HARD TRUTHS ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT

[scootermcfly]

Here's another problem with the new American worker, "I don't want to move out there, I want to stay here!" WTF? If the food moved over there would you stay where you are and starve?

Good point!

It's true that you have to go where the jobs and/or money is but it's also true that there aften isn't enough stability to warrant a move. As RonW pointed out, sometimes when you make that change you still wind up getting burned. When I was young and single I gave away most of my crap, packed up what was left in a CJ7, and drove from eastern Long Island to Clearwater, FL, for a new job. Three years later I did it again and joined the Marines. Now I have a wife and three kids, moving isn't the option it once was. On top of that, corporations don't value employee loyalty or committment enough to justify that kind of response. Too many companies these days allow people to make those huge, life changing decisions knowing full well beforehand that they are going to dump you in six months anyway. I have a job now that is very enjoyable, fulfills my needs, and is stable with good benefits. I'm not making as much as I could if I went back to being a mechanic and either moved or travelled but we're comfortable.

[a]

I'm on my 4th career. I define career, as whatever job I can work at for 10 yrs or more. And still live where I live. The current career is the result of signing a form back in '88. When career # 3 went south in '04, I revived the class D, low voltage license . As time progressed, the field has tightened up to conform to building and fire codes. Lucky for me, I was practicing " Paper or plastic ma'am ?" as a plan B .

[Rich Euro M5]

I'm on my 4th career. I define career, as whatever job I can work at for 10 yrs or more. And still live where I live. The current career is the result of signing a form back in '88. When career # 3 went south in '04, I revived the class D, low voltage license . As time progressed, the field has tightened up to conform to building and fire codes. Lucky for me, I was practicing " Paper or plastic ma'am ?" as a plan B .

I don't define careers by the length of time I spent working in a particular field.

My first civilian career was in the computer industry, before the IBM PC existed. I was a Field Service Engineer performing on-site service of DEC PDP 11 , IBM Series 1, and a plethora of peripheral equipment. The influx of graduates from the for profit tech schools in the mid -80's, combined with the advances in the PC world had a negative impact on FSE salaries, so I went looking for greener pastures. I landed in the scientific community as an FSE, installing, commissioning, and servicing NMR Spectrometers. The experience I gained in this field was the spring board to a 25 year career in the medical imaging field. This career ended when the grant funding my position expired. No funding source, no more job.

So at the age of 54, I have jumped into a completely different field and started a new career in the Oil and Gas industry. I'm currently (the past 6 months) in a technical training program with a major equipment manufacturer. Upon graduation I will be a Field Service Technician, installing, commissioning, and servicing the power generation and power control electronics used on offshore rigs, land rigs, and production platforms.

Why did I change careers? Because my old field had become boring and wasn't challenging any longer. I had a job offer paying a decent salary but turned it down. My starting salary in my present position is about 55% of the offer I received from the imaging company. But even while in training I'm working 11 hour days, so the overtime is offsetting the delta in salary. The result is I'm making about 80% of the salary I would have made from the other offer. The payback is after graduation. The other offer was a salaried position, my new career in the oil industry is non-exempt hourly in which I get paid OT. In addition to the OT, I get bonuses, rig pay, per diem, etc, and when all added together it's a significantly higher amount of $$$s than what I would earn from the other offer. The other downside to the other offfer, no real growth potential. The company I'm now working for has a myriad of positions I can easily transition in to when the demands of working in the field on the rigs exceeds my physical capabilities.

BTW, both positions require extensive travel and working long hours.

[mooseheadm5]

Here's another problem with the new American worker, "I don't want to move out there, I want to stay here!" WTF? If the food moved over there would you stay where you are and starve? Would you starve your family? Is your EGO in your way?

Small point to make here (actually a rather large one.)

What if what is keeping you where you are isn't EGO but RESPONSIBILITY? Many people live where they are to be near family. It can be as a familiarity safety net, or it can be because their family is important to them. What if a person lives where they live to be near their elderly parents? What if the kids are in school and the spouse has a job. Should you uproot grandma and grandpa and the wife and kids to feed your EGO so you can be employed at a job you prefer? Long ago my father refused yet another transfer from the railroad. They wanted him to uproot his family yet again only three years after building a house and good relationships in the community where we lived. My mother had a business. They had 3 kids in school. They had moved my grandmother far away from home. The railroad wanted to move us to a shitty place with absolutely no guarantee they wouldn't transfer him again in a couple of years or that he would even be able to keep that job. Tell me, was his ego the cause of him quitting, or was it a greater responsibility to his family?

I have a friend with 5 kids. She works at a good job in town. Because their insurance doesn't cover earthquake damage, the value of their home plummeted after our earthquake last year due to structural damage. Her husband couldn't get a good enough job locally, so he moved back to Texas to make enough money to help support the family without uprooting the kids (many of whom suffer from Autism or related disorders and have enough trouble with a familiar environment.) While he may be able to make enough, it is having a very real impact on their family. Hopefully it will not be the end of their marriage, though they seem to be coping OK. It is harder on the children, who see their father only several times per year now.

Me, I bought a house here, and if I tried to move I'd lose my ass on the house. Because I'm not hungry and I have everything I need for myself and my wife, and I kind of like the town, there is no good reason to leave to make another 50% or more.

In this day and age, companies have no loyalty to their workers and workers have no loyalty to their companies. The only time you can be guaranteed that a move will make you enough money to survive without fail is if you are a highly paid executive with a known severance package should your position go away. For the vast majority of people, deciding not to uproot their lives isn't simply a matter of ego, it is a matter of community and family support. Not everyone can hop into their wagon and head out west successfully.