I got lots of feedback from this. Everyone hated my position. Some said that we needed a $500b deficit package (ala Krugman) and that my objection to a lousy $34b was misguided. Others said that there should be no extension of UI at all. A good number suggested that I was a heartless S.O.B. that had no idea what it was like to be unemployed in America today. The later group got to me. I have had an exchange of emails from one person that is facing a wall. She is from Cleveland. Her name is Wendy. Some comments from her:
I was wondering.... Have you ever been scared, really scared?
You speak about H.R. 5618 because it is adding to the debt of the country. My thought is you are so self absorbed that you would stop reading this email right now because "unemployed Americans are not worth it"
Have another martini in your condo in Miami and rest easy knowing you will never be me. Make sure your children and grandchildren know what you are and what you believe, maybe they already know dad is a selfish cruel Bastard who believes money is the most important thing. Thanks to people like you I will continue to go to bed scared of tomorrow. Sleep wellWendy,Children: Jessy and Parker
I live in Cleveland, Ohio and am the sole supporter of my children. We can't pay the mortgage, utilities etc. today. The point for those like me there is no future- we have to get through today- eat, clothing- I can't buy detergent today.
I am a Special education teacher with my Masters degree-- with out a job. I did what the President said, "go back to school". I took out loans and studied hard to fulfill the dream of being a Special Education teacher. I don't want a hand out, just a hand up.
I have to admit that this exchange got to me. There have always been people like Wendy who fall through the cracks. But we have not been through times like the ones we are living through for 80 years. I feel sorry for Wendy, I wish she and all the other Wendy’s did not have to wake up feeling scared. I would like to help her get a job so she could get through this period. I know no one in Cleveland and I doubt that the great state of Ohio is hiring any teachers these days. So she is out of luck.
Possibly someone can help her. I would like to provide some inducement. Here is my proposal:
I will put up $6,000 in cash. $3,000 goes to the employer as an incentive to hire Wendy. No strings attached to that. If a job is offered and accepted they get the money. They can do with it what they wish. The other $3,000 goes to Wendy. She gets the money when she takes the job. This is no freebie.
There is a caveat to this. The job that is offered must provide compensation to Wendy that is equal to or greater than the unemployment benefits she is getting. I would like to see that there were health benefits available at some point. She needs that. The goal here is to get one person back to work and one less person unemployed. The goal is to minimize the fear factor. That is no way to live.
So Cleveland, do you have a job for Wendy? If anyone wants to see the color of my money I would prepay it to one of the Cleveland media to hold pending a job offer. I have nothing to gain here. Just trying to help someone out who clearly needs a little help.
I don't know Wendy. My guess, just from reading her words, is that she would be a good hire for someone. If an employer with a job wants to take advantage of this offer they should contact Wendy at kindnessmatters2010@gmail.com. Alternatively you could contact me, BGK.Wendy@gmail.com.
There is a flip side to this proposal. What if no one makes her a job offer even with a $3,000 incentive to do so? That much money makes her a free hire for a while. If no jobs are forthcoming it implies that there is no work for anyone looking. Should that be the case we would have to conclude that we are in very serious trouble. It would imply that Wendy, and a few million others, are going fall off a cliff pretty soon.
I’ll let you know the results of this experiment.
Posts
Unfortunately for Wendy and many other Americans, including lawyers, finance professionals, and construction workers, I believe it is the latter. My intuition is that the Austrians are right and government incentives have created permanent structural unemployment from malinvestment.
ReplyDeleteI have watched for decades while many bright minds headed off to college to major in psychology, communications, womans studies, special ed, etc. In China, 5 million students started university studies last year; half of those choose the sciences. How will we every produce enough wealth to employ those in the "people" service industries?
ReplyDeleteIMHO, congress would be crazy not to pass the UP extension. There are social limits to austerity, and our nation isn't ready to test them yet.
ReplyDeleteI honestly believe the Dems will cave in and let the Repub extension for u/e go thru; if they do not, the u/e rate will skyrocket as upwards of 2-3 million folks recieving u/e will then have to be moved from the "discouraged" worker statistic and back onto the "actively searching" statistic; the u/e rate would reach 11% overnight, a scenario Big O won't tolerate.
