Discussion
  • Read More
    PardonMyFlemish16Hamilton Nolan
    6/10/13 2:51pm

    My wife and I left good paying jobs in NYC to move to Charlotte. Neither of us have jobs, just some freelance and savings. These stories are scaring the shit out of me. I am an engineer and she is a graphic design artist. We've been out of work for less than a month and have some leads but nothing solid yet. I'm hoping and praying this was the right move

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      sublinkPardonMyFlemish16
      6/10/13 3:19pm

      I've always wondered what impulse causes people with jobs to move to a very different area without having jobs first.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      phunkshunPardonMyFlemish16
      6/10/13 3:20pm

      Not to panic you, but why in the world would you do that? There had to be a damn good reason...

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    GingerBelvoirHamilton Nolan
    6/10/13 2:48pm

    In response to the last letter "alcoholism and homelessness", from the graphic designer: I am a Marketing Director and have worked with graphic designers/artists throughout my 20 year career. I have to say, I'm really worried about the future that many artists/designers will face. The workplace has changed dramatically for this class of talent. They are being asked to do more work than ever before - I guess we all are facing this challenge but I think it's more difficult for artists because they didn't ever expect they would have to write copy or project manage creative work. There was always someone else to do that but as staffs are reduced, that is the new reality.

    New technology has made it easier than ever for a non-artist to create decent work. So if an organization doesn't care enough to have amazing art - if it's content with something basic - it can have an assistant or intern or anybody else with basic PhotoShop skills create ads and other marketing materials.

    Finally, the freelance marketplace is growing faster than ever and it's being overrun by inexpensive global talent. Look up a designer on Elance.com and you'll see what I mean. American talent starts at $30/hour or so. Designers from around the world have rates that are half that amount. So designers are really getting squeezed from all sides. I don't blame the letter writer for giving up on this kind of work. It's certainly not going to get any easier for people in this job category. It makes me sad, too, because there is no substitute for true talent and knowledge of what constitutes good design.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      rightmeowGingerBelvoir
      6/10/13 3:07pm

      I also work in marketing and graduated college in 2006. At that time, marketing and graphic design were two different degrees. I had a few graphic design classes but nothing in-depth. Now, many marketing jobs want a marketing degree and graphic design experience. Even though I didn't graduate all that long ago, I feel like I'm so far behind.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Dear ZeusGingerBelvoir
      6/10/13 3:08pm

      I work in an industry that relies heavily on designers. Even then some of the salespeople will open Illustrator to slap something together to avoid having an in-house designer (who get stuck fixing other designer's problems) or our outside designer do it.

      I was going to become a designer myself but after having shadowed one and now seeing the ones we have in the office I sort of feel like I made the right choice in not becoming one. They're all completely burnt out and can't do the quality of work they want to do simply because they're unable to due to circumstance.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    APersonaHamilton Nolan
    6/10/13 2:44pm

    This hits close to home:

    I spend most of my time at home, obsessively reworking my resume, tailoring it to fit each job I apply for. I have so many skills. I can learn so quickly. I will work so hard. Someone, please, let me work hard.

    I empathize.

    And I am mystified that no one wants to take a chance on folks that want nothing more than to work... and work HARD!

    How can this be?

    What's going on?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      thekitestringpopsAPersona
      6/10/13 3:24pm

      Ditto. At my most recent job, I was practically begging my gasbag of a boss to give me a full day's worth of work to do. I approached him at least a dozen times in four months pleading for more work. Ready, willing, able, eager, I was right there ready to take on anything for the "team". After four months they "laid me off", claiming I "seemed to spend a lot of time just hanging around doing nothing".

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Baron von SteubenAPersona
      6/10/13 3:37pm

      The guy has a worthless degree, and top that off with almost no experience. What could he be hired to do? Being willing to work hard is not going to give you a leg up, it's expected. Having marketable skills is the only thing that can earn a person employment.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    thekitestringpopsHamilton Nolan
    6/10/13 3:06pm

    Right now my problem is that I can't even muster the enthusiasm to fake my way through yet another demeaning, pointless "job interview". "What was it about our ad that made you think you'd be a good fit here at the widget plant?"...oh, I don't know, mostly the part where you said you'd pay me for it. "Where do you see yourself in five years?"...oh, I don't know, hopefully I'll be at a point in my life where no one will ask me stupid, obnoxious questions like that one. "What were you doing while you were unemployed"...oh, yeah, mostly selling weed, hocking stuff, rooting around for scrap metal, you know, survival-type shit.

