Help - Former USAID contractor -- zero interviews in a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that usaid did much measurable help I think they shot themselves in the foot by not tying the aid with clear kpis, targets and outcomes.

We DID have kpis, targets, and outcomes. Measured and reported on in excruciating detail in real time dashboards plus quarterly and annual reports. My projects then also had baseline, midline, and endline research to measure change in health metrics.

I just don’t understand why people think USAID was out there throwing money around. There were contracts and deliverables and measurement of outcomes. We even had our contracts cancelled if we didn’t perform. And then (gasp) we fired the staff who were responsible for messing up.

I think the usaid problem is that over the biden years they let the crazies get too much power and public facing attention. Whether you were doing good work or not, all that everyone saw publicly was usaid pushing stuff like drag queen empowerment for Afghanistan type craziness.

It's not the point of this thread, but I have to push back on the disinformation above. There were a lot of allegations right around the wood chipper era about "Drag Queen Empowerment" programs funded by USAID, and they all turned out to be false.

How do I know? I work for an organization that support LGBTQ activists around the world, among other groups at risk of social exclusion. I know these projects, and USAID was not funding them. The limited cases of USAID funding LGBTQ work were almost always within the context of a broader goal -- helping a local LGBTQ rights organization better reach MSM in order to distribute antiretroviral drugs, for example. The LGBTQ groups were the delivery system to get drugs and other HIV prevention to folks who might not otherwise get it. The biggest beneficiary of that work was not the LGBTQ community -- it was the women who didn't know their partners were having sex with men.

Now, there were some limited "drag Queen story hour" type programs. Maybe one in Ireland? But those weren't USAID - they were individual US Ambassadors throwing parties.

Again, none of this goes to OP's dilemma, but I couldn't let debunked information go unchallenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As other pee, pees have suggested, broad in the scope of what he’s looking for. Look at nonprofits and international companies that he has expertise in their specific areas of commerce. DH needs to work outside of his industry to people he knows, people he went to school with, and former coworkers..

heh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but it sounds like his skills either aren't there, aren't unique, or aren't transferrable.

The problem with a lot of these USAID folks is there's a lot of talk about deliverables and managing programs but it's a lot of words.

No, the problem is that the job market is terrible and the government has poured gasoline on it by dumping 300k extra workers into it all at once. Very few industries or sectors have added any meaningful number of jobs in the past year other than healthcare.

If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field.

It sounds like the government propped up the 300k extra workers and they don't really have marketable skills.

Because the jobs in healthcare are in the provision of healthcare services (doctors, NPs, nurses, hospital and office administrative staff), not in public health (got cut!) or infectious diseases.

It sounds like you have no idea what you’re talking about, which is unsurprising.

That makes no sense. Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners work in public health and infectious diseases.

Just face it. Usaid people were not in healthcare. They were paper pushers.

Of course it makes sense. Your reading skills are just terrible.

I never said USAID people were in healthcare. I specifically said they weren’t in healthcare. The people in healthcare getting jobs are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators. USAID people were not that, and no one ever said they were.

Yes, there are doctors and nurses in public health and infectious diseases. But the type of work USAID did on those issues—which were projects and logistics—would not fall under healthcare as classified by the jobs data. Which is why your earlier point of “If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field” is actually the point that makes no sense. The work USAID people did is not the type of work where jobs in the US have been added in the past year, which has been my point all along.

You are just reinforcing the op's point. If the usaid type of work "projects and logistics" or contracts and deliverables or whatever other vague terms that have been used were actual useful skills then these people would be working. Instead it's a pyramid scheme of managing and supervising and auditing the people doing the actual work.

I am not at all surprised that you have never heard of project management or logistics, or that you think dealing with contracts and managing is part of a pyramid scheme instead of “actual work.” These are absolutely foreign concepts down in your troll hole.

Please enlighten us on your deep skills and expertise in doing “actual work.” I’m sure it’s some low-level, menial bulls[i]hit.

Maybe your poor interpersonal skills is why you can't find a job.

I have a job. I never worked at USAID. The only person with poor interpersonal skills is the one coming onto a thread that is looking for advice for a laid off spouse and making multiple comments about how all of the people that worked at the spouse’s organization had no skills and that’s the reason they are unemployed. It’s just troll behavior from garbage people drinking right-wing kool aid.

