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Obsolete When All Are Employed
Jobs are important. BUT a job is not an end all be all. Jobs give us:
1) money
2) sometimes meaning in life
3) validity in our skills
4) a chance to be noticed and seen
5) a chance to grow
These are some of the great things that jobs can do you for you. But what can you do for yourself without a job. I know, it can be depressing being unemployed, but there are a number of things that you can do to achieve all of the above. Empower yourself.
1) Find alternative and temporary positions that can give you money. Craigs List, temp agencies, and Linked in are great ways to get connected and see what is out there. Be careful not to post your resume on-line though. If you do, temp agencies do not resend your resume to those companies, which maked it harder for them to advocate for you — apparently there is a policy that they cannot send resumes you have already sent yourself. It is buried in a file already.
2) Get Creative. An interesting website to check out where you can offer a service for $5. Like to sing, write, do something interesting? Make money at Fiverr where people pay to be entertained. http://www.fiverr.com/
3) Exercise. I know what you’re thinking: I’m tired of running around all day looking for a job. I don’t need to run, bike, jog, tumble in the grass. But seriously, if you get those blood vessels dilated, you’ll probably be less stressed. And happier. And you’ll be seen. And you might run into a friend or make a friend. But nothing new will come to you unless you go out there and seeik it.
4) Volunteer. Yes, doing free work might bite. But you might make contacts and learn new skills. It’s no harm in asking questions and finding a small organization that suits your needs and its own.
Yes, being unemployed isn’t fun. But there are creative ways to make it work. Unconventionally.
If you have any suggestions or advice to share, do tell! We love you!
Obsolete When All Employed
Good new for all who are fervently looking for a job! The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, gives tax benefits to employers who hire the unemployed.
Hopefully this will spur the economy and jobless rate along. Also, you can track the stimulus benefits by going to http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx
Obsolete When All Employed
Apparently using Negro is still OK in the 21st century.
The Census is using Negro as a category. Imagine going door to door and asking a black family, “Do you consider yourself asian, latino, white or negro?” Would a door slam suffice as a proper response to an outdated and offensive term? Perhaps a replacement of black or African American on the Census would be more productive.
Despite living in modern and progressive times with our first black president, I guess progress needs to include a team effort. Any sociologists or culturally and race-sensitive folks in the house?
I suppose even if these people aren’t around, there’s always common sense. According to a friend of mine who works in the census, “ I’m not going to use negro. I’m going to ask if you are black or African American and I’m sure other people will know better to do the same.”
Not too sure about that, especially since it appears are still confused about the differences between race, ethnicity and nationality. When people are still asking, “Why is latino considered an ethnicity?” a crinkled forehead might just be the only appropriate response one can muster without feeling a pitiful dread of America’s doom.
If this kind of ignorance continues to circulate, we shouldn’t be surprised when laws are made targeting certain groups.
When will the madness end????
I could not think of a picture to use...so here you go
Well in Arizona, it has only just begun. Apparently schools that have ethic studies courses and/or teachers are about to have a shake down. Education policy in the state is looking toward the new immigration reform as inspiration because really, where did this come from?
And supposedly teachers who have “ungrammatical” and “heavy” accents will no longer be allowed to teach english as a langauge.
This is a slippery slope indeed. I don’t even know where to begin. And it gets more bizarre, because according to the Huffington Post, Arizona spent about a decade hiring people from Latin America to come to teach in their state…in order to establish a billingual program, that they proceeded to dismantle in 2000 when voters passed a ballet measure requesting for all instruction be in English…
Some things are too ridiculous to comment on.
Source: Huffington Post: Arizona Ethnic StudieS banned, teachers with accents to be let go
"please let me live my life!" he thinks while they fly above...
Moms quit jobs for their child’s college dreams – CNN.com.
According to Wikipedia: “Helicopter parent is a colloquial, early 21st-century term for a parent who pays extremely close attention to his or her child’s or children’s experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. The term was originally coined by Foster W. Cline, M.D. and Jim Fay in their 1990 book Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility[1], although Dr. Haim G. Ginott mentions a teen who complains, “Mother hovers over me like a helicopter…” on page 18 of the bestselling book Between Parent & Teenager published in 1969. Helicopter parents are so named because, like helicopters, they hover closely overhead, rarely out of reach, whether their children need them or not. In Scandinavia, this phenomenon is known as curling parenthood and describes parents who attempt to sweep all obstacles out of the paths of their children. It is also called “overparenting”.”
