by Jessica Hughey

Created on: November 18, 2009

I have been job hunting for over a year, now. Laid off from a five year position in July, 2008, I have sent out countless resumes, with very little response. Oh, a few have sent letters or emails stating, "We appreciate your interest, but we have chosen the best candidate for the job...blah, blah." I can't decide whether I appreciate these or resent them. I appreciated the first few. But, after receiving several in a row, they begin to annoy me.

I did a lot of reading before I updated my resume for this undertaking. Everything I read warned that, if one is past a "certain age", one should try to "craft" a resume that camouflages this fact by chopping off the first fifteen years of work history, eliminating educational dates and avoiding the use of "outdated" buzz words. I never understood this philosophy, however. After all, even if I am successful at camouflaging my age on my resume and even if I receive a call for an interview, won't they still know how old I am when I walk in the door? If they don't want to hire a 53 year old woman to fill their open position, isn't it better for me to know this up front, before going to the trouble of dressing for and driving to the interview? Obviously, the answer is yes. If they are going to discriminate on the basis of age, there are ways to circumvent the relevant labor laws, easily. I will never know the reason I did not receive an interview or a callback. If asked, they can simply say they found a better qualified candidate.

I was talking with my husband this morning about the number of jobs which have been eliminated by so-called "self service" conveniences. From the self checkout at the grocery store to cart corrals to self-pump gasoline, we do everything for ourselves these days. Cart corrals have always been a pet peeve of mine. Back in the day, grocery stores, markets and department stores used to employ teenagers for the sole purpose of wrangling carts in from the parking lot. Now, however, instead of putting teenagers to work, they simply send a stock person out to the lot to retrieve the carts from the "cart corral". Stock person pulls double duty, store saves money. I also love how they blackmail you into placing your cart into the corral, rather than leaving it next to your car. The sign above the corral trumpets, "Help us keep prices LOW! Place your cart, here." They are, essentially, admitting to putting people out of work and blackmailing you with higher prices, if you choose not to participate.

Each day, the news anchors report more and more layoffs. 700 here. 3000 there. More and more people out here, just like me, looking for work. The competition for jobs keeps increasing and the number of available positions keeps shrinking. I am trying to prepare myself for the very real possibility that I may never find another job, by creating my own work, freelance style. I am writing for Helium.com and various other websites, hoping that while making a little extra money, I may be able to begin a new career as a freelance writer, all the while managing to remain optimistic. I believe that is the greatest challenge in surviving this economic downturn in which we find ourselves. Maintaining a positive attitude and always striving to make things better, is a triumph in itself.

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