is this story real or fake ?

[T2K]

Unemployed 47 year old guy that cannot find a job. I got a good laugh out of it.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/9-million-american-men-in-prime-working-age-cant-find-jobs-and-im-one-of-them/ar-AAlJOVu?li=BBnbfcN&OCID=HPDHP

[Edgar]

Could be true. I was out of work for several years in my early fifties. I kept track of all of my job applications -- over 700. And I'm not talking about Wal Mart applications, I'm an engineer. Fortunately I'm working again now; good job and good pay. I don't know why or how you would get a laugh out of it.

http://overfiftyandoutofwork.com/

[mungkiman]

56 minutes ago, Edgar said:

I don't know why or how you would get a laugh out of it.

 

+1

 

[T2K]

1 hour ago, Edgar said:

Could be true. I was out of work for several years in my early fifties. I kept track of all of my job applications -- over 700. And I'm not talking about Wal Mart applications, I'm an engineer. Fortunately I'm working again now; good job and good pay. I don't know why or how you would get a laugh out of it.

http://overfiftyandoutofwork.com/

 

 

I thought this paragraph was comical :

 

"There have been times where I’ve wondered if I should just get a temporary service or manual labor job to help out with extra cash. But I’m worried about getting stuck in a position with even less room for growth than my previous jobs. And to be honest, I would be too humiliated. Our social circle, made up of mostly well-paid tech workers and professionals, has no idea how bad our situation has been. It would be exceptionally difficult to work eight hours a day hoping with all my might that a neighbor or friend wouldn’t swing by to see me working the cash register or pumping gas. I’m already demoralized. I didn't need any additional anger toward the world."

 

 

He said he would be too humiliated to get a service or manual labor job to help out with extra cash, but apparently he don't mind sitting around the house for years accomplishing nothing helpful to his family's financial situation. His situation seems like an opportunity to teach his young impressionable kids a valuable lesson rather than the lesson of what they should do when they can't find a job that fits their desires. He seems to think that 'the world' owes him something other than the opportunity available to him to get up off his a$$ and do something, anything, for his family.

 

BTW, I'm 63 and retired after working for 44 years. The thought that the world owed me anything never crossed my mind, even during the years that I was furloughed.

 

 

Keith

 

 

[wvu80]

26 minutes ago, mungkiman said:

1 hour ago, Edgar said:

I don't know why or how you would get a laugh out of it.

 

+1

Keith, I don't think you meant to be disrespectful to a guy having a tough time getting a job, but at the very least laughing at the guy seems a little insensitive.

[Edgar]

8 hours ago, T2K said:

He said he would be too humiliated to get a service or manual labor job

 

The interesting part about that is that he probably couldn't get a service or manual labor job. When things got really tough for me, I looked for jobs like that. I was repeatedly rejected. Their reason was simple: "Greg, we're not hiring you because we know that the moment a position becomes available in your field, you'll leave."

 

And they were right.

[jjptkd]

Guy sounds like a giant ****** bag judging by that one paragraph. I've worked hard labor most of my life and would again in a heart beat if I had to. Better to sit on your hands and let the wife support you I guess? Shameful.

[pbphoto]

I don't think we're getting the full picture from this article.  If you are any good in IT and have relevant IT skills, especially in Silicon Valley, companies are banging down your door to hire you.  There is a dearth of qualified IT employees in this country.  The trick is, much like Moore's Law, you must learn something new every 18 months.  That doesn't mean getting laid off in 2002, kicking back on unemployment, and then expecting to find a company looking to hire you for your skills "honed in the 1990s."  Even the choicest prime beef spoils quickly outside of the refrigerator.  He admits his skills are stale - that's good, at least he knows.  And I can see getting laid off in 2002 and 2009 - tough times in IT for sure. But it's troubling he can't hold down a steady IT job this century - companies don't fire good skilled IT employees even in these times of outsourcing and The Cloud - good IT employees are somehow kept on-board.  There's something else wrong here.

[Edgar]

Frankly, my friends, with all due respect: until you've been there yourself, you're not qualified to pass judgment.

[fuzzydog]

He's holding out for management.

[Jim]

I have worked since I am 9 years old,and am 48 now. I worked delivering 150 newspapers a day for 6 days a week. When I turned 12, I worked in a laundry mat washing and folding other peoples clothes for 0.50 a load. When I turned 14, I worked in a restaurant as a dishwasher and salad maker as well as bussing tables.

 

At 16, I moved out of my house and on my own and went to school full time and worked a full time job from 4 PM to 1 AM 6 days a week in a pizzeria. And this was without having a wife and kids.

