Recently Unemployed? Share Your Story

Are you recently unemployed?  Please share your story here.

Include the basics of the job:  like the type of job you had, amount of years on the job and the reason for being unemployed (e.g. fired, laid off, quit, job out-sourced, etc.).

Also, share your experiences since being unemployed, including experiences with your state unemployment office, family, friends, spouse, significant other, associates, former colleagues, former co-workers, etc.      

Interview Tips: Deal-Breakers

What are some deal-breakers that you have seen on interviews or ones that you may have committed yourself?

One of my deal-breakers, was that I arrived at an interview 3 hours late!  That was crazy!  But, what was even crazier was that the company actually saw me and reshuffled everybody's schedule to accommodate me.  I was almost able to pull off the interview, but in the end,  I was 3 hours late, so there was no way to salvage the bad first impression.  A Deal-Breaker!!!

Please share some of your experiences,...no matter how wild and crazy!

Job Search Tip: Refresh Your Resume (Often)

What do you do when you stop getting phone calls and stop receiving emails inquiring about you and your resume? You may think that you may have to apply to more jobs and have to network more and may even need to go to more job fairs?  All of these things are of course helpful in your job search, but what I have found is that I can do a simple thing like refresh my resume and within a day or two I am getting lots of phone calls and emails again.

To refresh your resume on the major job sites like Monster and CareerBuilder you will need to log in and re-post (upload) your resume.  It appears that resumes that are older than 30 days will get less and less interest from recruiters.  Recruiters / Head Hunters tend to gravitate towards recently posted (recently uploaded) resumes.  So, if you want a steady flow of calls and emails, then try uploading your resume at least every 30 days.  You can also upload (refresh) your resume more often if you like.

Now be careful to not over saturate your name and resume.  If recruiters see you too often, then you may have over-exposed yourself.  On the flip-side, you can be strategic and take down your resume for 6 months or a year, if you're not actively looking for a job.  That way, when you are ready again and post your resume, the recruiters / staffing agents will see you as NEW candidate and gravitate towards your NEW resume and hopefully will land you the NEW job you desire.

What are your experiences with this strategy?  Has it worked for you or others you know?

Generate More Income Tips

What are some tips to generating more income?

For those that work for money (income),...to generate income usually means getting a job or getting a better job that pays more.  Sometimes it means getting a part-time job also or maybe getting two part-time jobs or even a seasonal job.  However, how can we working class or middle class people generate extra income with the limited time we have?

One way is to develop a side hobby into a cash hustle.  For example, I once read about a lady that liked to cook and bake cakes.  She was unemployed and her unemployment benefits ran out, so she needed a way to generate some quick cash.  She started cooking dinners and cakes and sold them to her friends, family and local community.  She also did other hustles to keep some cash (income) coming in to put food on the table for herself and her daughter.

In the winter time, I see a lot of guys out with their pickup trucks, looking to plow driveways for individuals and businesses.  Its a quick, easy income if you know what you're doing.  Other people offer moving services, dog walking services, tutoring, etc,, etc.

What are some of the ways that you know to legally generate income outside of working a traditional job or a part-time job?  And are any of those ways making you money now?

Resume Addendums

What are your thoughts about attaching a resume addendum when applying for a job?  Basically a resume addendum is a one page version of your resume, but with more details of a specific job or skill.

For example, my career is in Electrical Engineering and I was asked today by a recruiter to add more detail for one job and he suggested that I could add it as a separate addendum.  So, I basically used my resume as the template to build the addendum.  In it, I added the details of my related projects, courses and training with some of the other aspects of the 1st resume, like my name, job title, objective and education.  This resume addendum reminds me of a functional resume, but the huge gap in my related experience is justified, because I have already accounted for the time in the original chronological resume that was submitted.

Tell me your thoughts of submitting an addendum (in the form of a shortened, but detailed resume). The recruiter was very pleased with the format.

Ebola Survival Tips

Watching the news today leads me to write this post.  So far it appears that there are two nurses in the United States that have contracted Ebola from the first patient in Dallas.  One nurse is being treated in Dallas, while the other has been moved to Emory hospital in Atlanta.  Also, a nurse in Spain is still battling with Ebola, but may be improving.

So, with this little news detail, I started to think of some quick tips to help us survive an Ebola outbreak.

Ebola Survival Tips

1.  Stay out of Africa

   -This should be a no-brainer, but I know someone planning to travel there soon.  West Africa is ground zero for this round of outbreak.

2.  Consider wearing a mask on airplanes and large public gatherings.

   -The authorities say you can't catch Ebola through the air, but how often have the "authorities" been wrong before??

3.  Wash your hands (often).

    -Wash your hands after you use the bathroom and use sanitizers.  This should be a no-brainer too, but how often have we seen people not wash their hands after using the toilet.  Nasty!

4.  Wear latex gloves and masks when dealing with sick people.        

     -It's probable best that you avoid sick people in general, but if it is a close family member, then    you may want to take these precautions.

5.  Check your temperature.

     -An elevated temperature,...around 100 degrees F is a possible sign that you are having a fever.

6.  Seek medical help if you think you have been exposed to the virus.

    -It appears the sooner you are diagnosed and get medical attention, then the more likely you will survive.

Okay, these are a few tips that I can think of.  Please share your thoughts, comment on my tips and provide any helpful tips you might have.  Let's hope the spread of the virus ends today.

Long-Term Unemployed

What are your thoughts regarding the long-term unemployed?  Are you presently unemployed longer than 6 months and actively looking for a job?  Do you know of someone in this situation?  Please share.

And if you are employed,... do you think it is the long-term unemployed people's fault for being unemployed for so long?  And what if you lost your job?  How long do you think it would take to find another one?

Age Discrimination

When does age discrimination start?

Does it start at 50?  Maybe 45?  I think it starts as young as 39 or 40.  I remember when I was 39 and I was working as an engineer on a short contract job and just about everyone in the office were younger than 33.  I felt old and at times could tell that I was viewed as the "old guy" in the office.  For the first time I was working for managers that were younger than me.  They were 29, 31 and 32.  It was not a good experience as they often felt the need to show how "smart" they were.  It was obvious that I knew more than they did, but they had the power. It was hard for me to navigate the relationships as they often teamed up against me.  Up until then, I was always on the younger side of the fence.  All of my managers had been older.

I think the younger managers favored the younger workers and often tried to disregard and minimize my vast knowledge and experience.  Eventually, they were able to force me out.  My contract was suddenly ended.  They kept the younger engineer who was in his early to mid-20's, but who had far less experience.

Please share your age discrimination stories and tell us at what age were you when you first faced age discrimination? Also, if you are young, and are also facing age discrimination, then please share your experiences here as well.