Long-Term Unemployed

I did not realize at the time that November 22, 2013 was such a pivotal day. It was the last day of a contract, but I had just completed three back-to-back contracts lasting six months total, and with accounting busy season coming up, it did not seem like a big deal that I had nothing specific lined up for my next job. As it turned out, it was the last day I worked, maybe the last day I will ever work for all I know, at least as an accountant. But at the time it was not all that remarkable.

Somehow I went from contracting on a regular basis to unemployed, without any real warning or any event that triggered the change. What worries me now is that I am in danger of becoming one of the long-term unemployed, those people whose unemployment benefits run out, whose prospects for ever getting a job begin to look grim, and who give up looking in time.

I don't exactly fit the category, because I have worked as recently as last November, and the definition of long-term unemployed I usually see is 99 weeks without a job, but it still feels like I fit. It has been more than 99 weeks since I last worked full-time, and my prospects going forward are not great.  I talked to a new recruiter back in December, and they came up with several possibilities, but the last one may have killed my chances with them. I interviewed with Microsoft, and I talked with one of the two MS people about an experience I had at Farmers accounting for companies at remote sites, and I told her that I was never comfortable with the way it worked. She decided that this meant that I would not like working at Microsoft, because they of course work with people at remote sites all the time, as she explained, because they are a big international company.

Now this thought, I have to say, much like things that were said to me that caused me to leave Farmers, was one of the stupidest things that has ever been said since language was invented. Did she really imagine that I did not realize that working at Microsoft on currency translation for foreign subsidiaries would involve communication with people far away? But it carries the day, because someone gave someone power and she did not have the wits to use it. Based on something she imagines she gleaned from talking to me for 25 minutes, something about my personality (she agreed that I was well qualified to do the work), she decided that I was not the right person for the job. Who cares about 27 years of experience when you can figure it all out so perfectly based on a short conversation and no data? It's so much like high school, except that not being popular in high school doesn't fuck you over financially.

I tried to be nice about it when I wrote a note to the recruiter telling him it did not go well, but I used the words "ludicrous" and "frustrating," so he knew I was pissed. And I have not heard back from that recruiter, and don't expect to ever. I have a great background for contract work, but my guess is that recruiters try a candidate a few times, and if it does not work, they move on.

And to be honest, my career has felt like a series of these types of decisions. Sometimes they go my way, and I have recognized that and accepted it, and sometimes they go against me, and I usually lash out. I really cannot stand having major events in my life controlled by dull-witted people making arbitrary decisions that have a big impact on me. Unfortunately, this is called "having a job."  Which I don't.