Unemployment experiences

What’s the longest unemployed stint you have ever had? I’m talking about involuntary unemployment due to being laid off or for health reasons.

Mine was 6 months. I worked for a company called EDS when the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred and then the subsequent economic recession. I was laid off from EDS at the end of June 2002 and I didn’t find another job until December of 2002 even though I was applying for jobs left and right. It was certainly not a pleasant time of my life between what happened on 9/11 and also being unemployed.

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Despite all I complain about my life here, I can still say I consider myself a lucky guy…
My actual quote is “I’m the luckiest man alive”

While debatable it also reflects on the fact that in very nearly 47 years of life I have been forcefully unemployed exactly only one month.

Started working as System Admin for the textile giant Calzedonia right before the turn of 2020.

Specifically I was assigned to a subsidiary called Atelier Eme’ which made wedding dresses and cocktail party apparel.

2020 comes, Covid comes along, no more parties, no more wedding for the foreseeable future, and as the last guy I get the boot.

Literally two months before my last day I get a call from a headhunter of my current company. Three interviews and nearly whole two months later I still think my chances are 50/50.

The very last day of work I got confirmation that I was chosen as a candidate and my contract starts in two months.
I was out of job for exactly 1 month.

The support infrastructure created by the italian government still managed to provide kinda quickly what I needed and I never felt truly left to my own device.
It wasn’t a good moment in any way, shape or form… but at least I wasn’t outright panicking as I did for the previous two years.

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I was a student at the time so the impact wasn’t all that great, but my first job was stocking auto parts at a large, well known American chain around 2007~2008. About a year in I had to fight them for time off to go to the Mayo clinic because I was going through some medical issues–would have needed a transplant or been dead had I not gone. Anyway, some time later they ask if I can work more hours, I decline because college is priority. They fired me without notice on my day off. I went in on my next work day to find my name not on the task list, and when I called the supervisor she nervously said I needed to speak with HR.

Very professional.

Took me about 2 years to find my next part-time job. Worked at a restaurant for about 3 months then quit because I couldn’t hack the stress. The misandrist narcissist of a manager wasn’t helping either.

After that I was basically unemployed except for some odd jobs like proofreading translated articles for the next 2.5 years or so until I moved to Japan.

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Since I have started working I have not been unemployed.

…unless I count the time after leaving the military when I had to wait a year before I could start going to the university. I wanted to do something other than helping my parents with their home, so I went and worked at an electroplating company for a few months, where I was technically fired because the work they hired me for was done. But I wouldn’t have worked there for more than another one or two months anyway.

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A very long 18 months in 2012/13. Post-Great Recession IT in Florida still sucks.

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In 2008 I was living the dream… a King Air B200 captain flying charter, a significant amount of the trips being medical in nature (organ procurement mainly, but with a little bit of Air Ambulance) out of the Zanesville Municipal Airport in Ohio.

In March 2009 another pilot and myself were called into the company owner’s office and we were both laid off. It felt like the rug had been pulled out from under my feet. It was particularly demoralizing because pilots were being laid off in large numbers at that time and many corporate flight departments were being closed, so the few jobs that were out there were flooded with applicants far more experienced than I was at the time.

About a week after the lay off, I was called by a pilot (we will call him Bob) who ran a flight department in Columbus, Ohio. They used a contract pilot as SIC for every trip and he would call my old company for help when needed. I, along with the other full time pilots who were suitably rated, would be despatched to go and fly with him. His offer was that instead of going through my old company, he would call me directly and pay me the same as he would have paid my previous employer. And so I became Owner, President, CEO, El Jefe of PJR Pilot Services LLC. I spent almost three years doing contract flying, most of which was for ‘Bob’ in the right seat of a Citation II. I feel very fortunate because a lot of laid off pilots took jobs in other fields and never returned to the cockpit after the economy tanked.

In 2011 I was offered a job as a Challenger 604 SIC in Texas and it’s been an adventure ever since. So, long story short, I didn’t have a real full time job for almost 3 years but because of ‘Bob’ and a few other’s like him, I was able to keep flying and my wife and I were able to keep our heads above water financially. Hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to be a ‘Bob’ and throw someone a lifeline when they need it.

