Is the job market *really* that bad?

[barkley]

yes, it's that bad.

i get very tired of hearing people say that if a person 'truly' wants to work that there ARE jobs OUT THERE. it's just not the case in many areas.

yes, the fast foods and some industries may be hiring-but-if you're college degreed and have an excellent long term work history in what the managers of the fast foods perceive as a 'professional' industry they will likely not even give you an interview. their mind set is that you will 'jump ship' as soon as a job in your industry comes along-well, those jobs are'nt coming along and don't appear to be anytime soon. so-hard working, strong work ethic possessing applicants can't get their foot in the door (and for those that still get unemployment-i'm glad for you, there are many that have exhausted theirs and i don't know how they are getting by).

in dh's former line of work the employers have found they can get free labor from college students who mistakenly believe their internships will lead to employment post grad. it does'nt, and they are shown the door as the next group of willing interns are shown in.

NO job is recession proof. when i worked for social services we used to joke that if any job was it was ours (b/c as times got worse more people applied for public assistance therefore making our jobs more 'secure')-the reality is the california county i retired from has'nt hired except through temp agencies for several years, the temps got terminated a couple of years ago, all the staff is being furloughed w/o pay AND they are still looking at more layoffs in addition to the ones they've already done.

 

[toddlers_mom]

yes, it's that bad.

i get very tired of hearing people say that if a person 'truly' wants to work that there ARE jobs OUT THERE. it's just not the case in many areas.

yes, the fast foods and some industries may be hiring-but-if you're college degreed and have an excellent long term work history in what the managers of the fast foods perceive as a 'professional' industry they will likely not even give you an interview. their mind set is that you will 'jump ship' as soon as a job in your industry comes along-well, those jobs are'nt coming along and don't appear to be anytime soon. so-hard working, strong work ethic possessing applicants can't get their foot in the door (and for those that still get unemployment-i'm glad for you, there are many that have exhausted theirs and i don't know how they are getting by).

in dh's former line of work the employers have found they can get free labor from college students who mistakenly believe their internships will lead to employment post grad. it does'nt, and they are shown the door as the next group of willing interns are shown in.

NO job is recession proof. when i worked for social services we used to joke that if any job was it was ours (b/c as times got worse more people applied for public assistance therefore making our jobs more 'secure')-the reality is the california county i retired from has'nt hired except through temp agencies for several years, the temps got terminated a couple of years ago, all the staff is being furloughed w/o pay AND they are still looking at more layoffs in addition to the ones they've already done.

Yep!!

As soon as a prospective employer finds out I am in school and should be starting clinicals soon they run the opposite direction. I've gone as far as taking my education off of my resume but since I need flexible hours it still comes up. No one wants to hire someone for short term. It really sucks. I'm looking forward to at least being able to get on somewhere as a CNA this summer.

 

[laurie31]

What's funny is that you hear all the time about how nursing is a recession proof job. Its so not...our hospitals are on hiring freezes and new graduates are having a lot of trouble finding jobs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the economy rebounds by the time I graduate!

Yeah...where I work we used to always have 70-100 nursing jobs posted on our website. I looked just now and there are 3. Three! Holy cow!

The sad thing is...we do need more nurses. But we're not hiring them. Not right now.

Maybe in two years.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I am a lawyer. And I have been cashiering for Giant Eagle (a grocery store) for over a year now. I think the only reason I even got that job is because I used to work for them while I was in school.

 

[Erik_in_TN]

These really weren't the results I was hoping to hear. Things will/should turn around for the better eventually. (But when? is the million dollar question). But in the meantime...

The internet really is a great networking tool. Maybe we can have a networking board here for DIS'ers. People post what field they're interested in/looking for, and other DISer's share what is open in their area, etc. (?) Just a thought.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I'm thankfully employed right now, but I lost my job at Disney last January. My hours were cut and cut and cut and then I finally lost my job because I was late one too many times (stupid Orlando bus service ). Couldn't find ANYTHING, not even at Wal-Mart or a fast food place, so I wound up leaving Orlando and coming home to Chicago. I was out of work for, technically, seven months. I started a CNA class last May, finished in July, and have been doing that ever since, but when a better job (still as a CNA) with a higher pay rate came along, I took it. Oddly enough, my experience with Disney helped me get the job. I just did my taxes today. My income last year was just over $7,000. Total. I plan on becoming an RN within the next few years and am hoping that by the time I'm done with school, the hospitals in my area (or in Orlando, preferably) will be hiring again.

My father, on the other hand, is a carpenter who works in construction (residential and commercial). He was laid off almost four years ago and hasn't had a steady job since. He does a day here, a day there. He's long since run out of his unemployment benefits and was almost removed from his union because of lack of eligible hours worked last year. Because he's union, he can't work a non-union job without being kicked out of said union. It's unfortunate, because the only construction sites in the area that are taking on new carpenters are non-union.