Why do you think it's one person?

I don’t. I think there are multiple Trump trolls on this thread. The person I was referring to above was the person I was responding to. But it indeed applies broadly.

OMG I'm one of the ones pushing back. I hate Trump but I also hate government waste. I do believe in soft power. I don't believe in entrenched slush funds. Since I'm a realist though, I would rather double the (original) USAID budget (and contracts) without any reforms at all than be in a war, enriching the Trumps and the billionaires etc. Lots of things can be true at once. Some people just want truth and accountability. From everyone. We're sick of the takers, whatever form they come in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that usaid did much measurable help I think they shot themselves in the foot by not tying the aid with clear kpis, targets and outcomes.

We DID have kpis, targets, and outcomes. Measured and reported on in excruciating detail in real time dashboards plus quarterly and annual reports. My projects then also had baseline, midline, and endline research to measure change in health metrics.

I just don’t understand why people think USAID was out there throwing money around. There were contracts and deliverables and measurement of outcomes. We even had our contracts cancelled if we didn’t perform. And then (gasp) we fired the staff who were responsible for messing up.

I think the usaid problem is that over the biden years they let the crazies get too much power and public facing attention. Whether you were doing good work or not, all that everyone saw publicly was usaid pushing stuff like drag queen empowerment for Afghanistan type craziness.

It's not the point of this thread, but I have to push back on the disinformation above. There were a lot of allegations right around the wood chipper era about "Drag Queen Empowerment" programs funded by USAID, and they all turned out to be false.

How do I know? I work for an organization that support LGBTQ activists around the world, among other groups at risk of social exclusion. I know these projects, and USAID was not funding them. The limited cases of USAID funding LGBTQ work were almost always within the context of a broader goal -- helping a local LGBTQ rights organization better reach MSM in order to distribute antiretroviral drugs, for example. The LGBTQ groups were the delivery system to get drugs and other HIV prevention to folks who might not otherwise get it. The biggest beneficiary of that work was not the LGBTQ community -- it was the women who didn't know their partners were having sex with men.

Now, there were some limited "drag Queen story hour" type programs. Maybe one in Ireland? But those weren't USAID - they were individual US Ambassadors throwing parties.

Again, none of this goes to OP's dilemma, but I couldn't let debunked information go unchallenged.

Are you trying to claim you are aware of every single usaid program and where each single dollar was spent?

Impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but it sounds like his skills either aren't there, aren't unique, or aren't transferrable.

The problem with a lot of these USAID folks is there's a lot of talk about deliverables and managing programs but it's a lot of words.

No, the problem is that the job market is terrible and the government has poured gasoline on it by dumping 300k extra workers into it all at once. Very few industries or sectors have added any meaningful number of jobs in the past year other than healthcare.

If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field.

It sounds like the government propped up the 300k extra workers and they don't really have marketable skills.

Because the jobs in healthcare are in the provision of healthcare services (doctors, NPs, nurses, hospital and office administrative staff), not in public health (got cut!) or infectious diseases.

It sounds like you have no idea what you’re talking about, which is unsurprising.

That makes no sense. Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners work in public health and infectious diseases.

Just face it. Usaid people were not in healthcare. They were paper pushers.

Of course it makes sense. Your reading skills are just terrible.

I never said USAID people were in healthcare. I specifically said they weren’t in healthcare. The people in healthcare getting jobs are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators. USAID people were not that, and no one ever said they were.

Yes, there are doctors and nurses in public health and infectious diseases. But the type of work USAID did on those issues—which were projects and logistics—would not fall under healthcare as classified by the jobs data. Which is why your earlier point of “If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field” is actually the point that makes no sense. The work USAID people did is not the type of work where jobs in the US have been added in the past year, which has been my point all along.

You are just reinforcing the op's point. If the usaid type of work "projects and logistics" or contracts and deliverables or whatever other vague terms that have been used were actual useful skills then these people would be working. Instead it's a pyramid scheme of managing and supervising and auditing the people doing the actual work.

I am not at all surprised that you have never heard of project management or logistics, or that you think dealing with contracts and managing is part of a pyramid scheme instead of “actual work.” These are absolutely foreign concepts down in your troll hole.