And if you want a prime example of this phenomenon, see the article above. Feeling lazy? Here you go: Moms quit jobs for their child’s college dreams – CNN.com.
In this article you can find the picture, perfect example what a helicopter parent is. Once again, I feel the need to apologize and insist that I am not being a hater…but this one was just too juicy to resist.
I mean really. Reading this article took me back to my high school days and I got chills going up and down my spine. Honestly, some students who go to high school these days are really just victims of ambitious-elitist-academia-by-proxy, due to their parents childish and ridiculous hold on their lives. Oh my the damage these helicopter parents do.
From a personal perspective, I have always had a really close relationship with my mother, she really helped me during my high school years to figure out the big bad world of college admissions…but quit her job to do it? Really? And quit her job to schedule my entire life around mind-numbing activities, so I can go to some for-profit disguised as a non-profit institution filled to the brim with helicopter parent products?
No thank you, I’m good.
In today’s society it seems like the culture of overbearingness is deemed normal. I just don’t see how putting such intense pressure on your children to attend SAT tutoring, tennis lessons, fencing lessons, and Oboe society sessions has to do with their well being. Most of the time they are just going along with it, running from appointment to appointment with their head spinning. Does anyone do anything anymore for the pleasure of it? Because it is their passion? College admissions and resume fodder is what drives the youth of today!
And unfortunately it does not seem to get better with age. Even in college I witnessed incidents of people doing things just to say they did it, and this is a habit that will no doubt follow these particular individuals for the rest of their lives.
I actually had a conversation today with two women about another form of helicopter parenting: the athlete version.
The women were mentioning how the swimming team in my area for 5-6 year olds were so competitive…that they make the children go swimming 4 o’clock in the morning. Every morning…..
WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON.
If you look at many of the most famous athletes, many of them had at least one helicopter parent…Venus and Serena, Tiger, Michael Phelps…all had helicopter parents that pushed them to the limit…
Yes it is the main reason they are where they are today, but at what price? Can you imagine 5 and 6 year olds forced to wake up 3:30 in the morning to go swimming? I don’t even want to think about it.
But I digress…basically Moms all over the country are abandoning their personal goals and dreams to dictate the academic moves of their children…
Would you quit your job to ensure the success of your child’s college admissions? And that be your primary goal? Would you let your child do what they want to do? When and where do we cross the line????
If you want some additional food for thought, and a great counterargument check out TIME’s article on helicopter parents:
The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
What’s up Peeps.
Hello? Is there anyone out there??? HELLO??? *crickets*
Right…well I should explain myself…
Between my finals for school, mediation training, and everything in between…I’ve have more than fall off the boat…I damn near got swallowed by a big biblical fish…..
Enough with the confessions! Let’s get down to business…
According to my dear friend and confidant not Vice President Biden is swearing on all he knows that an upwards of 200,000 jobs will be created between now, and the end of May.
Click here: Joe Biden predicts drastic hiring increase in the coming months -Job.com.
Yeah, but naysayers are…well…saying that this is mainly because of the census, and these so-called “created jobs” will fade away to oblivion by the middle of the summer.
I hate to throw salt on Biden’s game….but the beauty of throwing out statisitics is you sound really official, but it can be all hype and the odds of anyone having the time to look into it are slim to none…
Personally I think it is all hype. A lot of people applied to work for the Cenus and were not hired. It’s not as if everyone who applied to the Census was hired, that is one statistic we won’t see in the news anytime soon…
I'm Free BABY!
The day you leave your job, a part of you is excited to start a new chapter, a part of you is afraid that the next job or endeavor will be worse than the current situation, and a part of you is hoping that you are indispensable and somehow your manager will see how valuable you are with the company that you have worked for 1/3 of your day, every day for the past several years and ask you to stay.
In a way, a job is like a partner; it can be a bad lover, a great spouse or an annoying tax collector. Whatever the case, most of the time you go back to it. Being “married” to your job is not an understatement. You have a life outside of it, but it, whether you enjoy it or not, very much brings a structure to your life, socially and professionally. You work the hours, you come home, sleep, wake up and do it again. Until the weekend. Maybe. And you crave the acknowledgment and acceptance that comes with your status, position, seniority peers and bosses. Even if stressing out is part of the deal, we often tell ourselves it is a ”good” stress that makes you feel important and productive.
A close friend has just informed me that she has left her job. In this recession; in a time where every creature with a mouth, big or little, is hoping to find a stable feeder, she is leaving her job. Three people are taking over her portion until they get a replacement. But she made the leap so she can start a new chapter and perhaps her own business.
