I was laid off last May. I accepted a two month contract job in September, in part because it paid really well, and also because I wanted to minimize the gap in my employment history. Once I started the contract job, I realized I really couldn't leave prior to end of the contract without looking really bad and possibly being blacklisted. So I stuck it out to the end. But by then, we were in mid-November and companies had slowed down hiring and interviewing.

So I spent the time applying for lots of jobs. Well, early this week, I started getting calls from lots of recruiters. Several of them wanted to meet with me in person.. So I ended up going to interviews with four recruiters in two days, driving all over the city. There's really nothing that we discussed that we couldn't talk about over the phone. They just wanted to see what I looked like. And, as a female in her mid-forties, that was a bit intimidating.

A few of the recruiters were extremely encouraging, but a few were downright depressing. One of them told me that it's a candidate's market and candidates are getting jobs now. But two sentences later, she told me that companies prefer to hire people who are already employed. She said the same thing a few moments later... And she kept probing to try to figure out my age. (My resume only shows my work history back to 2000 so she couldn't figure it out based on that alone). O.K... I get it. I'm old and unemployed so I'm screwed.

By the time I finished, I was absolutely exhausted. I don't think I can keep this up much longer.

The only good thing was that I received an e-mail from one of my former supervisors. He said that he received a few reference calls for me from companies that had interviewed me. I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Honestly, if I ever get hired again and am in the position of hiring someone, I'm going to make a conscious effort to hire someone who is currently unemployed.