I've been where you are but I have to say something and I hope you don't take it the wrong way. So before I do, let me give you some background. In the last downturn (2001), my wife (who was pregnant) and I lost both of our jobs. Our combined income was $220K. Realizing that the recession was just starting and we had to pay for cobra and the baby was on the way, we cut back drastically. Car went back to stock. Cable canceled. I took what ever job I could including back breaking entry level construction grunt type of work. My wife found a couple of contractor jobs but nothing close to what she made.

Where I have issue with this is that you started this thread saying you're going to have a fire sale to pay rent. But yet you post in threads about switching from one dish network to another. You post a for sale thread but you have nice wheels and want to trade (so not maximizing your money back) and now in this thread you say you're going start looking for a job big time by doing this and that. So EDD ends and then you realize that it's serious?

I feel for you and wish you the best of luck. Heck, if I could I would hire you. What those two humbling years taught my wife and I is value of money. We made good money but we also spent a lot of it. After almost a decade, we've busted our butts and clawed our way back. I never want to go back on EDD, but realize that it may happen. Again, I hope that you don't it the wrong way. I don't think you're taking tax dollars or milking the system. I wanted to say this so maybe you realize that there luxuries in your life that in times like this is not the basic necessities like food, rent and baby clothes.

Good luck.

 

If only all Americans were willing to pull their own weight like this we wouldn't be having much of a recession right now. My girlfriend moved to CA in the height of the recession and found a job in 3 days. Obviously, working pizza delivery was less than optimal for someone accustomed to making 80k a year as a designer but it paid the bills.

this. all of it. 100% agree. in fact, I'm going to copy this and send it to my family members that are unemployed but refuse to work below their education level.

whats really funny to me are the same people that are relying on EDD are the ones in favor of government run healthcare. maybe this should be a wakeup call. this nation needs a big lesson in humility.

 

I think you are selective reading. I do have nice wheels but they need tires. If I sell them then I need new tires still AND wheels. Trading down is more cost effective. I HAVE been taking whatever I can get. I'm going to be doing a bunch of landscaping over the next week. I did NOT just start working hard to get a new job. I have put out hundreds of aps. I am just retooling because it obviously is not working. I am applying for other things. I applied for a receptionist job yesterday and an office manager job. I am calling about a driving job today.

I'm glad you and your wife got through it. 2001 is nothing like it is right now. 2001 was brutal for the over inflated budgets of the dot comers. But work was everywhere. Construction was still thriving. Between 2001 and 2005 my annual income went up over 10 percent a year. Closer to 20. And I could get freelance work at will.

 

Rau. I might be able to design you tattoo but my advice would be to pick an artist for the tattoo and work directly with them. Results are usually better because they are happier. Most only charge a down of about $50 to start drawing.

 

You need to STFU - I've been a tax-paying, never before filed for unemployment, job-seeking person who's been working since before you were out of diapers...

...so until you know what the f you're talking about, shut it.

BTW, I'm not sure how a '98 Forester with 215,000 miles on the clock compares to your 2004 WRX - why don't we trade and you can tell me how my car is so much nicer than yours?

You're probably just a little boy whose parents give him everything - a place to live, a nice car, and spending money...I'd be surprised if you even pay taxes.

 

Im in the same boat and have a baby due in august. Damn congress. And eugenile you ****in douche, ive been paying taxes for
9 years of hard work just to be laid off by my former company.

 

Sorry to hear about that. Getting laid off sucks because it doesn't have anything to do with you personally or your performance. It's just a money thing. That's what happened to me. The place I was working just couldn't afford me.

 

OMA

i do not recommend EMT/Para. There is NO money in it. It looks pretty on the outside, but be prepared to have 2 mil in personal liability ins. That is the MINIMUN I would carry. And it is rediculously competative. You are a very smart guy, but there are doctors doing this right now. and nurses, and others who have an entire life in EMS trying to make it in the smae field.

i wish i had a more positive angle, but I lived it. And if you think being away from family is hard, kiss a good 2 years of it away. And I mean ALL of it. Studying til 2 AM eveyday, trying to be in the top of your class. Cuz that is the only ones who get jobs....OR commit to AMR scholarship where they want you to work for them for 4 years before you can leave.

be careful in EMS....

josh

PS Going striaght to Nursing school is a much better idea

and i hate to say it, but lower wages and more hours are definatly the best way to make it right now. this is a reality i am facing right now....

 

Oh and just thought I'd reply publicly to STiforFun.

Quoted from PM...
"Again, you were running with 1/2 household income, got the wife pregnant, and expected her to crap out a sack of $$? Clearly you had heard along the way that during pregnancy there is a thing called 'maternity leave' and then there's the post pregnancy time off from work the wifey would take. KIDS ARE EXPENSIVE, of course you know that now. You think you're too good to pickup work at McDonald's or Starbucks. Wow, I guess that unemployment really is some sweet sweet breast milk. Must be nice to be so complacent.

