Soap Box... Laid Off Stereotypes.

It has been nearly a year and half since I posted on this site. A bunch of stuff has happened in that time, for now I want to get on my soapbox which is what led me to update this page....

I loathe the stereotypes that go with being laid off and being forced to be on unemployment. First off I am not lazy, I want to work!!! 

What some see as lazy is called depression. I got laid off from a position I had for six months, I left one other job for this job because I THOUGHT it was a good prospect, but in reality I was going to work for a moron.

I didn't foresee the lay off coming, I had hoped to keep the job longer. Sure I knew the job had no upward mobility, because again I was working for a moron, but I hoped to have more experience and move on at my own will. 

Now I am left laid off and having to pull unemployment and I don't want to, I want to work. Period.

If you do not know (or perhaps do not care to know) how unemployment works, let me give you an example. You get discharged for a job for no cause, basically the boss says he has no money to keep paying you, or makes some comment about sales being too low. You have no disciplinary actions against you, so you are not fired, you are laid off.

My ex boss specifically spoke of low sales and the wish for the (alcoholic) sales man he hired to have stayed on.  He said that he just couldn't afford my continued salary. I go through my states unemployment office, these days it's all online and not a long line of disgruntled people. Thank goodness for that salvation.

With unemployment you have to make at least two employment searches per month and you only get 1/2 of your previous salary. Luckily, I have family to lean on, being a single mother of three, I would be going into serious debt if I was fully out on my own. With unemployment insurance you have the right to refuse a job that is not the same as your previous in the same weekly hours and the same rate of pay. It is your right to search for equal work if you choose to do so. I am willing to take a pay cut, but would like to have 40 hours and eventual insurance.

I have made my job searches and filled out more applications than I can admit.  I have filled out four jobs at the local hospital (for clerical work) which I felt I was qualified and been turned down for each.  I have gone to the local classified ads for our paper and looked for employment. I have sent out emails, written and rewritten my resume. Created cover letter after cover letter.

I was laid off on August 10th, 2012 I have since been called for only one interview. I went on that interview on Friday (September 21, 2012) I was told to wait for a call on Tuesday, it's Monday. 

Being laid off hits the self esteem hard, then the repeated dismissal of your skills with each job inquiry, just is a repeated barrage to the self esteem. How do you not get depressed? 

Okay, I know some people work the system and some people honestly do not want to work, but on average most of the people stuck in the unemployment strangle hold want to get back to work and want to provide for their families.

With the internet, a job search is no longer as simple as printing out a resume and going down to the local shopping center and filling out applications. Everything is online, in search engines and monster type job sites. You have to know something about writing cover letters and creating that stellar resume that makes you look shiny. 

I know of these things and I try to implement all I know in each job inquiry, but still my results aren't very positive. 

I feel that I need a college degree to be noticed. I have been to school, but it was technical training in graphic design and web design. While it is a good school and I learned a lot, it was not anywhere near a degree and because the teachers in my school were naysayers to converting tech credits into college credits my four years (rough estimate) of tech courses equal about 9 college hours.

I just want people to realize that not all people on unemployment do not feel dependent on the government or victimized. I want to take care of myself and do not feel entitled to anything, I am trying to find a job and what you see as lazy is depression which I am fighting every day I'm not going to work.