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    ARP2Hamilton Nolan
    5/13/13 3:03pm

    "Here I am with a liberal arts degree, Human Development with an emphasis on Gender Studies. I took classes that interested me, this is where it landed me. I wish I had known that I had an option to not go to college."

    So, your only two options were to get a (non)degree or not go to college? No, you could have gotten a degree that was more useful...and I'm not even talking STEM, econ, finance, Actuary, etc. (where you have a better shot). I'm talking English, Psych, Sociology, etc. It's still really hard for people with these degrees, but at least there are some transferable skills. Then you work your a*s off to get an internship, etc.

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      APersonaARP2
      5/13/13 3:13pm

      Hindsight is 20/20. There are a lot of people who were told do what you love and you'll be a success.

      No one anticipated this mess.

      There was a chance that people studying obscure subjects could parlay those skills or find a niche. Today, that seems like a fairytale.

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      BlatheringARP2
      5/13/13 3:21pm

      Like I said elsewhere, what kid knows that? At 17, I was told to go to college and it would all work out. Now I'm nearly forty and still paying off a ton of loans, and a ton of beer weight, that ill-informed child ran up.

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    ForFinlandHamilton Nolan
    5/13/13 2:40pm

    I am waiting for all the comments about STEM careers or how stupid people got college debt. Nothing about the stratification of wealth or the flattening of wages. Surely not. We need to focus on personal failure because that's what the republicans want. They want to blame you for going to college while they rob you blind.

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      rokokobangForFinland
      5/13/13 2:57pm

      I've said this before on another Unemplyoment series article, but I just want to say it again, to reinforce your point: not everyone is good enough at STEM related subjects to choose them in college! I SUCK at math and sciences and always have - if I selected anything related to those as my major, I would've graduated with maybe a 2.3 if I was lucky and worked my ass off. So I chose something I was good at - gasp, a media B.A. and M.A. - and guess what, I have a job in my field. They exist.

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      apogee17ForFinland
      5/13/13 3:00pm

      Those comments tend to miss the greater picture - all of which does boil down to wages flattening as inflation increases. It's all down to many things moving overseas so a company can "avoid regulations in the US" so they can sell something cheaper, or get a greater profit margin.

      The "by your bootstraps" thing is a nice idea, and we all really want to do that. Very few people, aside from the people that are actually dead weight on society, want to pull themselves up that ledge under their own power.

      But the problem arises when that ledge gets moved higher and higher, and for any real reasons besides global-scale greed and the average person's inability to see beyond their own wallets.

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    CheeseSandwichHamilton Nolan
    5/13/13 3:14pm

    This is gonna be me soon. I'm 30 years old and a teacher. My job, due to budget cuts, is gone next school year. I basically have employment till the end of June and then its kaput. Luckily, I'm pursuing my special education endorsement and SPED teachers are always in demand. So I'm not worried long term but good god, I am not looking forward to the next year.

    Back to moving furniture and tutoring.

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      gerrycomoCheeseSandwich
      5/13/13 5:19pm

      At worst, use your exp to teach English in Eastern Asia (or anywhere outside North America).

      Check out potentially good jobs at eslcafe.com.

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      CheeseSandwichgerrycomo
      5/13/13 5:26pm

      Ha, I've actually given that advice before. I taught abroad for a number of years actually. I might again though if unemployment gets to be too disheartening.

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    KickMeKateHamilton Nolan
    5/13/13 3:02pm

    It's, I suppose, unethical, but this prejudice against the umemployed makes me think people should just lie.

    Make up a title, give a friend's phone number, have them pretend to be the boss of Vandalay Inustries, and see where that gets you.

    I'm not kidding.

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      stacyinbeanKickMeKate
      5/13/13 3:17pm

      Absolutely. Even create your own little company, say you were a freelance photographer or you were trying to open a bakery or if you have a friend who owns a business (ANY kind of business) have them say you were consulting for them. Anything to get over the unemployed discrimination hump.

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      Dizzy8KickMeKate
      5/13/13 3:44pm

      I know people who did this and it worked. Most people I know seem horrified, though. Personally I would gladly recommend a friend who is unemployed - it is tough out there and the companies are showing no ethics or loyalty. Why would I pretend the system is rewarding the good guys? It us obviously broken and needs a workaround, but I wouldn't say that in public yet.