And I can talk all I want; I was facing a company shut down due to the $hitty CA budget, so I had to job hunt. Got my **** together, went one ONE interview at ONE place and got a job. Have been there since & promoted.

People like me who get crap done can & will judge people like you that make their own lives more difficult because that's the way it is. You share your story with the whole damn world online and guess what happens, people get to chime in whether you agree with them or not.

Get a job and take care of that kid before it robs someone in 10 years."


You were VERY lucky to one job one interview and get it. Count yourself blessed. I have done that in the past... a couple times actually. But this time I have not been so fortunate.

I have no problems with people chiming in. And strangely enough I probably share many of your views. I live in an area where people are taking advantage of the system to it's fullest extent and I hate it. But I don't think you have ANY right to judge me. I'm glad you've been promoted... woopty ****ing do. I'm happy for you. Hell when I worked with AT&T I went from $9 and hour to over $34 an hour plus a couple thousand in bonus money a year... but that has nothing to do with right now.

Would be pretty humiliating to be robbed by a 10 year old girl, don't you think? I guess you're assuming that because I don't seen the point in working somewhere for $8 an hour when I'm paying $12 an hour for day car makes me a bad parent. I'd be loosing money AND dumping my kid off to be raised by someone else. I'd rather struggle for a little while and raise my kid myself. Personally I think the problem with a lot of this genrations youth is... a lot of them have been spoon fed. Never had to work for ****. Parents paid for college. Bought them cars. Paid their rent. Etc etc etc. They think they have rights to everything and the right to judge people around them. Another big chunk are those who's parents have divorced and they hate each other. And the largest chunk are kids who's parents were forced to work full time... both of them, in order to pay rent and keep food on the table. This leaves kids running free and being raised by god knows who. No one to teach them right from wrong. No one to teach them because that's the school's job. No family time. No communication. Etc etc etc.

Sorry that my wife and I love each other very much and are sticking by each other through this. Sorry that everyone can't wait and aren't selfish enough to wait until the situation is "perfect" to have kids. Sorry my wife has a health condition that makes it very difficult for her to have children and gets worse as time goes by.

But hell... I'm glad you know everything about me and feel you have the right to judge me.


Opinions are one thing. Judgements are another.

Have fun living in your perfect bubble. I truly hope that you don't ever have to go through this. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

 

wow there are more people out of work here than i thought. i lost my job about a year and a half ago and right when they said the store was closing they decided to pick at the smallest details to fire us and get rid of our severance. but recently i saved up some money to get an armed guard card and hopefully that turns out well with a new job.

 

I'd actually steer you away from an EMT career at this point. I'm not in that line of work, but my best friend went through a paramedic program and then wound up having to move to New Mexico to find work at all. Stuck it out for a year to get experience and then tried to move back to CA last year. She couch-surfed with us for nearly 6 months looking for work all over northern California. No dice. In the end her savings ran out and she was forced to take back her old job in NM. She's back in CA now because she eventually got a job offer, but it's way out in BFE (Alturas). To make matters worse, the county of Modoc has now decided that they're broke and they can't guarantee her paycheck anymore, so she's taking some pretty severe payment deferrals.

From what I hear, it's even harder to find work as an EMT or ER Tech because they're less qualified than paramedics. If you want to get into nursing, I'd say go straight to nursing school and get your RN license, and skip over the EMT path.

Just my .02, which is probably worth less than .01 due to deflation.

 

Thanks for the input dude. I'm actually trying to hook up with a local fireman to talk over the process and what he thinks of the industry. Not fire specifically but medical in general. My wife is an MA and plans to continue on to her RN.

I actually really enjoy the medical and have had more than a few people tell me I should get in to it. I actually took my wife's certification test and passed it. I have no desire to be an EMT. I would only do it as a step to paramedics.

Thanks again for the input.

I would love to keep designing so I'm working in a few directions right now.
The paramedics/RN direction. Continuing pushing for a design job. And I might jump back in to school to finish my degree to make myself more valuable in the industry.

But right now I'm just trying to do what needs to be done. Get my portfolio's up. Get the connections going. Just basically ramping up. It was awesome talking with my buddy who does hiring and has been in the industry for a long time. He was able to point me in some directions I was not aware of.

Nursing has been appealing to me for a long time because of the options you have.

 

He doesn't drive a 2004 wrx, he drives a dsm and likes to come on forums making smart*ss remarks. how do i know this? cuz he just so happens to know someone i know, but he most definitely is not my friend.

 

as i said. avoid EMT/paramedicine. go straight to nursing, or mursing in this case

i will echo pleiad all day long. i was FF for 18 years, 6 of them as a paramedic. the politics have gotten out of control. Ask any Vallejo firfighter...job security is no longer a reason to be one....

josh

 

from the news....

"The 2010 unemployment extension passed in the house. A standalone unemployment extension 2010 was approved by Representatives, but not by Senators. The vote needed to pass the extension bill in the Senate didn't pass before the body took a week long holiday. This leaves over a million Americans without benefits."


hope you have a good vacation!!!!