Yesterday it was 20 weeks since I was replaced by a younger person at my job.  20 weeks of collecting unemployment.  And 20 weeks with no luck in finding work.

I did get a nibble yesterday, a recruiter hired by a major company needs a network engineer upstate NY.  The distance would require that I relocate which is not an issue.  I would have to pay into the medical plan, which is fine, there is a 2 year contract involved Not a good feeling, and the kicker was the pay.  They were offering $40,000 a year.

How on earth can you support a family on 40 Grand?  I had to laugh at them.  40 grand, give me a break  I can make that flipping burgers.

And to boot they wanted to know what companies I applied to.  Now here is the trick, you tell them what firms you apply to and instead of trying to place you, they place someone else.  It is a dirty trick a lot of recruiters use,  Robert Half is famous for that.

With Robert half you meet with two recruiters at a the same time and they double team you.  And they pressure you for companies you applied to already.  And of course they do nothing for you.  I worked with them a few years back prior to getting my last job.  They just jerked you around.

I had another recruiter from TekSystems call earlier in the week from Miami and played the same thing.  Who have I applied to.  She was not interested in placing me, especially since I am in NY and would require relocation plus my salary range was way above what she had in mind.

Yep the past 20 weeks has been fruitless and I have only 6 weeks of unemployment left.

Plus to make the job market worse around here, the Town of Islip has announced they are going to layoff more people.  Nassau County is doing that now.  Obama-nomics in action.

On TV there was an add in how a whopping 300 jobs were added in the state!  Wow! 300 new jobs!!! For a state with 19 million people in it and triple that 300 in layoffs this week alone.  Really.  Obama-nomics is really working.

Can't blame him too much, Clinton did sign NAFTA the start of American jobs leaving the country and Bush pork bellied laws allowing companies to take tax breaks if they offshored jobs.  Obama made promises that he would bring those jobs back into the US during his campaign speeches but so far more jobs left and more people are without jobs than ever before in the past 50 plus years.

So right now things look pretty dismal.  I doubt that much will happen in the next 6 weeks.  But you never know.  I am still praying and hoping that some company in the Keys would make me an offer.  But right now I wonder if that will happen.

'till next time