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For me it would have been about a week. During the year and a bit between graduating high school and joining the Army I worked a succession of casual jobs, about 6 or 7 all up. The pattern was, work for a month or two, then take off and hitchhike/backpack for a couple of weeks until the money ran out, find another shitty job just for the money, rinse-repeat.

I had started with, of all places, a florist, doing odd jobs around the shop - accepting deliveries, trimming stems, cleaning up, etc when at the end of the first week the manager called me in and said words to the effect ‘I don’t think you are working out, I will have to let you go’. Which was a real shame because the young lass about my age who worked there was really cute and I was about to ask her out.

Turns out, the manager (who I thought was gay) also had his eye on her and my mistake was in confiding my intentions to him.

I started about a week later at an electroplating company. The money was actually quite good but I only lasted a month before I quit. Even as a no-nothing teenager I knew that all the fumes, toxic chemicals and total lack of workplace safety wasn’t healthy.

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As a lorry driver, mechanic, tyre fitter and generally fairly “handy” dude. Ive never been out of work longer than i wanted to be thankfully. Sometimes they arent the best jobs, but the bills get paid.

Funny story that i hope comes across as that and not big headed but i worked for a guy driving bulk tippers (think grain transport from farm to mill) and he was an absolute slave driver, had a severe attitude and was renowned for sacking you on the spot and even getting a bit physically involved if you really pissed him off. An absolute arse.

I was fairly good at my job, worked hard and didn’t break anything so he left me alone pretty much. Till one day, I backed my truck up and ran over the pressure washer we used to wash down at the end of the week. My fault and I’d of paid for it if asked. I just didnt see it.

He raced out the office in his shirt and tie and ripped the door open on my lorry and started screaming and stamping his feet and being a complete dick about it. I obviously apologised and offered to fix or repair it and he kept going on and on and on.
In the end i told him that if a grands worth of wash is worth more than a bloke who never ever puts a foot wrong, he could stick his lorry up his arse. He went bright red and tried to grab me and i told him in no uncertain (i was rather hotheaded in my younger days…don’t judge me) that if one part of his body touched me before i have emptied this truck of my things, he wouldn’t be having it back. I’d be keeping it and to be aware the height of his nose was directly the same height as my boot in the cab.

He threatened and said “I’ll phone everyone! You’ll never work again” and i replied “I’ll have a ■■■■■■■ job before I’ve left your car park”

Made one phonecall on the way home and was driving for his competition the next day at 5am.

I saw him not long ago actually. He wouldn’t speak funnily enough.

Always. Know. Your. Own. Value.

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Haha, yeah!
“Everything here is acid. Or toxic. Or both.”

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Since I’ve started working, I’ve been unemployed for two weeks.

My first real job was as a software unit tester at an automotive traction battery manufacturer. Two years in they lost 2 big multi-year contracts with ze Germans in a row and let go of all the leased employees, including myself. The lease company that earned a comfortable sum off of me and never had to lift a finger would have had to hold and pay me for at least a month before letting me go, but they talked me into mutually dissolving the arrangement (I was young and stupid, what can I say).

Filed for unemployment and went job hunting, 2 weeks later I started at smaXtec, I think I was employee number 7 or 10 at the time. Worked there as a data scientist/engineer for close to 8 years. They recently got aquired by KKR, glad I wasn’t around for that. :slight_smile:

Now before I started working in earnest, that was a different story. Was a student bum for a long time, didn’t really know what to do with myself. I kept myself afloat by doing accounting stuff for my dad’s practice (he was a general practicioner) and earning a bit on the side as musician. God bless my parents, I would probably have starved back then If they hadn’t looked after me.

