I'll try to make a long story short. Actually I think I'll just say what happened.

I took the GMAT's and had a panic attack during the math section and bombed it (although I did really well on the verbal). Then I got fired from my job about an hour ago.

I was really in a bad way yesterday when all this went down. I guess I'm a bit better today, but I have a lot of stuff I need to figure out. I just keep thinking to myself that if I don't find a job soon, making close to what I was before, that I'll be out on the street in 2 months. Its not a good feeling.

any advice from people who have been in a similar situation?

Were you fired or laid off? Regardless, apply for unemployment insurance as soon as you're able. It won't be as much as you were getting, but it's better than nothing.

I was unemployed for over a year and it really sucks. I hate to say it, but I doubt you'll find a job making as much as you were before, especially in the IT sector (assuming that's where you are), but you might find something in the ballpark. I'd also suggest that if someone offers you a job that's even vaguely reasonable, jump at it. It might be the only offer you'll get for months.

Otherwise, send out your resume as much as possible.

What do you do, in case one of us runs across an appropriate job?

I was the manager of a restaurant. I hated it. So they probably did me a favor. I guess I know now that I don't want to do that for a living.

I got laid-off (or really fired, it is a long story) from a job I hated a while ago. My life was miserable there, but I could not get the cahones to just walk out. It turned out it was a great thing and I ended up getting a much better job and making my life a lot happier.

It is amazing how things like this turn out for the best a lot of the time. Just hold on a bit.

Yes! I was working at a horrible job and I finally left after being told I was going to be laid-off and was out of a job for about three months and was miserable. If that didn't happen to me I never would have found the job I have now. Less than 2 miles from home, doing what I want, great salary, etc,etc. It can happen, I swear. I just wish that luck could rub off into other areas of my life.

Most everyone knows my story.... I was 27 and at the top of my game. I made really good money, loved my wife, and my little boy. In a blink of an eye it was all gone... The job, wife, and now I see my boy for a couple of hours on Saturday. One career became two jobs that pay less than half what I made before...
Six months later... I'm getting the nod for a promotion into an IT manager position, which means getting rid of the second job and seeing my son a lot more. My wife and I are still estranged but I'm working on that too and oddly I think if she doesn't come back that I'll be ok. That's something I hadn't admitted out loud yet...
My point is time will bring change, change that you would never choose, but in the end you can look Murphy's law in the face and tell him to take a hike.

Can you get unemployment if you have been fired, or is it only if you have been laid off ?

Usually the deal is that if you get fired that there's a waiting period. If you get laid off, then you can collect as soon as your regular pay (including severance) ends. That's the way it is in NC, anyway.

Here in Illinois, you can get unemployment right away if you were fired for anything other than willful misconduct. You have to fill out an extra form, and it takes a few weeks for them to investigate why you were fired, but then you earn benefits back to the point from when you were fired. Actually, I think there's a one-week waiting period before you earn benefits, whether you were laid off or fired.

In any case, being fired without willful misconduct is treated the same as being laid off.

--dan.

I figure getting fired for any reason other than misconduct of some nature is the same thing as getting laid off.

not to the state, it's not.

--dan.

Fair enough. It seems to be pretty damn close as far as unemployment insurance goes.

Sorry to hear about your crap day.
Change isn't always bad, you might take a while to find your feet, but if you didn't like where your job was heading, you're probably better off.

Don't fret the exam. There are more of those.

Hope things go well soon

Quelle bummaire!

PollyJimma here had a better one (does that mean there's hope?): The battery charger that I thought died from a lightning strike last night only really blew a fuse; while I haven't experienced full extension yet, thanks to UPS, I now have a really big pole; a sponsor may have signed on to our Alcan car; my American Flyer engine sold on eBay for $277;.....and I start work in the morning on an 8-week temporary job that has some prospect of going permanent (and looks like it could be fun).

I have tried to use my 4-month period of unemployment as a time to think about "what next?" I hope that it is really over. I hope Massachusetts treats you reasonably vis-a-vis the whole eligibility thing and that you get a chance to regroup and figure out a good next move.

I haven't worked in the food biz since 1971, but my brother-in-law did for years and years and I have to say that the job of restaurant manager seemed like the biggest grind I could ever imagine. Not a minute of rest for him. He had to be able to do anyone else's job and was always filling in to cover for missing staff. It was endless and he got nothing in the way of thanks for a job masterfully done.

So I hope that maybe this isn't the worst thing and that some other possibilities appear on the horizon.

any advice from people who have been in a similar situation?


I haven't been in that situation... but I have heard advice that sounds reasonable.

When you're job hunting, it is always better to do it from the position of being currently employed even if it is a temporary job with no future, a job that you hate.

Reason 1: It removes some of the pressure to find a job immediately if you don't have to worry about where your next meal is coming from or being thrown out into the street. This allows you to take your time and pick and choose the job you really want.

