Anonymous wrote:USAID was all one big scam and contractors/politicians have been using it to milk US taxpayers of billions of $s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say this with respect because I know there’s a lot of affected people here (in addition to the OP), but could someone please explain how/why the people at this org were paid so much before when it seems like their actual skills just didn’t warrant that high level of pay? Is this typical in government orgs? I knew government positions paid a lot more than I originally expected, but I was told that they need to pay those salaries (in addition to the security that has historically also come with government positions) in order to staff the positions.

I worked for a USAID contractor. For sure the management skills are transferable, but the challenge is that what I did was super specialized and no longer exists. Do you need someone to design and implement a low-cost program to get women in Nigeria or Malawi to take their prenatal vitamins and give birth in a birth facility with a trained midwife? Or maybe you need to figure out how to reduce the biases among midwives that lead to infant and maternal mortality. I’m your woman. I’ve done it and have the studies to prove the programs reduced death.

But the jobs here in the US that reduce infant death are few and far between. Who funds them? Some counties and states, but they are not funded to the level we funded these sorts of programs abroad. Sad, isn’t it? And I would understand and even sort of approve if we pulled all that money from USAID and instead used it for health programming in the US. But we didn’t. And now we are losing not just the work, but the expertise. I was a known, respected expert in my field. I’m now doing something different, and can’t mentor the next generation should we decide maternal health is important again. Poof. A generation of knowledge is just gone.

I don’t want anyone’s pity - I’m doing fine. But I would like people to understand that the skills USAID people had were real and valuable and necessary for the work we did. We just don’t seem to find helping poor people a needed skill anymore.

Your work sounds interesting and fulfilling but I’m not sure that you answered the question. Why were you paid so much money to do that work?

I don’t know that I was paid that much. I was in senior leadership, managing programs and budgets totaling $100 million/year and overseeing a staffing structure of 800 people. I made $140,000. I’m always told here on DCUM that makes me poor. I thought it was very fair pay for a job that meant a lot to me.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider having him retrain in medical. Those jobs have the highest growth rate in the US.

UMES on the eastern shore has a physicians assistant program. With a couple years of retraining, he could be a physicians assistant, which pays really decent money.

He could drive home on the weekends while he is retraining and pick up sidework in Ocean City.

Consider retraining an RN also. There is a big demand for male RNs and an RN position can lead to other jobs.

Aren't these programs quite difficult to get into? I think it's very competitive.

Not at UMES located in Princess Anne Maryland. I would not live in Princess Anne to do the program I would live in Salisbury or West Ocean City and drive south to Princess Anne. Salisbury to Princess Anne is about a 15 minute drive.

UMES is part of the University of Maryland college system. It is a former historic African-American college.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider having him retrain in medical. Those jobs have the highest growth rate in the US.

UMES on the eastern shore has a physicians assistant program. With a couple years of retraining, he could be a physicians assistant, which pays really decent money.

He could drive home on the weekends while he is retraining and pick up sidework in Ocean City.

Consider retraining an RN also. There is a big demand for male RNs and an RN position can lead to other jobs.

Aren't these programs quite difficult to get into? I think it's very competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the PPs saying relocate. It's not at all that simple. Companies outside of the DMV 1) want to pay him way less. Like less than 50% of his previous salary and 2) want him in town to start today. So to do that idea he'd need to relocate ahead of you to interview.

Hard agree. And don't forget the cost of moving (movers, truck, first month's rent/security deposit, supplies, furniture, etc). Lots of stories of people moving cross-country only to lose their jobs within days-months.

He has been unemployed for a year! He can move by himself to get started, settle into job, and just rent a room somewhere. It's also much easier to get a job when you have a job, so he can immediately start looking to move back and applying to jobs in the DMV once he is gainfully employed.

Many families have bi-coastal arrangement, and his kids are older so much less of an issue (and his wife seems to have gig work she does remotely so can visit easily as well)

Anonymous wrote:Consider having him retrain in medical. Those jobs have the highest growth rate in the US.

UMES on the eastern shore has a physicians assistant program. With a couple years of retraining, he could be a physicians assistant, which pays really decent money.

He could drive home on the weekends while he is retraining and pick up sidework in Ocean City.

Consider retraining an RN also. There is a big demand for male RNs and an RN position can lead to other jobs.

Anonymous wrote:Get your health insurance through Obama care the ACA.