my husband lost his job the day before thanksgiving

[undergroundnomore]

He has a masters degree in mechanical engineering and his company told them that the fate of their jobs rested upon who would win the presidency.

Within weeks of Obama winning my husband was laid off. In early August the company will shut down greatly effecting local area business and schools.

For months now he has been sending out resumes. Often he receives emails saying that the company has decided not to fill the position they originally advertised.

Being unemployed is not a character flaw it is a reality. Thankfully, I'm a teacher and I haven't been laid off yet. I realize that so many people are worse off than us. Even more frightening is that even more people good, hardworking people will become unemployed soon unless things turn around.

I'm glad that Obama has put job creation as a top priority.

[JDPriestly]

1. K&R

[peace13]

2. I hear you!

It is amazing that some people just don't get it. I wish you and your husband well. We are in uncharted waters here! Peace, Kim

[babylonsister]

3. Welcome to DU, undergroundnomore. So he lost his job

because President Obama won? I don't understand the reasoning there.

[nichomachus]

29. And enjoy your stay. . . .

however brief that may be.

[meegbear]

4. "decided not to fill the position they originally advertised"?

To be 'teased' about a position and then be informed they decided to not fill it - they should have not responded to him. Good luck to him and you.

:party: WELCOME TO DU!! :party:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Honestly, I'm not sure why orgs/corps respond at all without an interview.

It's entirely unnecessary and it's just a solid kick in the nuts when you get the "Thanks for sending in your resume, but fuck you, we found plenty of people that are better and we're not really considering you." I'd simply prefer not hearing anything back unless it's positive or unless you've been actually in for an interview.

[cabluedem]

6. This missive is often used to dicriminate against age from my experiences. nt

[Donnachaidh]

41. that's very much a possibility - older workers get shit on regularly in this environment. n/t

[Dappleganger]

20. This happens so much it's almost expected.

They'll go through the interview process up to a certain point and then all of a sudden it's "Sorry, we've enacted a hiring freeze for now."

He also was interviewed for one advertised job (through a recruiter), got all the way to the offer and they downgraded the position plus the pay at the end (bait and switch). They made it sound as if he should be happy to take 30K less per year when he was already earning at the bottom in our market. He told them no way.

[NeedleCast]

27. I had a friend get totally hosed like this recently

She left a job after being stalked by an employee (employer did nothing about it, tended to side with the stalker) after getting an offer in CT. She left the DC area, moved to New Haven and worked her new job about eight months before they "reorganized" her position out of existance. They told her last week she has 60 days. She asked if they knew in advance that this position might cease to exist and they told her "they didn't know at the time that the position would be cut, but knew that some positions would be cut for sure." She told them she thought that was a very dirty thing to do, especially since they'd never mentioned that when making the offer.

I said they're lucky they didn't try that stunt with me because I really think I might have kicked someones ass for that.

[Donnachaidh]

40. that happens far more than you know

My DH has been underemployed since last July. He's been applying *everywhere*, and up until two weeks ago, was averaging 3 or 4 interviews a month. And at least half of them told him the same thing - decided to not fill the position at this time. He has something now, but we're still not sure if it's going to last.

People who have had jobs through this Depression have no idea just how BAD it is right now.

[Ilsa]

7. As much as possible, can he show up on their doorsteps (HR Office) to apply?

If he makes a good first physical impression, it might be the step in the door. Applying in person me alot back in the 1980's. I walked in with a resume at lunchtime and offered to take someone in HR to lunch if they'd interview me. I know it doesn't work that way every where, but aggressiveness really helps. Having an interviewee to talk to, versus reading a resume, can make a difference to people in HR. At least, it used to.

[Donnachaidh]

43. Companies are insisting that people apply on line - if you show up

That just pisses the HR departments off.

Hell, when the local AMC theatre insists that kids looking for summer work apply on line - it's the latest way for recruiters to not even bother with some applicants.

[WeDidIt]

8. ... n/t

[raccoon]

10. I agree. There's something hinky about the OP. nt

[WeDidIt]

11. This raised red flags with me

told them that the fate of their jobs rested upon who would win the presidency

That was a bunch of bullshit froma desperate rightwingnut email sent out prior to the election.

[AllieB]

13. Me too. And she hasn't been back to respond.

Low post count, hidden profile, yadda yadda yadda.

