My husband has been unemployed for 2 years; he company lost the contract and 300 people were laid off. It's difficult but one bible verse has really helped us: Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I have recently returned to the work field after 5 years of being a stay at home mom. God blessed me with full time work (with benefits) that I was not even qualified for. I HAD to go out of my work area to get a job, so you may just have to look outside of microbiology. I will pray for you.

but if I do decide to go out of my career field, where am I supposed to go? most other science jobs are looking for higher qualifications that I already have. I can't go back to fast food, not on my student loans. and my mom has had terrible experiences with desk jobs.

michaelinasmommy, where do you work, if I may ask?

I work for Xerox (formerly Affiliated Computer Services). I am a data transaction processor an health insurance contract. I do not have a college degree and I have never worked for anything like this before, in fact I used to be an assistant manager at a retail store before my 5 year break. When my husband was having a hard time finding another job, I started putting applications to every place that was hiring regardless of their requirements (and I do mean EVERY place: fast food, grocery, hospital, schools, gas stations). I received so many rejection letters and I used that to fuel me to put out more applications.

That's supposed to say *for a health insurance contract. lol

i agree im the same way on relocating to another state for a job. i told professionals I will NOT relocate for a job that is the most poorest advice you can tell a job seeker who has no or barely any money. how the hell r they gonna relocate with nothing? god forbid they move and something happens to the new job and they are stranded with no money and can't move anywhere else!

i have an AAS Network Admin degree no certs (too costly) and got my degree in may 2010. i owe money to the career school i attended last year (i did not have grants/loans when i started a comm college in 04) and became unhappy as i did research about going back to school.

if i get a job, how am i gonna pay the loan back? i dont think anybody will be ever to pay any debt back who knows how long they r gonna be employed at any job? i was gonna go for a BS but i am just so unhappy with school. anyway, since i grad from college, i can not land a job anywhere.

its fine if i dont get into IT, but i wanted to have the gov pay for training provided by obama and get certified yet only t o find out you have to pass assessments! i failed the math twice and was told i have to fund it myself wtf??!

i dont have much work experience (had a job in mid 05 long story on that one) but didn't stay long. even the low paying jobs won't hire me. every piece of job advice i have gotten has nothing been contradicting the older professionals always going back to back in the day doesnt mean shit to me!

well, my own parents arent even helping their adult jobless child. i have no assets anymore due to a fire incident we had in 2010 (another long story). so, i have to rebuild everything back. no, i didn't qualify for UI because i voluntarily left the job in jan 06.

i keep getting the usual bullshit hit the pavement. uhhh, ive been doing that since 2010. u know, they r still using your degrees against you to not hire you. i have applied to decent and low paying jobs and still nothing. i am looking outside of IT like i said before, but i need to make more changes to my resume again!

@reply #1,

at Shabbat, my bf talked to me about that verse. i told him why is taking this long? why am i suppose to stay broke, unhappy, and miserable? i dont plan on staying at home till im 40! in the state i live in, jobs hasn't been created well i take that back, i saw recently only 200k jobs were added big deal they are all low paying, why are ppl jumping for joy on low paying? that still doesnt pay the bills or anything else not in an economy like this.

well, idk, nobody really has any good answers to help one another out there.

If it's any consolation, I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes it helps to know that you're not alone in these situations.

Apart from the different field, I basically could have written your post myself. In my case, there is a certificate that could help me quite a bit but it's offered in another state. And yes, there is the ever-present experience factor. Frustrating!

Last week I was a mess and this week I've resolved to just keep going and applying for what I can, even if the amount of job offers has gone down like my spirits as of late. I know it's an "easier said than done" process but in the end all we can do is just keep going, keep applying until something comes along. The waiting around for answers is just a giant pain in the butt.

And michaelinasmommy, I agree that sometimes rejection letters are a good fuel to the fire. Most of my recent rejection letters have been encouraging (as much as one can be anyway) and one was actually kind of ridiculous and I was thinking "If they're saying this, then why aren't I hired exactly?" I guess it means I'm one step closer to something though.