ReplyDeleteBruce, my day job is working with people who owe student loans (a GSE employee don't ya know !); there are a few new programs that might help her at least put these loans on ice for a spell, and so I'll shoot her an e-mail with the names of these programs.
My prognosis for the US economy remains the same.. hopeless. Between double digit percentage increases yearly for Medicaid and Soc Sec and our Debt-GDP ratio that went from 150% of GDP to 375% of GDP now.. there is absolutely no hope whatsoever of us pulling out of this.. just my humble opinion.
Here's a look at the next few years: http://www.safehaven.com/article/16977/real-estatecredit-bubble-deflation-19-next-up-5-years-of-financial-hell
that's good and kind.. but beware of scams...
ReplyDeletemake sure she/he's got job for long period,,not 3-6 months just to cash in YOUR MONEY
well done mr Krasting.
alex
Just to follow up on your article about "Wendy" (I'm not looking for a advertised leg up btw, this is just for your edification - just writing this is mildly humiliating).
ReplyDeleteI too am unemployed and have a masters from a solid east coast school - my unemployment check basically pays for my debts and obligations. I used to have several k in the bank for a rainy day but it's all gone now. My last check for state unemployment runs out next week (26 not the 99 weeks as the press so loves to sell), not sure what the future holds.
The general populace somehow now has the notion that unemployed people are all stupid and lazy. I'd guess that a lot of this new flood are people like me, educated and willing (really wanting) to work. Contrary to what folks might think clipping coupons and rationing gas is really not as fun as it seems.
Just FYI - never before in it's history has extended benefits ever been an issue. Never. The interest in "paygo" all the sudden is interesting to me since there were literally trillions of dollars blown by the government over the last 10 years without a revenue side plan. There was never any paygo for the wars or the medical prescription drug plan, why should there be one for $40B in unemployment insurance all the sudden?
Besides, if the government is so interested in QE then they may as well spend it on the demand side and stop trying to soup up the supply side (if you haven't noticed all the QE so far has gone into Treasuries, you read ZH). If consumers are on the ropes and we have negative savings then who the hell is gonna run out and get a loan? Even if I get a job tomorrow it will be a year or more before I ever consider getting more leverage.
Written about you in my blog.
ReplyDeleteBravo Bruce, bravo. Hope it works out well for Wendy and Bruce.
ReplyDeletewhat about the other 30 million unemployed who wake up scared every day? you have $6000 to put up on their behalf? appealing to ones story because you feel sorry for them is pathetic. it doesnt make you any less cold hearted, or seem like less of a bastard. in a time when there are no jobs to be found, trying to offer money in exchange for employment is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. if you really want to help right now then GIVE HER THE MONEY. dangling it in her face but just out of reach only solidifies the heartless tool you really are.
ReplyDeleteHow dare you condescend to the unemployed and worry about unemployment driving up the federal deficit. The fact of the matter remains that the republicans are more than willing to pass funding for 2 wars, 9 years in Afghanistan at a cost of 5.5B per month and yet filibuster against extending unemployment that could put millions on the street without it.
ReplyDeleteThe greed of the financial sector and our politicians have put us in this position. Why don't you park your lexus, crawl out of your million dollar masion and try living on 300 a week. I would bet you would be flat broke and hungry by the middle of the month and saying I don't know how you do it.
It's the self righteous priveleged bastards like you that precipitate the society we live in. Get a clue and try helping more than just 1, give up your salary for a year and try living like the rest of us lowly unemployed.
Having just called you a cowardly hypocrite over on SA, I owe it to you to come over here and do the same.
ReplyDeleteYou say: "There have always been people like Wendy who fall through the cracks"
Trouble is, there are some pretty big cracks appearing. I have a horrible feeling that your motivation, Bruce, is just to make yourself feel better. What is the real purpose of your little "experiment"? What can you possibly learn that isn't staring you in the face right now? What will the outcome for this Wendy tell you, with any reliability, about the millions of other Wendys? If your $6000 makes a difference for this Wendy, are you going to learn that you need to do the same for all the other Wendys?