    The real low point arrived a few weeks back. I had an interview and it seemed to go fairly well. Later that week the guy calls me back and tells me it's between me and one other guy. He wants me to come in the next day as sort of an "audition day", in other words I'm expected to work for nothing and "prove" myself in order to secure this shitty position within this shitty company. So I dutifully show up on time and discover that the guy who interviewed me called out sick that day. But he graciously "left" me some work to do, lucky me. So some dumb hump I've never met before leads me to this storeroom packed to the ceiling with crap and orders me to "clean it up" (not even remotely the job I applied for, btw). After two hours I realize I'm never getting any "job" there, I was merely conned into coming in to do this task none of the actual paid employees want anything to do with. So I just left. On Monday, the fuckstick I interviewed with calls me. He's all irate, demanding to know why I "left him in the lurch" like that. I told him to go fuck off.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      KatieInAtlantathekitestringpops
      6/10/13 3:55pm

      Wow. That is fucked up!

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      thekitestringpopsKatieInAtlanta
      6/10/13 3:58pm

      And it wasn't even the first time someone's tried to pull that scam on me. It's a reprehensible thing to do to an applicant, just completely morally bankrupt.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Johnny ChundersHamilton Nolan
    6/10/13 2:30pm

    Unemployment Stories, Vol. 12,450:

    "I know that the politicians and newsreader androids say that the economy is recovering, but as I lift my next-to-last forkful of soylent orange and apply to yet another job in a nearly exhausted BitCoin mine, I am skeptical. The symbiote that controls the mind of the clone of Thomas Friedman that heads the Galactic Sentient Organic (Posthuman) Labor Soviet said that the pattern recognition capabilities of we mammalians would drive many aspects of the new economy, but these jobs have yet to materialize..."

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      seeyaHamilton Nolan
      6/10/13 2:20pm

      Guys. NO! NO! NO!

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        Johnny Chundersseeya
        6/10/13 2:21pm

        !!!!!!

        Reply
        <
      • Read More
        Sherlock Homeyseeya
        6/10/13 2:26pm

        No athletic shoes when you're standing in the crappy unemployment line?

        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      VanCandyHamilton Nolan
      6/10/13 2:30pm

      Not agree with homeless guy but ya: republicans, it's going to happen to you, eventually. It's how capitalism works. The second they can find someone younger and cheaper or, better yet, overseas, they'll cut you no matter how hard you work or how much value you've created. It eats everyone eventually, except the generationally rich, and those lucky enough to snag a few lottery tickets of entrepreneurship out there ( and we know 95% of them come from wealthy households and Ivy-league schools).

      As long as we continue to measure our economy by stocks (read: rich people and big corps ability to secure returns on loans and investments) without a real reading on why everyone with a college degree is working in the service sector, we're fucked. Until we take more of the value of the labor we create for rich people and say that, no, they didn't earn it: we earned your money working for you and as a society we all need to re-invest that in all of us, not just 1% of us, if we're going to survive this post-industrial economy.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        A. Nonie MeusVanCandy
        6/10/13 4:07pm

        Sometimes it's a chicken and egg thing. When you find yourself in dire straits you start sympathizing with the liberal and progressive mindset, but when you're living well and making bank suddenly everything seems very republican.

        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      PollyLeritaeHamilton Nolan
      6/10/13 2:31pm

      I want to thank you again for continuing to publish this important and honestly-told series. I know that Gawker isn't in journalism to win Pulitzers or Nobels but this is so, so, so much more important, newsworthy, and a document of our time than the winning garbage about yuppies and their premature babies or memoirs of womanizing expats. Thank you.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        OortCloudPollyLeritae
        6/10/13 7:11pm

        Sounds like you've been reading Salon

        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      komododaveHamilton Nolan
      6/10/13 4:17pm

      I feel for everyone that sends in their stories. They truly are painful to read. I hesitate to try to give any advice, but I keep seeing a disturbing trend. Most of them start out with "I live on the east coast" or "LA", where the job market is EXTREMELY competitive. I know people love to live in these places, but maybe try to move somewhere where there is less competition or more jobs. Plus the cost of living is so much less in a lot of those areas. You might leave your friends, but if your friends won't help you out in a terrible situation like this, are they really your friends? Yes, I know it costs money to move, but it could be worth it. I live in one of these areas: Houston. We've seen tons of growth since the crash. For every job lost in the last crash, we've gained 2.5 jobs. That's a lot. Come on down, we'd be happy to help all of you. Moving to a new area might be scary or outside your comfort zone, but what do you have to lose?

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        deskjockey6Hamilton Nolan
        6/10/13 2:56pm

        Landing a job in Graphic Design is all based around your experience and your portfolio. If you have a computer and Adobe Creative Suite, you should be busting your ass designing pieces to add to your portfolio. You don't need a job to add design pieces to your portfolio. If you're behind in technology, look at Youtube and Lynda.com to learn new techniques and programs.

        Reply
        <