My friend and unemployment...

[Qacer]

My friend is a good guy, but somehow, I think for someone who just got his BS last year and does not have work experience in the field he is interested, his response seems like not the proper way to approach in getting a job: "My unemployment ends in July, so I got time to be a little picky".

This was after I sent him a job posting for a local company for a marketing position. Granted the job is not software development related, but it is for a software company. And the idea behind it is for him to get himself in the door... He has been on unemployment since 2009 after he was let go from a computer laboratory assistant job.

What do you think?

 

[rudeguy]

I think you need to stop worrying about what your friend is doing

 

[RbSX]

I think you need to stop worrying about what your friend is doing

Agreed.

 

[Qacer]

I think you need to stop worrying about what your friend is doing

I'm not worried about him. He still lives with his parents, so besides his car payment, he doesn't really have any bills to pay. My concern is more of the use of unemployment. I just don't think you should be picky with jobs if you are on taxpayers' dollar.

 

[Anneka]

give him a living example of what are the benefits of employment. what he could achieve, as in stuff to buy, places to visit, having a lot more fun.

 

[rudeguy]

I'm not worried about him. He still lives with his parents, so besides his car payment, he doesn't really have any bills to pay. My concern is more of the use of unemployment. I just don't think you should be picky with jobs if you are on taxpayers' dollar.

so you monitor his living situation and his monthly bills?

You need to get yourself a hobby.

 

[Qacer]

give him a living example of what are the benefits of employment. what he could achieve, as in stuff to buy, places to visit, having a lot more fun.

This is a good idea, but I'm not sure how well it will work. The reason I'm saying this is because he still manages to go on a cruise, and at the same, continually looks for future cruises and buy other things like video games and such.

 

[Qacer]

so you monitor his living situation and his monthly bills?

You need to get yourself a hobby.

I don't monitor his stuff, but sometimes when we talk, he discusses his expenses here and there.

 

[lxskllr]

I agree with both of you. He has time to be picky, and a marketing job /might/ be what it takes to get him in a different position that he likes better. Conversely, it might bury him in a marketing hell hole, and he'll never get a chance to do what he wants. I vote for waiting out a better position.

 

[edro]

You're just mad that he doesn't care about your job suggestion.
You think he should respect you for job hunting for him.

 

[rudeguy]

I don't monitor his stuff, but sometimes when we talk, he discusses his expenses here and there.

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to point out that you are focusing way too much on what he's doing. I catch myself doing it too and its not right. Situations like this I have to stop and ask myself how this affects my life at all. The honest answer would be that it doesn't.

Now go try to bang the hot chick from HR.

 

[sourceninja]

I'm friends with a guy who I can't explain how he pays his bills.

We were both laid off from the same job around the year 2000. He had another job for about 12 months. As far as I know, he has never worked again.

Yet he has a house, car, money to go out to eat, etc. I almost wonder if he is dealing....

 

[ussfletcher]

So hes a programmer and you want to put him into a marketing position... that just sounds cruel.

 

[KB]

This is the problem and benefit with unemployment. It makes it easier to be unemployed. This should probebly be in P&N.

 

[richardycc]

So hes a programmer and you want to put him into a marketing position... that just sounds cruel.

most programmers are Introvert, and good marketing people are mostly extrovert. maybe he knows he won't be a good marketing person, why force him into a job he won't like.

 

[Pardus]

My friend is a good guy, but somehow, I think for someone who just got his BS last year and does not have work experience in the field he is interested, his response seems like not the proper way to approach in getting a job: "My unemployment ends in July, so I got time to be a little picky".

This was after I sent him a job posting for a local company for a marketing position. Granted the job is not software development related, but it is for a software company. And the idea behind it is for him to get himself in the door... He has been on unemployment since 2009 after he was let go from a computer laboratory assistant job.

What do you think?

Care'o'Meter ....................... 5%

 

[Texashiker]

"My unemployment ends in July, so I got time to be a little picky".

