For those currently unemployed - help thread

The Heretic · Jul 15, 2021

Lasers said:
If you've been waiting, now's a good time to job hunt. When the bene's get cut off there's going to be a lot more applicants.

We've hired 10 people in the last 30 days

If a person is on one of the extended programs, they will end the first week of september. And I have not been waiting; been applying for jobs since April 2020. Got a short contract gig and that was it. It is typical for a job search to take one month for every $10K in salary.

The Heretic · Jul 17, 2021

OED is sending out letters like this:

To a bunch of people on UI. It is just their way of hoping to filter out some people hoping they don't respond in time. I got this same exact letter today.

Flopsweat · Jul 17, 2021

The Heretic said:
OED is sending out letters like this:

View attachment 993463

To a bunch of people on UI. It is just their way of hoping to filter out some people hoping they don't respond in time. I got this same exact letter today.

And to think they could work on cleaning up all the fraud and might save way more money.

The Heretic · Jul 17, 2021

Flopsweat said:
And to think they could work on cleaning up all the fraud and might save way more money.

That might be part of what they are trying to do? I don't know for sure, but it is suspicious to me that they send that same exact letter to a bunch of people. I know they know who I was employed by, they confirmed those facts in February when I restarted my claim after a short term contract gig ran out. This (probable filtering out people) is probably easier than trying to investigate possible fraud.

They will be getting a whole bunch of phone calls next week. Some will not be able to get thru (OED has been laying off people manning their phone lines - a lot of people are complaining they cannot get thru now, this will only make it worse).

Flopsweat · Jul 17, 2021

The Heretic said:
That might be part of what they are trying to do? I don't know for sure, but it is suspicious to me that they send that same exact letter to a bunch of people. I know they know who I was employed by, they confirmed those facts in February when I restarted my claim after a short term contract gig ran out. This (probable filtering out people) is probably easier than trying to investigate possible fraud.

They will be getting a whole bunch of phone calls next week. Some will not be able to get thru (OED has been laying off people manning their phone lines - a lot of people are complaining they cannot get thru now, this will only make it worse).

Apparently a lot of states have this issue - people having to spend half a day dialing the number to get through.

PenTurner · Jul 18, 2021

What I find kind of scary is that the UI person will call you on an unlisted number. Then they will likely want you to tell them your name, SS, and address. I am surprised that Identity thieves haven't jump on this to gather our identity info.
Ron

The Heretic · Jul 18, 2021

PenTurner said:
What I find kind of scary is that the UI person will call you on an unlisted number. Then they will likely want you to tell them your name, SS, and address. I am surprised that Identity thieves haven't jump on this to gather our identity info.
Ron

It is an issue that is sometimes brought up in the FB UI support group, with many people saying they have been called and they were not sure they were called by OED. The most common one seemed to be that they had the last 4# and wanted the full SS # and/or the OED customer ID. Typically the OED wants the customer ID and won't accept the SS # as confirmed ID because the SS# is so easy to get - especially the last four numbers. IIRC they may also ask for history info - like when you started/stopped a job, or when a deposit was made to your bank account from OED.

I have an issue where my phone will just not allow me to answer calls from a phone number where the number is "unknown", no matter what settings I try. SSA tried to call me, and I could not call them because they were calling from their home number during CV-19 and had their number listing blocked. I finally had to have them call my daughter's phone so I could answer it.

I had OED call me when I restarted my claim after a contract gig expired, and they asked me questions that only OED would know about my account, so I answered them - I don't recall if they asked for my SS# though. I have to call them tomorrow, so I will be calling into their number.

Patriot1775 · Aug 1, 2021

FWIW, JBLM (Old Fort Lewis) needs gov contractors for the Installation Transportation Division. PD systems is the contractor.

The Heretic · Sep 2, 2021

This is the last week that those on any of the federal unemployment extension programs (PUEC & PUA) will be able to claim and get paid for the week.

If you are still on "regular" unemployment (e.g., the first 26 weeks of unemployment) or you filed a new claim and it was approved, then you will probably still be able to claim after this week (depending on your claim benefits) and get paid, but you will not get the extra $300 federal subsidy/extension, so your total amount will drop.

Both WA & OR chose not to go with any of the "left over" federal funds. OR said it had already used those funds for other UI purposes?

If you are still unemployed and still looking for work, good luck. After this week I will stop looking for work and just officially retire. I might take on short term contract or part time work if I luck into something but I won't be actively looking for those opportunities. but I don't anticipate that anyone will want to hire a 67+ year old dev who is retired. I have savings, other income sources and investments that seem to be adequate - so far.

Good luck.

Lasers · Sep 2, 2021

If you don't have a profile on LinkedIN @The Heretic , get one setup and add your coding expertise. You may find those short term contracts or part time consulting roles you've been looking for.

The Heretic · Sep 2, 2021

Lasers said:
If you don't have a profile on LinkedIN @The Heretic , get one setup and add your coding expertise. You may find those short term contracts or part time consulting roles you've been looking for.

I do have a profile on LI, and I get a LOT of spam from staffing recruiters who have no clue that I don't qualify for the position they are spamming me for, or don't care - more likely the latter as they just shotgun out the emails hoping to get something.

I did not apply with any staffing/consulting/etc. agencies this time around as they will just spam me like that, and will shoot my resume out to positions/employers I don't want to work at.

I am not really interested anymore - like I said, I don't really need the job. I am done. I have been working for over 50 years. I don't need the job. Let someone else who needs it get the job. If someone needs someone for a couple of weeks, then I might take on some work, but only part time or a short time. I had a 5 week contract early this year and it was not fun like it used to be.

A family member OTOH has been trying for almost two years, diligently trying hard - and nothing.

With so many people looking, there is a lot of competition, despite the decrease in the unemployment rate.