Right now I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall !!
My husband has been unemployed for 17 months. He was laid off on Dec 1st 2008. Before that, the company had drastically cut his hours due to the current financial climate in the US.
He has been actively searching for work in the area where we live, but no luck. In fact, I think we could probably paper our living room with the stack of job applications and refusal letters, that he has received. ' Your resume is impressive , but I regret that we cannot currently offer you a position'. or something similar, has been the usual reply.
There are around 300 applications for every job and while I can't prove it, I think the fact that he is in his 50's, probably plays a big part in the job denials. It's been really hard watching his belief in himself as a man, and his self esteem, take a steep journey down hill.
Then, last week, we received an email, telling him that he had been accepted for a job that he had applied for and that he was to report to the base on June 21st.. He had a spring in his step that I haven't seen for awhile.
Unfortunately, the job is not in our area, it's in the next state. That's where the frustration and the head banging come in. Because of him being on umemployment and the cut in his hours , previous to that, our savings are gone. We applied through our bank for a small loan, to get him down there and pay at least the first month of his living expenses, until his pay checks start. The bank turned us down, because he was still on unemployment. This is despite the fact that we showed them the job confirmation letter and what his salary will be and that the job will be starting on June 21st, which is a week away.
It's frustrating, that in this time of high unemployment, there appears to be little or no help for people who have managed to get a new job, but need help getting started in it.
We still have a few avenues that we can apply to for possible help .. however, if anybody has some constructive suggestions on what we could do, I'd be really grateful to hear them.