Does he have a family or other responsibilities? Such as child support? If so, his first responsibility is to provide for his family.

Being "picky" is not supporting his family, its called "living off the system."

I understand being a somewhat picky - If your used to bringing in 50k a year, and some fast food place offers you a job for 15k a year flipping burgers, then yea I would turn it down.

But if I was used to making 50k a year, and someone offers me a job for 45k, I would have to take it - because I have a responsibility to my family.

 

[yllus]

Well, there is data out there that suggests the longer he goes unemployed, the worse his wages will be affected - permanently. It behooves him to keep that period of non-employment as short as possible.

International Monetary Fund – The Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion (PDF)

Loss of earnings: There is empirical evidence that layoffs are associated with substantial loss of earnings both over the short and long run. That is, even when workers are re-employed shortly after displacement, they suffer a decline in wages compared to the pre-displacement job and compared to similar workers that were not displaced.

The decline in earnings is on average observed for job losers in any period, but is most pronounced for job losers during a recession (see Farber, 2005). Studies for the US show that these earnings losses persist even in the long run: 15-20 years after a job loss in a recession, the earnings loss amounts on average to 20% (see e.g. Jacobson et al., 1993; von Wachter et al., 2009).

 

[gorcorps]

Care'o'Meter ....................... 5%

hmmmm... looks like you need to get that calibrated

 

[PingSpike]

I'm not worried about him. He still lives with his parents, so besides his car payment, he doesn't really have any bills to pay. My concern is more of the use of unemployment. I just don't think you should be picky with jobs if you are on taxpayers' dollar.

Taxpayer dollars are never ending though. He's probably betting the benefits will be extended yet again...which doesn't seem like a bad bet at this point LOL!

 

[PingSpike]

I don't monitor his stuff, but sometimes when we talk, he discusses his expenses here and there.

Expenses? He lives with his parents. How much money could an xbox and hand lotion budget require?

 

[SunnyD]

This was after I sent him a job posting for a local company for a marketing position. Granted the job is not software development related, but it is for a software company. And the idea behind it is for him to get himself in the door... He has been on unemployment since 2009 after he was let go from a computer laboratory assistant job.

What do you think?

This is the WORST help you could have provided him. It's a good thing he turned you down. Trust me, talking from experience, "getting your foot in the door" via a position that has zero relevance to your chosen field doesn't work. In fact, it does more harm then good. It took me 6 years and four employers to get BACK into a software development position, and that was only done by actually interviewing at a different company specifically for a software position.

Hell, I worked in IT for nearly four years (a related field, not to mention I got to do some scripting and small app development), at a company that DID software development, and interviewed several times for vacant positions - an internal candidate - and I got turned down and a new hires were brought in from outside the company instead.

The longer you stay out of software development, the harder it is to get back in. Trying to hook him up with a marketing job is doing a huge disservice to his chosen career path, despite your best intentions. Your friend is doing the right thing, not you.

 

[ShawnD1]

Don't worry about it. There are plenty of people out there willing to work minimum wage jobs. Your friend refusing to work does not put a crimp in the labor market; it merely makes it 1 less person everyone else needs to compete against

Expenses? He lives with his parents. How much money could an xbox and hand lotion budget require?

If you need lotion to jack off then it means your penis is broken. The outer skin is supposed to be a gliding mechanism.

 

[Numenorean]

I'm not worried about him. He still lives with his parents, so besides his car payment, he doesn't really have any bills to pay. My concern is more of the use of unemployment. I just don't think you should be picky with jobs if you are on taxpayers' dollar.

You mean you don't think he should get some of his own money back that the government took from him and gave to someone else doing the same thing?

 

[dpodblood]

OP you're talking as if welfare, and unemployment benefits are the same thing, but they are not. When you are working you pay into unemployment so that if you become unemployed you have a safety net. Welfare on the other hand is just people sponging off of other tax payers money (unless of course they are legitimately disabled). So yeah; I think your friend is better of taking his time and finding the right job, rather than settling for some positing where he will be underpaid, and unsatisfied.