Dear Mr. President,
I hope you’re not getting tired of me writing. It’s been a very hard week here at home. Several job interviews that have seemed to go swimmingly have resulted in last minute confessions from recruiters that I’m ‘just not quite the right fit.’ Of course to prevent litigation in case I’m being discriminated against for some ridiculous reasons, the companies are legally protected from actually telling me what I might have said incorrectly in the interview, in order to enable me to improve my interview skills.
I’d have to say, there are countless companies out there that are convinced they can help me get my next job. After my last layoff, I had one company charge me nearly $5,000 to ‘fix’ my resume and get me the phone numbers of about 500 company’s CEOs. They believed that if I went to the top decision makers that all I had to do was sell myself and they’d create the position for me. The company also told me that when an offer was made; they’d help me negotiate the offer.
The phone list yielded 25 out of 25 companies telling me to go through HR like everyone else. To be honest it was 23 out of 25 because 2 were out and out insulted that I’d taken up their time. When I finally did receive a job offer, the company that had charged me its exorbitant fee told me that contract negotiation was in fact an added feature that I’d also have to pay for.
You may wonder, why I’m even bothering to tell you this Mr. President. You see, people have decided to turn the business of getting a job into a business. No promises of work, no promises of results, just promises of willingness for them to take your time and money. The reason I’m writing you is because after this week, again… my unemployment runs out. My unemployment is my income now. And unemployment doesn’t pay for $5,000 spin services.
My next step will be after 14 years of success as a good worker and a trained professional to turn to Welfare. Welfare will provide me with enough for my wife and I to eat in an unhealthy manner. It certainly will not maintain the rent of the house I live in and I’m certain to lose that within 90 days. (I believe eviction takes 90 days). Further, I will run the risk of having my car repossessed if I can not meet those payments. I will therefore no longer be able to get to the job interviews that I need to. This in turn will shape my outlook and sharpness in the interviews I can get to. I may not be able to launder my clothes because that is not considered a necessity in welfare payments.