sometimes I hate people
Dec. 10th, 2010 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mickeymI've been following along on CNN.com all the coverage of the tax break issues, and the unemployment extension issues, and once again I've made the supreme mistake of reading the comments. I'm venting here because there's no way in hell I'm going to get into a disagreement with someone on a message board.
One of the comments left was this:
That person then went on to say that "if I lost my job and couldn't find anything else I'd pick spinach."
Another comment (different person):
The thing that really kills me is that these people, and many others like them, truly believe that those of us who are unemployed due to economic factors, are just sitting around on our asses, twiddling our thumbs and watching daytime television. (I'm not going to deny that there probably ARE people doing just that, but I would be willing to bet money I don't have that they are in the minority.)
One of the federal job boards has an option where you can check to see the status of your application. They recently added a "number of applicants" field to that...and those numbers are alarming as hell. One of the jobs I applied for, a secretarial position, had over 2000 applications submitted. Another had close to 700. The average seems to range between 250 and 400. PER JOB. And I know I've commented here before about some of the stats people I've interviewed with have told me: 70+ applications for a job starting out at minimum wage.
Do I apply for every single position that exists? No. I can't apply for things that would have me on my feet for hours on end; I can't apply for jobs that require the ability to lift 50, 75, or more lbs. I'm not physically capable of doing those jobs. Do I apply for every single job that I am capable of doing? Mostly. Some of the jobs I have to weigh/consider things like: is it worth it, financially, to drive 90-100miles a day, roundtrip, for $10/hr (particularly if it's a part-time position)? Is the job somewhere, like downtown Louisville, where I would also have to pay for parking?
Since the first of June, I've applied for roughly 150 jobs, most full-time but some part-time. I've interviewed for probably roughly a dozen. My "area of consideration" is something like six counties, radiating in all directions from Elizabethtown. The only shift I won't consider is 3rd, but there aren't a lot of jobs in the office support field that are 3rd shift anyway. I've applied for jobs on boards like Monster.com, through the newspaper, from city/state/federal boards, and things that have been sent to me word-of-mouth/emails from friends.
I wish that some of the people who are all righteous and holier-than-thou about what they would do if THEY were unemployed...could shut their mouths for just a moment, and step into the shoes of someone like myself, who has been unemployed for over a year, now, and is trying hard to find another job. It's not fun, it's certainly not a "watch TV and eat bon-bons" picnic. It's depressing. Demoralizing, even. Anyone reading this journal knows how badly I've struggled with depression since last August.
Anyway. I needed to get that out, and now I need to get back to work and get stuff done around the house. Thanks for reading/listening, y'all. You make things more bearable. :)
One of the comments left was this:
apparently illegals will risk life and limb to come to the US for jobs - why are the 99'ers having such a tough time finding them?
That person then went on to say that "if I lost my job and couldn't find anything else I'd pick spinach."
Another comment (different person):
How many of these 99ers applied for the fruit picking jobs or McDonalds. You might have to learn Spanish to be effective. But 2 years of unemployment??? Please.
The thing that really kills me is that these people, and many others like them, truly believe that those of us who are unemployed due to economic factors, are just sitting around on our asses, twiddling our thumbs and watching daytime television. (I'm not going to deny that there probably ARE people doing just that, but I would be willing to bet money I don't have that they are in the minority.)
One of the federal job boards has an option where you can check to see the status of your application. They recently added a "number of applicants" field to that...and those numbers are alarming as hell. One of the jobs I applied for, a secretarial position, had over 2000 applications submitted. Another had close to 700. The average seems to range between 250 and 400. PER JOB. And I know I've commented here before about some of the stats people I've interviewed with have told me: 70+ applications for a job starting out at minimum wage.
Do I apply for every single position that exists? No. I can't apply for things that would have me on my feet for hours on end; I can't apply for jobs that require the ability to lift 50, 75, or more lbs. I'm not physically capable of doing those jobs. Do I apply for every single job that I am capable of doing? Mostly. Some of the jobs I have to weigh/consider things like: is it worth it, financially, to drive 90-100miles a day, roundtrip, for $10/hr (particularly if it's a part-time position)? Is the job somewhere, like downtown Louisville, where I would also have to pay for parking?
Since the first of June, I've applied for roughly 150 jobs, most full-time but some part-time. I've interviewed for probably roughly a dozen. My "area of consideration" is something like six counties, radiating in all directions from Elizabethtown. The only shift I won't consider is 3rd, but there aren't a lot of jobs in the office support field that are 3rd shift anyway. I've applied for jobs on boards like Monster.com, through the newspaper, from city/state/federal boards, and things that have been sent to me word-of-mouth/emails from friends.
I wish that some of the people who are all righteous and holier-than-thou about what they would do if THEY were unemployed...could shut their mouths for just a moment, and step into the shoes of someone like myself, who has been unemployed for over a year, now, and is trying hard to find another job. It's not fun, it's certainly not a "watch TV and eat bon-bons" picnic. It's depressing. Demoralizing, even. Anyone reading this journal knows how badly I've struggled with depression since last August.
Anyway. I needed to get that out, and now I need to get back to work and get stuff done around the house. Thanks for reading/listening, y'all. You make things more bearable. :)
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Date: 2010-12-12 05:51 am (UTC)I was on unemployed for just 3 months last spring and it was awful. And the fact is, I was only unemployed for 3 months because I got lucky AND the job I accepted was only part-time. It will eventually lead to full-time, but in the meantime I am trying to support myself and two kids on a part-time job and unreliable childsupport. And when it comes down to it I am actually making less working then I was collecting in unemployment.