Please enlighten us on your deep skills and expertise in doing “actual work.” I’m sure it’s some low-level, menial bulls[i]hit.

Maybe your poor interpersonal skills is why you can't find a job.

I have a job. I never worked at USAID. The only person with poor interpersonal skills is the one coming onto a thread that is looking for advice for a laid off spouse and making multiple comments about how all of the people that worked at the spouse’s organization had no skills and that’s the reason they are unemployed. It’s just troll behavior from garbage people drinking right-wing kool aid.

Why do you think it's one person?

I don’t. I think there are multiple Trump trolls on this thread. The person I was referring to above was the person I was responding to. But it indeed applies broadly.

OMG I'm one of the ones pushing back. I hate Trump but I also hate government waste. I do believe in soft power. I don't believe in entrenched slush funds. Since I'm a realist though, I would rather double the (original) USAID budget (and contracts) without any reforms at all than be in a war, enriching the Trumps and the billionaires etc. Lots of things can be true at once. Some people just want truth and accountability. From everyone. We're sick of the takers, whatever form they come in.

And there are plenty of things to push back on about how USAID operated.

But that’s not the same as coming on to a thread that is asking for advice for a laid off spouse to criticize everyone who worked there as being unskilled. Or to repeat false right wing talking points. Or calling it a pyramid scheme, claiming that if the people who worked there had ”actual useful skills” they would now be employed, and that the people working there weren’t doing “the actual work”.

Not sure why some of you were raised so poorly that someone makes a thread about how to help their spouse and you turn it into a discussion about how the people that worked at the spouse’s organization are useless. Blame your parents, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband, like thousands of others in the area, has been out of work for over a year now. He has literally not gotten ONE interview from the hundreds of jobs he's applied for. I'm at my wits end. Will he ever work again? I think after 25 years in the same job, his network is all in his field. He's highly skilled, willing to go down in level, salary, all of it. But ... are there any jobs out there? Are there recruiters that would be good for someone with skills in program development management, grants, social impact? He has experience in South American, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. He's managed portfolios of hundreds of millions of dollars. Do they care about people that have this amazing government experience doing the work internationally? How do you make it transferable?

We've done all that work to adapt the resume, put in the key words, etc. etc. I've networked as much as I can with my network. Does the rest of the country realize how bad it is for these people thanks to Elon Musk?

I'm ranting... thanks for letting me rant... Most days I keep my stress in check, but this year plus mark is really getting to me.

Any advice welcome... especially about local networking events even.

Your DH is probably way overqualified- but I was a research administrator at a large public university. Your DH's skills seem potentially transferrable. Also, it's a notably "non-ageist" niche and universities may hire hybrid or fully remote (which would cast a wider net). Pay is not great, benefits are strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that usaid did much measurable help I think they shot themselves in the foot by not tying the aid with clear kpis, targets and outcomes.

We DID have kpis, targets, and outcomes. Measured and reported on in excruciating detail in real time dashboards plus quarterly and annual reports. My projects then also had baseline, midline, and endline research to measure change in health metrics.

I just don’t understand why people think USAID was out there throwing money around. There were contracts and deliverables and measurement of outcomes. We even had our contracts cancelled if we didn’t perform. And then (gasp) we fired the staff who were responsible for messing up.

I think the usaid problem is that over the biden years they let the crazies get too much power and public facing attention. Whether you were doing good work or not, all that everyone saw publicly was usaid pushing stuff like drag queen empowerment for Afghanistan type craziness.

It's not the point of this thread, but I have to push back on the disinformation above. There were a lot of allegations right around the wood chipper era about "Drag Queen Empowerment" programs funded by USAID, and they all turned out to be false.

How do I know? I work for an organization that support LGBTQ activists around the world, among other groups at risk of social exclusion. I know these projects, and USAID was not funding them. The limited cases of USAID funding LGBTQ work were almost always within the context of a broader goal -- helping a local LGBTQ rights organization better reach MSM in order to distribute antiretroviral drugs, for example. The LGBTQ groups were the delivery system to get drugs and other HIV prevention to folks who might not otherwise get it. The biggest beneficiary of that work was not the LGBTQ community -- it was the women who didn't know their partners were having sex with men.

