ALT-3 Unemployment
Due to the current economy, many people are finding themselves without a job and no idea where to start first. Your first call the following week should be to the unemployment office to open a claim. Most states will backdate your claim for a partial week if you ask them. Note the requirements and read the mailings you get from them.
Your next step is to contact the state job center, most are called Careerlink. They have a resume service and can not only help you update your resume, but can give you leads to possible jobs. Because job searches are not required by most states, people make the mistake of lingering on unemployment benefits until they are nearly out of money before searching for a job. The average time it takes to get a new job is anywhere from 20 days to 20 weeks. It recently took a local IT programmer 2 years to find full time employment. My own experience had me run out of 13 weeks of severance and 26 weeks of benefits the very week I began my new job. As most states have benefits payable up to around 26 weeks, a delay could put you in danger of running out of benefits before you get your next job.
If your resume looks a little thin, do some volunteer work while you are job hunting. Accounting work for a non-profit organization, typing records or documents for the Red Cross, or working the front desk at a local Visitor Center can all add experience to pad out an anemic resume. I volunteered at an animal shelter walking dogs, socializing traumatized animals, cleaning floors, and organizing closets. Though none of those things were pertinent to the type of job I was hunting, my new employer, was impressed I had not wasted time while job hunting. It also showed I was willing to help out wherever I was needed.
Some states may offer a paid semester at the community college. You pay for books and fees, but the credits are paid for while you are on unemployment. I added a total of six classes towards my degree during two periods of unemployment in two years. Your local Careerlink can give you information on that, or you may receive it with the mailing during your unemployment claim.
Organizing your job searches by region will ensure you cover the most ground in the least amount of time. Industrial parks house several businesses so you could put in a good many applications in one day with little use of gas. Malls are a great source of retail jobs and you could spend an entire day putting in applications at every store. Remember to put one in with the mall office also. That is a separate business and they also need employees.
Often overlooked is Civil Service. State jobs open up from time to time and offer many occupations. Hairdressers and dental hygiene assistants are in demand for state hospitals and county nursing homes, mechanics for the Department of Transportation, cooks for cafeterias in state agencies, intake interviewers for unemployment and public assistance offices are often overlooked as a source of employment. I started my job as an Intake Interviewer for the Unemployment Office, and six years later am working as a supervisor. Had I not thought to take the Civil Service test, I would have missed out on a great job.
Keep an open mind when job hunting. A job may not be your dream job, but at worst it will provide you with an income while you look for something else, and at best it could be a stepping stone to the job you really want.
