I'm so sorry about your job situation and hope you find something that exceeds your expectations.

I'll raise my bloody Mary to you tonight and wish you every good success in your job hunt efforts. :)

Definitions
 

I majored in Economics in college and remember these definitions:

RECESSION: When your neighbor loses his job
DEPRESSION: When you lose your job.

I am self employed and thus cannot be laid off or fired.....nevertheless business is slow. And I can't blame the management!

They said " Smile, things could be worse" so I smiled----and things got worse.

Hope a little humor helps you cope.

SA-

I wrote to you saying that I (also) had been let go after 21 years...something we both have in common.

Another thing we have in common...I was also 42. And let me tell you....I was scared to death. I thought it was the worst thing in the world. Low and behold, I found a new job and am much happier. You will do ok. Give it time and please....don't stress yourself out. Your in sales and like JRC said, you know how to sell...so just go sell everything you've have got to offer. You will be okay!.

Best.

Eillac@dow

the best of luck to you
 

Times are tough all over and everyone is trying to make ends meet-hope you find something really soon!

Industry
 

Sa what industry do you have experience in?

I'm so sorry sa! A job hunting site that I have found particularly helpful is www.indeed.com. Best of luck to you!

You can always help me park cars SA.:DYou know where it is.

...just can't afford to shop local
 

Here's a letter to the editor from the Friday October 2, Laconia Daily Sun that caught my attention. Interesting that a recent poll as reported on CNN had Wal-Mart as being the one national company best representing the current US economy....or something like that(?).
.....

"Sadly, we just can't afford to shop at our local stores anymore"

To the editor,

This is an open letter to all our local merchants.

I never ever thought I would be writing a letter like this but I feel that it is important to let the local merchants know why we can no longer 'totally' support them.

For years we refused to shop at stores like Walmart (sorry to pick on one store but I think it's important for my story) because we thought it's important to support the folks in our local community. Even if we paid a 'little more' for things we believed it was worth it because we were helping our neighbors and our friends and we always argued that they were good to the local community so we had to be supportive of them.

For the past 15 years we have been on a fixed income and we find that prices keep going up and up and up at a rate that we find we can no longer justify that thinking.

In fact, our very favorite restaurant that we have been supportive since the seventies (when we first stated to come up here) has finally out-priced itself to the point that we can no longer afford to go there! (We used to go there a couple times a month for years, then about six times a year since we retired). Now we can only go there if we receive a gift certificate! How sad is that?

We don't mind paying a 'little more for things' but we can no longer justify paying 20 cents more for an ear of corn or $2 more for a pint of strawberries and we are truly sorry about that.

We can no longer afford to do all our shopping at our local grocery store because even simple things like a bag of potato chips can be $1.50 less, in fact almost everything is a dollar or more less at a store like Walmart.

Like I said, we never minded paying 'a little' more but we just can't afford to pay 'a lot more'. And we are truly sorry about that.

Just wanted to let you know why you don't see us as often anymore. It's not that we don't like you and it's not that we don't want to support you it's just that we can't afford you anymore.

Had to get it off my mind!
Patricia Keegan
Center Harbor

Locals can't compete
 

Studies show that for every two jobs created by a Wal-Mart store, the community loses three. Jobs that are retained by a community are merely shifted from local businesses to the giant retailer. A Congressional Research Service warned Congress that communities need to evaluate the significance of any job gains at big-box stores against any loss of jobs due to reduced business at competing retailers. The report also pointed out that these so-called new jobs "provide significantly lower wages then jobs in many industries, and are often only part-time positions, seasonal opportunities, or subject to extensive turnover." The Real Story is that when Wal-Mart moves into the neighborhood, it devours local businesses and lowers community living standards.

:(

Sunday's Concord Monitor
 

A columnist writing for the Concord Monitor writing about her experiences subsequent to her husband losing his job makes the same point as the Daily Sun letter writer. She used to shop the Concord Co-op but now goes to Wal-Mart and saves a lot of money.

I think this is the next big issue for local economies. Consumers can not be expected to continue to pay a premium for shopping at local businesses when their incomes are being lost.

I say this as someone who has, so far, shopped at Beans & Greens, Sunflowers, Wine'ing Butcher etc.

I have considered heading to Wal-Mart to check out their selection of organic products.

Goodwill and Wallmart
 

I use to make good money and never worry about what items cost or think twice about going out.
I lost my job last year. Thirty three years in the defense electronics industry and my first lay off. Thanks to the democrats. I'm 59 with profound loss of hearing it has been extrremely difficult to get a job. Discrimination laws means nothing unless you can prove it. My resume is so strong, I don't have a problem getting interviews. I can never get past the initial interviews.
Indeed.com is a great place to find jobs. I do find a lot of job postings thst are old and already filled. There are also people 'fishing' by posing as jobs so beware! Be careful who you send your resume to.
Linkedin was valuable. I did get some interviews, but it is a great motivator when you realize you are not alone. Linkedin gives me great insight into where the jobs are.
Another great place to find jobs is the job board at the local college and or community college. This will tell you that there is age discrimination. Most of these jobs are not posted on the internet.
I rarely go out. I do take adavantage of coupons.com and restuarant.com T-Bones/Cactus Jack has a 55 plus program that helps. AARP is also a big help in finding travel discounts. I have traveled to NC, TX, GA, and CO for job interviews with well known corporations.
I checked out Goodwill last spring and I was very surprised as to what you can find there. Like TJ Maxx you need to dig deep to find the quality bargains.
Although Wally World (Super Walmart) may be limited in gourmet items it is great place to get staples. Market Basket is cheaper but the nearest one is in Concord.
Rite Aid is the best place for medicine and toiletries.
I just can't afford to shop 'local' on my unemployment check. I wish the 'locals' good luck as small businesses is what America is all about. Hopefully the economy will turn soon.

