I had a job. The company didn’t realize that they actually had to sell product to stay in business. Almost all of the workforce was let go or furloughed. I’ve been unemployed for over a month now.
I’ve filled out dozens upon dozens of job apps, starting even before I lost my job. I have my resume public on job listings sites for employers and hiring agencies to find, and I’ve sent my resume to employers and hiring agencies directly. I look through the listings on job boards for each day, mostly limiting my search to a wage that would allow me to make ends meet at home. I’ve solicited and implemented advice from resume design experts. I’ve had one in-person interview, a few preliminary phone interviews, and a couple of message conversations between recruiters and myself. The one in-person interview I had would not have paid enough for my monthly expenses and I was overqualified for the position; they decided against hiring me. I had another interview scheduled and confirmed via a hiring agency’s AI text bot and a human agent’s text; I drove to the scheduled interview place and time and they had no idea that I was supposed to be interviewed. All other communication has either been flat-out rejection or just left me hanging.
I have a Bachelor’s of Science degree from a top 25 ranked university in the US. I have no criminal record. I do have multiple disabilities but they are generally mitigable enough to not affect my work. I have references of my (now) former boss and a (now) former coworker who both praise my impact and aptitude in the factory and office workplace. I’m evidently overqualified for positions that don’t require higher experiences and I’m underqualified for nearly everything else; I can’t get experience in most niche or broad fields because nearly every position requires these experiences to have already been met. I try to follow all the invisible rules of applying and social etiquette. I am too physically ugly to sell my body. It feels like there’s always been a magical aura about me that makes people dislike me no matter how much I try to do the ethically or socially right thing. How am I supposed to get an income to survive?
Wife and I have been unemployed for nearly a year. We’re in a white collar recession so it’s gonna be brutal for a little while. Not much you can do really, it’s really hard right now.
Labouring / trades seem like the ticket tbh.
Have you applied for civil service jobs?
What is your degree in?
Apply to some staffing/temp agencies in your area.
Does your resume pass an ats import? Try a tool like jobscan.co (don’t pay for it, not worth it)
I’ll check it out, thanks. A resume reviewer had sent me an ATS scan but it was behind a paywall.
I will say in advance that I’m sorry this won’t help you and it might make you feel worse, so don’t read on… when I was in high school back in the 90s, we had a regular substitute teacher. Dr. Bronk. Dr. Bronk had a PhD in some very obscure area of botany and couldn’t get a job in his field, so he was a substitute teacher. Even back then I felt bad for him.
I’m an idiot, I’m blue collar, I’ve had about 20 jobs I’ve kept for at most, 3 years, and I could quit my job and have a new one tomorrow, for more money.
and that isn’t fair to you. People like you dedicate your life to knowing your topic. People like me live my life knowing how to do as many different possible things as I can, and a monetary balance needs to be in place here somewhere so academics with more rare skills are still upheld so their abilities are still useful when needed.
A safetynet, for smarties to be paid to be smart, to keep them around even if unnecessary right then.
Hey fellow laborer. Loved your comment but I just want to say there are many different kinds of intelligence. Don’t call yourself an idiot. Working with tools effectively is a kind of intelligence for sure. I’ve seen a person who seemed incapable of operating a screwdriver, but he was a network engineer. I wish I’d known I was good at it much earlier in life.
Something got up my spine when I was 18 to where, I didn’t just dislike depending on Best Buy to work on my PC, I loathed it, and at the time, it wasn’t even because I was into computers. I saw the bill, saw the work, put two and two together and couldn’t believe I paid two teenagers to play Legos with my tower for the cost of a… then, PS3.
this is the work, huh?
Then one day at an auto shop…
you’re gonna do it yourself? You’ll break it. You can’t do it.
You can’t do it
teeth add 5 years of wear
“I can’t… do it? Eh?”
Every day since, I’ve been… doin’ it, in spite.
Righteous.
Good on you, my friend. This is inspirational.