Now, there were some limited "drag Queen story hour" type programs. Maybe one in Ireland? But those weren't USAID - they were individual US Ambassadors throwing parties.

Again, none of this goes to OP's dilemma, but I couldn't let debunked information go unchallenged.

Are you trying to claim you are aware of every single usaid program and where each single dollar was spent?

Impressive.

No, but I do know that the claims you are blindly repeating here were extensively debunked more than a year ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but it sounds like his skills either aren't there, aren't unique, or aren't transferrable.

The problem with a lot of these USAID folks is there's a lot of talk about deliverables and managing programs but it's a lot of words.

No, the problem is that the job market is terrible and the government has poured gasoline on it by dumping 300k extra workers into it all at once. Very few industries or sectors have added any meaningful number of jobs in the past year other than healthcare.

If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field.

It sounds like the government propped up the 300k extra workers and they don't really have marketable skills.

Because the jobs in healthcare are in the provision of healthcare services (doctors, NPs, nurses, hospital and office administrative staff), not in public health (got cut!) or infectious diseases.

It sounds like you have no idea what you’re talking about, which is unsurprising.

That makes no sense. Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners work in public health and infectious diseases.

Just face it. Usaid people were not in healthcare. They were paper pushers.

Of course it makes sense. Your reading skills are just terrible.

I never said USAID people were in healthcare. I specifically said they weren’t in healthcare. The people in healthcare getting jobs are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators. USAID people were not that, and no one ever said they were.

Yes, there are doctors and nurses in public health and infectious diseases. But the type of work USAID did on those issues—which were projects and logistics—would not fall under healthcare as classified by the jobs data. Which is why your earlier point of “If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field” is actually the point that makes no sense. The work USAID people did is not the type of work where jobs in the US have been added in the past year, which has been my point all along.

You are just reinforcing the op's point. If the usaid type of work "projects and logistics" or contracts and deliverables or whatever other vague terms that have been used were actual useful skills then these people would be working. Instead it's a pyramid scheme of managing and supervising and auditing the people doing the actual work.

I am not at all surprised that you have never heard of project management or logistics, or that you think dealing with contracts and managing is part of a pyramid scheme instead of “actual work.” These are absolutely foreign concepts down in your troll hole.

Please enlighten us on your deep skills and expertise in doing “actual work.” I’m sure it’s some low-level, menial bulls[i]hit.

Maybe your poor interpersonal skills is why you can't find a job.

I have a job. I never worked at USAID. The only person with poor interpersonal skills is the one coming onto a thread that is looking for advice for a laid off spouse and making multiple comments about how all of the people that worked at the spouse’s organization had no skills and that’s the reason they are unemployed. It’s just troll behavior from garbage people drinking right-wing kool aid.

Why do you think it's one person?

I don’t. I think there are multiple Trump trolls on this thread. The person I was referring to above was the person I was responding to. But it indeed applies broadly.

OMG I'm one of the ones pushing back. I hate Trump but I also hate government waste. I do believe in soft power. I don't believe in entrenched slush funds. Since I'm a realist though, I would rather double the (original) USAID budget (and contracts) without any reforms at all than be in a war, enriching the Trumps and the billionaires etc. Lots of things can be true at once. Some people just want truth and accountability. From everyone. We're sick of the takers, whatever form they come in.

And there are plenty of things to push back on about how USAID operated.

But that’s not the same as coming on to a thread that is asking for advice for a laid off spouse to criticize everyone who worked there as being unskilled. Or to repeat false right wing talking points. Or calling it a pyramid scheme, claiming that if the people who worked there had ”actual useful skills” they would now be employed, and that the people working there weren’t doing “the actual work”.

Not sure why some of you were raised so poorly that someone makes a thread about how to help their spouse and you turn it into a discussion about how the people that worked at the spouse’s organization are useless. Blame your parents, I guess.

People are helping by explaining why the spouse can't find a job. He needs to significantly rethink what he thinks his skills are because the real world doesn't agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but it sounds like his skills either aren't there, aren't unique, or aren't transferrable.

The problem with a lot of these USAID folks is there's a lot of talk about deliverables and managing programs but it's a lot of words.

