Reality of unemployment

It's stories like the one in today's New York Times that make me want to throw up my hands and not want to read it for awhile. It's about a dad who lost his job a year ago and his wife returned to work. Fine, I can relate to that. It's reality.

The story moves out of my reality, and probably the reality of many others, when it discusses families that because of lost bonuses lost an $800,000 annual salary, and have to live on $150,000 a year. And the fantasy world of this story continues. Out-of-work husbands still live in $1 million homes. The nanny is replaced by an au pair. The family belongs to a "modest" country club and continues spending hundreds of dollars a month on kids' activities, such as soccer and karate lessons. They continue shopping at Ralph Lauren.

This isn't the reality for many families where a spouse is out of work. I hate it when the NY Times, or any other paper, writes at length about a class that isn't the norm, and that many can't relate to. I'm not saying my situation is typical, but it sure is closer. We're cutting back and while I'm home with our daughter and doing some part-time work, I continue to look for a job and worry about the future. Those families have worries, I'm sure, but it's a different world. Not reality.

---

This tale was brought to you by
talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com

Time for a press release

I just sent this out as a press release to some Bay Area news outlets, trying to market myself as an unemployment expert worth talking to on the issue. We'll see if anything happens.

January 6, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama is proposing an economic stimulus plan that would add 3 million jobs over the next two years, but it's a shortsighted plan that won't add long-term jobs to the economy, says a San Francisco Bay Area writer for AOL's personal finance Web site, WalletPop.com.
Aaron Crowe's posts on hunting for a job, such as the Obama one at http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/01/06/the-job-hunt-obamas-economic-stimulus-plan-flawed/ are insightful and Aaron can be your news organization's expert on unemployment. With more than 10 million Americans out of work, it's an audience you should reach. Aaron Crowe, a contributor at http://www.walletpop.com/, a personal finance Web site, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes about his job search and offers tips and insight to the unemployed looking for full-time work.
Aaron was laid off at the Contra Costa Times, a daily newspaper in Walnut Creek, CA, in June 2008 after working there for 13 years as a copy editor and assistant metro editor. He has also worked as a copy editor and reporter at other California newspapers.
Aaron lives in Concord, CA and writes a daily blog at http://www.talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com/ about his job hunt and how it affects his 4-year-old daughter. Topics he has written about on WalletPop and on his Unemployed Dad blog include how to get employers to call applicants back for a job interview, how to overcome the daily struggles of the job hunt, and the best ways to improve your skills and search for a job. He's still collecting unemployment while holding down seven various part-time jobs, all of which are infrequent. His wife continues working as a copy editor at the Contra Costa Times, working nights, when Aaron takes over childcare duties at home.
Aaron Crowe can be reached for interviews at:
aaron.crowe.consulting@gmail.com
925.482.5934 Mobile
925.680.2557 Home

---

This tale was brought to you by
talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com

Even a hooker knows to collect first

What career did the telegraph writer go into when he got laid off? Did the horse and buggy driver take six months to find a job when his job was eliminated? Did typewriter repair shop owners polish their resumes on a typewriter when computers took over? Will the last auto worker in Detroit please close the door?

As an unemployed newspaper journalist, I can see how workers in dying professions, or at least massively changing professions, must have felt as their jobs ended. I expect newspapers will survive in some form, but as news content moves to the Internet, they're starting to learn how to get there before they die.

The Detroit newspapers recently made a smart decision, I think, that is at least an effort to keep from going under. They will publish three days a week and charge people to read their content on the Internet. Hooray! Finally, a newspaper is charging to read it online. I hope it's a success. At least a prostitute knows to get payment on top of the dresser before services are rendered. Instead of giving it away, the Detroit papers are asking for money upfront to read online. The Detroit Free Press online is $12 a month or free with a home subscription.

That move is too late to save my job at a California newspaper, but it gives me hope that newspapers will find a way to survive and be profitable.

I doubt if I'll work in newspapers again, although the news business is a career I love. I just now hope to either do it online or find another career equally exciting. Like autoworkers, who face a dying profession unless GM and Chrysler can get their act together, journalists are being laid off left and right to keep newspapers financially afloat. In the end, this may come back to haunt the newspapers, which rely on strong reporting and editing to produce a product readers will want. The cuts they've made may be so deep that readers will notice the little local news that makes it into the paper.

Going global

I was thrilled to see a comment to the entry below, "Future of Newspapers" from a reader in the United Kingdom. He recommended this story about the fall of American newspapers. I have a story pitch on Spot.us about the future of Bay Area newspapers, focusing on how they will deal with the Internet. Read the comment for yourself in the posting below. He advised blogging for a niche, which I'm doing here but plan to expand on in another blog somewhere down the road, hopefully soon.

At the newspaper guild meeting today in San Francisco where Vezeo.com owner Tim White discussed how to make money from blogging. He had many great ideas, but the basic one was to find your niche and blog about it deeply. That's the issue I have to figure out over the next few weeks. I'd like to start another blog about something I feel passionate about, but my problem is that I don't think I'd want to blog about something I'm a fan of (such as Oakland A's) because it might take away from the fun of going to baseball games if I have to think of blogging about it all of the time. I'm interested in a lot of different things, and need to focus on one and blog on it in the hope that it will reach a large audience and thus get some ad clicks.

