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Cherish the job that you have

Gone are probably the days where we can freely jump ship to another company without worrying that you cannot find employment. Right now, it is a employer’s market and perhaps the size of it is shrinking.

I am grateful that i have my job. I dunno how long more but i am grateful. Thinking about cutting back is always what i have planned for but nevertheless it would really hurt the pride and mind.

Truth to be told, i think singapore is still doing OK in my circle. I still have people spending on discretionary spending such as holidays, cars and dining out. so it can’t be that bad. I don’t think it has hit us yet. It will come.

I remember the environment when i was still in university in 2002-2003. The depressing days were spent thinking whether i would be able to find an IT job based on my degree or not. Alot of my seniors were really hard hit such that they grab anything that comes along their way.

That time, i told myself i can still work other part-time or lower wage jobs while looking for a stable one. Hey! I was quite happy go lucky and fit then, but alas, i’m not as well in the health department now.

But i think the mantra still sticks:

  • Take a retrenchment as an opportunity to re-evaluate.
  • Take any job you can to keep the daily expenses in check.
  • Secure another Job

That is what many Americans are currently struggling to do, according to this article:

Nine months ago he lost his job as the security manager for the western United States for a Fortune 500 company, overseeing a budget of $1.2 million and earning about $70,000 a year. Now he is grateful for the $12 an hour he makes in what is known in unemployment circles as a survival job at a friends janitorial services company. But that does not make the work any easier.

Interviews with more than two dozen laid-off professionals across the country, including architects, former sales managers and executives who have taken on lower-paying, stop-gap jobsto help make ends meet, found that they were working for places like U.P.S., a Verizon Wireless call center and a liquor store. For many of the workers, the psychological adjustment was just as difficult as the financial one, with their sense of identity and self-worth upended.

When Ms. Arlt applied for the job, she sent in a stripped-down rsum that hid her 20-year career at national media companies, during which she ascended to vice president of brand development at the On Command Video Corporation and was making $165,000 a year. She decided in 2001 to start her own business, opening an equestrian store and then founding a magazine devoted to the sport. But with the economy slowing, she was forced to shutter both businesses by June of last year.

After applying for more than 100 jobs, mostly director-level and above in marketing and branding, and getting just two interviews, Ms. Arlt said she realized last fall that she had to do something to close the monthly financial hemorrhage.

Her new job at HometownQuotes pays $10 to $15 an hour and has mostly entailed data entry. But even though she has parted ways with some friends because she is no longer in their social stratum, Ms. Arlt said she was glad she was no longer sitting at home, thinking, Who have I not heard from today?

Some unemployed professionals said they decided not to seek even part-time work because it might interfere with their job searches. But Mr. Cooper rises every day at 4 a.m. and, after a time of prayer, devotes two hours to his job hunt on the computer. He prints out a detailed call list of prospective employers to take with him, squeezing in phone conversations during breaks throughout the day from his pickup truck, which he calls his office.

[Read the full article at New York Times >>]

Kyith

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