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This is a great thread. Wow, there are some good stories here. Here is mine.
15 years in the ARMY and I then quit. ONE MONTH Before September 11th. Did I mention I was in the 82nd? For 3 months I tried to get a job. Then I got a call, “Wanna go to Kuwait?” I worked for them for 10 years then my son was born. By this time I had moved to Qatar. I quit and moved to Sweden with his mother. For 3 years I looked after him and ran the house. I cooked, I cleaned as well as taking care of the garden and the house. It all came crashing down when we broke up. I stayed with a friend in Thailand where I partied my butt off. After a 6 week blur i told myself that I needed to stop living on my savings and get to work. I got a call from a guy and we talked. It turned out he was offering my old job from 3 years ago back to me. CRAZY! I went back to Qatar. I then worked for them nearly another 10 years and they let me go. That was in March. I spent 6 months not working. I was very self sustaining and to be honest in no hurry. I got my present job in August and started in September. I probably will work 2 more years then I am done. As much as I love working, I love to stop and smell the flowers.

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Let’s see… I was right-seat in A320s for LeisureAir when they were shut down by the FAA in ‘95. (It was well deserved. That place was a fireball waiting to happen.) A buddy and I took a contract flying DC-10s for AOM French Airlines during the Haj season out of Ujung Pandang. We were a month into training when pilots for Air France threatened to strike over our presence on French soil. (Belgium, actually, but Europe). My buddy and I took the cash advance we were both given and asked to return (ha!). We got in my new gf’s Peugeot and made a road trip out of the layoff. After a few months of unemployment checks, I was hired at Transmeridian flying, again, A320s. Jumped ship to Continental where I was laid off in the wake of 9/11 in February 2003. A month later I was flying left seat in a BarbieJet (Emb 145) for ExpressJet. In less than a year I was back on Guam with Continental. Overall I’d say my time unemployed was about four months. Without a wife and kid during those off periods, it was more adventure than pain. Those who’ve suffered unemployment with families to support were enduring stresses that I can only try to imagine.

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Reading through these stories I’m seeing a lot of stuff that would not fly (heh) in Japanese labor law if taken to court.

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Have to think on this one…about 6 months…

After 9+ years in the Air force I decided to get out an do the same thing for the FAA.

Held the same certificates, same rules, using same procedures, etc. They didn’t care. Must start from scratch.

Ok, fine, I’ll do it. Prior to taking “The Test” I watched a few of my co-workers try the same thing, fail, and end up right back amongst us. Made me think.

Took the test anyway along with a couple others from my ‘shop’.

One of those timed tests where you have no clue how you did walking out of the room later. Of the three of us somehow I got the highest score. But, due to ‘quotas’ (this was mid 1980’s) I was hired last.

So I spent 6-ish months on my mom’s back porch with a stack of books, rules & regs, maps, charts, etc and set about memorizing it all and trying to teach myself what I imagined the screening process would want me to know. That part didnt help - the ‘school’ didn’t like broadcasting the 'how to’s" to the public. And this was long before the Internet. May be different now. Oh, and fishing :slight_smile:

Made it thru the academy as a the honor grad for my region, which was a long ways away from home. I mention this cos I was interviewed after by some of the staff about it.

They wondered why I scored so much higher than those from that region (near the academy). “Well I’m Joe Average, I just worked harder I think, I watched them all go home and party on the weekends…I didn’t have that option…”. Made sense to me. And my Bondo-Buggy car barely made there in the first place (made an average of $9,350 A YEAR in the Air Force then).

Prior to that however, The “You made it” final cut announcement was cruel: they called all 24 of us (from our region) into a classroom and said, “If your name is called, 'move on to the other room, the rest of you stay here”. That’s all they said.

Naturally we’re all thinking, 'boy, hope my name’s on the ‘move on…’ list" - the impression they gave us was: if your name is called you passed.

Finally it got down to where only 6 of us were left [in the original classroom]. No way, can’t be! My heart was sinking; 9 years + 6 months riding the porch + 5 months of this screening process - NO!. Then the instructor lead said, "Congratulations, you [6] passed’. Whew! Wasn’t funny.

Another 3 years of training then set loose on the unsuspecting public.

24 years til my next break, but that one doesn’t count.

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Because…retirement?

(Phew! Quite a career!)

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