Long Term Unemployed - How Long...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What fields are the long-term unemployed in?

Also, what salary range were they looking for? DH is recently unemployed and I was thinking .it would ve a couple months, but maybe in some fields I should be anticipating a much longer time.

[Anonymous]

My DH was in the $250K+ salary range in commercial real estate industry.

One year unemployed. That $1800 a month unemployment check was enough to pay for groceries and utilities. I went back to work, found a job making $40K - so 2012 was a TOUGH year but on the flip side I dont think we're going to owe anything in taxes

[Anonymous]

Almost 2 years, $140K, medical/insurance field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH was in the $250K+ salary range in commercial real estate industry.

One year unemployed. That $1800 a month unemployment check was enough to pay for groceries and utilities. I went back to work, found a job making $40K - so 2012 was a TOUGH year but on the flip side I dont think we're going to owe anything in taxes

Was he finding lower paying jobs? or just nothing at all? My DH is looking in the same industry but in the low 100's.

[Anonymous]

Yes, he got 2 offers making $100K less but opted to not take them as it would be too difficult to work back up to the $250 number - if ever! Also, taking a $50K pay cut is difficult but doable if you really cut corners, DW gets a job, stop contributing to retirement. $100K less would mean a complete and wholesale change to our lives - selling the house for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he got 2 offers making $100K less but opted to not take them as it would be too difficult to work back up to the $250 number - if ever! Also, taking a $50K pay cut is difficult but doable if you really cut corners, DW gets a job, stop contributing to retirement. $100K less would mean a complete and wholesale change to our lives - selling thany ch house for example.

Any chance your DH would mind sending his contact info to my DH? Any chance for advice or networking in this industry wild be so helpful. Georgetownshare at yahoo . Com

Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH: a year and a half and maybe over today!
He has actually been verbally offered a job - offer letter should be emailed TODAY...
but after a year and a half of ups and downs, I won't believe it until I see it.
Or rather, I won't believe it until I see the money in the bank!

Good Luck!!! let us know what happens. I know the feeling. after DH was unemployed for a year I literally fell to my knees when he got "the offer". that was 6 months ago...now we are steadily paying off the debt we racked up on our credit cards.
Im back to work FT too.

Yay! Offer letter received! Still can't quite believe it, after all this time...
You're right, PP - no living wild straight away. Have to rebuild the little nest egg.

awesome!!!! are you styaing in DC?

Thanks! We have a house here, and wanted to stay, so DH looked mainly for jobs in this area - although towards the end he started thinking about California or Europe... thank goodness his one lead here panned out! His field is fundamental biomedical research, does not pay much, even at a PhD level. About 100K.
Now with the sequester, he might be out of job quite soon, but at least we have a breather for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he got 2 offers making $100K less but opted to not take them as it would be too difficult to work back up to the $250 number - if ever! Also, taking a $50K pay cut is difficult but doable if you really cut corners, DW gets a job, stop contributing to retirement. $100K less would mean a complete and wholesale change to our lives - selling thany ch house for example.

Any chance your DH would mind sending his contact info to my DH? Any chance for advice or networking in this industry wild be so helpful. Georgetownshare at yahoo . Com

Thanks!!

Would love to share but the jobs were in another state and that was 9 months ago. that said, I would suggest that DH become heavily involved in Corenet. Here's their job board http://corenet.selectleaders.com/

also, they have a huge networking group that DH made sure he stayed in contact with. At the end of the day however, he found his job on Indeed.

Having just gone through this, here are a few words of advice Id like to share - be open to any and all possibilities, including moving out of the DC area. Are you in the DC area now?
Networking is key. He needs to take people to lunch, a different person every week...he needs face time with others in his field so that they remember him when they become aware of an opportunity. He needs to follow up with everyone - all the people he took to lunch, throw an emial out to them every month or so. And be careful to not take too much of a lower payng job as it will essentially reset his salary to that lower rate and he will forever be working to get back up to that number he used to be at. All that said, you do what you need to do to feed your family. As I mentioned, I went back to work. I actually found a job in DC once we landed here as I will NEVER again be in a position where there is only one bread-winner in the family, too risky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he got 2 offers making $100K less but opted to not take them as it would be too difficult to work back up to the $250 number - if ever! Also, taking a $50K pay cut is difficult but doable if you really cut corners, DW gets a job, stop contributing to retirement. $100K less would mean a complete and wholesale change to our lives - selling thany ch house for example.

Any chance your DH would mind sending his contact info to my DH? Any chance for advice or networking in this industry wild be so helpful. Georgetownshare at yahoo . Com

Thanks!!

Would love to share but the jobs were in another state and that was 9 months ago. that said, I would suggest that DH become heavily involved in Corenet. Here's their job board http://corenet.selectleaders.com/

also, they have a huge networking group that DH made sure he stayed in contact with. At the end of the day however, he found his job on Indeed.

Having just gone through this, here are a few words of advice Id like to share - be open to any and all possibilities, including moving out of the DC area. Are you in the DC area now?
Networking is key. He needs to take people to lunch, a different person every week...he needs face time with others in his field so that they remember him when they become aware of an opportunity. He needs to follow up with everyone - all the people he took to lunch, throw an emial out to them every month or so. And be careful to not take too much of a lower payng job as it will essentially reset his salary to that lower rate and he will forever be working to get back up to that number he used to be at. All that said, you do what you need to do to feed your family. As I mentioned, I went back to work. I actually found a job in DC once we landed here as I will NEVER again be in a position where there is only one bread-winner in the family, too risky.

