How low would you go?

The economy seems to be hurting everyone. I know my husband still works parttime and has asked for more hours. Unfortunately, my husband keeps getting turned down. I have not had much success in finding work either. I have applied to several places, but I keep on getting turned down because I am over qualified. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and I am also pursuing a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. With some people it is not that they are not looking, its the fact that there are so few jobs and too many people applying. In my case it is the fact that I have too much education and am over qualified.

People who have been enjoying wealth and good life find it difficult to accept that they have fallen from grace. It will be difficult to adjust to an ordinary life that they are not used to. I have been out of the employment world for so long and with too many unemployed people chasing for too few jobs, the chances of landing in a job is almost nil for me as employers are reluctant to employ older people. I have no choice but to work for myself which I have been doing all this while. Business is bad too these days but am happy to break even every month.

I have been looking, and I have had three part time jobs in the last year. I am on temporary layoff, and I understand that when I go back to work it will be for less money than two of the three paid. At this point I cannot afford to go down to minimum wage. Actually, I am no longer qualified for some of the positions I had. I am choosy, in a way, but not so much in other ways. I find that my body has gotten old on me this year and some of the positions that are being advertized are beyond my physical capabilities.

I have never been long without a job. I have done as some others do and not looked so hard for a week or so when I knew I had unemployment for a certain amount of time so I could have a bit of vacation. But, when I look I conduct myself like I am working. I am down at the Job Service bright and early. If it has been a while I talk to someone and get a handle on my experience versis the current job market. I update my resume. I talk to people on the phone and look at Job Service. I set goals for myself. Its hard work! It is like Dr.Phil said on one of his shows I caught recently. You need to work at look for a job just like you would if you had a 9-5 job. One of my irritants with people seeking work is the ones who have to hold onto their "hight standards" and miss out on possibilities of bring in some money because they let their ego lie dormant for awhile and take a less paying job for a period of time until something better comes along. People just don't seem to get it. I never did change my strategy and it always worked for me. If I felt I needed some more education I took classes and luckily my Job Service here locally had some funding and I didn't have to pay for this last one I got. But now I am retired and thankful for it. I get medical benefits and a pension for the rest of my days. And the added retirement. It isn't alot but it worked me and my small families needs if we don't go bonkers at Walmart monthly. Works for me!

First hand experience here Dawn as I did loose a long time stable job as it is no longer in business. Not having any sort of unemployment and or income. I strategized a.s.a.p. Sadly it all happened at the start of the economic downfall and no one wants to hire an overqualified Administrator. Though I was/am negotiable it simply did not allow for any form of discussing. Therefore, I lowered, sunk actually and still, because I have to honest about my Masters Degree no a whole lot of "lower Standard" jobs want to take a risk with me. They immediately send back emails say "Over Qualified". So to answer your discussion, I started the very next day, and here you have me, still looking. There is no room for strategy delays in the work force as it is no longer what it was once before.

Are you kidding me? I thought our country was a picture of perfection. I think people do need to realize America is in a bad place and we have been for a long time. No matter what job they apply for I believe the wages will be less than 5 years ago. Everyone is cutting back. Some companies are even getting rid of experience and hire new bees. Therefore, they can pay them less. I don't necessarily agree with the approach. But I believe it is true. Imagine a patient learning their surgeon just graduated and was performing the surgery along. YIKES! Best Wishes!

Honestly? I don't know. It's easy for me to say, right now, while both my husband and I are employed, that I'd try to get a job making as much as I am making now, or that I'd wait until I did. But I've seen friends do this, and while for some of them it worked, others just ended up with nothing. I guess my strategy would be based upon how many jobs there were available to apply for. And I would take a minimum wage job while I was hunting for another job. I just don't know how long I would go before I felt I had to move away to a different place.

I think it depends on how desperate you are. I think when we are just starting off on a job search we want to be a bit picky and choosy. But then a couple of weeks go by, we start reducing the standards. Within a couple of months it really becomes desperation stuff. But again this varies from person to person. Cheers! Ram

When I started looking for a job after a few years OUT of the workforce no one seemed to want to hire someone who had not had a job in the last few years. I talked to one of my old bosses and she gave me a job right away. A few days later I got offered another job. I decided to take both of them because well....I like money. I really did not WANT to work for my old boss again, but it was the easiest job for me to get at the time. Money coming in was a big factor in my decision to go talk to her. ANY money was better than NO money.