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    emdroidHamilton Nolan
    5/13/13 3:19pm

    The stigma of being an unemployed person and thus being less hire-able is really fucked up. However I hope people try to internalize SOME of the response they get. A lot of these stories include a "and then some asshole in jeans walked up and got the job instead of me!". Chances are when you get a job offer some other person will be devastated because it's you and not them. However, if you are nervous, twitchy and desperate those are all worse qualities than wearing an inappropriate outfit to an interview, and it's very likely that being unemployed makes you act all three. I feel for everyone dealing with this problem but it's possible that a better solution than trying again and again is to shift your focus and try going for something completely different. You may find that you needed a change in profession more than you needed yet another job in your dead-end industry.

    Just food for thought... don't flame me for trying to offer advice please :/

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      alleycatagain1emdroid
      5/13/13 6:07pm

      You have a really good point here - it's kind of like dating, desperation and resentment/bitterness are huge turn-offs. If you really are walking into every interview with a "what's the point, I'll never get this job anyway" attitude it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (except in acting, for some reason - truly, it seems like every working actor I know got their biggest/greatest job because they didn't care a bit or thought they had zero chance and went into the audition with a "whatever, who cares, I just have to show up to keep my agent happy" kind of attitude.) But I don't think we can judge that this is the case just because of the jeans comment... those are natural and valid feelings, it doesn't mean he/she does go into interviews with them all over his/her face. I'm also a bit annoyed about all the "maybe you can't get a job because you can't spell" comments, how do we know what his resume looks like? I'm a professional writer and I've been called a liar multiple times because there are minor grammatical or spelling mistakes in my online comments - it's an online comment, it's not an assignment I'm being paid for! Of course I put less work into making it perfect... but in general, agree with you big time. A defeatist attitude and obvious bitterness will never impress anyone, whether it's a job interview, a date, a dinner party... it's just not an appealing trait, pure and simple.

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    flibbityfloo2Hamilton Nolan
    5/13/13 4:00pm

    It's frustrating and discouraging as Hell, I know - but I hope every author of every single one of these stories knows a) that they're worth every effort they're putting forward to earn a job; and b) they're worth far more to their friends and loved ones than the value of whatever job they had, don't have, or might ever have. I've worked with some real dandies in my career and wondered how some of them could be employed while others are not, but it took a stint of unemployment for me to realize that what I do for a living is a relatively small part of my identity to everyone that knows me, and that everyone should be as blessed as I was to have wonderful friends and family to help me stay in the fight for what ultimately is an exchange of work time for the means to enjoy the rest of the time with every one of them.

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      MrTusks1Hamilton Nolan
      5/13/13 3:20pm

      Congrats, you are the first person in 5 years whose problems were SOLVED by law school.

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        raincoasterHamilton Nolan
        5/13/13 10:54pm

        This is really really tangential but if you are volunteering at a festival or conference of any kind the BEST job to get is to pick presenters up at the airport and drop them off there after the event. You get some of the top people in your field all to yourself for at least a half hour at a time.

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          justquitmyjobHamilton Nolan
          5/14/13 10:03am

          I walked out of my job that I've only had for one month today because I am sure I would be fired soon, anyway. Business slowed and really weird things started happening, and then I got accused of stealing in a really nasty way. I have an interview this afternoon making decent money (from the minimum wage I was getting), so I'm really hoping I get this new job.

          Ps- I had been unemployed for 3 months before that. I just moved back into the country and there is nothing available.

          I hate the discrimination they give toward the people who have been unemployed for a while. I'm leaving the 1 month job off my list because I don't think it'll look so hot, so now I look like I've been jobless for nearly 4 months.

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            DoraDoraBoBoraHamilton Nolan
            5/13/13 5:07pm

            I remember reading somewhere that as soon as you read a story about someone else's personal experience and start thinking, "Well, I do XYZ, so there's no reason he/she can't also do XYZ" you've failed, because no matter how similar you think your stories are, there are ALWAYS differences, sometimes small and sometimes not, and set you apart. Failing to recognise that and being scornful of someone as a result because you feel like based on YOUR circumstances they aren't doing enough shows a lack of empathy. It's okay to make suggestions. It's not okay to automatically assume that just because you could make something work in your circumstance means it could be and is the same for everyone else, and to look down on them as a result.

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