If you really want to feel better about yourself, you need to be honest with yourself, this Wendy and all the other Wendys. Stop being a cowardly hypocrite. Tell her that there is no hand out, no incentive, nothing. Isn't that what you believe is right policy choice? The only honest alternative is to re-think your view on the policy.
Wow, shocked at some of these comments... no good deed goes unpunished I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI can empathize with Wendy’s story. I am an experienced accountant unable to find work in NE Ohio. There are some positions starting to pop up, but the market is still so saturated that myself & a few other unemployed accountants I know joke that we are sending our resumes into a black hole. I finished my CPA in hopes that it would improve my chances, but so far it seems to have just highlighted my overqualified status for most of the positions that ARE available right now.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that working on the deficit is an important issue, but I also feel that there are many people that would benefit from being helped out a little longer so that the market has more time to return. I would much rather be back to earning my own money instead of receiving unemployment.
Like another commenter, I bristle at the idea that all unemployed people are just wanting handouts so we can enjoy the oft-called "vacation" a little longer. Don't mistake me for being ungrateful. Unemployment is great for survival; it allows me to do the bare minimum to make sure my debts are kept current and I'm not starving, although it's now necessary to make food purchasing decisions based strictly on cost instead of on health or locality criteria. But it's not exactly a vacation when you're worrying about your future every day, waiting for calls on dozens of resume submissions that don't come. Especially knowing that the longer you are unemployed the less attractive you are to many prospective employers since descrimination against long-term unemployed is apparently becoming an issue.
The American worker never passed NAFTA or removed the Glass-Stegal act. These are the core problems of our current economy. 80% of American manufacturing jobs moved to countries that pay a .10 an hour slave wage. All in order that the richest people in America get wealthier. Glass-Stegal act was put in place in order to protect consumer deposit's being invested in scams. Derivatives are the biggest ponzi scheme ever created. All the money lost by the investors has been handed to Goldman Sachs who short sold all the derivatives they advised their clients as safe investments. So delay/deny unemployment benefits for the people that the government put in the current position is disrespectful and without empathy.
ReplyDeleteGood grief, Bruce. Some of these comments amaze me. It's easy for someone to spew venom when he's not accountable. As for your offer to Wendy, I'm with Stumptown -- no good deed goes unpunished; certainly not, when the government is there to pick up the slack.
ReplyDeleteNo one would disagree that the unemployment situation is untenable. But it's a monstrous situation. You are right to look at it from a macro perspective.
One anecdote: a friend of mine's husband runs a large security company in Missouri. He can't get anyone to work for him at the wage he is offering (a good deal more than unemployment) because he can't compete with the unemployment benefits these folks are being paid not to work -- benefits being paid by the folks who do. And why should this man accept the job, when Congress has continuously extended his stay-home benefits?
People need to stop separating themselves from the "government." The government's money comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is called: taxpayers. Taxpayers, and debt (i.e., more taxes).
Do I sound cold and heartless? Perhaps. But welfare changes a man and eventually it chips away at his soul. It makes him feel dependent and, soon, bitter. And resentful and entitled. You've heard about biting the hand that feeds you, I'm sure.
Moreover, how much more might people like you, and churches, and other community organizations be willing to pick up some of the slack if unemployment benefits, at some point, simply stopped. That would be voluntary redistribution of wealth instead of a demoralizing governmental bludgeon.
So as not to provoke a rain of tomatoes, I will sign off anonymously, and email you privately. But you're right, Bruce.
Law schools are now paying law firms to hire their graduates. Things are not good.
ReplyDeletehttp://dailyradar.com/beltwayblips/story/smu-will-pay-you-to-hire-their-graduates/
One anecdote: a friend of mine's husband runs a large security company in Missouri. He can't get anyone to work for him at the wage he is offering (a good deal more than unemployment) because he can't compete with the unemployment benefits...
ReplyDeleteNice story. Shame it's unverifiable eh??