I mean they also mentioned “knowing how to do as many different possible things as I can”, which to me sounds like a person who’s flexible and a fast learner. These are properties that can’t be taught, maybe not even learned with experience. And super valuable.
There might be elements that can’t be learned, but there are plenthy that can. A lot of it is just attitude. Perserverence and a willingness to acknowledge and learn from your mistakes and not get too frustrated when things break, I’d say that’s 90% of it.
I’ve unfortunately become disillusioned with ableism. There are things I’ll never learn that some other people find easy and there are things I find easy that some others will never learn.
I deleted a 500 if not 1000 word stream of consciousness here, but the gist of what I was trying to get across is that unless you’re interested or naturally talented in something, you’ll never be good at it. Time and time again you’ll see someone with a lot of experience in their field who has no idea what they’re doing. It just doesn’t come naturally and no amount of perseverance will change that. You can certainly become mediocre, just not great.
I spent an hour or two per week for 9 years on drawing, same for singing. I’m no good at either, despite the fact that I was consistently getting practice. Diagnose and repair a car, even a modern one that a lot of old school mechanics would be afraid of? No problem and it’s not even what I do for a living.
You might be right. Personally it doesn’t seem that way to me, but ultimately people end up wherever they end up, and it’s often hard to disentangle why.
One thing that does seem different in those skills that you mentioned, is that drawing and singing are creative/artistic, which means that there’s no “correct” outcome. If you fuck up fixing a car, it doesn’t work, and you have the immediate and direct feedback that you’ve done it wrong.
With drawing or singing, if you do it wrong, you only really have your self-image and personal aesthetics to answer to. You can get really good and still hate everything you do, and there’s no way someone can show you that you’re objectively wrong, because it’s a taste thing. OTOH you can do it technically “badly” forever, but like what you do, and if you stick with it enough, then maybe you just made a new style of art.
The situation where a candidate is rejected because they don’t have relevant experience is often decided by people who don’t have that experience either. The last thing I want is a job where I immediately know how to do it. That’s often the reason to leave - it’s boring and not a challenge any more.
The market is probably flat right now and that’s the reason there’s no jobs. You have to hang in there for a bit and wait for an upturn.
Have you applied for unemployment yet? They’ll usually back pay to when you were laid off too if you get through all the red tape… Might be a state by state thing idk
Have you ever thought about talking to a therapist about the magic aura thing? There might be something you don’t realize that they could help you figure out.
Could you get a job of any kind and reduce your living standard for a little while to match what you make? This is a shitty answer, and really should only ever apply to the 1%… But sadly we do live in a capitalist hellscape… Good luck
So I don’t know if you tried looking for state jobs.
I see you are in Michigan so, apply for something that you’re overqualified for and then work the job until you’re past the probation period.
Then, apply for the job you want. They hire internally first for pretty much every position. This is how several people’s experience go about how they got into their current position with the state at DHHS.
A popular position for getting your foot in the door is processing food stamp applications. It’s remote and doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree, so having a bachelor’s degree will likely get you an interview.
Also, this applies in general:
Applicant recruiting software usually looks for key words.
Look at the ad & attached position description and highlight the words and phrases used.
Include them in your resume, cover letter, application. You have to tailor your application to each position. It’s a royal pain, but that’s how most recruiting software works.
I would also urge you to call the respective departments/agencies HR departments and ask about the position. A current employee may be able to flag your application depending on whom you speak to.
Either that or try MDOC as some say it is the easiest way into the State. Its not for everyone but its an option. They always look for people.
So to summarize
Use exact words and terms from the job description on your application. The software will search and grade your application by these hits.
Keep it short. Use only one font. The software diagnoses the beginning font and can’t read anything that deviates from the font.
Apply for an entry level position and work your way up to the position you actually want.
Other options
Check the community college job postings near where you live! When they are about to start a new semester, they usually have openings
On that note, The schools are always hiring. It varies depending on the district, but Livonia school for example is looking for the following:
https://www.applitrack.com/livoniapublicschools/onlineapp/default.aspx?all=1
Manufacturing is ALWAYS hiring. Drive by just about any plant in the Metro Detroit area and probably there will be ‘now hiring’ signs all over the place.
