Unemployed for a long time?

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First off, you're not alone. Right now, the U.S. economy is in a bad way. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office says that unemployment will continue getting worse for much of 2010, and we'll see only a slight rollback in the damage in 2011. In fact, they say that growth and employment won't recover in earnest until 2012, and could take until 2014 to return to pre-recession levels.

(In fact, that's a general, overall picture; certain industries are unlikely to ever get back to the way they were just a couple of years ago.)

So, even if you've been out of work for a long time it doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad worker or a bad person. It does mean that you should adjust your tactics and maybe your short-run goals.

If you have access to a career counselor - in your college career center if you went to college, otherwise your high school guidance counselor - or a state employment office...use that resource. Bring your resume and a history of your job hunt, talk to him/her about what's going on - and listen to and follow his/her advice.

Take a good, hard look at yourself. If you're difficult to get along with, argumentative or even believe in standing up for what you think is right (when the law itself isn't being broken), that's going to hold you back more than any technical issues. People would much rather work with a likable dunderhead than a brilliant boor - and it's other people's perceptions of who's likable and who's a boor, not your perceptions, that count.

Network, network, network. Meeting people face-to-face is best, and you can network with a series of brief conversations. Practice maintaining eye contact and carrying on a conversation. In any case, networking by phone is still an option, and email/Internet networking is better than none at all.

Sending out 500 resumes and waiting for the phone to ring is just stress-testing your Internet browser and email software. It's not job-hunting anymore.

If possible, shoot a little lower on the job scale than you've been doing. Managers and professionals, not to mention recent college graduates, have been taking retail, waitstaff and similar jobs to make ends meet in this economy. Working at least improves your skills - especially your soft skills like getting along well with people, showing up on time, solving problems and the like - and also your contacts for when the economy gets better. And it's much easier to get a job when you already have one.

Incidentally, I hear every once in a while from reporters who want to talk about - and with - people who have been un- or under-employed for some time. Because each individual story I hear about has a relatively short deadline, I'm not going to post anything here. But drop me a line if you may want to participate in something like this, and I'll keep you in mind next time one crosses my path.

Cheers - and good luck!

Virtually every single thing you said turns my stomach.
And, you're right about the effectiveness of your strategies.
I have no hope.

19 months, and yeah the thought of working retail or some sort of waiter job makes me want to barf.

14 months.


I'm confused as hell as to what jobs I even qualify for since I have under 2 years experience. In the programming field, it seems everything requires you to have 3+ years experience, still be in college, or both. Also, anything you didn't do on the job (example: I've worked through several C# projects on my own, but didn't use the language at work) doesn't count.

How do these people do it, anyway?

Network, network, network. Meeting people face-to-face is best, and you can network with a series of brief conversations. Practice maintaining eye contact and carrying on a conversation. In any case, networking by phone is still an option, and email/Internet networking is better than none at all.



Yah baby, networking! The very thing people diagnosed with severe inter-personal problems are good at!

Wonderful advice, thanks! You're a life-saver!



PS - the secret to success in this world is to do as you're told by people richer and more powerful than you are, and by god, do it with a smile, and make damn sure your opinions and attitudes are the same as everyone else's!

I haven't had a job in 3 years.

I was unemployed for 9 months in 2008. All the rougher because I had a wife and 3 children depending on me to provide for them. There were days where I felt like driving into oncoming traffic, because I found it so hard to deal with.

All the advice for finding a new job was very difficult for me. I have not been able to just go out and "network" like so many others apparently can. I don't 'want' to meet new people, for any reason, and it is extremely difficult to find the motivation for such things. I am way too honest for the interview game, it seems, and find it hard to BS my way through it. I am uncomfortable with knowing deceptions. For example, when asked why I was the best person for a particular job, I told them I did not know if I was the best. They asked me why I thought they wouldn't want the best, and I said that I don't know who else wants the job, so how would I know if I was better than them? I think people want BS artists that are also completely honest, which seems like a real contradiction to me.

After losing out on some good opportunities to "internal referrals", I finally got on w/ a company where I was the "internal referral." I am making less than I have in years, but it sure beats being unemployed.

Hi DavidM,

I can't blame you one bit for being sore. I get angry sometimes myself, because of the things some people do. Especially in the name of being socially acceptable.

Let me ask you this: As soon as you popped out of the womb - and got that first cry out of the way - did you blog about your nine months*? When you got home from the hospital, did you email the other little babies in the maternity ward? Did you write any letters?

Of course not - you didn't know how. Babies have a disadvantage at knowing how to write, much less send emails and blog.

Just like Aspies have a disadvantage at networking. We practice, and learn bit by bit until it's almost second nature. It's tough, and painful, and means we learn things which, if more people were like us, we wouldn't have to learn. Bottom line: We need to do it, and we can do it.

Tekneek, congratulations on your job! How long have you worked there?