Charles Prince,
ReplyDeleteNice thoughts. My experiment is meaningless. The outcome, good or bad does not tell us much. Depending on where you live eighteen months of UI comes to ~$25,000. That is 4 times what I put up to try to get Wendy off UI.
There is a need for UI. But I think there are negative consequences of extending it too long. It costs too much. It drives down other wages. It does not address the fundamental issue that we need jobs in this country.
The idea of creating incentives to get people back to work is not new.
For the record, I have had several emails from individuals who have indicated their willingness to do something similar. They want me to show that that this could work.
I'd second Anonymous@9:18 (I think)--it sure would be nice to verify the facts of this case. I do think that on the low end--less than $25K per year--unemployment comp does compete pretty well with working, when you consider the cost of commuting/child care and the payroll tax deductions which are extracted from a paycheck. I myself know of one case where a single mother turned down a job in her field because the $30K salary simply wasn't worth it (she would have been taking home less working than on unemployment).
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, there are plenty of unemployed people with college degrees who would love to work and would even take a pay cut but there simply isn't anything out there in their field (or they are overqualified). These people were told that they needed an education to improve their lot (like Wendy) and now there are no jobs in their fields--no wonder they are bitter. I think it is a little too easy to characterize this as laziness.
There aren't any easy or good answers here.
So, I am a little confused on the whole unemployment extension situation. Is 99 weeks the number we are at that they want to extend. Could there be anyway to have a payback clause added to the extended unemployment after 99 weeks. Right now the government is flipping the bill on the extension. Why not just make the person who gets a job after being on unemployment for say 109 weeks payback the 10 extra weeks over a certain amount of time. For every 1 week over 99 weeks the person has 2 months to pay back that 1 week amount(zero percent interest). Say that amount is $400. $50 a week would be deducted from the paycheck to pay it back. It might be enough to get the people who are a little less motivated to become more motivated. I can't imagine being unemployed for almost 2 years but at what point do we push the 99 number to 129, 159, 199.... Maybe I am just a lucky employed person. The longest I have ever been without a job was 4 months since a graduated college.
ReplyDeleteI love all this clap about lack of "motivation" for finding a job because unemployment is so dreamy. The fact is there are 5 applicants for every one job.
ReplyDeleteThe bozo that posted this little gem is an idiot:"One anecdote: a friend of mine's husband runs a large security company in Missouri. He can't get anyone to work for him at the wage he is offering (a good deal more than unemployment) because he can't compete with the unemployment benefits..." My guess is that in reality this is either a super shitty place to work, or more likely a lie.
Obviously whoever wrote this isn't on unemployment because if he/she was they would know that unemployment pays about 1/3 of a normal wage WITHOUT benefits (it's on a sliding scale, so if you make less you get even less, it's not a fixed amount - you can't win by being on unemployment). Since I was a manager before I was laid off I know that each FTE costs about 1.2-1.5 times salary after benefits. SO based on that, you only make about 1/5 of your salary. BUT WAIT, there is more, now you get to pay for your health insurance at full rate, for me $150/month. So after you do that little calculation you are now making about 1/6 of what you made while working - and you pay taxes on the unemployment money before health insurance.
Yeah so it's a real f*cking dream being on unemployment, let me tell you. I'd hate to work . Nothing like subsisting below the poverty line, and still being saddled with school debt, etc. I can't stop smiling.
Idiots.
To the last anon before my diatribe. This Senate impasse cuts off unemployment for anyone in the system regardless of where they are in the scheme of things. I'll lose my benefits next week, at 26 weeks because that's where the ball bounced for me. Had I had the foresight (joke) to be laid off a month earlier I'd have several more months before I ran dry.
ReplyDeleteI don't think in this climate it would be fair for an unemployed person to have to pay back to the government the money they use. I WOULD pay it back if the banks would pay back the 1.5 trillion in bad paper that they sold the treasury (and converted to personal bonuses), or if Goldman would give back a cut of the interest they are making off $230 billion in T-bills they bought with 0% cash from the Fed. That would more than pay for extra unemployment. But I guess since traders "work" then it's all good that they are getting filthy rich on our tax dollars rather than just subsisting like the unemployed.