hi dawnald. i used to ask the same question myself. a couple of years ago, not sure when but i'm guessing 2009, the company i was working for had to close down because of problems getting a license from the government so they say. truth be told, it was the government's way of saying that our company wasn't paying enough bribe money to get the license. so after working five years in that company, our whole operations team had to be let go. the company had kept the admin personnel and they were absorbed in sister companies. now, this was august and we were told that we will be paid a severance package that would include up to october that year. it was a good package and something that kept me afloat until i got a job on december. this was the tricky part and something that i felt i would have done otherwise. i was picky with the job that i wanted to get after getting laid off. i could have worked, although for a lower salary, as early as october but decided to hold off. i decided to accept the job that had the closest offer to the salary that i was getting from my previous job. the new job that i eventually got paid lower, a difference of almost $120. i figured, since i was going to get commission aside from my salary that would make up for it. i stayed there fro a good eight months before gettign this current job of mine which i absolutely love! anyway, i figured after all that, i could have accepted the first job that came my way and at least i would have some money stocked up in my savings account because of the severance package that i got that time. there are some regrets but there were benefits as well with me holding out. if i had accepted the first job that went my way, i think i wouldn't be able to get to the job that i currently have right now. if there ever is a dream job, then THIS is it (or maybe a close second, hah!)! like i said, how low will i go will defend on a number of factors but looking back, i'll definitely consider getting a pay cut or even move to a different industry to get back to work. as for conducting a job search, i usually talk to friends in the industry and tell them that i'm available. networking can indeed do wonders. the usual route of looking at job search sites worked well for me before. determining the time when to change strategies would really depend on the person. in my case, i stayed with my plan, which is to find a work in the similar field with almost the same benefits and duties, for a good two months before deciding to look at other fields. so, i guess that would depend on the person. anyway, there is still much to be desired about the global employment outlook. sure, there are industries, health care for example, and countries, singapore and macau are in my radar, that seem to be better than the rest. ultimately, its how we cope that is important. although, i'm contented with my work and i know there are still a lot of opportunities available for me, i'm still looking out for possible alternatives. not saying that i'll leave this one for another job but i'm still looking for a second or third job to have additional income.

i used to start the next day after i was let go or had moved and had to quit. i was only let go 3 times in my whole working life. usually over jealousy. since i would give over 100 percent to any job. the last one id been let go at, id worked at for 8 and a halph yrs. the daughter let me go out of jealousy. id gotten 13 thousand severance pay but i still looked for a job the very next day. in spite of depression. i knew that would get worse if i just sat at home. i try to tell my kids the same thing. 3 of them are the same good way. 2 seem to lag about looking for another job.

Right now my job is secure and I hope I can stay here for as long as i can,even after retirement age! I really don't want to have to look for another job again! I hate doing it! I end up have to restart with wages! I then always get behind in bills! I can't trust the places to keep me hired,if they need me or not! If I would lose my job I would have to sink lower,at least on wages,to find another job. McDonlads,I hear,can be a good place to work. Hopefully it would not happen!

hi, yes you are right,some companies now a days really experiencing low rates of production and because of that they will also lessen their man power,like what happening here in my place,and so sad because i experienced to be one of those people who need to end the contract.

On employment, My father always gave the view, so i should be able to fnd a job on my own efforts, not because it helped and in put by relatives, families, or others. i usually look for a job through the newspaper, jobstreet, the official goverment website, info from friends and campus, etc.. but nowadays it is quite difficult to get a decent job in the country especially where i live. so that my father changed his views, that the work is obtained because it helped and in put by relatives or others as a final step, when searching through newspaper, website, etc impasse..

LOL.. High standards? What's that?? I agree, a job is better than no job.. but hey, that's why I work at Subway, LOL.

definitely it would be hard to adjust when you're enjoying such a good economy before and then everything changes not giving you enough time to adjust with a changing and falling economy . I think that people should realize also there's nothing else they can do but to accept lower paying jobs or else they won't land any job at all

I have never really conducted a job search as I was always recommended by someone and then kept the job because of my own ability. Actually, two weeks ago I heard of a job but then thought that they would ask me my age and so did not apply. I was recommended too but the person who would be doing the interview is under 30 and I felt that I did not have a chance. The person who told me of the opening thought that I was being stupid as she said that I would have an assistant and could do the job with my eyes closed. I expect that I may have missed an opportunity. I do think that people have to get realistic and face their options and yes, they may have to take a pay cut at this time.

Hi dawn, Though your post is contextualized the scenario is more or less the same every where. Though somewhat America has come out of the economic crisis it is still not stable to feel secured. India is not exception. With the hike in petrol and diesel the price of essential good have gone up. Your question is really alarming as to how low one would go to maintain one's social status.

The previous job I had instituted a 5% pay cut at the height of the crisis. As I was on the management side, we didn't have a say on it. We just had to accept it. Higher management said they had a higher cut of 7.5%, but it didn't really equate as I'm sure they had bigger salaries. Anyway, I did get a new job. And I didn't get it through normal means of sending out resumes. I just happened to know a guy, who knew a guy, etc. Somehow word got around that I was fit for this job. And it was just about the time that I decided that I needed a new one.

A job search is normally done on the skill set of the job seeker and the demand of the technology he or she is specialized.But now a days job search is done on the basis of need of money and sustainability in the market. People are ready to learn new work, technologies etc to earn a job. Its not the time that decides to change the strategy its actually the high pending bills that decide to change the job