unemployment rate rose to a whopping 9.8% last month.  That number is based on how many people are currently receiving unemployment benefits.   That means that if you are unemployed, but you are not receiving benefits, you  and the fact that you don’t have a job, is not factored into this total number.

I’m part of this 9.8%.  As I blogged earlier, I was permanently laid off by my employer on September 15 and I’m now receiving unemployment benefits.   Though I live in Maryland, I worked in Pennsylvania.  Because of this, I’m receiving unemployment  compensation from Pennsylvania, not Maryland.

I’ve got nothing but praise for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.  Because of where I worked, I’ve been going through the Lancaster UC Service Center.  Take everything you’ve ever heard about government bureaucrats and throw it out the window when it comes to these people.  They’ve been nothing but helpful and exceptionally nice.  I’ve called them on two different occasions and both times the person I spoke was totally helpful.  When I submitted my first biweekly claim over the Internet, a person from the Lancaster office walked me through the entire process over the phone.  It made the whole process a lot less stressful.

Take it from me, when you are jobless, less stressful is good.

by Rick on October 3, 2009
filed in Economic Apocalypse
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Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one

I’m trying to have a positive attitude about my recent layoff, but when I read stories such as this one, it makes me wonder what the future holds. From the New York Times:

Despite signs that the economy has resumed growing, unemployed Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse.

Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. According to the Labor Department’s latest numbers, from July, only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed.

You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know that 14.5 million doesn’t go into 2.4 million very neatly. We as a nation have more people than we have jobs. What’s even worse is that our population level continues to increase by 150,000 people a month. That would mean we need to create at least that many new jobs each month just to stay even.

Obviously, that’s not happening.

1 Comment by Rick on September 27, 2009
filed in Economic Apocalypse
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