No, the problem is that the job market is terrible and the government has poured gasoline on it by dumping 300k extra workers into it all at once. Very few industries or sectors have added any meaningful number of jobs in the past year other than healthcare.

If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field.

It sounds like the government propped up the 300k extra workers and they don't really have marketable skills.

Because the jobs in healthcare are in the provision of healthcare services (doctors, NPs, nurses, hospital and office administrative staff), not in public health (got cut!) or infectious diseases.

It sounds like you have no idea what you’re talking about, which is unsurprising.

That makes no sense. Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners work in public health and infectious diseases.

Just face it. Usaid people were not in healthcare. They were paper pushers.

Of course it makes sense. Your reading skills are just terrible.

I never said USAID people were in healthcare. I specifically said they weren’t in healthcare. The people in healthcare getting jobs are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators. USAID people were not that, and no one ever said they were.

Yes, there are doctors and nurses in public health and infectious diseases. But the type of work USAID did on those issues—which were projects and logistics—would not fall under healthcare as classified by the jobs data. Which is why your earlier point of “If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field” is actually the point that makes no sense. The work USAID people did is not the type of work where jobs in the US have been added in the past year, which has been my point all along.

You are just reinforcing the op's point. If the usaid type of work "projects and logistics" or contracts and deliverables or whatever other vague terms that have been used were actual useful skills then these people would be working. Instead it's a pyramid scheme of managing and supervising and auditing the people doing the actual work.

I am not at all surprised that you have never heard of project management or logistics, or that you think dealing with contracts and managing is part of a pyramid scheme instead of “actual work.” These are absolutely foreign concepts down in your troll hole.

Please enlighten us on your deep skills and expertise in doing “actual work.” I’m sure it’s some low-level, menial bulls[i]hit.

Maybe your poor interpersonal skills is why you can't find a job.

I have a job. I never worked at USAID. The only person with poor interpersonal skills is the one coming onto a thread that is looking for advice for a laid off spouse and making multiple comments about how all of the people that worked at the spouse’s organization had no skills and that’s the reason they are unemployed. It’s just troll behavior from garbage people drinking right-wing kool aid.

Why do you think it's one person?

I don’t. I think there are multiple Trump trolls on this thread. The person I was referring to above was the person I was responding to. But it indeed applies broadly.

OMG I'm one of the ones pushing back. I hate Trump but I also hate government waste. I do believe in soft power. I don't believe in entrenched slush funds. Since I'm a realist though, I would rather double the (original) USAID budget (and contracts) without any reforms at all than be in a war, enriching the Trumps and the billionaires etc. Lots of things can be true at once. Some people just want truth and accountability. From everyone. We're sick of the takers, whatever form they come in.

And there are plenty of things to push back on about how USAID operated.

But that’s not the same as coming on to a thread that is asking for advice for a laid off spouse to criticize everyone who worked there as being unskilled. Or to repeat false right wing talking points. Or calling it a pyramid scheme, claiming that if the people who worked there had ”actual useful skills” they would now be employed, and that the people working there weren’t doing “the actual work”.

Not sure why some of you were raised so poorly that someone makes a thread about how to help their spouse and you turn it into a discussion about how the people that worked at the spouse’s organization are useless. Blame your parents, I guess.

People are helping by explaining why the spouse can't find a job. He needs to significantly rethink what he thinks his skills are because the real world doesn't agree.

No, the comments I pointed out (and many others) are not helping anything. They are just garbage comments from people that apparently never learned how to act normally around other human beings. I worry for you if you can’t see that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but it sounds like his skills either aren't there, aren't unique, or aren't transferrable.

The problem with a lot of these USAID folks is there's a lot of talk about deliverables and managing programs but it's a lot of words.

No, the problem is that the job market is terrible and the government has poured gasoline on it by dumping 300k extra workers into it all at once. Very few industries or sectors have added any meaningful number of jobs in the past year other than healthcare.

If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field.

It sounds like the government propped up the 300k extra workers and they don't really have marketable skills.

Because the jobs in healthcare are in the provision of healthcare services (doctors, NPs, nurses, hospital and office administrative staff), not in public health (got cut!) or infectious diseases.

It sounds like you have no idea what you’re talking about, which is unsurprising.

