Unemployed Wife?

[Brandles]

This is as spin-off of the "unemployed husband" thread. Just wondering how many of you gals were unemployed.

Back in February 2004, my contract wasn't renewed after 5 years of teaching for a school district. It went all the way to arbitration and the arbitrator sided with me and got the non-renewal off my record, but she couldn't get my job back. By that time, I'd seen the true nature of most of my collegues and I DIDN'T want to go back there! I received support from 3 of them. Out of 20 in our building. :(

Last year, I subbed in elementary, jr. high and high schools. I couldn't believe how different the other schools and districts were!! In a good way! Friendly and nice and not nasty (though I'm sure they have their moments). :D I never knew how bad I had it until I was gone! :eek:

I applied for about 30 districts in 2004 and about 16 districts (due to rising gas prices) this year. I check the postings every day and when a job comes up that I'm qualified for, I send a letter. I'm trying.

But...I'm not worried. I know that if I'm not employed full-time by a district, I can still sub. I was kept pretty busy subbing last year. It was about a $200 pay cut per month...but the insurance is what I really miss. I'm glad I haven't had any allergies lately (it's been MONTHS since I've taken an Allegra...maybe it was the school building...) because I'd have to pay around $90 for what I used to get for $18.

Anyone else out there looking for a job?

[apoppy]

I am.

I was the main breadwinner in our household (DH is a student). I have been looking for months without any luck and our savings are dwindling. I left my last job because it was extremely stressful and was making me physically ill. I really thought that I would find something by now. :(

I feel very guilty for not having a job.

[Kimberland30]

Although I'm not unemployed now, I was for a while.

I left a good company back in 1999 because it was going under...fast. I went to work with a friend's husband who was the VP at a company, and after 14 months I was "terminated". I really hated working there but decided to stick with it until I found something else. I'd been sending out my resume to select companies in the area, then the bomb dropped. My employer told me they were making changes to the company and they had to lay me off, but that they didn't feel it was "working out". I couldn't believe I'd been let go (never been reprimanded at a job before much less terminated). After the initial shock - which lasted all of 10 minutes - I got over it. I was so happy that they gave me severance pay (one month) to never walk foot in there again! WOOHOO!! They fought my unemployment claim and after the employment commission reviewed it, I won the claim. I am going to frame that letter. :)

It took me 5 weeks to find another job. Unemployment doesn't pay much (less than half of my weekly salary), but it kept us floating. We were saving for our wedding (that we paid for ourselves), so it put a major dent in our wedding fund. There were some other personal issues going on and I fell into a major depression. I'd lay in bed for days. Eventually I got out of my funk and found another job.

A mere 7 months after landing my new job, I was laid off again - this was in February of this year. Our wedding was in May and I was in freak out mode. I collected unemployment again but didn't go through the funk I had before. I thought long and hard about not returning to work until after the wedding, but it wasn't financially possible. I interviewed at a few places, but this one stuck out the most, and I'm glad I was hired here.

Then I started on board with this great company four weeks after my layoff. The people are wonderful (except for some minor issues - but easily they are ignored), the hours are great and right now we are going through a slow period so I'm not that busy and can play.

[shopaholic]

I am not married but with a long-term SO. I was unemployed back in 2003 from October - March of 2004. It was a very depressing time. Luckily I was able to claim unemployment....helped but wasn't much.

[kemaji]

I am not now, but I was unemployed for 9 months when I moved here to be with DH. We weren't even engaged at that point and I never thought it would take me that long to find a job, but it did. The market for what I do is so much smaller than where I lived previously. It was really difficult especially because I knew almost no one here and DH got the brunt of my moodiness and depression.

[isign]

I left the school district where I was interpreting due to frustration and being burnt out. Funny, now they have fixed those issues :rolleyes: Now I am jobless and really frustrated. I have been sending out resumes left and right, but most of my experience is in customer service (2 years at a dpt store, 6 months at wal-mart customer service desk, 3 years Chick fil a) and then the 3 I interpreted. So my job skills don't exactly fit the type of job I want - office. I've been on 2 interview from the 30 or so resumes I sent out. I'm waiting to hear back from the 2nd one. The first 'NO' put me in a really bad mood for several days. I hope I get this one, it's putting a huge strain on our marriage.

[DelSol]

I'm currently unemployed, I was laid off by my company on July 7th.

I work in Human Resources. I've been on some interviews and now it's the waiting game of hearing back from them whether they want to call me in for a second interview or make me an offer. I've also applied for numerous jobs but haven't heard back from them. A lot of the jobs I am qualified for but my salary is high and most don't want to pay.

Brandles~ Good Luck with the job search!