Remember, if the economy isn't growing it's a zero sum game. Every dollar a banker or trader "makes" (non-productive labor) probably came from you or someone you know - it's not coming from China (record trade deficit).
Oh, and the pentagon just said today they were about to run out of money and they need $37 billion from the treasury to keep programs running. I guess the republicans will be keen to evoke "pay-go" on that one? No? Come on people it's the deficit, we have to make sure we can pay for it...
It struck me when Ms. Shapiro stated, "I want to earn money, never take money." How is it that accepting Mr. Krasting's money - willingly and generously offered - is less palatable than taking unemployment benefits, which will be financed by funds confiscated from the paychecks of American families? Many of them are not in a position to give so willingly.
ReplyDeleteMr. Krasting has determined he can afford to give the assistance. The nation cannot. Other mothers of children will struggle more desperately in the future, due to the increasing bankruptcy of the country in which they live, whose politicians were unwilling to make difficult choices "today."
It might be thought-provoking for Ms. Shapiro to consider whether she actually minds taking money, or whether she just prefers to do her taking anonymously (perhaps not wanting to feel beholden to a specific entity, particularly the "banker" she tried to discredit with misinformation and preconceived notions). Only she will know the answer to that question.
FOR CHRISTINA THE ACCOUNTANT:
ReplyDeletehttp://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/search.aspx?q=accounting&where=Cleveland&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&x=102&y=20
My name is Tina,
ReplyDeleteI live in Lake City Pa. I haven't been laid-off since 1992. I have always been a type of person who will find a job at doing anything and make it work. I have been laid-off since February of this year. Either companies are cutting back on people to stay a float for another year. Small companies hoping not to go under, which more are. Each day, I get online and put in apps and in the 5 months of being laid-off, I have gotten 5 responses. Everybody is feeling the crunch. I don't like not working because I worry about how I'm going to live. This is no picnic.
Michigan has teaching job right now! 7-20-2010 State has pushed early retirerment and needs to fill some of the holes. Good Luck
ReplyDeleteI live grew up in Cleveland, I quit counting after my father’s 14th layoff, but the bottom line is that he dropped out of community college. My mom taught at parochial schools which don’t pay anything. I worked my way through grad school as a night custodian and I made a point of not getting anyone pregnant so I’d never be stuck in a bind I can’t wiggle out of or be responsible for another generation of people who have to listen to their parents debate between paying for heat or food. I know it stinks, but pick a sane major. I’ve applied for jobs and taken off my college degrees to help market myself, What I see is pride getting in the way of doing crap work for miserable wages. Yes it stinks, but cleaning toilets taught me something. Flipping burgers taught me something. Delivering the newspaper taught me something. Working in a hotel taught me something. Get in at the ground floor, do a good job, learn everything you can about how the place operates, then market yourself, cross-market yourself, play up what you’ve done and move on from that point. If you had to hire someone, would you want someone wallowing in self-pity who can’t swallow their pride enough to do drop-out work or would you hire the survivor? Too many people would rather play victim than survivor. Sometimes you gotta eat a lot of sand to spit out a pearl. I know several people who’ve gotten jobs in Florida and Texas just on phone interviews. If you can’t be flexible enough to relocate, then you’re brittle enough to break. Prior to the industrial revolution, job satisfaction was irrelevant. You farmed or you didn’t eat. You didn’t go into the barn to realize your dreams, you went there because you had to. If the farm went bust, you went out an panned for gold. Life isn’t about what you want, it’s about finding a workable solution. The post WW2 dream world is coming to a globalized end, there will be fear, uncertainty and hard work just like there has been for centuries, roll with it.