My sister, who lives in Boise, has been out of work for about nine months. She was working retail when the economy went down and subsequently lost her job, as she was still new. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, can't keep a job to save his life. I don't know if it's because he's just lazy or because of the economy, but he's constantly out of work.

My best friend's husband (the Jacquie and Ian referred to in my ticker) works on his campus, but he only gets about 20 hours a week, and is required to take an entire month off every so often. He's been looking for other work, but can't find anything because they live in a college town. She, thankfully, has two jobs.

So yeah, it is that bad.

 

[kydisneyfans]

There are definitely jobs out there, the career jobs are the ones not as easy to find. I do the hiring at my position and actually see less applicants now than I did 2 years ago, and the quality of those applicants are pretty poor. Why work for $300-400 a week when you can sit at home and make $11 per hour on unemployment? It's a tough living on that type of money, but it can be done, I've been through it.

My wife is currently teaching as they couldn't find an instructor for the college course. She never applied for the job, nor has she ever taught, it was just a referral from a friend who knew the school was in desparate need of an instructor. After declining the position 4 times, she received a call on New Years Day with the school begging for help, she agreed. This position had been advertised for months.

Network, check the paper ads, surf the net. Don't limit yourself, suck it in and drive 50 miles each way to work if needed. What you do now in a time of crisis will shape your future.

From a number standpoint, my region has unemployment around 8%.

 

[ratherbeatdisney]

There are definitely jobs out there, the career jobs are the ones not as easy to find. I do the hiring at my position and actually see less applicants now than I did 2 years ago, and the quality of those applicants are pretty poor. Why work for $300-400 a week when you can sit at home and make $11 per hour on unemployment? It's a tough living on that type of money, but it can be done, I've been through it.

My wife is currently teaching as they couldn't find an instructor for the college course. She never applied for the job, nor has she ever taught, it was just a referral from a friend who knew the school was in desparate need of an instructor. After declining the position 4 times, she received a call on New Years Day with the school begging for help, she agreed. This position had been advertised for months.

Network, check the paper ads, surf the net. Don't limit yourself, suck it in and drive 50 miles each way to work if needed. What you do now in a time of crisis will shape your future.

From a number standpoint, my region has unemployment around 8%.

that seems quite a bit lower than in a lot of other places. there might be jobs in your area that people arent applying for, but that is certainly not the case everywhere. I have a friend who owns a sandwich shop, he has owned it for about 10 years. before, he would get a few calls a week at most asking about potential jobs. He is now getting a few dozen a day he says. I look online for jobs and its the same fake scam type jobs being listed every single day.

 

[jlima]

I started my job last June; and my boss said they got about 80 resumes from one ad in the local newspaper.

The non profit I work for did a job fair back in July for a client (MAJOR restaurant chain) who was staffing a new location. We did a Craigslist ad for a few days and about 310 people came in four hours. They hired 29 people on the spot that day. This was for food servers & cooks.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

yes, it's that bad.

i get very tired of hearing people say that if a person 'truly' wants to work that there ARE jobs OUT THERE. it's just not the case in many areas.

yes, the fast foods and some industries may be hiring-but-if you're college degreed and have an excellent long term work history in what the managers of the fast foods perceive as a 'professional' industry they will likely not even give you an interview. their mind set is that you will 'jump ship' as soon as a job in your industry comes along-well, those jobs are'nt coming along and don't appear to be anytime soon. so-hard working, strong work ethic possessing applicants can't get their foot in the door (and for those that still get unemployment-i'm glad for you, there are many that have exhausted theirs and i don't know how they are getting by).

in dh's former line of work the employers have found they can get free labor from college students who mistakenly believe their internships will lead to employment post grad. it does'nt, and they are shown the door as the next group of willing interns are shown in.

NO job is recession proof. when i worked for social services we used to joke that if any job was it was ours (b/c as times got worse more people applied for public assistance therefore making our jobs more 'secure')-the reality is the california county i retired from has'nt hired except through temp agencies for several years, the temps got terminated a couple of years ago, all the staff is being furloughed w/o pay AND they are still looking at more layoffs in addition to the ones they've already done.

The thing is, the restaurant managers are absolutely correct. When you find a job in you career of study, you will jump ship. You would be stupid not to. So why in the world would they want to hire someone like that when John Doe isn't in school or with degree who will probably be working at that restaurant for 5+years, who will be a wonderful employee and will be well experienced.

While you (general you) may think a job at a restaurant is something to fall back on, it's all a lot of people have, it's the most they'll ever aspire to.



On another note, teaching jobs around here are hard to come by. Luckily, nursing jobs aren't but people are catching onto that as applicants to nursing schools arounf here are skyrocketing.

 

[KramBerries]

The unemployment rate in our region has crept up from about 6% to almost 8% this year. Within my industry, oil and gas, it's still lower than that. Within my profession, IT - software, this seem to be going fairly well.

