I'm too good for that job

People here in China have the idea that if you don't have a job in America (or Canada), the gov't will just give you money.  They aren't that far off base 

I almost wish this were true. Maybe it is in Communist countries like Canada, but it sure isn't in the USA. Much of our welfare was gone by the Reagan Revolution of the early 1980s.

Well, OK, in many states you can get a lot if you have a minor child in your custody- food, housing, medical care, child care, cash, and a lot more. But without the child...there ain't much safety net here at all.

After a blowup at the Casino (not my doing, I swear ) I've been unemployed again for quite some time. And it's really, really bleak here...even things like retail are getting hard to come by. I'm furiously applying for jobs I wouldn't have even bothered to laugh at BC (Before China)...and still getting very few nibbles at all.
I did have an interview last week I'm waiting to hear from. The company had jettisoned its Marketing department when the economy collapsed, and are seeking to replace it with one person, 20 hours a week, hourly pay, no benefits.

I get food stamps, which buy ONLY food....no toilet paper, no toothpaste, no gasoline...nothing else.
It would probably be easier- and cheaper!- for me to get a private audience with Hu Jintao than with an American doctor.

So, there IS some safety net for kids...but the days when you can just quit your job and live off the taxpayers (or even return from years abroad and get much help shoehorning back in) are over in America. Have been for decades.

Hang in there, Laoban. Somesing will turn up.....just pray it doesn't take too long.

Sorry to hear things are in such a mess, Raoul.

I have been surprised at how much my one year sojourn to China has decreased my marketability for the part-time bookkeeping type jobs I look for.  I have racked up a string of 9 month jobs mixed with unemployment for illness and then China.  It's hard to just get an interview.  The local newspaper reports that there are approximately 200 applicants for every receptionist, Wal-Mart, or deli-counter sort of jobs.    Employers cringe when they have to advertise for positions because they know they'll have to sort through too many applicants.

And California is cutting waaaaaay back on social services.  No more free health care for poor children, no more in-home help to keep the elderly out of nursing homes, and at least less job training for the unemployed.

Stay away from here if you can, folks.

Wow, I can't believe you're unemployed, Raoul!!  You're so talented!!  You have Sarah Palin as Governor of Alaska and Raoul Duke unemployed.. What the hell is wrong with that country?

I knew a foreigner in Changzhou who didn't have a degree or a TESOL/TEFL but felt he was the greatest teacher alive. He wasn't. His grammar was terrible and he knew nothing about how to go about teaching a class. The demands he laid down on schools he would interview at were so above anything I would ever ask for. He said that he wouldn't work for less than 16000 RMB.

Did he get the job? 

Amen Sister.

Something is really broken with the welfare system.  People like your co-worker's boyfriend should be out shoveling snow or picking up litter in public parks. 

That's where Government comes in.  Government should be encouraging people to "do public works", "to serve those less fortunate than yourself", "to be a good Samaritan".  From what I gather about the USA, since "The Reagan Revolution", Government has gotten smaller and smaller.  Indeed, Republicans and some Democrats are happy with the fact. The consequence of that policy is that people like the co-worker's boyfriend is grovelling at home about how the system has mistreated him.

Raoul I am sorry to hear about everything. Our job market sucks here too.

Canada is definately not as strict as the US when it comes down to our welfare system. They aren't getting rich but we don't have food stamps so you are free to do as you like with your cheque.

Paul, that guy did get a job which he promply let after 2 months as he felt he wasn't treated as well as he deserved.

Paul, that guy did get a job which he promply let after 2 months as he felt he wasn't treated as well as he deserved.

They didn't give him a pay rise to 17000?

Prospects are pretty thin for ESL/EFL teachers returning to the UK - and that's going to include me in a couple of months. And yet, my aged mother can't find anybody to do her gardening, painters and decorators have two-month waiting lists, and it costs a fortune to get a plumber (and to be a plumber you need to buy a spanner and say "I'm a plumber"). So Mrs Foscolo and are a thinking about whether some kind of self-employment wouldn't be the way to go. We have a range of skills. It's just getting the ball rolling that's the hard part, probably.

My time in China has definately hurt me in the job market. There is not a strong ESL market here (in my area) and no one was impressed by a seven year absence. I actually just had a hard time trying to get security clearance for my job. I have the keys and alarm codes to the store and my store does this extensive background/police check and the fact that I was out of the country for so long caused a delay in going forth (and a delay in my raise ).

It does suck having to work in jobs you never would have considered before. Now I was in retail before China but I started in HR and then moved to senior management. Having to come back and start in job that I would have worked in high school did suck but when the job market is scarce, you take what you can get.

Yeah...you'd think a bit of time abroad would be a positive thing on your resume, but it's not...at least not if you weren't a manager/engineer type. I'd always heard that teaching in China was resume poison back home, even back when times were a lot better, but I'm really seeing now how true it is. It's even worse, I think, when you're gone a long time, as I was. The lack of local work history becomes a serious handicap.

At least I've been giving some employment-background-check companies here a serious case of apoplexy.

Hey Raoul, I'm in the same boat as you. I actually just got laid off from my job last week. What sucks is that I was a "freelance" worker (aka: got no benefits, or taxes taken out of my paycheck) which was fine and dandy for the 2 years I worked 40 hours a week for them, but now, I have NO "safety net" and can't get unemployment because I wasn't technically an employee (and they weren't paying unemployment taxes or whatever it's called.)

So yeah, and what sucks for me is I'm heading to China in 10 weeks so my infinitesimal chances of getting a job in the first place are further reduced because I only want a job for 2 months.

But, to bring this back to topic, I've never been too proud for a job. I used to work at a local stationary store for $7/hr and actually, it was a lot of fun.

My favorite thing to do was scare all the parents around high school graduation time. I went to a respected liberal arts college (big bucks--still paying it off actually) and when parents would talk about their kid going to that school, I'd say "Hey! I went there...great school!" and hand them an ink cartridge or a bunch of balloons or something. And then they would look at me, imagine their child working retail after spending 100 grand on education and shudder. It was the best....

I wouldn't tell them you just want a job for 2 months. I just took a promotion at my work even though I know I am leaving the job next month. I need the money and that's just life. My work thinks nothing of cancelling shifts all the time when they don't do the sales they hope for. With all the people looking for work, they will be able to replace you.

After three months on the job hunt in the US, I've definitely lowered my expectations (and I had lowered them before moving back). It's tough out here, but I'm still trying to stay optimistic. I'll take what I can get to get by.

Ironic innit. "Why don't all you go back home and get a job that suits you....flippin burgers" is the oft-reply on ESL forums to people who disagree with the "experts".
Now even a job like that is hard to find.