FYI - Emergency Unemployment Compensation
Hey fellow Austin Techie's
For all the former Dell'ites and others that may still be looking for a job.
You may already know this but It was such a welcome surprise that I decided to post this just in case there may be others who may not be aware.
About 2 weeks ago I was going through my mail looking for the elusive Austin job offer letters that I swear are getting rerouted or returned to sender:-) Anyway, I came across mail from the TWC which I thought was odd as my unemployment ran out almost 2 months ago. I curiousely opened it up and found to my surprise that the feds had approved an emergency extension of unemployment benefits for up to 13 weeks starting from July 6th, 2008!!
After reading it a few more times to ensure that my eyes weren't deceiving me I made a beeline for the phone and got reinstated and back online with 1/2 hour. Can you say, Halleluya. (Not sure I spellled that correctly but WHATEVER!)
I know unemployment doesn't pay that much but when you have very little it can seem like the lottery at times and it sure beats the alternative of possible having no $$$ coming in.
Apologies for minor rambling aside I just wanted to pass this on. Hopefully some will find it helpful.
Oh, the contact # to determine if you qualify is (877) 832-5800. They are open for calls from 7:30AM-6:30PM.
Good Luck and God Bless
That's good info - thanks for altering everyone, kmac.
The way things have been going I imagine that there are a lot of techies around here who that extension could be a lifesaver for. Here's hoping that you will get that offer and won't need it much longer. I know where you are coming from, I haven't even had a promising interview in a long time myself. Thankfully I'm still working, but unfortunately that probably won't last much longer.
Too little, too late, unfortunately. I have been out of work since October, and lose my apartment at the end of this month. Can't get a new lease because I don't have a job.
@jrandalh - Were you able to make it to the career fair? What type of position are you looking for again?
Actually, I did. It was a nice change of pace for me, as so many companies have been telling me lately that I am too overqualified for them to consider me as an applicant. At the job fair, they were looking more for engineers and developers, so I was actually underqualified. I'm more on the management side now, Projet Management, Service Management, Process Management.
I see. Given that you are in a pinch here with finding a position, do you have some other technical skills that would at least partially qualify you for another type of opportunity?
That's the problem. I have applied to positions unrelated to the fields I have more recent experience in, but I keep getting the same 'overqualified' response. I have applied to more than 1000 jobs since the layoff, and have had my resume and interview skills vetted by several different professionals to ensure that the issue did not lie within those areas. At this point, I am starting to think I am just not employable. I even went back to school and earned another degree in Public Safety Management in hopes of moving into the public sector, but that did not help either.
Have you tried "deflating" your resume? I've often seen it suggested that people who get the "overqualified" (read that as "too old" or "too expensive") should purge all "obsolete" (read that as not the latest buzzwords) technologies from their resume, remove all but their last two or three jobs from their resume and possibly even drop off non-relevant or post Bachelor's degrees from their resume. In order to get interviews though it may be necessary to customize each resume to have only the bare minimum needed to get to 110% buzzword match (all the requirements and most if not all of the "nice to haves") with the job description but nothing more.
It is kind of sad that job seekers have to be less than honest like this, but when employers set up such onerous gauntlets there isn't much choice.
I have done this, but run into a problem in interviews when I am asked as to the more specific points of my previous positions. Leaving the positions off has not been successful either, as I am then asked as to what I was doing during that specific period of time, and I do not feel comfortable holding information back during an interview.
A lot of recommendations that I see for people trying to get around the 'overqualified' is to leave off or be vague about dates. Unfortunately, as you've noticed, if they are looking for an excuse to reject you (probably to cover up age discrimination) they will ask you the questions and if you aren't willing to omit details or at least gloss over things you are going to have a problem. Many of the recommendations are more or less to outright lie by doing things like altering dates to cover for gaps left by leaving off jobs, etc. I myself am not really willing to recommend those things (nor would I likely ever resort to those kinds of tactics), but for the sake of completeness I mention them. All that said, as bad as the job market is these days I certainly would not be judgmental against people for doing these sorts of things.
One thing to be careful about. I've been advised to "dumb down" my resume. I've also been advised to not do so. When push comes to shove, you're going to have to admit to certain experiences, especially if you're trying to differentiate yourself. In the end, changing dates, diminishing your experience etc., become pretty transparent, don't they? Sort of like recoloring your hair to look younger.
I guess the question comes down to at what point after continually running into the same age discrimination brick walls should someone consider taking steps towards making themselves appear younger? As superficial as it might seem, I've actually heard people claim that things as simple as dressing younger and dying hair have worked for them.
As for having to admit certain experiences, obviously for those who are getting the "overqualified" line their background is working against rather than for them. I personally see the sin of omission when it comes to this sort of thing as much, much different than less experienced people lying about or exaggerating their qualifications. Under-promising and then over-delivering is I believe far more forgivable to most people than vice-versa.
I actually asked about this on LI to see what the response was: http://www.linkedin.com/answers/career-education/resume-writing/CAR_RSW/...
Interesting answers... I agree with some, not with others. One vibe in many of the responses that bothers me are the ones where people seem to think that the job market somehow doesn't stink. Unfortunately this also is part of the reason why employers shun experienced people for lesser jobs because of the assumption that a person will leave quickly. Obviously this is only a problem in a good job market -- in a job market where experienced people are routinely out of work for months or years, that isn't much of a factor.
Cool, I thought everyone knew about this 13 week extension. Still, it is good to be informed from multiple sources.
That's my point in sending it. If you already know great. If you didn't know, great, now you do and so get your money that, by the way, you've been taxed for already.
Thanks
kmac
Hey jrandleh
I feel for you buddy. I really do. I have been out of the professional work place coming up on 1 year EOM. I find that unimagineable but yet here I am.
How wide a net are you casting? I would imagine if you've actually sent over 1000 resumes you've been looking well beyond Austin and even Texas for that matter.
If you have indeed opened your search to anywhere USA then are you finding the same responses and results everywhere?
Do you ask your recruiter/interviewer to explain how you are over qualified? If you get the same answers you should be able to make adjustments to both your resume and your interviewing to factor that in and increase your chances.
Just a few rambling thoughts. Hope they help
Thanks
kmac
I don't know about anyone else, but I probably get at least 10 out of area contacts from recruiters for every one in Austin. It seems like DFW and Houston have much more healthy job markets for software engineers than Austin. I was getting a fair number from NYC and LA but those have tailed off dramatically over the last few months as the financial industry meltdown seems to have cut off their air supply. I also get the occasional ping from traditional tech meccas like the bay area and Seattle... then there are the oddball ones like Bentonville, AR, Atlanta, Nashville, etc.
Unfortunately almost all of those out of area pings are for contract work and usually with too low a rate...