No experience will probably start around $15/hr, but if you learn fast & want to advance, there are usually ways to move up pretty quickly.
Check out mml.org’s classifieds if you haven’t already. Again, people often overlook city government jobs but the pay is often decent and have good benefits. Some also tend to browse governmentjobs.com.
Oakland County seems to have lots of different jobs available.
Try contacting an agency like kelly or arrow strategies if you’re in tech.
Remember we are near the end of year. December January February are basically dead time for gigs, they all pick up on march
Are you eligible for unemployment in your state?
They covered this in the thread yesterday and OP believes they are not eligible because they passed some deadline to apply. People told them that no such deadline exists and it seems like OP is unwilling to apply for it. If you read this OP, please apply, it can’t hurt.
Wild. I guess you can only help someone as much as they want to help themselves.
Sounds like it’s probably ID.me; a lot of government agencies contract with them but thay are not, actually, the government AFAIK
For unemployment, My state requires you register with a 3rd party I.D. company and give them your P.i.i. and fingerprints before you can even apply.
Holy shit what state? That’s so exploitative of desperate people. I’d like to know the ID company name too if you don’t mind.
Florida. The company is id.me.
Thanks for the info.
Absolutely, op should apply. Worst they’ll get is a “no.” Better than not eating.
In my experience unless you’re friends with someone at the company. You need to be a unicorn candidate when applying on your own.
Entry level is an illusion they want people to take entry level pay with 10+ years of experience.
I was able to get my first industry job through the career services department at my school. So if your university is as good as they claim they’ll have something akin to that.
That last bit about your unlikeable aura, you should get someone to give you honest feedback on what you’re doing wrong.
The thing is, once you’ve been stuck in it for so long everywhere, you don’t know how the few people whom you find judicious and honest and whose general input you respect and appreciate can also somehow be sane and in-touch if they are the anomalies who think the same of you. You question if praise and affirmation from them is just an overly polite way of hiding pity and disdain. Even if their analysis says all is good, does that really mean all is good? That’s why I described it as magical, because it’s internally contradictory and independent of social setting. Since I can’t even get to the interview stage, then the text of the resume as approved by others becomes a conduit for the aura to affect the potential employers simply because the resume is mine. That’s the conceit I mean when I say it’s like magic.
Not trying to be a dick. But if this is the way you write and communicate to recruiters this is the issue. I have to read your paragraphs multiple times to just figure out what the hell you are trying to convey.
It’s overly dense, you sound like you have your first thesaurus, and you write to much unnecessary filler. It’s incredibly hard to digest.
That comment was an explanation of layered figurative language. It was given artistic flourish to convey the emotion and situation in experienced subjective depth rather than the objective and literal point of view of an outsider. I am more succinct and linear in settings for which I have to communicate professionally.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8NJHMJy/
Respectfully, the above meme is how every single word you’ve typed in this thread sounds and I imagine your conversations go.
Again, not trying to shit in you. But if this is even remotely how you communicate everyone thinks your autistic. Not in a mean way but your intonation and detail scream autism.
And I’m not a doctor when any qualifications or trying to diagnose. But I can tell you right now you need to practice how to be less precise and err on the side of brevity.
I sure hope you’re not trying to shit in anybody. (⊙_⊙;)
I was going to make fun of that but realized it’s probably a kink somewhere…
I have to agree here.
You need a sense check on your comms.
Possible Autism or not. You alluded to it in another comment about you possibly being mistaken for AI in your letters.
Sadly, masking may need to be a strategy you play here, for a while.
Are you autistic? Not meant as an insult, but a genuine question. You write very verbosely and might benefit from working on being more straightforward.
I’ve not been diagnosed but I wouldn’t be surprised if I were. I think the verbosity and run-on sentences are coming out strong right now since I’m stressed over the job stuff, it’s late at night, and Lemmy is a fairly casual forum. As William Shakespeare said, “Brevity”.