[Brandles]

I really thought that I would find something by now. :(


I feel the same way! I thought for sure I'd get a classroom this year. I did a good job subbing...sometimes I think TOO good of a job. I'm more valuable to them as a sub than an teacher. :(

I'm only going to apply for school districts until 2009. After that, forget about it. I'm sick of filling out all of those applications for nothing. If I haven't been hired in 5 years, I'll never be hired. And who knows what my former employer is saying about me to potential employers! :eek:

[citylove]

We're both unemployed. SO is a freelancer, and summer is REALLY slow. He's had 3 or 4 jobs since June. (at 50 bucks a pop)
I'm a teacher, and have yet to land a contract for the fall. It is getting so very depressing, I don't know what I'll do if I don't hear good things from the ONE interview I've gotten out of 60+ resumes.

Yes, our relationship is strained. But, we went through a similar time 2 yrs ago when we moved to NYC, except that I was a student with no hope of actually making $; we're handling it much better the second time around.

[Brandles]

I'm a teacher, and have yet to land a contract for the fall. It is getting so very depressing, I don't know what I'll do if I don't hear good things from the ONE interview I've gotten out of 60+ resumes.

Sounds like me. I sent out 30 resumes in 2004 and got ONE interview. I sent out 16 this year and I've been checking the postings on line daily. When a job comes up that I'm qualified for, I send out a letter saying I'd like that job. I've sent out over 25 of these letters and I haven't heard one thing back! :mad:

Like I said before, this is too frustrating to continue to do all of this for nothing. 2009 is my last year of doing this.

[Kristen&Cary]

. I went to work with a friend's husband who was the VP at a company, and after 14 months I was "terminated". I really hated working there but decided to stick with it until I found something else. I'd been sending out my resume to select companies in the area, then the bomb dropped. My employer told me they were making changes to the company and they had to lay me off, but that they didn't feel it was "working out". I couldn't believe I'd been let go (never been reprimanded at a job before much less terminated). After the initial shock - which lasted all of 10 minutes - I got over it. I was so happy that they gave me severance pay (one month) to never walk foot in there again! WOOHOO!! They fought my unemployment claim and after the employment commission reviewed it, I won the claim. I am going to frame that letter. :)

This sounds almost exactly like me a guy I had gone to church with for YEARS is who I went to work for been there 3 years never been reprimanded at all told me they couldn't afford to keep my position BUT if things changed & I hadn't found a job that they would love for me to come back to work. Then like you they fought my unemployment saying I was let go for "lack of work & efficiency with given tasks." :rolleyes: Kind of funny to me that wasn't what I was told! I got unemployment FINALLY & I’m still looking for a job sent out a ton of resumes & only been to one interview & that one probably wont work because they aren't wanting to pay me what I need which isn't much (actually I sold myself short!) for that position. I was let go back in June so I’m at least happy that it was summer so that I had more to do during the day than say December or January :)

[DelSol]

I've been sending out resumes for every job that interests me but have only heard back from two. I'm now waiting to hear from them on whether or not I'll be called back for a second interview.

I think with it being summer you have a lot of people on vacation so hiring gets pushed back, then comes the end of the year where everyone hold off because they are over their budgets. From what I have seen hiring seems to pick up in the beginning of the year.

I personally don't want to wait that long but with unemployment I can go until the end of the year. My biggest fear is that I won't be able to pay my bigger bills. I'm also 3 credit away from getting my master's degree, I'm holding off on doing anything because I would like to see if the new job I get has tuition reimbursement, if not then I am just going to complete the credits. Where I go we can take 3 one credit weekend courses to equal an elective, which is what I am missing to graduate. The only other requirement is take an exam, I've taken it twice and failed twice, it's hard but on my second exam I did a lot better than the first one. I plan to start studying for it in the next week or so.

[HeatherH]

I feel your pain ladies! I got laid off in March and I am still jobless. I worked in Mainframe computers at the same company for 7 years, so it was very disappointing. However, computers is not the field I really wanted anyway. So I've decided to pick up the pace with school and finally finish my degree (I have 2 yrs. left). I must say it's not too encouraging (after reading these posts), considering I'm working on a teaching degree! :(

Anyway, unemployment is helpful...but this is a definite strain on our marriage (and we're still newlyweds!). :eek:

[citylove]

HeatherH - I'm not sure about the area where you are living, but if I were certified in math, science, or special ed I could've had a dozen jobs already. Keep that in mind!

Keep the faith ladies ... something has to happen.

[isign]

I mailed/emailed/dropped off 10 resumes yesterday. My fingers and everything else are crossed. One was at a radio station that actually has 4 different radio stations in it. DH's shop does ads through one station, so he knows the guys there and a guy I went to collage with works there, so we'll see. I had to laugh at DH, I was filling out resumes and he went into the booth which really sounded like a huge party. He said he's be so happy if I got that job - I know he was just thinking of the perks for him :rolleyes:

[Vishenka69]

I was unemployed for about 6 months after the wedding. It was pretty depressing and unemployment didn't pay much but DH was very supportive. After 6 months I took a temping job just to get out of the apartment. After another 3 months of temping (for the same company) they offered me a permanent position. Next time I'm not working, I hope it will be by choice.