Good luck blucille. Hopefully you, me and the others on this forum can find something soon.

i gotta find the right form to fill out to defer my student loans fedloans hasn't contacted me back yet! i am gonna add what i did in school the projects i have done to my resume and see if that makes a difference! i agree the waiting around for answers is a pain in the ass and it's not getting anything done!

i want to take a trip to another city at another workforce connection to see if they can help me. not kidding, i have been taking trips to see if these gov owned places can help me get anywhere and again i get such stupid answers. i dont get enough gas $ like i should to go to any of these places nor do i any bus $ to use the bus (its 20-25 miles doubt a bus goes there).

there's also a place in downtown phx to take some courses on the new MS Office (which i still have Office 03 on my laptop!). my mom feels i dont need to do any of that to get my skills up then says i need a job to be an independent adult make up ur damn mind! lol told her u havent worked in forever u had ur life and fucked it up.

my rejection letters dont explain what i can do better it just says 'thank you for applying to xyz, we have decided to hire someone else.' you know, it's their automated system not the actual hiring manager him/herself.

i want to stay away from jobs that pay min wage, although, i dont have much work experience, min wage is not gonna fix up my car nor will it help me get my own apt! i dont know why ppl in this economy are jumping for joy over low paying jobs then bitch and complain how it doesnt pay any of their expenses gee i wonder why!!

the only dumb advice i get is to volunteer. nope, unless you are paying me i do not work for free!! i need to eat and pay my debt/bills just like everybody else in america! professionals hate when i say that then tell me im young and dont need to worry about working and to marry a rich guy omg what kind of advice is that?!? they were being serious too!

i want info that's gonna land me a paying job not something where i am gonna work for free unless we are in a better economy! i got a volunteer job working for free in may 2010 big mistake since i had to bring my own equipment which is consulting i should have been paid not gonna make that mistake again.

ladytiger, I've been there. one of the first things I did when I got let go was defer my loans. luckily, I had a little less of a headache with it than I thought.

yes, add stuff you did in college. I've added the one week where I spent my spring break working with my professor on some gel electrophoresis project. it gave me some experience with the apparatus and it adds a week onto my experience, but only a bit.
I've also added that I was in the Science Club in my senior year, albeit it appeared Science Club was an umbrella term for chem majors and I was a bio major, but all the other science clubs were either for agriculture majors or future veterinarians.

now, volunteering ain't all bad. ever since I was let go I started working at least once a week at my church's food pantry. now, it's not gonna help me get a job and it doesn't pay a dime, but at least I know I'm working and helping and that's comforting until I get back to work somewhere.

ladytiger, I am with you. when I was working, I was trying every which way to pay my bills and still have money leftover to get an apartment. but, I got let go so there went that plan. I hope to get a job right quick so I can get back to it and get out of my parents house before I'm 30. but, more importantly, I want to work again because I love science, the career field I was in benefits by helping people, and, though money isn't everything, it's the one thing you need to stay alive in life.

true. nothing wrong with volunteering but we all need a paid job. i would do it if i was getting trained and paid that would be my contract agreement. if i had the $, i would do it but i have to rebuild my assets and there's nothing in walking distance in the state i live in. if the place is on bus route ur lucky even though the buses dont run late, the state i live in you need a car to get around wherever you need to go.

my parents talk about the 40s-50s like that's suppose to mean anything today. my mom feels i shouldn't worry about a job because having no money is a good thing lmao because the mexicans work a dollar a day, can pay their bills, live the high life, and not worry about anything!

these gov owned places that help job seekers find jobs and they are still not helping me one bit! just stupid contradicting job advice like what i get on linkedin.com! i was thinking of going to another workforce in another city seeing what programs could i qualify for. i am 26 and at the last workforce i was at, they had nothing for me!

i just need the right words to describe my college projects on my resume. now, it will have nothing to do with the job i will be applying for but in college we all learn teamwork, time management, and setting goals that transfer into any job out there. so, you can say that's experience right! you are getting a taste of the workforce even though it is school. i had some instructors that said treat college like it is a job and it does feel like a job.