She told me in corporate, it seems that all the money is going into other people’s pockets except your own and that she hopes to never work for corporate again. For the first time this weekend, she slept a nineteen-hour weekend.
Agree? Disagree? Admirable? Crazy? Obsolete When All Employed welcome your comments!
Criminals Trick Desperate Job Hunters – WSJ.com.
Oh no! It seems that applying to jobs online can be bad for your wallet, reputation and sanity. The women at the top was unfortunate enough to come across a fake job add, which scammed her into doing illegal activities for them, and did not pay her (not that it matters, but still noteworthy). Apparently extremely devious scam artists post fake job ads, “hire” you for the job, wire illegal funds into your account, and then ask for you to purchase items for their “company”. These items are then shipped overseas, and then you are left broke, with no job, and an accessory to organized crime. Wowza.
Supposedly employment fraud is huge, and maybe in my opinon, my reach the epic heights of medical fraud. Especially in a sluggish job market….
All of this is making me think…and making me nervous. I have sent out MANY applications…often I would check on who the employer is…but sometimes the employer was confidential, or I didn’t bother to check out who they were…
I mean really, all someone needs to begin to steal your identity is your first and last name, address and phone number…then its all down hill from there….
But there are things we can do as job seekers to protect ourselves. When searching for a job:
ALWAYS check out the employer!!! On a lot of sites, like careerbuilder.com, and Monster, some of the employers are confidential…honestly unless it is THE dream job for you leave it alone. If the employer is listed, make sure to Google them in order to see what they are about and if they are legit. A scam artist could be a wicked webmaster as well…but if you see it for you own eyes hopefully you will be able to tell if it is a scam…
Be leery of any and all listings. Even the most legit places may be rife with scammers trying to make that quick buck. Even a common crook could see the potential in paying 25-150 dollars for an ad in a paper or online site, when they stand to make thousands of dollars…so pretty much trust no one.
Not all that is online, is on point. Many folks think that shooting their resume to as many postings as possible on as many websites within reach is a part of the solution. Its actually entirely the problem…its just a free-for-all into utter failure. I have met so many people who have said they have applied to hundreds of jobs online…and have gotten no response. How many of them were identity thieves? crooks? resumephiles? Who knows? Its frightening even to think about it…
Long story long, keep your resume to yourself, and think twice about where you send it, or even who you give it to…there is a lot of ridiculous things going on out here…
Interview from our Iranian Correspondent
*Contributions from OWAE’s Iranian correspondent, K.F.
1 — How does having an American college education or education in general affect opportunities in Iran? Do they idealize American education over there? Do they value education? How does religion play a part in these opportunities?
Nowadays, an American education is rare in Iran. It would be great to have a degree from the US though; it is quite prestigious. But, there are no relations between the two countries, and it is quite difficult to get a student visa to come to the US.
Only few wealthy people, who usually have relatives in the US, sometimes manage to send their kids to American universities.
The youth dream is coming to the US for school or work since both education and career opportunities are expensive or rare in Iran. Young people, in general, have no clear understanding of America.
These days, most people would need a Masters degree, at a minimum, to make it into the job market. Of course, if your daddy is connected you will have a much easier to time to succeed.
As for religion, connection to the Islamic Republic opens doors: you would make it into good schools and will probably land a job with the government.
2 — What are the typical jobs available there for men and women our age 18-27? Expectations, salary, etc.
It depends: wealthy kids often work for their parents’ business, and stay in the family circle. Poor kids, like me, don’t have a lot of choice. They could join the government if they know how to brown-nose or work for private companies. Overall, the unemployment rate is quite high Iran but family ties minimize the unemployment or underemployment pains.
3 — What does it take to get a job there? Cover-letters? Test? Resume? Referral? Corruption? How hard or easy is it?
Cover letters and resumes are not that important.
Referrals and corruption (connection) are the most important factors in getting a job. It is very difficult to make it into the job market though. It takes lots of brown-nosing unless your daddy is connected.
4 — How has the global recession affected Iran? Or not? Contagion effect?
Iran is isolated from the global economy. But, its stock market was affected in 2008.
The decrease in global oil prices has also badly affected the national budget. About 80 percent of the government revenues come from the oil exports. Iran didn’t save much when a barrel of oil was 140 dollars. Now that the price of oil is about 80 dollars a barrel, the government is in trouble.
If you would like to be Obsolete When All Employed’s foreign correspondent, please email us at questions@obsoletewhenallemployed.com