Reason 2: Employers are not as willing to hire people who are currently unemployed. "This guy doesn't have a job -- what's wrong with him?"

Reason 3: Being unemployed has an impact on your feelings of self worth and your confidence. Despite your best efforts, this will be reflected in your performance at job interviews.

So even if it's flipping burgers at McDonalds, even if it's some menial job far below your abilities, from the point of view of job hunting it's better than no job at all.

tanstaafl.

The problem with that scenario, and the one you mistake in ``Reason 1'' is that unemployemnt insurance can often pay more than some random temporary job. That being said, if you can find a temp job that pays almost as much, your unemployment insurance can become reactivated right after it's over, as long as it was a temp thing and you didn't get fired, without losing any benefits. That is, you don't completely forego your dole for that period, it just gets tacked on to the end and you can get it later, if you're unemployed that long. At least that's the way it works in NC, and I imagine it's similar elsewhere.

Don't feel bad. i just got fired too.

sorry. not necessarily a good thing. but i had to laugh.

Maybe our packages will be a little safer now

Hey, good luck on finding a job you like better, it always sounded like you hated the place. Sometimes a kick out the door will lead to much better opportunities.

What tipped them off? Did they finally notice all the undelivered firearms packages that "disappeared" in the system?

Seriously though, sorry to hear that. Good luck finding a new place to accumulate lots of weapons.

Thanks everyone. I'm feeling a bit more hopeful after spending a couple days up in Maine with my best friend.

I am a bit concerned about the unemployment benefits stuff though...

I am a bit concerned about the unemployment benefits stuff though...

This Sunday morning will be the first time in over 4 months that I won't go online and file a claim. In that period I have been to the local "Employment Security" office for orientation, workshops and one audit.

My impression? Don't approach the Unemployment folks with undue apprehension. Many of them got their jobs with that agency after...being unemployed. They are reasonably quick to remind people that this is "unemployment insurance" paid for by by employers. The long and the short is that -- even during an audit that was intended to make sure people weren't abusing their benefits -- I never thought those folks were trying to bust anybody's ass. They know. Shite happens.

Anywho, I would approach them with an appropriately innocent demeanor and see what happens. One unfounded memory I have is that some employers try to "fire" whenever possible so as to avoid unemployment comp liability. Anyhow, be appropriately innocent and see how it goes.

I agree with Bitt's calculation re: not taking a job that yields less than your bennies. I'll also say that I hesitated to get locked into a job that I thought would be a grind if it took me out of the running for better work (I tend to commit to a minimum of 2 years once I have said "yes"). OTOH, nowadays, I might feel less loyalty if something better popped up after I had taken a crummy job under duress. Oh, and, having looked at a lot of resumes in my time, I have to agree with Doug's general point. If you can avoid having a obvious chunk of umeployment obvious to a prospective employer, so much the better for you. (Me? I just made like I was taking some "time off"! Right.)

Well, in the first 15 minutes of my 1st day on the job I learned that the person I am *temporarily* replacing won't be returning. My dear departed Aunt Helen (who always thought that I was sleeping at the Weeds Hotel) used to say "You could stick your foot in a bucket of shite and it would come up roses". Maybe this time.

Here in NM, where I was unemployed for 4 months back in 2001, it worked this way: Once you began withdrawing unemployment you could do so for 6 months over a 1 year period. So you could withdraw unemployment for 3 months, work for 6 months, and still at the end of that job be able to withdraw the rest of the 3 months of unemployment. I think they might have extended that 1 year period of time, though, since I was in the system.

I'd recommend just going down to your local Dep. of Labor office and checking it out. As Jim said, they're really there to help. When I went through the orientation and everything, I barely had to say a word. I just had to fill out some paperwork, attend a 2-hour seminar on how to file for checks and how to get back into the labor force, and then I was on my way. I never even got audited. And from the orientation I took, it seemed as though you'd have to have been fired for complete incompetence to not qualify. They illustrated incompetence with a skit of a guy literally going to work with his waders on and pole to go fishing and trying to convince his boss he was sick.

The most valuable advice I think I could offer would be to ENJOY unemployment. As stressful as it might seem right now, you'll make it through it just fine. I seriously was stressed when I was laid off. But as I look back, those were really some of the most stress-free, happy times of my life.

- trs

But as I look back, those were really some of the most stress-free, happy times of my life.

Heck, ya. I've never felt stress melt away so much as it did when I heard those magic words "we're laying you off temporarily" the day after the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend (2001). Not when I got my next job, not when I finished writing exams, not even when I graduated from university. On the other hand, when I left the building, I also had so much confidence that I told myself I'd have a new job inside of two weeks. I had a single interview at two and a half weeks, and that's all it took.

My brother, on the otherhand, is not faring so well -- he's getting all the money I had to pay into unemployment insurance but didn't see a penny of when I was laid off.