ReplyDeleteiTS VERY EASY FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T UNEMPLOYED TO JUDGE THOSE OF US WHO ARE WITHOUT JOBS AS LAZY AND WANT SOMETHING FOR NOTHING.... WHAT A CROCK. I HAVE A MASTERS AND PAID FOR OUT OF POCKET. I PAID TAXES AND FOR UNEMPLOYMENT FOR 25 YEARS. I STILL OWE STUDENT LOANS, MORTGAGE, TAXES ETC BUT AS HARD AS i HAVE WORKED I AM UNEMPLOYED. GUESS WHAT I PAID INTO UNEMPLOYMENT AND NEED IT NOW
ReplyDeleteI too live in Cleveland, Ohio, actually in University Heights a suburb right next to Wendy Shapiro. I can truly sympathize with her and I think that you are an ass. In Ohio and across the country, people are out of work and their unemployment benefits are all they have to survive. If companies would at least provide health insurance along with their low wages they may have more takers for these positions. On the other side of this situation is the fact that many employers won't hire people like Wendy because they may feel that she is over-qualified for the job and will leave when something better comes along. we are all in a catch-22 situation. So get over it and quit thinking that people are on unemployment because they want don't want to work.
ReplyDeleteDevorah Cleveland, Ohio
I am in Cleveland as well and have been out of my well paying white collar job since January. Since that time I have had three interviews. THREE!!!! There are not a lot of jobs out there and for those that get there "news" from Fox I feel sorry for you. There is a genuine disconnect between reality and the world the Fox viewers live in.
ReplyDeleteI will explain this to you as I have to so many others. Unemployment benefits are an investment not an expense. Every dime put into Unemployment is spent. We don't save it. We pay for groceries, the mechanic, the doctor etc. Because we can do that the are able to keep their doors open and their people working. Without it the situation gets worse. Many of your ilk would think this is the best summer of my life. 44, not working. Nothing could be further from the truth. There has not been a peaceful moment since January and not a day that goes by without that "fear" that Wendy spoke of.
Finally, the plan as passed adds less than a quarter of one percent to the national debt. That is is. And the money the republicans wanted to use has been earmarked by congress for jobs creation. To have used that money would have been foolish. Get people working and the ship will right itself.
It will be ok. It will just take time, energy, and effort. But it will be OK. I applaud you for helping Wendy. It really is what we are all here to do. Help each other! Kudos!!!!!
I live in Florida. I am 58 yrs old, female and have worked since I was 18. I too am unemployed for about one and 1/2 years now. Scared? Yep. Real scared. I use to make good money. (To ME. Once made $25.00/hr) then had to take a job for $11.00. Details are irrelevant. I don't have a Masters. I have 48 years of work experience. I have a mortgage and bills too and my unemployment will run out in a couple of weeks. I have applied to over 500 positions with 4 phone calls in all this time and did not get the positions. The last interview I went on was a "GROUP" interview where over 100 people were there. That was one in four of the interviews.
ReplyDeleteI have cold called via the yellow pages, applied to everything and anything. I sometimes thaught maybe my resume was not emailing correctly so I emailed it to my friend only to find that yes, it was going through, but nobody was interested. I am wondering what will happen. I get so depressed and ashamed of being unemployed I started drinking too much to forget and that did not help anything and realize that now. On that blog that says don't feel sorry for yourself, well how the hell can you help it???? I know things could be worse and I try to think about this. What if I were in a wheelchair, or given a death sentence because of cancer. Even though I know this, the fear sometimes creeps through. I don't want to loose my home I worked so hard for. I do WANT a job, but damn it, there is little hope out there. The fear comes stumbling in and I wonder if I will be sleeping in my car someday soon. Good luck to each and everyone that feels the way I do. It is a horrible feeling. I guess we should all try hard to visualize that it could be worse and just hope for a brighter day. Louise
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYou have a nice blog. At this point the marketplace has started to appear up and people are starting to have jobs. Yet, many are confused regardless of whether they are getting the right salary. They might confirm this by examining their salaries through on the web tools. One such web site to review salary mechanical engineers and other professionals is whatsalary.com.