[Progressive_In_NC]

15. Our company booked most of it's Q1 Business Q4 last year and is holding off expansion to see how

Obama's tax policy is going to play out. We are doing fine, and the bonus pool is going to be bigger this year to, as our CEO and Owner said, to keep the corporate taxes out of the government's hands. But we didn't lay off anybody due to the election.

[Arugula Latte]

23. Yep ... That reeks of Freep. nt

[noamnety]

35. I think y'all need to back off here.

I don't think she was blaming Obama - she was saying the company that laid off her partner was blaming him.

I haven't seen a hell of a lot of freepers with blogs promoting earth day, have you?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=311x509

I also haven't seen a lot of freeper blogs talking about how to make homemade eco-friendly cleaners: http://thriftymaven.com/?cat=102

Her blog, incidentally, also wanders in and around job searching, places offering free resume printing, etc., all consistent with someone whose partner's been out of work for a while.

[CTyankee]

9. My husband was laid off from his job at City Hall at the end of February.

He too has a Masters. If they can get the money together, he may be hired as a contract worker part time. His job was one of the union jobs that suffered a massacre in the latest round of lay offs due to budget cuts.

His only hope is through his network of people he knows at City Hall. Since he is 68 he is able to collect a small pension and SS but it isn't enough for us to stay in our house.

My daughter in California lost her high paying job 4 years ago and has never found another, but my little grandson has special needs. SS Disability is helping.

My only advice to you is to follow the stimulus money. That seems to be the only money for jobs out there. Also, could he teach? With a Masters he might be able to pick up something at a community college. The education field is experiencing lots of people going back to school for their degrees. Even smaller colleges might need an adjunct. It pays poorly but it is a job.

I may have an adjunct position offered to me (I am retired)since I came up with an idea for a course that my friend, a professor, told me to pursue with her dept. head. I had to laugh. I have never taught and my Masters is in Liberal Studies. But there it is. You neverknow what can happen!

[AllieB]

12. The job losses that we're experiencing now are the result of Bush's policies.

I was laid off during the Bush presidency (and I'm relatively young). What your husband is experiencing is sad, and I wish you well, but I sincerely don't believe any company would say jobs are contingent upon who is President. It sounds like a RW chainmail to me.

[Oregone]

14. "I'm glad that Obama has put job creation as a top priority"

With all due respect, "bi-partisanship" was his first priority in the stimulus bill. Keynesian stimulus for the sake of creating jobs took a back seat to this, while many cuts were made to make room for tax cuts and appease the Republicans that didn't vote for it. :(

[prolesunited]

16. So, your point is that Obama has failed

because he hasn't fixed this mess in the first 100 days.

And care to explain how Obama winning and the job loss are so directly connected?

[Gman]

17. A great many jobs depended on government contractors

and it appears all government contractors (especially DOD contractors) are in a holding position waiting to see how things will be handled in the future. I've heard from some pretty good sources that the administration is leaning toward making civil service positions out of many of these contract jobs. While we all decried the DOD contracts that made the news in connection with Iraq, there are a great many more that are legit, and employ many people. Unfortunately, things are now on hold for a lot of changes to come.

[Javaman]

18. I'm calling BS on the OP. this sooo doesn't pass the smell test.

Mods are you out there?

[vanbean]

22. You don't pass the smell test either.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dappleganger]

19. My husband

Has a masters in engineering as well and he has been out of work since early March (this is our third big layoff, each resulting in a out of state move). He works very hard with networking and putting in applications on a weekly basis, as well as trying to get our house ready to sell so we can be prepared to move to wherever (and we're in FL so it'll be at least 90 days+ on the market). I am not currently employed and there are very few jobs available here right now.

Best of luck to you!

[Cathyclysmic]

21. It's okay.

My husband lost his job in November, also in ME. I blame the company he worked for. They made poor decisions and did not plan for the future. No way to to run a company! You'd think those Repubs with all that talk of personal responsibility would learn to not run a company into the ground, right?

Good Luck!

[lunatica]

24. A Democratic victory didn't cause job loss

[nichomachus]

28. I smell a

shall we say -- "purveyor of disinformation"

[ddeclue]

46. I don't really think that she is bashing Obama - you are reading too much into this.

I've worked as a defense contractor (2003-2008 - pretty much all there was after the tech bubble burst and 9/11 happened) and they did a lot of cutting last year and are still cutting because Obama is not going to be spending the ridiculous sums that Bush did on defense contracts and thank goodness for that.

The good news is that Obama WILL be spending on contracts in other areas so there IS life after defense work and I'm living proof of it.