In my neighborhood, I don't know anyone out of work. One person lost his job about a year ago and has since moved to KC to take another job in his field. Overall, I'd say that we are definitely out of the boom times, but things aren't going that bad here either. House prices in our appear to be flat from last year. I understand that they are down in cheaper markets and up in the very high end markets.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

St. Louis MO here and it is pretty bad since we have been bleeding industry for 5yrs now. Well before the recession.

ETA..it is saying that the unemployment rate in the paper today is 9.6% for MO and 11% for IL.

 

[toddlers_mom]

There are definitely jobs out there, the career jobs are the ones not as easy to find. I do the hiring at my position and actually see less applicants now than I did 2 years ago, and the quality of those applicants are pretty poor. Why work for $300-400 a week when you can sit at home and make $11 per hour on unemployment? It's a tough living on that type of money, but it can be done, I've been through it.

My wife is currently teaching as they couldn't find an instructor for the college course. She never applied for the job, nor has she ever taught, it was just a referral from a friend who knew the school was in desparate need of an instructor. After declining the position 4 times, she received a call on New Years Day with the school begging for help, she agreed. This position had been advertised for months.

Network, check the paper ads, surf the net. Don't limit yourself, suck it in and drive 50 miles each way to work if needed. What you do now in a time of crisis will shape your future.

From a number standpoint, my region has unemployment around 8%.

I make no where near $11/hr on my unemployment You try staying at home with a 3 year old all day. I'd much rather work!

The thing is, the restaurant managers are absolutely correct. When you find a job in you career of study, you will jump ship. You would be stupid not to. So why in the world would they want to hire someone like that when John Doe isn't in school or with degree who will probably be working at that restaurant for 5+years, who will be a wonderful employee and will be well experienced.

While you (general you) may think a job at a restaurant is something to fall back on, it's all a lot of people have, it's the most they'll ever aspire to.



On another note, teaching jobs around here are hard to come by. Luckily, nursing jobs aren't but people are catching onto that as applicants to nursing schools arounf here are skyrocketing.

Nursing applications have been on the rise for a while now. They've been skyrocketing since before the unemployment crisis, at least here anyway. Here, as mentioned, nursing jobs are very hard to find. A lot of people go into nursing because its only a 2 year degree and a guaranteed nice income upon graduation and hiring. Those people quickly learn that its not for them.

 

[antmaril]

My son graduated from college in May, 2009 (Summa cum laude) and cannot find a job. He couldn't even get a seasonal job during the holidays (applied at Best Buy, Toys "R" Us, etc). He starts nursing school in May (a second degree program). He knows getting a nursing job (even as a BSN) will not be easy, but he is hopeful jobs will open up in mid-2011.

We live in the Detroit area, so, obviously, it's a bad situation.

 

[Tinkmom75]

I live in Michigan. I am seeing reported numbers from 13 to 16 percent unemployment. I hear the reported numbers are actually lower because of all the people who have dropped off unemployment. Detroit is even worse. Good luck to you and your family antmaril.

 

[Linda in sunny SC]

Unemployment is at 18% in my part of South Carolina. So yes, it is bad.

 

[Mermaid02]

Yes, I believe it is that bad.

 

[kafitty]

My main motivation for getting through college is so that I WOULDN'T HAVE TO WAIT TABLES ANYMORE.

6 months after graduation...i was back. i had to. Even with my degree, it's really the only kind of job i'm qualified for at this point (and i'm darn good at it, ) and the only job i can seem to get. i've sent out HUNDREDS of applications in the last year, and i've had to juggle up to 3 jobs at one time, to make the kind of money i theoretically could with a steady, "normal", 40-hour a week job.

i think you are forgetting that a big part of the "unemployment" crisis is that lots of people are underemployed, meaning they aren't getting enough hours or otherwise aren't filling their productive potential.

i am honestly considering getting a paralegal certification, another $1000 or so on top of the $40,000 it took to get a BA in Political Science/Legal Studies. In this job market, THAT would actually give me the edge.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

It's bad. My husband was laid off in May 2009 but was paid through the middle of July as part of the agreement. He's been receiving unemployment since August. He spends several hours everyday on the computer looking at job websites, company websites and networking with his contacts. So far, he's had 1 real interview at a company, 1 in-person interview with a recruiter and 1 phone interview with a recruiter. He gets good feedback but the job offers never come through. He can't afford to take a minimum wage job since his unemployment is over $10 an hour. He's used to making much more than that but we agreed he should look at anything that pays at least $15 an hour and provides benefits. I am currently providing our benefits through my part time job but it's costing us over $500 a month out of pocket. We paid $180 a month at his old job. If he could find a job with less expensive benefits, it would put more money in my paycheck and we'd be better off. We've never had to think about any of these things before. He had his last job before we got married 21 years ago and everything was fine. So, yes, things are bad!

 

[Lanshark]

The IT industry has been hit pretty hard. I went from IT into teaching several years ago but personally know many very quailfied people with years of experience who have been looking for a very long time. Many of these people were making a 6 figure salary and would be willing to work for anything. It's worse, IMO than what is being reported.