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Unemployment hurts
Jun. 16th, 2012 09:48 pmMy oldest son Charlie is caught in the unemployment Catch-22, and we don't know how to get out of it.
Charlie is 25. When he was 16, and jobs were plentiful, I had only one car and so he was unable to look for work. He was twenty when I was able to get a second car, but he was desperately trying to pass engineering classes. He was in his second year before he admitted that the major was not working. By this time, he used his Pell Grant, and so we agreed that Charlie would take classes as I could afford and he would look for work.
For a time he was getting interviews, and I truly believed that he would find work soon, believed enough that I dropped him from my taxes. Then the bottom fell out of the economy, and the interview dried up. Over the next three years, Charlie kept hunting for work as he finished his two-year degree in accounting.
In the meantime, his younger brother Philip did manage to get through engineering except for one class. One morning a headhunter came to the classes looking for people who could do wiring, which is certainly part of engineering technology. Philip, though he does not yet have the degree, has a job. It's temp, but even if the temp-to hire doesn't work out, he'll have good job experience, and a degree in a field that has a 100% hire rate because it is so very difficult.
Charlie is getting some interviews, but though he has his degree, he does not have job experience. He has done fairly steady volunteer work, which helps, but he is getting increasingly discouraged. On his next birthday, he is going off my insurance.
I can't do anything else except support him in his search. He is doing all my housework and errands, and I give him spending money. He's gone to every employment agency, puts in an average of fifteen applications on a short week, and will find more volunteer work so that he has something to do. If he does not find work soon, he will begin taking classes again.
What else can we do?
Charlie is 25. When he was 16, and jobs were plentiful, I had only one car and so he was unable to look for work. He was twenty when I was able to get a second car, but he was desperately trying to pass engineering classes. He was in his second year before he admitted that the major was not working. By this time, he used his Pell Grant, and so we agreed that Charlie would take classes as I could afford and he would look for work.
For a time he was getting interviews, and I truly believed that he would find work soon, believed enough that I dropped him from my taxes. Then the bottom fell out of the economy, and the interview dried up. Over the next three years, Charlie kept hunting for work as he finished his two-year degree in accounting.
In the meantime, his younger brother Philip did manage to get through engineering except for one class. One morning a headhunter came to the classes looking for people who could do wiring, which is certainly part of engineering technology. Philip, though he does not yet have the degree, has a job. It's temp, but even if the temp-to hire doesn't work out, he'll have good job experience, and a degree in a field that has a 100% hire rate because it is so very difficult.
Charlie is getting some interviews, but though he has his degree, he does not have job experience. He has done fairly steady volunteer work, which helps, but he is getting increasingly discouraged. On his next birthday, he is going off my insurance.
I can't do anything else except support him in his search. He is doing all my housework and errands, and I give him spending money. He's gone to every employment agency, puts in an average of fifteen applications on a short week, and will find more volunteer work so that he has something to do. If he does not find work soon, he will begin taking classes again.
What else can we do?