Wrt honesty, I'd say there's a difference between lying about specific facts (like whether or not you graduated college) and about opinions (like believing you're the best for the job). The former can easily be checked. The latter is a matter of perceptions, so you can say you believe you're the best for the job and they may or may not agree with you but they can't accuse you of lying.

DavidM, I like what you said about experience. Even "menial" jobs like barback, retail, waitstaff and the like show that you can come in on time, work hard until quitting time and get along well with co-workers, bosses and customers. Employers can help train you in hard skills like using a particular software. They won't train you in the "soft skills" like tact, leadership, problem solving and the like, so any experience that shows it is very good.

Dtoxic, BLK95TA, gsilver and ValleyBridetoBe, my fingers are crossed for you. It is indeed tough out there for lots of people. Keep trying new things and keep learning. As the saying goes, if you woke up breathing today, you have another chance!

ValleyBridetoBe - congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

[*] I should talk about nine months. I was a ten-month baby...my poor mom!

How can I "believe" I am the best, without some objective way of arriving at that conclusion? I like to deal with facts, and there is usually not enough data available when you don't know who the competition is.

An estimated 400,000 adults have autism [in England]
Half of those do not have a learning disability
Only 15% are in full-time employment


This is from the BBC.

Clearly, if you are of the opinion that the 'blame' lies solely on the individual, then you would have to conclude that most autistic people are lazy or just don't want to work. And having that belief is a very convenient way of writing them off, but surely that's just a coincidence.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, an expert in autism at the University of Cambridge, said even when people were diagnosed they were often left "isolated, unemployed, lonely, and at risk of developing potentially preventable secondary depression".


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8083280.stm



I told my psychiatrist that I didn't want him to diagnose me with this, because I told him I would lose hope if I knew I had something that is incurable and stigmatized. Everybody assumes that you must be a computer programmer if you're autistic. When you tell them that you're not, they lose interest in you ... they want you to be able to multiply 47 by 58 in your head in half a second or do some other circus trick ... otherwise, you're just a burden on them, in the office, the home, the car, the kitchen, the planet ... they just don't want you anywhere near them.

Andrew is autistic, and Sue Hey has worked with him long enough to understand: in Andrew's mind, when he's on packing duties, Sue is a voice in his ear, so the thing to do is speak to her on the radio even if she is less than two metres away.

Andrew started working at Sainsbury's six years ago, on a special work-placement scheme organised by the Integrated Resource at Sheffield's King Ecgbert's Secondary School. If he hadn't found this post at Sainsbury's, says teacher-in-charge Matthew Hesmondhalgh, Andrew might be looking forward to a life on the dole. "In the UK, something like 98 per cent of autistic adults are unemployed," says Matthew. "The standard thing for a 21-year-old with autism is to be stuck at home."

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=376543



Goddamnit, why won't those pesky autistics just start socializing and networking? You'd think they had a disability or something!

Hi Tekneek,

People make all kinds of claims.

Some are out-and-out empirical claims. For example, I have a doctorate. If you want to check that, you know that I either do or I don't. You can ask me which university I got it from, then verify through the U.S. Department of Education that it's regionally accredited, then get a signed authorization from me and sent it to the college and they'll confirm I have it.

Likewise, Pomona College is Number 1 in the "Best Classroom Experience" category in Princeton Review's college listings. Want to check that? Get a copy of said listings, thumb your way to the Best Classroom Experience listings and take a gander.

Now, what's the best college to go to? That's not empirical. It depends on (1) your definition of "best" (tuition, student:faculty ratio, nightlife in the surrounding area, male:female ratio, % of teaching faculty with terminal degrees, etc., etc., etc.), (2) how you weigh the differing factors and (3) how you perceive the subjective things, like "good food" or "friendly dorm life".

Keep in mind that no school - no, not even Harvard - is the best in all things. For example, a state university could easily deliver better value for your money, because even though most people may prefer to go to Harvard if the two schools cost the same, if the quality difference is much less than the price difference than many people may decide to go to the state university even if they get accepted to Harvard.

Also keep in mind that different things can be better for different people. For example, your local state university campus may be a much better deal for you than Harvard, because not only is its tuition lower but also it has some programs you especially like and it's near you so you can live at home and save money or live in a good part of the town you're familiar with.

On the other hand, someone else with different academic interests, or a hometown much further away and who can't take advantage of the in-state tuition, or even with much wealthier parents, may find Harvard a good deal.

So if an interviewer asks you about, say, your class rank or GPA, yes you certainly need to give the honest answer.

On the other hand, there is no single empirical "best" person for the job.* So, if the interviewer asks you if you feel you're the best, what s/he really wants to know is whether you have enough confidence to get out there and compete. Show you've got spirit and explain how you can grind the competition (your competition and then the firm's competition) into the dust, highlighting your own strengths.

[*] And that's why social skills are always important, btw.

What do you think?

I think you're full of it, Mr Deutschland.