Coping with unemployment
I know it’s been a bit since the last post, which I still haven’t taken much action on yet, we’re having a rough week. For this month we are fine and all the bills will get paid as usual. My wife has spent the past few months trying to find a full time teaching position. She has applied nearly everywhere within reasonable driving distance, even as far as 35 miles out. It’s frustrating when there are only a few interviews over that period of time.
Earlier this week she applied to a local middle school and missed the call, they left a voicemail though. The voicemail said that they would like to talk to her, so we were thinking she was being called to setup and interview. She calls back the next morning and as it turns out this position was filled last week and wasn’t available. He was willing to have her come in to talk to him though, we weren’t sure what would happen. I had a theory he might want to pull strings to move her into the position. As it turns out that school has no positions for her and it would have been better if the guy never called in the first place. I think it’s rude to call someone to call an applicant back to inform them a position no longer exists, and then insult them by saying they are a perfect fit for the position they don’t have anymore. She is emotionally drained right now from going through this, and I don’t know what to do.
In the time being I am trying to evaluate a way for us to get through the next month assuming she has no income. As sad as it may sound, it feels like deja vu from last year when she was a student teacher that didn’t get paid or even a stipend for her work. The last thing I want to do is resort to credit cards to get us through in the meantime. One of her student loans is only on economic hardship until September, so they will expect a payment come early October. She is going to need a job doing something to earn income, but right now she’s very depressed and I’m being as supportive as I can.
I am also starting to wonder if I should seriously consider a job that pays more to handle her student loan payments. We’re having a heck of a week already with the excitement on Monday completely gone Tuesday. That job would have paid her more than twice what she has made in the past, because the student loan payments will take one of her paychecks just like a mortgage. Schools start up next week and she is near out of time to get in somewhere.
Question for my readers: Have you gone through a period of unemployment, or spouse unemployment, and how did you get through it?
I understand completely what you and your wife are going through right now. It really does negatively affect your feeling of self-worth when you’re unemployed, although it shouldn’t. Your wife’s employment status says nothing about her or her abilities.
I had difficulty finding work after law school in 1998 and had over $100k in student loan debts. (And please understand that not all attorneys make lots of money.) It took me about 3 months to find an attorney job that only lasted 6 months. It took me another 3 months to find another attorney job.
During that period of unemployment, I took a job as an administrative assistant just to pay the rent and eat. (Admittedly, it was humiliating with a law degree to do so.) I obtained a hardship forbearance on my student loans and paid the minimum on my credit cards.
Would your wife would consider working in a non-teaching related job while she continues to look? Even if it’s low-paying, perhaps it would be enough to pay down other debt while you provided for the basic necessities. I’ve never applied for unemployment so I’m not sure whether the process is even worth it. Good luck and please don’t get discouraged!
I have two aunts that teach. One teaches 2nd grade and loves it. The other is a substitute teacher and she gets so calls to come and sub that she gets to pick and choose what school she’d rather teach at, she also loves her job. She also claims to make really good money and doesn’t have the burden of having to prepare lessons. Could your wife look into being a substitute?
I’m know I’m changing the subject (sorry) but do you know what happened to “My Debt Journey”? When I click on the link or type in the URL, I get Google.
Wow, could you please fix my typos?
Been there, done that. Still doing that, in fact, as I was laid off in March and took a good, but much lesser paying job to fill the income void.
1.) See if your wife is eligible for unemployment. It won’t be much (it was $240 per week for me, the max they give in my state), but every little bit helps, OR
2.) Why can’t she substitute teach? That would probably bring in about $100 per day, or at least that’s what you get in my state because I checked into that as an option.
3.)Sell everything that you do not need and that is not nailed to the floor. Be ruthless and make Craig’s List your friend. Put the cash in savings to be touched only for necessities.
5.) Do not throw debt at debt. In other words, no credit cards! You have no idea when your income situation is going to improve. Check out Dave Ramsey’s comments about c.c. payments in the priority of things when you are in financial crisis (nowhere near the top).
4.) Stay positive! Things WILL get better. Take control of what you can and try not to stress about what you can’t control.
I was wondering the same thing, is your wife willing to take a nonteaching position in the meantime? She can still look for teaching jobs but she should also not rule out other positions as well, if they interview and get her a job quicker than a teaching one can. I don’t know since I am not a teacher but I can see that teachers go through a long background check and stuff before getting hired, while some companies can have you starting within a few weeks. How about some sort of clerical position somewhere? i know at my company (i work in insurance), we have people that assist the underwriters by doing data entry and give quotes and stuff like that, and these people have bachelor degrees. they use the position as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. i would think something like that would be good in the meantime and your wife will never know who she could network with on the job.
Also, are all teachers nowadays required to have a masters to get a decent job? Coz I was wondering if the reason she has a masters but no other full time teaching experience aside from the student teaching, could be hurting her because the school feels obligated that they’d have to pay her more.
by the way i didn’t really answer your question…but i kinda did go through a period of unemployment. i didn’t get a job straight out of college. i interviewed for my job now (will be 4 yrs there in february) a few weeks before graduation, but I didn’t hear from them for about two months. Since I didn’t get a rejection letter after a month, i still followed up and just hoped I was still in the running.
