J is very fortunate to be working for a company that seems to be bucking the dismal state of the economy. In fact, he is currently looking for a full-time employee to work directly under him, in addition to an intern to help with smaller tasks.
The media tells us that the recession is getting better, and that recovery is well underway. However, J still receives hundreds of applications — every day — for these open positions, a great portion of them from those who have more education, more experience, and are even more qualified than him for his own position!
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Yesterday, I read that the NYC unemployment rate for May was 9.6% — down from April’s 9.8%. An improvement to be sure, but still pretty high if you ask me.
Do you still see the devastating effects of the recession in your area and profession?
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We actually moved to Jackson Hole because we couldn’t afford living in Humboldt County, California (nor NorCal). My husband couldn’t find anything better than the part time job he had while in school (he graduated in December) and my full time medical receptionist job wasn’t enough to pay our bills. We had worked in Jackson Hole 4 summers before, and we called my husband’s old boss and asked for jobs. He immediately told us we both had full time work with him, so we moved our life the 1,030 miles for full time summer jobs. Hopefully we’ll find seasonal jobs over the winter too. I had a degree in social work and my husband has a degree in business, and neither of us can find jobs in our field. We’re hoping to find work here over the winter at a ski resort; as long as we’re working, we’re fine. I hope to EVENTUALLY work in my field, but with as many social workers as there are, the ones applying for the entry level jobs are people with master’s degrees and 5-10 years of experience. So. They win.
We’re lucky to live in Houston. The three main industries here are technology, medicine, and oil, all three of which are recession-resistant. And if one of the three takes a hit, there’s still the other two! Most of the people I know have not had a major problem getting work or keeping afloat. My husband did get laid off at one point, but he was able to get another job pretty quickly, with more money, good benefits, and no more traveling all over the country. 🙂
Yep – my partner has not had a stable FT job for a year and a half. I saw the stack of resumes for a position advertised at work the other day, too…OTOH, there are TONS more vacancies around in my field, but the pay is still dismal and competition fierce as ever.
My Dad has been unable to get a job for more than two years now. He is a very talented chemist with over 30 years experience and loves what he does (did), but no one will hire him. Either he is too experienced, or more likely it’s his age. He is 55 and employers would rather hire some young guy that they can pay less who will probably have lower expectations. Ageism is something that I don’t see talked about in the media very much, but it is a very real problem that people are pretty much powerless to do anything about. There is almost no way to prove that is what’s happening, but it is obvious. My Dad can save companies millions of dollars by solving problems with their product, but they can’t see past his age. It makes me sick.