[Aimee]

As of yesterday, I belong to the ranks of the unemployed.

I graduated from law school in May and took the bar 2 weeks ago. I was planning on going back to my job on Monday, but when I contacted the office about it, I was told that they'd decided to hire somebody still in school. Nevermind that I was told that I could come back after the bar and that I'd be given a raise. I guess that was just cheap talk. I could have handled the truth back in May had they just told me that, but instead, they waited until I finished the bar exam and let me labor under the assumption that I had a job waiting for me. Pisses me off.

It wasn't a forever job, but it was something to do while looking for my "real" job. The legal market is super-dry around her (New Orleans) and my grades aren't the best, so I'm not in competition for any really good jobs.

I've decided to give myself until Monday to just have some down time and then Monday I'll start calling temp agencies and legal staffing companies, just anything to get me out of the house and hopefully into a real job.

[Brandles]

"Special Ed is where the jobs are."

If I had a nickel for everytime I heard this, I'd be rich! But, it's true! A lot of special ed teachers burn out within 5 years. I just don't have the patience for this. The 6th grade special ed teacher kept requesting me last year, so I must've been doing SOMETHING right! ;)

I have a cousin going into special ed and I give her credit--I know I couldn't do it.

[DelSol]

I accepted an offer for a job yesterday. I'm looking forward to working for the new company, I put in my proposed start date to be 9/12.

I was unemployed for 2 months, got to relax and enjoy my time off but it's now time to go back to work.



Ladies ~ Good luck with the job searches I know something will come along.

[apoppy]

Anyone else still looking? I am feeling massively guilty right now. We have begun fighting about money for the first time and it is horrible. I am so stressed out right now. :(

[angelraven]

I'm unemployed as well. My situation is a little bit different. I quit my job on January 31st so I could finish up my IT training. I figured it would only take me a couple months to get enough done to where I could find an entry level job. Well, training was tough, and then I had some medical issues. It's been almost eight months now, and I'm so ready to go back to work. My training is over, so now I just have exams to pass, but that's not been going well so far.

The good news is that I do have an interview on Thursday. The bad news is that I'm scared out of my mind. I've never had a technical interview before, so I have no idea what to expect. I'm worried about making a complete ass out of myself.

My husband has been extremely supportive through this rocky road, but I can see that he's stressed out about shouldering the financial burden by himself. I feel horribly guilty when he comes home tired and stressed out after a long day at the office. When it's that time of the month when all the bills are due, I feel myself slipping into a nasty funk. I want to be able to help out. We're doing fine, but we just have not been able to put anything extra into savings, and we're not accustomed to budgeting, so it's been hard to watch our spending.

I hope that this interview goes well on Thursday. If not, I have a recruiter out searching for me as well. Something has to turn up soon. I also applied for a job with LiveOps to do part time on the weekends from home. Hopefully something will materialize soon.

Good luck to everyone still searching and congratulations to those who have found jobs!

[Aimee]

Anyone else still looking? I am feeling massively guilty right now. We have begun fighting about money for the first time and it is horrible. I am so stressed out right now. :(

I'm still looking, and Hurricane Katrina basically killed the economy in my area so who knows when I'll find something. They were supposed to release the bar exam results next Friday, but some of the exams were likely lost during the hurricane, so who even knows when or if I would get my license. I put my resume in with a staffing agency, but they usually only place attorneys with experience, so that's a pretty long shot.

Money hasn't become an issue yet, because we've been on just DH's income since we got married. However, I just feel lazy that I"m not working, guilty if I do nothing all day, but there's only so much that you can clean 1200 square feet.

Best of luck to those of you still searching

[stevesbabygirl]

I just finished an 18 week externship to become a surgical tech. I left my cushy, boring, a-monkey-could-do-this-job office position at a school district to do something I really enjoy. I've been applying for jobs for about 2 months now, before I was done with my externship so that I could hopefully have a job waiting when I was done. Well, I'm now a week past being done, and nothing. I've applied for about 20-25 jobs, and haven't really heard back from anyone. I contacted two temp agencies to help find some office work in the meantime, but I haven't heard back from them either!

[DelSol]

I was unemployed for a little over 2 months. When I was looking for a job I noticed it took weeks for employers to contact me if they were interest. Being in the HR field, I know employers get inundated with resumes. I applied for a job around the 3rd week of August and the place called me the week if September 12th and that is when I started my new position. Don't get discouraged sometimes it takes a while to weed through all the resumes.

Good Luck!!!!