Sample topics I'm thinking about starting another blog include: chocolate, high thread count sheets, storytelling through journalism, Hawaii, favorite foods from around the country, and chocolate chip cookies. I must be hungry, I'm listing so much food.

Workshops approaching

The weekend is almost here (although I honestly sometimes forget what day of the week it is; part of the joy of not working) and I'm already looking forward to next week. I don't have any job interviews scheduled, but I'm attending a San Jose Newspaper Guild meeting on Monday in San Francisco where a speaker will show us how to make money from blogging.

I'm already making a little cash from it, but want much more money. Much more.

And on Wednesday, I'm going to a workshop by former newspaper workers called "Life After Newspapers" about how to get a job after working at a paper. It looks like it could be a precursor for layoffs at my former employer, but hopefully not. It will be good to hear more ideas, network and talk with former colleagues again. I'm doing all I can to find full-time work, and until then, these type of workshops keep me energized in my job hunt and thrilled to learn more on this unchartered course I'm in.

Howdy partner

Another video that has nothing to do with my job search, other than Emma possibly wanting to move to Texas if I get a job there and thus visit Grandpa Don a lot more.

I'm still awaiting word from the newspaper in Texas where I interviewed, and also waiting for metro openings at the paper in Austin. Newspapers are laying off almost weekly, but the Texas economy, I'm told, is doing much better than the rest of the nation and its newspapers are often hiring. And the wait continues.

Texas job interview

It was a quick interview this afternoon at the Killeen newspaper, and worthwhile. We discussed the many job openings the editor has in his newsroom, with the city editor job opening the one I'm interested in. We quickly discussed my qualifications, which he said were excellent, and how busy the newsroom is now with so many openings to be filled.

The editor told me I'm overqualified for the job, and that me walking in the door with my resume was better than finding a diamond in the rough. I agreed and told him I'm still interested in the job. He said he hoped to have the general manager call me, and maybe even interview me, before we fly out Monday afternoon.

With the Texas economy doing much better than California's, I plan to look at other papers in some of the metro areas to see if they have any openings.

And I now have my first Texas T-shirt, a simple one with the state flag on the front. I'll wear it tonight when we go out to an authentic Texas BBQ. I'm still looking for a good "Don't Mess With Texas" shirt.

Another informational interview

Again, my calls for help continue. In discussions with others who are out of work and newspaper union people who have seen many newsroom employees be laid off, I've raised the issue of how to prepare for a career change from newspapers to any number of other jobs that are hiring. For example, I've been applying for positions in corporate communications, online writing and other areas where writing and editing are needed. But, as I've noted in this blog before, I've run into many brick walls and have been told that I just don't have the specific experience (such as Web writing) in the area they're hiring in.

So I've started doing many things to get around that, including informational interviews. As most people probably know, these interviews don't necessarily lead to a job, but give the job seeker a chance to explore the working world by talking to someone who is either in a position to hire or can tell you more about what they do and possibly introduce you to someone who can maybe hire you somewhere down the road. It's a great way to learn about a job. For instance, I was at AT&T Park a month or so ago, and met a marketing official there, and also talked to another marketing person there, and learned a lot about the job, even there were no immediate openings.

Lately I've been searching to talk with someone about how a former newspaper editor/reporter can break into online writing or corporate communications without having any experience in that field. Through the newspaper union in San Jose, I've found a former colleague at the Contra Costa Times, who is now in corporate communications in the Bay Area. We plan to meet next week over coffee, and I really want to pick his brain for tips on overcoming the "no experience" replies. It should be an interesting talk, and I'll update the blog after the meeting.-

Spam I not am

I've had enough of the e-mail spam offering free Viagra, quality medications, and millions of dollars if I'd only help a prince in Nigeria with a money transfer. Can't he go to Western Union? But the e-mail offers of riches got a lot richer when I started posting my resume on job sites such as CareerBuilder.com, which I now loathe.

Hours after applying for a job at CareerBuilder, I was sent the e-mail below (I left out some of the boring details) from a woman with a gmail account, offering me a job. She even calls it a job "scheme." Red flag. It sounds like money laundering. Just check out steps 1, 2 and 3. I cash their check, transfer money, get 8 percent for my troubles. If that's not money laundering, I don't know what is.

"We have reviewed your resume at website CareerBuilder.com and are eager to inform you that we are ready to offer you a vacant position of the "Financial Agent".
The position of the money agent will require from you a half-day activity.Your work will consist in transferring money among our clients.
Job scheme will comprise the following:
1. You get a check by mail.
2. Than you cash it
3. You transfer the money to our clients
Your earning will be 8 % of the amount of each check.
Additionally we are going to effect you $ 1500 as your salary at the end of each month.
Required skills to start this job:
- Honesty, responsibility and promptness in operations;- Prior customer service experience is a good benefit; - Internet and e-mail skills; Experience in online work; Good communications skills
In addition we will be able to offer you $ 2500 as a monthly payment after completion of the trial period.
In case you are interested in the position, please answer this message. We will get in touch with you within 2 working days."

Needless to say, I didn't respond and labeled it as spam. As my dad told me, "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

During my job hunt, I've also received at least a dozen requests for interviews from insurance companies wanting me to sell insurance. These are probably legit, but I wonder about businesses that can so quickly find my resume and consider me qualified for such a position when I haven't worked in sales since I was a paperboy outside the Fremont BART station selling newspapers one at a time.