That makes no sense. Doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners work in public health and infectious diseases.

Just face it. Usaid people were not in healthcare. They were paper pushers.

Of course it makes sense. Your reading skills are just terrible.

I never said USAID people were in healthcare. I specifically said they weren’t in healthcare. The people in healthcare getting jobs are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators. USAID people were not that, and no one ever said they were.

Yes, there are doctors and nurses in public health and infectious diseases. But the type of work USAID did on those issues—which were projects and logistics—would not fall under healthcare as classified by the jobs data. Which is why your earlier point of “If healthcare added all these job why aren't the people who prevent infectious diseases in Africa or stopped ebola working in that field” is actually the point that makes no sense. The work USAID people did is not the type of work where jobs in the US have been added in the past year, which has been my point all along.

You are just reinforcing the op's point. If the usaid type of work "projects and logistics" or contracts and deliverables or whatever other vague terms that have been used were actual useful skills then these people would be working. Instead it's a pyramid scheme of managing and supervising and auditing the people doing the actual work.

I am not at all surprised that you have never heard of project management or logistics, or that you think dealing with contracts and managing is part of a pyramid scheme instead of “actual work.” These are absolutely foreign concepts down in your troll hole.

Please enlighten us on your deep skills and expertise in doing “actual work.” I’m sure it’s some low-level, menial bulls[i]hit.

Maybe your poor interpersonal skills is why you can't find a job.

I have a job. I never worked at USAID. The only person with poor interpersonal skills is the one coming onto a thread that is looking for advice for a laid off spouse and making multiple comments about how all of the people that worked at the spouse’s organization had no skills and that’s the reason they are unemployed. It’s just troll behavior from garbage people drinking right-wing kool aid.

Why do you think it's one person?

I don’t. I think there are multiple Trump trolls on this thread. The person I was referring to above was the person I was responding to. But it indeed applies broadly.

OMG I'm one of the ones pushing back. I hate Trump but I also hate government waste. I do believe in soft power. I don't believe in entrenched slush funds. Since I'm a realist though, I would rather double the (original) USAID budget (and contracts) without any reforms at all than be in a war, enriching the Trumps and the billionaires etc. Lots of things can be true at once. Some people just want truth and accountability. From everyone. We're sick of the takers, whatever form they come in.

And there are plenty of things to push back on about how USAID operated.

But that’s not the same as coming on to a thread that is asking for advice for a laid off spouse to criticize everyone who worked there as being unskilled. Or to repeat false right wing talking points. Or calling it a pyramid scheme, claiming that if the people who worked there had ”actual useful skills” they would now be employed, and that the people working there weren’t doing “the actual work”.

Not sure why some of you were raised so poorly that someone makes a thread about how to help their spouse and you turn it into a discussion about how the people that worked at the spouse’s organization are useless. Blame your parents, I guess.

People are helping by explaining why the spouse can't find a job. He needs to significantly rethink what he thinks his skills are because the real world doesn't agree.

+1

After a year with no success, he's clearly overrating his skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband, like thousands of others in the area, has been out of work for over a year now. He has literally not gotten ONE interview from the hundreds of jobs he's applied for. I'm at my wits end. Will he ever work again? I think after 25 years in the same job, his network is all in his field. He's highly skilled, willing to go down in level, salary, all of it. But ... are there any jobs out there? Are there recruiters that would be good for someone with skills in program development management, grants, social impact? He has experience in South American, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. He's managed portfolios of hundreds of millions of dollars. Do they care about people that have this amazing government experience doing the work internationally? How do you make it transferable?

We've done all that work to adapt the resume, put in the key words, etc. etc. I've networked as much as I can with my network. Does the rest of the country realize how bad it is for these people thanks to Elon Musk?

I'm ranting... thanks for letting me rant... Most days I keep my stress in check, but this year plus mark is really getting to me.

Any advice welcome... especially about local networking events even.

Your DH is probably way overqualified- but I was a research administrator at a large public university. Your DH's skills seem potentially transferrable. Also, it's a notably "non-ageist" niche and universities may hire hybrid or fully remote (which would cast a wider net). Pay is not great, benefits are strong.

From demographic cliff to the squeeze of federal grants, are any universities really hiring all that much? specially a RESEARCH administartor?