Doug D.

[Missy Vixen]

25. My husband lost his job November 17th

He has 20+ years of experience in all facets of IT. He looks for a job all day every day. He has two interviews this week; one of the companies involved has taken over a month to interview, review resumes, etcetera, for a contract position. They do this because they can. We're also running into some age discrimination stuff, and my husband's 44.

I was very encouraged by President Obama's announcement this morning that he is closing the tax loopholes for American companies that ship jobs offshore. We are ten miles from Microsoft, which laid off 5,000 people recently, but is ramping up in other countries.

We have applied to the homeowner stimulus program, and finally got a phone call from our mortgage lender last week. We will find out what's going to happen as soon as they're done with the paperwork. We tapped into one of his 401k's to make sure we stay current with our house payments; it makes me sick to do it, but we had no other choice.

For those who think the OP is trolling or kidding, wait till you have to start looking. It's brutal.

[tjwash]

33. Brutal would be a step up

It took me 2 years of sending out 10 plus resumes a week, to get hired on where I am at now.

[ddeclue]

48. I was unemployed for about 6 months out of the last year.

and went through three jobs. Most recently I was unemployed from mid December till early April and finally started back about 3 weeks ago. Thank goodness it's not defense anymore but it is still gov't related.

Send me your resume - I get a lot of calls from recruiters. If I see anything that looks like a match I'll refer you to them.

[cascadiance]

30. I hear you! I just got laid off last week...

I know it's going to be tough getting back to work again!

[Lerkfish]

31. welcome to the club....

was laid off in december, got a short job that only lasted until March 16, and have been unemployed since, 2.000 miles away from my wife and 10 yr old son. My wife does not have a job. Right now we're existing off our savings that were going to go to my son's college education, and no one will buy our house that we can no longer afford.

it sucks.

but hang in there, I'm trying to think positively for down the road. Maybe if all of us unemployed folk think positively, a tsunami of karma will turn the tide.


on edit: though rereading your OP, my spidey senses are tingling that you're in the wrong place. Oh well, what I said still holds, regardless.

[scheming daemons]

32. Um... something smells here

Freeper disinformation campaign?

[pacalo]

34. Was your husband's former employer in the petrochemical field?

Those are the businesses that are very afraid of energy changes, but it seems unreasonable that a company would base its decision to close on a preconceived fear, even with the thought in mind that companies devise forecasts to determine where their business will be 10 or so years.

Even if major energy changes were made, I would hope that petrochemical jobs would have to adapt rather than be eliminated.

I wish you & your husband the best.

[Gormy Cuss]

36. Just curious, but did his company say why their jobs were dependent on a McCain win?

I'm scratching my head over that one, especially since the economy was already in the crapper last fall.

I hope that your husband finds a job soon.

[ddeclue]

47. I got laid off from my defense contractor job last March 2008.

the defense companies have known that a backlash cometh for quite a while now - they weren't really holding out much hope for a McCain victory last year or any Republican to win. I tell you it's fun to be a Democrat at a defense company... I was known as Mr. Democrat although there were a lot of closeted D's at my company.

The owner of the place I worked just cashed out and sold out to another company and their business is doing badly now so I guess it is probably for the better that I got out earlier rather than later.

Doug D.

[AwakeAtLast]

37. We have something in common! My husband was sent to Iraq due to the outcome of 2004!

Somehow I don't think the two are equal. At least you don't have to face the possibility of becoming a widow every day for 365 days.

Enjoy your stay......

[H2O Man]

38. Did he campaign for McCain?

[ColbertWatcher]

39. He has a masters in Mechanical Engineering? (LINK ADDED)

I always thought MEs had the longest average job tenure.

They do! I finally found the BLS link! http://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t06.htm

[Skittles]

42. ?

repukes drove our economy off a cliff but you're blaming Obama?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

44. What a crock 'o shit! Seriously...

"his company told them that the fate of their jobs rested upon who would win the presidency.

Within weeks of Obama winning my husband was laid off."


:puke:

[ddeclue]

45. Have your husband send me his resume - I'm an aerospace engineer

and I've done a lot of engineering in a lot of different fields and know a lot of recruiters for contract agencies. Maybe I can be of some help.

Thanks,

Doug De Clue
Orlando, FL
[e-mail]

[defendandprotect]

49. Obama should overturn the trade agreements -- NOW -- !!!

And, if I could, I'd slam the door on the corporations which left America

to "harvest slave labor all over the world" -- !!!