10 months of unemployment: My experience + advice

My streak of being unemployed officially ended last week. Hallelujah!

[I've also posted this elsewhere here on Reddit]

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Here is some advice and a few steps I took during my 10 months of unemployment:

Quick personal facts to be factored in with my experience and suggestions:

• 24-28, F, Non-White, Southeastern USA
• Solely seeking for remote positions
• Unemployed due to teaching contract ending in mid-2020
• Not eligible for unemployment benefits
• Master's Degree (social science-related; 2020), Bachelor's Degree (social science-related; 201X)
• Experience in teaching, research, data analysis, cartography, GIS
• No kids
• Unmarried
• Moved back in with parents
• No car
• No debt or student loans

Quick personal job seeking facts:

1. INCOME: I moved back home with a savings and lived off this savings for 5 months without job seeking.
   1. During my unemployment, I lived on my savings July 2020-mid January 2021 and then from February 2021 to May 2021, I lived on the stimulus checks, tax refund, and government grocery aid.
   2. With this money, I have paid for water and electricity bills as rent and covered my own groceries.
2. UNEMPLOYMENT: I did not qualify for unemployment benefits, as I had a contract position.
3. JOB SEEKING: I did not look for jobs until December 2020/January 2021
   1. Mainly delayed the job seek to take a break and because I had a perception that the job search would be quick and easy. HA.
4. REFERENCES: I did NOT want to ask my previous job for references. My previous job really put me through it, so I did not want to be in their 'debt' for helping me get employment. My current summer job was found without references/networking/etc. I uploaded a resume, cover letter, portfolio, and then got called in for my interviews.
   1. I think my credit score played a role in them not pursuing any references. My credit score is in the upper 700s and I was reading that some employers can request a credit report. They may have just stopped after reviewing my resume/cover letter and credit report. I'm 110% okay with that. Just a reminder to keep your credit in check. If you don't have credit, I wouldn't get a credit card or in debt just to get a score. Credit cards honestly feels like a scam. My credit score was the lowest when I used them. I don't use them now and it went up by 10+ points. I know, I don't know either.
5. APPLYING: I have applied to 63 jobs, as of today. All jobs were found on Indeed and applied on either the company's site or Indeed's application system.
6. SPEC WORK: I have done spec work three and did not get the job for any of them. I do not recommend doing spec work ever.
7. PHONE AND EMAIL: I created an email address specifically for job seeking and bought a flip phone for prospective job calls. I got a cheap phone from a no-contract provider and got a calling card good for a year that offered 1200 minutes, 1200 text, and 2 gb of data. The phone, warranty, and service totaled roughly $140 USD. Doing this, though, has saved me from having my data stolen on some really data scamming job postings. The data ran up quick even with no apps, so I hopped on wifi and everything was good. I use the new phone number for all job apps so I don't get as many scam calls on my regular cell phone.
   1. PRO-TIP: Job Postings that use Bamboohr do not protect data. I submitted an app through them, and maybe 2 minutes I get a text asking if I was (insert first and last name).
   2. Now, that I think of it, any job posting that requires an account and requires full address...do not proceed (or proceed with caution, whichever one you feel comfortable with). They are getting data.

Suggestions:

1. GET ON FOOD STAMPS.
   1. If you're unemployed, your income is $0. You'll be approved and most likely will receive the maximum amount for a 1 person household. With the pandemic, most states are offering additional support on top of the allotted SNAP benefits.
2. LOOK FOR GOVERNMENT AID BEFORE GETTING IN DEBT.
   1. Debt is a burden, plain and simple. Before getting a loan or borrowing money, see if your local/state/federal government has aid. Most local/state/federal governments have assistance for rent, groceries, utilities, and transportation cost. Check with them first. Interest can and will eat you up, usually being unemployed.
3. START A JOB INTEREST-RELATED BUSINESS OR BLOG.
   1. To fill in the prospective gap in my resume, I started a business two months after I graduated that was semi-related to my field of study and offered new opportunities to learn about a different field.
   2. This business earned $0 revenue, but I handled the web design, promotional designs and social media efforts. This is what I put on my resume, not "owner". I fully intended to make money off the business, but that was not how it worked out.
   3. Start up costs were about $500 USD. If I had to do it all over again, I would have just bought the business license (~20 USD) and a website yearly subscription (~100 USD) and then would have wanted for orders. Business licenses usually last one year, so while you look for another job, having that 'xx/xx/xx-present' on your resume may help your chances.
   4. Do NOT say you are the owner/founder/ceo on your resume, just say what you do for the business. That is more important. You might get held to a different standard if you say owner/founder/ceo, especially if you have no revenue.
4. EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN APPLYING TO REMOTE DATA ENTRY JOBS.
   1. I don't know everyone's else experience, but the remote data entry jobs that I've applied to (found on Indeed and Aerotek) have turned out to be scams or so oversaturated with 500+ applicants.
   2. I would just avoid job postings with this title or type of job posting
5. STAY VIGILANT OF SCAMS.
   1. In a previous post, I talked about not being desperate with job seeking. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Employers (and scammers) can smell that! Job postings with clear grammatical errors, generic names, no names, requests to go on WhatsApp, Kik...DON'T DO IT.
   2. If it feels scammy or sketchy, trust that feeling. Walk away. There is something better for you, you have to believe that.
6. APPLY TO RELATED BUT OUTSIDE FIELD JOBS.
   1. I got more bites from jobs that were semi-related to my field than jobs in my own field. I was and am shocked. People in your field may hold you to unrealistic expectations while people outside of your field can recognize and appreciate your skillset. You can do [TASK] without having [TASK] in your job title.
   2. I applied to so many jobs that I fit the bill of. Job postings where I checked off 90-100% of the job qualifications and preferences...I did not get.
   3. The only jobs that I received offers for where 500% out of my league. I MAY BE checked off 45-50% of the job posting. I applied kind of just to see what would happen for the out-of-my-league jobs, but I secretly just 'knew' and felt I would get the jobs that were in my field. NOPE. Each of my job call-backs have been for jobs outside of my field.
7. NETWORKING IS NOT (ALWAYS) NECESSARY.
   1. As a fellow redditor mentioned to me, some fields require networking. The tips below are coming from someone that is in data/research/writing fields. Please cherry pick what advice you can use.
      1. Network works, don't get me wrong, but if it is not in your personality, it can feel a bit weird to do. From my experience, having a solid portfolio was a major factor. I tried Behance but my student subscription ended after I graduated, so I went with Google Sites (link goes to Google's tutorial on how to build a portfolio. I do not recommend adding your photo to the first page). They're free and you can build a decent site. Show what you can do!
      2. Figure out 3-5 different fields that you could apply to based on your skills/education/training. If the job is not really in your field, but you have a good resume of experience and portfolio, they may call you up for an interview just for your sheer audacity of applying. Use that interview opportunity to say you looking to contribute your skills while learning more about [new field]. If they ask for your biggest weakness, say that you are still learning about [something in new field/in job description] but are a quick learner.
8. SAMPLE JOB FIELDS THAT DON'T REQUIRE REFERENCES.
   1. Check out r/WorkOnline for opportunities to get work. Here's a few that I found along the way:
      1. Online ESL Teaching
      2. Closed Captioning
      3. Transcription
      4. Web Search Evaluation
      5. Data analyst (some)
      6. Research (some)
      7. Internships/Fellowships for upperclassmen and recent grads (some)
9. RECONSIDER JOBS THAT ASK FOR REFERENCES UP FRONT
   1. Be wary if potential employers ask for references without even giving you an interview. It sends the signal that they only care about who you know and how that helps their business.
   2. I had a few jobs that asked for references up front, and I simply withdraw my candidacy. The potential employers seemed like they wanted future clients for their business rather than to ask their questions about my character, and I was not going to risk what relationships I did have to be messed up by an employer hounding them for a sale or future spam email.
10. LEARN NEW SKILLS FOR FREE.

• Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning) may be offered for free by your university or local library. Check with them to see if they have subscriptions and start learning. Improve your current skill set or develop a new one in the field you wish to seek a job.
• freeCodeCamp has certification programs related to web coding. The certs may not hold weight, but projects will. Build a portfolio of projects you feel comfortable sharing. Who needs a cert if you've proven your skillset repeatedly with awesome designs and projects?
• codecademy has free courses on web programming languages and web design.
• Grow.Google has free business-related workshops.
• Google for Education has tools for coding and teaching resources for educators (or anyone who wants to take the training).
• Sharpen Design is a free resource for generating design prompts that you can later add to your portfolio.

........[Formatting gets a bit wanky from here down].........

1. CHECK WITH YOUR STATE FOR CAREER CHANGE GRANTS/SCHOLARSHIPS TO TRADE/TECH SCHOOLS

• My state offers career change grants for people without a bachelor's degree (any age) or for specifically people 24/5 years old and older.

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1. KEEP A GOOGLE DRIVE OF YOUR RESUMES/COVER LETTERS, CATEGORIZED BY JOB TYPE/FIELD

• Keep templates by job category so you can quickly alter your resumes and cover letters--checking for date, company name, job title, and a few job posting keywords. I started doing this, and it saved so much time to look at all my resumes and cover letters for data or research jobs and just have to change a few things.
• I used the u/sheetsandgiggles resume template and customized it a bit. I opted for sans serif and removed the interests & skills section and added a summary section at the top. My resume order is SUMMARY, EXPERIENCE, (sometimes PROJECTS), EDUCATION.
• Writing cover letters can be a daunting task. I have wrote them and not gotten the job, but I can say that for the job offers that I have had, I included a cover letter. It doesn't hurt to include it. State your interest, your experience, and what you can contribute.

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1. DO NOT STOP AT REJECTIONS.

• My current employer rejected me at first. They went with another candidate and it didn't work out. They called me back about two weeks later offering me the job. At first I was a little salty about being second best (pride is a funny thing), but I accepted gratefully.
• One time, I received three rejections in one day...within an hour of each other. That was kind of rough.
• Indeed lets you know that an employer viewed your application. I used to get excited about this, but nothing ever came out of it, for me at least. Sometimes, Indeed sends you a message that they viewed your application, but come to find out, they actually rejected your application shortly after, but you don't get a notification for that. Moral of the story, try not to harp on rejections and keep moving forward with applying to other jobs.

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In short

You can do this. Colleges say that X degree can get you Y job, but that is not true. If a college graduates 100 people for a field that has 2 local jobs, what will be the outcome? Competition, back-biting...yeah, no thanks. Look for jobs outside but related to your field. Jobs in your field want unicorns, jobs outside/related to your field respect your skillset.

If you're unemployed or job seeking, just know this is for a season. My season of unemployment taught me a lot about myself, about the job application process, about people and tested my faith. Take your season of unemployment or job seeking to learn as well. I wish you all well in your job seek and hope you all find jobs that check off all your boxes.

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Tl;dr: Know your worth and don't be desperate. Search and apply for government aid before going in debt with loans or credit cards. Fill your employment gap with a business or blog you can create. Build a portfolio for your projects. Learn new skills for free. Go back to school with state grants/scholarships for career changes. Stay strong and keep the faith!

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