Friday brought a controversial note from a man whose joblessness troubles had been aired in the local media once before. This morning brings another note from a media veteran:
I was featured in a story in the soon to be lamented P-I about the WaMu layoffs on Dec. 1.
This is the third time in the last three years that I’ve been laid off in December. I’m 59 years old and my usual occupation is technical writing.
I’m fortunate that my partner/spousal unit works part time and with that and my unemployment benefits we’re able to pay the bills. Our budget is pretty bare bones, but after two previous terms in unemployment purgatory we’ve got the drill down. One of my sons is in college, though, and we aren’t able to put anything aside for his tuition and room & board at Western. We’ve got savings to cover the next two quarters, then we’ll see.
In 2006 I was laid off from GE Healthcare as they cut staff after acquiring IDX Systems. It took me 6 months to find the job at WaMu. The following December I was laid off from WaMu but hired back on contract, so that was a no-sweat deal.
This time, though, it’s not looking so good. There are still jobs listed, even at Microsoft, but I’m not getting any call-backs so far. From what I hear from my network, it’s pretty competitive out there and employers are able to pick way overqualified applicants for any opening.
The general gloom and doom about the local and national economies worries me. We need to start figuring out how to band together to help out our neighbors ad hoc fashion, we can’t expect the politicians’ help. Most of them are living in the old reality, not this new grim world.
Jeff VanGilder
West Seattle
Have an unemployment story to share? Write to jobless@thestranger.com.
“and employers are able to pick way overqualified applicants for any opening.”
This is very true. I’ve seen jobs for $10/hr saying they require two years of experience. Not good for fresh-outta-college types like myself. I’ve been looking for a new job for almost three months now…
I don’t know how the job market works, but right now it feels like an insane game of musical chairs at the point where the really bad economy and Wall st bailouts started and where some people might have wished they had that chair to plant their asses in when the music stopped. I may not like my job too much right now, but it’s still better than trying to look for one.
I saw a report the other day that the majority of people out of work are educated men.
I’m curious what kind of technical writing he is/was doing?
This person is a way better representation of the situation than “Sky”
I’m a technical writer, and I have an interview tomorrow, but you bet it’s rare, and my wage is off 15% its 2007 high. Furthermore, I am totally cannibalizing the jobs that would have gone to weaker candidates. All this adds up to a shit river for those at the bottom of the earning ladder.