Broadhopper - is retirement an option? While you were making "good money" did you worry about putting away what you should of for the "rainy day" we all hear about? How about a 401K, did you have one? Not trying to be nosy just wondering about other options. I to work in the defense industry and your right, I would imagine 59 is not an easy age to find a new job.

Outside of construction and Home Depot type jobs, most of the jobs created this decade were in government, health care, and services. We all know how the financial services industry did. Government, both federal and state, continue to grow. Health care, especially in administration, has had unparalleled growth. But as health care grows, it just costs more and more. If everyone is working in health care and government, that could pose a problem?

Defense has grown and will continue to be strong. Replacements are a big field, unfortunately, the number of companies in the field has shrunk. One of the problems facing many in the electronics area is one of obsolete parts. It takes so long for vendors to upgrade and test a new part, that many serious shortages develop. Believe it or not, this impacts many common things like AC130 and other aerospace programs. Cost cutting, middle manager cuts to continue to feed the greedy bulls at the top, not to mention Wall Street quarter to quarter thinkers, all play into this.

To make matters worse, senators have typically overruled the Pentagon on matters of pork and unwanted programs. Every program becomes a political bargaining chip. This is with senators of all political persuasion. This is why many necessary things fell behind, while things the military didn't want, continued to be funded. I know some folks older than you that could be in jeopardy at Norththrop Gruman. Dramatic military pork occurred in all administrations, and the most noticeable was this decade. It was noticable because the Pentagon was at odds with the military over which direction the structure would go in. Let's just say the military was correct, and a certain SOD was dead wrong.

The military has many firms working on electronics contracts and service contracts. Many of these firms hire contract workers from third party companies to manage entire programs. This has the effect of making government workforce appear smaller than it actually is, and probably does save costs. It also is easier for companies to downsize that way :(

North Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Florida all have many firms in these areas of expertise. Tech writers can do very well, and their are frequently great jobs available for electrical engineers, project managers and the like. The discrimination laws were, unfortunately, put into place by the Dems. Whistleblowers aren't as frequent anymore due to lack of government watchdog support, another area that needs to be both streamlined, and rebuilt.

From what I have seen, there should be pretty strong demand for electrical engineers, designers and the like. Like everything else, you'll have to go where they are, as you already know. Good luck my man.

A UNH economics professor says the recession is not over and tells the Foster Daily Democrat that when the economy does recover we will "crawl out of the hole, not jump out of it".

Big penalty if I withdraw my pension before age 60. I don't have enough cash to make it to 60. The pension plan does not keep up with the times. The plan expect me to start social security at 65. because of my age, social security should start at 66 without penalty.

I put 3 girls through college. I have tuitions to pay. My divorce decree prevent me from giving the loans back to the girls.

I lost 60% of my 401K in the market. Also my company stocks went down about that much. I had royalties in the form of Nortel stocks. They went bankrupt and I lost it all.

I'm not ready to retire any way. I am still very much 'alive'. I want to continue what I have been doing until I feel I need to retire.

Thanks for asking. I'm sure there are others that want to retire. But can't afford to because of circumstances beyond their control.

I understand completely
 

I left just the information I wanted to comment on, first off, you said that you lost your job last year, the democrats did not get into office until this year. I understand completely when you talk about no jobs, I have been out of work since March and am 51. I have many years of Office Management experience and get the interviews but keep being told I am over qualified for the positions. Most of them are entry level as the economy is not opening new oportunities but lower level expansion.

As for WalMart, I have always fought to stay above the poverty level with my husband on SSI since 1990 and me being the only bread winner. We survive by WalMart. I have checked prices on items compared to the local grocery store and WalMart, and WalMart cannot be beat. I save enough each week to survive.

I too hope the economy turns around, but wanted to put my two cents in to let you know you are not alone with the age issue.

Agree.....
 

As some of you know my husband was laid off last year for almost 11 months, he found a new job last fall and has been working steady, Thank god! It was a small pay cut but benefits are great and it is stable. We relied on my job for that extra help and in the fall and winter I would sometimes work 7 days a week, but I didn't mind, it helped the family and as most know "you do what you gotta do". Well , last Thursday October 1, I was told they no longer needed part time help, and all the days I covered would be filled by two full time people, makes no sense, they didn't have to give me benefits, days off, vacation, etc...but they went that route. Now the "extra days" I would work for extra income are gone...never mind my regular paycheck. Sent out resumes, heard nothing. We can only hang on for so long...however, I have strong faith, "God gives us what we can handle". I am reminded by my extremely loving parents when I feel depressed of all the blessings I have, and they are right!