What to do ...
Ten months of unemployment.
I'm considering making a drive up to North Dakota(ND) to check out oil boom jobs. Oil boom towns are rather like Yukon gold strike towns. Housing is non-existent and when you do find something the rates are high. The pay scale is equally high to entice people to fill companies open positions and to put up with all the hassle and overtime.
However, if I got a job in ND, I would have to store all my possessions, board my cat and live out of my car. In Winter ... that doesn't seem practical.
The question - is it worth it?
You know what really snarks me? I can't re-train in another profession or continue my bachelor degree without losing unemployment. I paid for my associates myself. Instead, I would have to apply for student loans. And at my age, payback on loans against future earnings, assuming that I can find and keep a well paying job until retirement, are practically insurmountable.
Don't think I like being on unemployment. It goes against my independent, self-sufficient nature.
And it's not doing much for my bank account or credit.
I still carry a great deal of anger about being laid off. I try to laugh it off. I remind myself, "It will get better." Right. When? At night, when I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep, all I can think about is what a great job I had. And I wonder what triggered the company powers that be to choose me to lay off. What did I do wrong?
It doesn't stop the tears or the burn of resentment. All the books I've read about finding another job, say being laid off is like losing a loved one. You experience the four stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Depression and Acceptance and Hope. I guess I'm in-between anger and depression.
I know I've been experiencing depression lately. That's not me. I don't like it at all.
Hard choices have to be made very soon.
I know I'm not the only person in America (or world) that this has happened to, nor is this my first lay off, but I'm now batting against average. When I find a job, it will be 1) of lessor quality of personal satisfaction, 2) significantly less in pay and benefits, 3) unlikely to allow saving toward retirement (21 years away), and 4) unlikely to allow for debt repayment in a timely period.
And forget about my educational goal.
HR people tell you that there is nothing personal in being chosen for lay off, but they are wrong. It's very personal.
I'm considering making a drive up to North Dakota(ND) to check out oil boom jobs. Oil boom towns are rather like Yukon gold strike towns. Housing is non-existent and when you do find something the rates are high. The pay scale is equally high to entice people to fill companies open positions and to put up with all the hassle and overtime.
However, if I got a job in ND, I would have to store all my possessions, board my cat and live out of my car. In Winter ... that doesn't seem practical.
The question - is it worth it?
You know what really snarks me? I can't re-train in another profession or continue my bachelor degree without losing unemployment. I paid for my associates myself. Instead, I would have to apply for student loans. And at my age, payback on loans against future earnings, assuming that I can find and keep a well paying job until retirement, are practically insurmountable.
Don't think I like being on unemployment. It goes against my independent, self-sufficient nature.
And it's not doing much for my bank account or credit.
I still carry a great deal of anger about being laid off. I try to laugh it off. I remind myself, "It will get better." Right. When? At night, when I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep, all I can think about is what a great job I had. And I wonder what triggered the company powers that be to choose me to lay off. What did I do wrong?
It doesn't stop the tears or the burn of resentment. All the books I've read about finding another job, say being laid off is like losing a loved one. You experience the four stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Depression and Acceptance and Hope. I guess I'm in-between anger and depression.
I know I've been experiencing depression lately. That's not me. I don't like it at all.
Hard choices have to be made very soon.
I know I'm not the only person in America (or world) that this has happened to, nor is this my first lay off, but I'm now batting against average. When I find a job, it will be 1) of lessor quality of personal satisfaction, 2) significantly less in pay and benefits, 3) unlikely to allow saving toward retirement (21 years away), and 4) unlikely to allow for debt repayment in a timely period.
And forget about my educational goal.
HR people tell you that there is nothing personal in being chosen for lay off, but they are wrong. It's very personal.