Thanks, we'll definitely check out Corenet. We are in the DC area and I have a job here and we recently bought a house, so we are committed to staying here. Thankfully, he is very good at networking. We just have to wait for the right opening to come along. If your DH knows anyone who might be helpful in this area or can connect him to anyone, please email me.

Thanks again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - did you have to get into your reitrement or did you have enough saved up?

So many people on DCUm think this cant happen to them, but can and does. DH was a top exec when he lost his job. We had a contract on a house, had to pull out of that. The breaks were literally put on our lives for a year.

I did have to withdraw a little from retirement. Not much. It was the more liquid emergency cushion that got completely eaten up. I'm actually surprised it lasted as long as it did. Then again, I wasn't working, and I had all kinds of leisure time to spend on frugality. (Being cheap is very time-consuming!)

And, right before I took my part-time job, my husband's job let his contract lapse, and were unsure if they would issue a new one. There was one month when both of us were 100% unemployed. We were days from his health insurance going away when his job finally decided to keep him on and re-upped his contract. Rough times.

[Anonymous]

If I lost my job, I would not wait around for years until I got another one to my liking. I would take what was available.

[Anonymous]

PP - have you ever lost a job as a senior executive who has spent YEARS AND YEARS working up to his current level? Just curious. Most executives would NOT do that as it is a kiss of death with respect to ever getting another senior position. I would network my ass off first and leave no stone unturned and be open to relocating before taking a lower paying job in a junior role. to each their own however as everyone's situation is different. in our case, I went back to work, DH stayed home with the kids and networked 24/7 until he found a job. in the end, it payed off. but we were able to do that because we had a $200K cash cushion to rely on in case we needed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he got 2 offers making $100K less but opted to not take them as it would be too difficult to work back up to the $250 number - if ever! Also, taking a $50K pay cut is difficult but doable if you really cut corners, DW gets a job, stop contributing to retirement. $100K less would mean a complete and wholesale change to our lives - selling thany ch house for example.

Any chance your DH would mind sending his contact info to my DH? Any chance for advice or networking in this industry wild be so helpful. Georgetownshare at yahoo . Com

Thanks!!

Would love to share but the jobs were in another state and that was 9 months ago. that said, I would suggest that DH become heavily involved in Corenet. Here's their job board http://corenet.selectleaders.com/

also, they have a huge networking group that DH made sure he stayed in contact with. At the end of the day however, he found his job on Indeed.

Having just gone through this, here are a few words of advice Id like to share - be open to any and all possibilities, including moving out of the DC area. Are you in the DC area now?
Networking is key. He needs to take people to lunch, a different person every week...he needs face time with others in his field so that they remember him when they become aware of an opportunity. He needs to follow up with everyone - all the people he took to lunch, throw an emial out to them every month or so. And be careful to not take too much of a lower payng job as it will essentially reset his salary to that lower rate and he will forever be working to get back up to that number he used to be at. All that said, you do what you need to do to feed your family. As I mentioned, I went back to work. I actually found a job in DC once we landed here as I will NEVER again be in a position where there is only one bread-winner in the family, too risky.

Thanks, we'll definitely check out Corenet. We are in the DC area and I have a job here and we recently bought a house, so we are committed to staying here. Thankfully, he is very good at networking. We just have to wait for the right opening to come along. If your DH knows anyone who might be helpful in this area or can connect him to anyone, please email me.

Thanks again

what was your DH doing in the commercial real estate arena? was he a broker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he got 2 offers making $100K less but opted to not take them as it would be too difficult to work back up to the $250 number - if ever! Also, taking a $50K pay cut is difficult but doable if you really cut corners, DW gets a job, stop contributing to retirement. $100K less would mean a complete and wholesale change to our lives - selling thany ch house for example.

Any chance your DH would mind sending his contact info to my DH? Any chance for advice or networking in this industry wild be so helpful. Georgetownshare at yahoo . Com

Thanks!!

Would love to share but the jobs were in another state and that was 9 months ago. that said, I would suggest that DH become heavily involved in Corenet. Here's their job board http://corenet.selectleaders.com/

also, they have a huge networking group that DH made sure he stayed in contact with. At the end of the day however, he found his job on Indeed.

Having just gone through this, here are a few words of advice Id like to share - be open to any and all possibilities, including moving out of the DC area. Are you in the DC area now?
Networking is key. He needs to take people to lunch, a different person every week...he needs face time with others in his field so that they remember him when they become aware of an opportunity. He needs to follow up with everyone - all the people he took to lunch, throw an emial out to them every month or so. And be careful to not take too much of a lower payng job as it will essentially reset his salary to that lower rate and he will forever be working to get back up to that number he used to be at. All that said, you do what you need to do to feed your family. As I mentioned, I went back to work. I actually found a job in DC once we landed here as I will NEVER again be in a position where there is only one bread-winner in the family, too risky.

Thanks, we'll definitely check out Corenet. We are in the DC area and I have a job here and we recently bought a house, so we are committed to staying here. Thankfully, he is very good at networking. We just have to wait for the right opening to come along. If your DH knows anyone who might be helpful in this area or can connect him to anyone, please email me.

Thanks again

what was your DH doing in the commercial real estate arena? was he a broker?

Not sure if that was addressed to the $250K salary pp whose DH got a job or to me, the one whose DH is still looking.

My DH is an underwriter/portfolio manager. I would guess her DH is an originator/relationship manager, based on the salary.

[Anonymous]

Marketing and fundraising, unemployed on-and-off for the past three years. It's rough out there, and there can be age discrimination, even in your 40s.