Although I applaude your effors, I think perhaps you were taken advantage of by someone who has no intention of applying for a job anywhere. I offered Wendy a job on July 26, 2010, and have not heard one word from her. She did not even have the courtesy of letting me know she is not interested. Even if she already accepted a position somewhere she could have put a response that would automatically answer the incoming offers that she has obtained a position and will perhaps forward the job opportunity to someone else looking for a job. The position was for a manager of our campus store,it is full time with benefits, vacation time, paid holidays, etc. We are a technical college that has grown so fast in the last few years we are constantly looking for employees. I think perhaps you were scammed by someone who is very comfortable collecting unemployment and really does not want to earn their money. We are constantly hiring instructors, staff and maintenance crew personnel, for two campus facilities. I checked with HR, and Wendy has never responded to any of the 24 ads we have placed in the plain dealer this year. Sometimes you actually have to apply for a job to be hired.
ReplyDeleteI see that this posting is anonymous, how convenient to be a phantom of this posting, no way for you to be accountable for you words. You need to talk to you H.R department. Your information is wrong and you are flat out lying. I was sent a brief anonymous email referencing this story. They wanted to know if I would like to work in the college bookstore, not as a manager, or mention of additional openings such as an instructor position, benefits etc. as you stated above. Strange offer if you had actually read my educational background. You never provided the phone number, location, contact information or even the name of your "college bookstore" it read like a purposeful deception. Furthermore, I promptly sent you my resume and cover letter anyway and responded by saying thank you for thinking of me and that I had not worked in a bookstore before but to please review my resume to see if I would be an appropriate candidate. As to your point of 24 ads; I would not lie, to gain employment or pretend to have experience in an area that I do not. If you had followed MSNBC, or Cleveland’s local NPR, ABC, and NBC affiliates you would know I adamantly declined any money from Mr. Krastings, or did you want his money? Please tell me where and when to apply for a position at your college. I can clearly see your point on the tip of your pinhead. I would love to see it in person. I challenge you to make good on your offer, call me at your convenience (216) 291-5658. I will be happy to present my portfolio and credentials.
ReplyDeleteWaiting with baited breath,
Wendy Shapiro MA. ED. Spec Ed.
Wow, with your attitude I can easily see why you are still unemployed. I however am not the liar. I sent the email from my personal email address, and gave you the name and phone number of the college as well as my name and position at the college. All you had to do was click on respond. The ads for instructors etc. were ads that were placed in the plain dealer as well as the campus store manager ad. Those positions have been in the paper for several weeks, and to date we have hired at least 7 instructors. I do not want or need Mr. Krastings money. That is not why I wrote to you. I was simply trying to offer a position to a singe mom who supposedly wanted a job. Unfortunately in these times it is not always possible to "start at the top". Many people are accepting positions below their capability just to get in at a company. You did not respond to my email, did not send a cover letter or a resume, or even a polite response that the position was below your standards. I cut and pasted the email I sent you below.
ReplyDeleteSubject: Campus Store Manager
Hello,
A member of my team forwarded your story to me, and I am wondering if you would
be interested in interviewing for a campus store postion we have posted in the
plain dealer.
The position is full time, M - W - F 7-4 and T - Th 9 -6. It consists of sales,
making sure the shelves remain stocked with merchandise, designing new ideas for
T-shirts etc.
If you are interested please email your resume and salary requirements to the
above address.
Thank you
Kxxxxxxxxx
Executive Vice President
Oxxxxxxx College
216-xxxxxxx
The email does not read as a deception. You should be ashamed of yourself. The position has been filled now, and if I had another one I certainly would not contact you. Good luck with your search or lack of.....
Kathy, I am not trying to be disrespectful, thank you for reaching out to me but I did not receive an email like the one you have posted. People have been very kind and cruel to me and the unemployed in these postings. My life is challenging, frustrating, uncertain, and at times as (you see) defensive. It is not in my nature to be cruel or hurtful, I felt like you were purposely attacking me and I did not know why. If this was not your intention then I am sorry. All I want to do is participate, give back, and get off unemployment! If I saw this email I should have responded as you said, and I would have. I have received emails from a few companies who wanted to help but I had no experience. I networked and helped other unemployed people get interviews with these companies. I live on line these days and I can't imagine missing a response to you or anyone. With assumptions on both our parts the only thing I hope is that you believe I will keep looking everyday for a job helping children as a Special Education teacher. Again, please use my email or phone number to contact me personally, not about a job, just 2 strong women talking not typing.
ReplyDelete