 

I did not get the opportunity to go to college or play sports, or even hang out and go out to clubs due to my responsibility to myself. I worked all kinds of odd jobs and became a Union painter and also was in the Teamsters before getting into the stock industry as a broker.

 

My career as a broker was cut short due to a company I had worked at for 2 months that did an illegal IPO and everyone lost their licenses. I then became a real estate agent and then broker and opened my company a year after getting into the industry by hiring a broker to "run" the office until I could get my broker's license. In between losing my license as a stock broker I had triplets who are now 15 and will be 16 in March, and had another child who is now 12.And during the time frame of losing the brokers license and getting the real estate license, I had to go back and forth through the courts for 7 years on the stock issue to be settled and in all that time frame all I did was hustle.

 

This guy is funny and at the same time is a joke, as an adult and someone with a family you do what's needed, not what will make you feel embarrassed.

 

I would never hesitate to work a job in McDonald's or Wal Mart if that's what was needed to put food on the table or contribute to my wife's working. And at the same time my thought process would be to tell the so called "friends" FU if they were to laugh or ridicule me as they are not the ones putting food on my table or paying my bills.

 

To me it's laziness not taking a job for whatever it is in order to keep a status.

[Fjd]

15 hours ago, T2K said:

 

 

I thought this paragraph was comical :

 

"There have been times where I’ve wondered if I should just get a temporary service or manual labor job to help out with extra cash. But I’m worried about getting stuck in a position with even less room for growth than my previous jobs. And to be honest, I would be too humiliated. Our social circle, made up of mostly well-paid tech workers and professionals, has no idea how bad our situation has been. It would be exceptionally difficult to work eight hours a day hoping with all my might that a neighbor or friend wouldn’t swing by to see me working the cash register or pumping gas. I’m already demoralized. I didn't need any additional anger toward the world."

 

 

He said he would be too humiliated to get a service or manual labor job to help out with extra cash, but apparently he don't mind sitting around the house for years accomplishing nothing helpful to his family's financial situation. His situation seems like an opportunity to teach his young impressionable kids a valuable lesson rather than the lesson of what they should do when they can't find a job that fits their desires. He seems to think that 'the world' owes him something other than the opportunity available to him to get up off his a$$ and do something, anything, for his family.

 

BTW, I'm 63 and retired after working for 44 years. The thought that the world owed me anything never crossed my mind, even during the years that I was furloughed.

 

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

Quoting the first two sentences of the article: "It’s not something most people in my life know about. My friends, acquaintances, the parents of kids on my son’s soccer team that I coach — none of them know.  I have a whole spiel worked out when the question comes up. I say that I’m thinking of changing jobs, or I mention that I’ve been spending my time organizing our house since we moved, or that I’m a “consultant.” Anything to avoid talking about what’s really going on."

 

 

In reading those first few sentences, reading later in the article that his primary search tool is indeed.com, and T2K's quotes above, it seems to me that he doesn't understand the first thing about looking for a job.  I can also speak from experience since I've been caught in corporate downsizings a few times, and by necessity to move away from dead-ends, needed to reinvent myself each time. 

 

Essentially, it seems to me that by cutting out his "network of friends, well-paid tech workers and professional contacts" he has completely ignored what is probably the number one method of landing a new job.  Most of the time, people are willing to help, but people can't help you until they know that you are actively looking for a job. This does NOT mean "cry" and "whine" during each interaction, but it does mean figure out what you want to do, update your skills, and actually learn how to use your network.  It seems like his "social circle" of "well-paid tech workers and professionals" should be a great basis for a quality network to use in the job search; however, if not, there are a multitude of ways to expand it, including reconnecting through alumni events or professional events.

 

Job boards are interesting and seem very popular; however, it seems to me that job boards are much better for determining what types of jobs are out there and determining which companies seem to be hiring.  With so many job candidates responding to listed openings, I've got to think that the chances of even getting a call back for an interview are slim to none; making it very difficult to land a job primarily by hunting through these boards.

 

[T2K]

14 hours ago, wvu80 said:

Keith, I don't think you meant to be disrespectful to a guy having a tough time getting a job, but at the very least laughing at the guy seems a little insensitive.

 

 

My thoughts went over your head.

[wvu80]

22 minutes ago, T2K said:

 

My thoughts went over your head.

If you mean that you were laughing at a paragraph in the article instead of the person, yeah, that could have gone over my head.

 

I was trying to defend you.  Whether the article was true or not, whether you were laughing at a paragraph or not, the plight of a man who can't find a job isn't all that funny to a lot of us.

 

My apologies if I missed your point.