But it was really hard during those two months because I wasn’t getting other interviews from all the other places I applied at. I got kinda depressed because everyone else I knew was at work, so there was no one to hang out with. And I had no money coming in so I couldn’t do anything fun. I also felt like a mooch off of my parents becuase here I was with this new degree and no job, just watching Felicity on DVD all day for weeks straight. I had about $37k in student loan debt that was 6 months away for repayment but i was freaking out because it was two months, and still no word about a job. And then I had about $3000 in credit card debt that my mom was paying on while I wasn’t making my own money yet. It definitely was a good choice to move back home.
But I guess luck finally smiled upon me and they called with the offer.
This situation is what I meant about getting a higher degree in education….in our state, they will higher a BS degree before an MS degree…since they are on such limited budgets. Especially, if the person doesn’t have experience. Unfortunately, being an educator isn’t looked upon as highly as other degrees. With her degree, can she teach at a junior college…or vocational school? I think that might be an option. I have a friend who has an MS in reading and makes more money selling Mary Kay than she does teaching! I will continue to pray for your situation….I know this has to be so stressful on your life and marriage right now.
I am a certified teacher (math/science middle grades) and have never actually held a teaching position. Even in places where there are open positions, they usually have failed tax levies and can’t hire anyone new. URGH. Because I have to stay with my husband, I can’t seek an area that has open jobs.
Here is what I’ve done instead:
1) Substitute teach. If you’re a competent sub, in at least a medium size district, you’ll get a job every day of the week. The pay was okay, there were no benefits.
2) Work at a daycare. When I needed insurance, and professional positions hadn’t come through yet, I gave myself a week to find a job. I found a daycare that had healthcare benefits and paid $10 per hour. I worked at this job for 3 months. It was something.
3) Educational publishing. I’ve done freelance work as a writer/editor for my content area. Send your resume to every publishing company (Holt, Pearson, Harcourt, etc) you can think of asking for content editing. Especially since your wife has a masters- I only have a Bachelors and have written numerous chapters for elementary school textbooks. Writing work pays better, but you usually have to prove yourself with editing or standards correlation first.
Thank you everyone for the support and feedback on our situation. She will get a job doing something here soon enough, it just won’t be a full time teaching position that she has been after since the beginning of the year. Earlier in the year she was a substitute teacher, teacher’s aid, tutor, and this summer she worked at a zoo camp teaching kids about the animals. Her background is very hands on with animals and teaching kids. When she graduated with a BS in Biology with an emphasis in marine mammals, she was an intern at an aquarium and got to learn how to train dolphins. The hours were rough (animals don’t have holidays) and she found more enjoyment teaching kids.
She spent about two years to get her Masters in Education and is endorsed to teach K-8, but mainly after middle school science/biology. I have a feeling it is her higher education that is limiting her options rather than helping her. Most districts would have to pay 3-5k more for her over a first year fresh out of college. Her background is her experience though because the typical classroom teacher probably hasn’t had the same hands on experience as her.
I think she will try the substitute teaching as long as there is enough stability in it. What we ran into earlier this year was the pay is not stable. She ended up taking an aid position to at least have some stable pay and benefits. Our major problem this time around is her student loan payments could wipe out most of what she makes. I’m not pressing anything right now though because she needs to get her confidence back. Life knocks us all down sometimes and it can take awhile to get back up.
Been There, Done That! Start looking at other career options. What else is she interested in and can do? Retooling is not a huge deal.
I say substitute if she can or maybe an aid position. And not to make light of her situation but I can not believe that she can not find a teaching job it amazes me actually that school districts everywhere aren’t trying to scoop up everyone who WANTS to do this for a living, we hired a teacher at my school TODAY and school starts on Monday. To be honest I have to sit in on two more interviews the first week of school because we are in such desperate need of quality teachers. I started in my district with a masters + 30. I can imagine that if I did not teach in the “inner city” that it may be harder to find a job.
Has she tried charter and private schools?
In early 2006, my husband and I were both unemployed for about 3 months. He had been without work for four months at the time my job evaporated. We were fortunate enough to have an emergency fund to tide us over (along with a well timed tax refund). I was able to secure a well paying job that did require me to travel a good deal. That was not my desire, but the job had great opportunities for advancement and great benefits. Unfortunately, my husband was not successful in his job search. As a result, his self image started to suffer. It is difficult for a man to find himself relying on his spouse for support for what was going on a year. I was successful in my new job, and found myself advancing faster than anticipated. This did nothing to bolster my husband’s self image. In the end……..divorce………was the job situation the catalyst? I think so…….but, life goes on…….
Moved nearly 1800 miles from NM to FL from a HIDTA district SW Alliance project -touted as an example to other districts by Bush (Sr). Five months into work on the new National Clearinghouse on Juvenile Justice the budget was not passed by Congress (Newt vs Bill). The money stopped. 18 months later the newly retired Research Director got the monies to finish my research. It took that long to find a job that paid 1/5 the wage as had been a research director for over 40 years -told I was over qualified. So, moved to less expensive lodgings,cashed out all savings and investments; then had to move in with my daughter and used the 401k. Needless to say, consulting pays better but one needs steady employment to fill in the gaps. I recommend choosing work that keeps you in the school system, hones your teaching skills, and best of all…the first to know about a job opening. It also helps you to maintain a positive attitude.
keep at it, look for real career options for the long run