Which city are you from ? How much money do you have to spare ? How risk taking capacity do you have ? How old are you ?
You just have to keep applying until you find something.
Also, have you applied for unemployment? If not, do so immediately.
~~I believe the state deadline to do that was by the Friday after losing the job, and buried in the fine text is a line mentioning that certain info has to be submitted at least a day prior to that Friday. I didn’t have required information for the bureaucracy at that time and I really didn’t expect the process to take so long or to be so absurd. ~~ Edit: The state’s phrasing confused me, ignore the strikethroughed text
I’ve been familiar with the Sisyphean routine of offering myself to other parties only to be met with sharp rejection each and every time since before I entered the job market.
In any of these situations you’ve described, do not be the one that stops yourself. You’ll probably need to go into the office in person and explain the stress you’ve been through and how you’re unfamiliar with the process.
What state do you live in? I used to take unemployment claims and there was no requirement to file the initial claim by a specific date (though I’m sure there would eventually be a cutoff). The hard deadlines were once the claim was filled because claimants have to go in weekly and certify that they’re still unemployed and actively looking for work. It’s possible you can still apply, and layoffs tend to be processed faster. I’d strongly recommend trying. The worst they can say is no.
Also, I realize your situation really sucks, and I don’t want to downplay that at all, but I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of your expectation that you’ll be rejected is coming through in interviews. Interviews are at least part about how good your acting skills are, which is ass, but also reality. I have often crippling depression and anxiety, but I’m great at faking positive and confident, and I’ve been offered most of the jobs I’ve interviewed for in my life. Not because I’m always the most educated or experienced candidate, but because I seem like I’ll be tolerable to work with.
Oh and lie if you’re overqualified - say you’re looking to take a step back because you want to go back to school or something. Stupid but people respond better to that than the idea that we want to pay our bills and a job is a job.
You guys say you hate corporate culture yet have no problem faking positive and confident to get a job. Curious! I am very intelligent.
It’s easier to change a system from the inside, possibly with a union, rather than by protesting by yourself
Yeah, many people hate the system yet for some reason also have to eat and pay rent. It’s so strange.
Rules vary from state to state. I just double checked my state’s .gov site and it verified what I had said before. I can try to see if they’ll accept it late but the fine text doesn’t look like they would.
I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of your expectation that you’ll be rejected is coming through in interviews.
The thing is that I have to get to the interview stage first; for 99% of this process, it’s just been typed words with no direct interaction with a human person. For the one in-person I’ve had, I probably did show some discomfort because I was caught by surprise having to wear earplugs for a facility tour and they’d be required for the job but I have a medical condition that makes earplugs difficult and painful for one ear. I don’t believe a lack of confidence was conveyed in the phone interviews (apart from one really weird and unexpected AI voice interview), and I believe I came across confident for the one video call interview which was for a job I had only heard of a half hour prior.
(In the US) No, you are either misuderstanding unemployment or you read wrong information. There is no such elgiblity requirement in any state.
File for unemployment. You have nothing to lose by trying. Get an official decline, and even then, dispute it.
I went through it a few months ago and for California, at least, the only restrictions were a 2-year limit to be on it, you have to check in weekly to attest to regularly searching/applying, and that you were ‘let go’ through no fault of your own. (i.e. quit or fired)
To add, they will generally set up an eligibility interview over the phone with a social worker before any decisions are made.
I would also suggest to apply for health insurance through the ACA’s website as it takes a bit of time and you don’t want to be stuck without and get injured or with a penalty. (if mandated by your state) It’s generally at no cost if you don’t have an income and can be canceled when you do.
I believe the state deadline to do that was by the Friday after losing the job, and buried in the fine text is a line mentioning that certain info has to be submitted at least a day prior to that Friday. I didn’t have required information for the bureaucracy at that time and I really didn’t expect the process to take so long or to be so absurd.
you need to talk to someone about this because I really doubt whatever you perceived / were told is accurate. Also employers have a vested interest in you NOT applying for unemployment as many states require them to pay a portion of it when firing/laying off.
