I’m thinking that is not the rate in central Virginia, which is where I happen to live.
For the past two years, I have been working at various temporary jobs in various Large Companies while trying to get a permanent position, either in Large Company or in other places. I’ve sent out my resume about a zillion times (that’s a rough estimate). I have had temporary jobs as a tech writer, web content manager, and writer of training documentation. Since I am thin in the marketing writing experience, that’s about the only type I haven’t landed. And frankly, it’s not my first choice of writing position, which probably influences my and their decisions.
While I’ve been on the job hunt, I’ve seen three positions at two different Large Companies disappear into thin air, two right out from under me, due to cutbacks, budget freezes, and the like. I have to tell you, it’s almost worse to actually land a position through the interview process—only to be told that your manager’s superiors won’t sign off on it, and you can’t have the job, after all—than it is to not get a position you interviewed for (and yeah, there’s been more than a little of that).
The upshot: I’m looking for another job, hoping to get one before my temporary assignment runs out the end of December. I have various agencies looking for me again, except for the one that’s pissed at me because they didn’t get their cut of my current assignment because I’d already applied for a position here myself (thanks to a reader of this blog).
But I gotta tell ya, it’s been two friggin’ years since the job hunt went into intensive mode, and I still have not landed a permanent position.
I am re-evaluating staying in Richmond. I am realizing that the employment situation here is too unpredictable. I am going to be forced to move northward. I’ll be looking in Fredericksburg first, but if I can’t find something permanent, soon, I am going to have to give up on Richmond. I need security. I’m tired of jumping from job to job, losing sleep over interviews, losing sleep over worrying whether I’m going to have a job at the end of the month, or whether I’ll be able to pay the bills, or whether I can afford to pay for a doctor’s visit or COBRA or the medicine that isn’t covered by the COBRA.
I don’t know where they’re getting the 2.7% unemployment rate, but I’m betting it isn’t from Richmond. And of course, I don’t even count on that statistic. Sure, I have a job, but it’s a temporary job, over in a few weeks, and they won’t count me on the rolls of the unemployed unless I register. Which I probably will do, come to think of it.
I am soooo tired of the job hunt.
I really don’t want to move. But I think I’m going to have to.
Is the job prospects in Fredericksburg – half way between Richmond and D.C. – any better? When I was there in 1993 and 1991 it seemed like a quaint college town. I temped for 2 years (1993-95) and it was the worst two years of my life.
Fredericksburg is central VA. I think that Richmond is southern VA.
chsw
“I temped for 2 years (1993-95) and it was the worst two years of my life. ”
I assume it had something to do with being a temp-worker…
If thats the case, yea, thats a tough arrangement. Been there too.
Still, the silver lining in that little rain cloud is that it gives you a baseline that shows you that things could be worse once you get a halfway decent job.
Sure, I work nights at the moment, but the pay is good, the benefits are fantastic and I am not treated like an oily rag to be used to sop up the latest mess that happened at the office-place…
So when people say “Gee, it must be hard to work nights”, all I have to do is look back to my days (the ones Meryl is dealing with now…) as a ‘temp’ and say “Yea, ain’t that great??!!”
I think I am probably happier about my situation now just because of how bad things once were for me – and I am grateful they are now past.
Still, that doesn’t help Meryl much as shes there right now.
Meryl, I really do hope things get better for you.
There’s clearly something wrong with the job market when companies are constantly grumbling about being unable to find “top talent”, but TRUE top talent like Meryl Yourish can’t land permanent and secure employment. It just doesn’t make sense. And it doesn’t do much to help the rest of us find hope, either.
Front page of the Richmond “newspaper” today documents unemployment rate of 2.2% and with the rapidly rising retail sector a concern that it will be hard to find workers; I suspect that if you break down the unemployment rate by different economic sectors you would find very low unemployment [and high demand] in retail, including the burger-flipping area, and high unemployment in the professions…