[angelraven]

Oh my goodness! I just got a call from the HR manager about a job I interviewed for last week. I'm going in for a second interview today! Yippee!!!

[angelraven]

Well, I didn't get the job. :( I'm trying to stay positive about it, but it's hard when I've been out of work for so long already. There's something out there for me. I just have to be patient.

How's everyone else doing?

[apoppy]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get the job angelraven.

I'm currently waiting to hear about a job I interviewed for last Friday, and to see if I will get an interview for a position that a former co-worker recommended me for. All of this waiting is really getting to me. I feel like such a failure. It has never taken me this long to get a job in the past.

I guess we just have to keep telling ourselves that something will show up. What choice do we have?

[stevesbabygirl]

So sorry Heather :(. I'm still trying to get a job temping while waiting for my applications for my real career to go somewhere. I've already been denied to quite a few places, but one of my applications has made it past human resources and has been passed on to the department, yay! One of my mentors works per diem at that hospital, so she's going to put in a good word for me.

[angelraven]

I FINALLY got offered a job!!!! YAY! AND it looks like I'll get another offer tomorrow or the next day for another one!!! I'm so darn excited!!!!!

[stevesbabygirl]

Congratulations :D!

[Zelda Von Yitz]

I am still ruefully shaking my head -- what kind of professionalism is out there?

I went on 2 interviews: during the first one, the interviewer asked me about one of my former companies.

The company specialized in clinical drug trials for cancer patients. I explained what a clinical drug trial was and how it worked. I emphasized that often as not a clinical trial is more or less the last hope for a cancer patient.

After I was done explaining what they did, he mentioned working there and added a few blurbs and then said, "The person is going to die, anyway!"

WTF????

How disgustingly insensitive! And this person is a manager?!

Dang.

The other interview was yesterday; I arrived 20 minutes prior to the time of my interview; I always like to get there early.

I was kept waiting forty minutes past the time I was to be interviewed.

I mentioned to the receptionist that I was still waiting to see Ms. X. She got a shocked look on her face, said, "Wait here" and vanished down the hallway. She returned in 30 seconds and said, "She forgot about you!"

When "she" showed her face? She said to me, "I did not think you were coming."

Looks like we have a bit of a crossed wire here!

I said to her, "I have been waiting out in the lobby for nearly an hour!"

"Sorreeeee......" was her reply.

I should have turned around and went the fark home right after she said that.

The interview was even better than being kept waiting: this chick didn't know her arse from apple butter! She didn't know how much the health insurance deduction was per month. She didn't know what other benefits the job included. She didn't know anything much -- and she's demanding four references, even though other people are coming in? No to that -- I don't want anyone's personal info floating around and where I come from, references are the LAST thing asked for before you are given the offer.

I would like to know what kind of people these are. Where did they get them? did they send away for them to a special place, or what?

[kcjules]

Both DH & I are unemployed.

DH was working at a great company under "project status." Well his project ended 3 days before our wedding in June. Since then he has been unemployed.

I just quit my job 2 weeks ago because I had been unhappy for so long and couldn't do it anymore. I also had some interviews lined up, but they didn't work out. We are also trying to move back to our home (Akron, OH) so we are looking for jobs up there.

Luckily we have a ton in our checking account and DH has unemployment checks coming every 2 weeks. It's been hard and is putting a strain on our relationship for sure.

When he graduated college in 2002, he was unemployed for 10 months. We've been through a lot with our job situations since we've been together. Luckily he has 3 interviews lined up this week :)

[angelraven]

Thanks so much, Heather! How is your search going?

kcjules: I know what it's like to have to quit because you are so unhappy. I've been down that road before. It's so good that you have savings. I don't know what we would have done if we would have not had our cushion. Hope your hubby's interviews go well!

[kcjules]

kcjules: I know what it's like to have to quit because you are so unhappy. I've been down that road before. It's so good that you have savings. I don't know what we would have done if we would have not had our cushion. Hope your hubby's interviews go well!
Thanks. DH has 2 interviews this week so far :)

[steve'sbride]

I feel like the world's *biggest* loser.

I quit a great job to work for a firm making a lot more money. Two weeks after I was hired they let me go because the woman who had my job before asked for her job back!!! :mad: I live in an "at will employment" state so this is perfectly legal.

I try to get my old job back but they have already hired someone else and aren't rude enough to fire her. *Sigh* at least some people have values....it didn't work in my favor this time though.

So I went back to school (part time since most of the classes were taken, I registered late) and my husband is supporting me. He's in school as well so the poor guy gets up at 4:00 am to drive 40 minutes to work and then works until 2:00 pm. He goes to school after that and usually doesn't get home until 8:00 or 9:00 pm.

He's tired all the time, he's getting sick, we don't have enough money, and I feel like a total loser. I really wish I could get a job that would work with my class schedule. It's nice to know I'm not alone.