I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who are reading this but I am going to veer a little bit off the chronological course of this blog and jump ahead to where I am at in life right now. Well, as can be deduced from the title of my blog, I am in fact unemployed. SHHHHH, it's top secret, I don't want anyone to know. As many of you can imagine, telling cohorts, friends, and family that you are unemployed can be a bit embarrassing. I have to come clean with all of you, I was initially ashamed of being unemployed, but I have gradually come to terms with it.
Don't get me wrong, I have in no way become comfortable in my present situation and everyday am vehemently searching for a job. As many of you know, however, such a search is proving to be rather fruitless considering the state of our nation's economy. With unemployment rates at an all time high, I cannot say that I'm proud to be contributing to the statistic. Even the temporary jobs are not as prevalent as they once used to be and the pay is even more pathetic.
I'm sure you've all seen job postings for attorney positions stating a salary of $40,000/year, sometimes even less than that. How is that supposed to even pay for our living expenses never mind our enormous law school loans.
I did not go to a top ten law school, therefore I did not get a BigLaw job lined up right after graduation, which is now putting me in a worse position than those BigLaw attorneys who were laid off. At least they made big bucks for however short a period. When the market picks up again, those people will be the first ones rehired, while people like me who went to reasonably good law school, did well, and only has small law firm experience may be considered useless. For those small firms that would hire someone like me, their firm overhead only permits them to provide a measly salary.
While I aggressively job hunt, I am in fact collecting unemployment every week that I'm not working at any temp jobs. Thank you to the New York State Department of Labor for the $405/week. Oh and lets not forget the extra $25 on top of that, provided courtesy of the federal government (i.e., Mr. Obama). I will have to pay that back eventually though, so I wish that I didn't even receive it in the first place. I know that it helps those who are in much worse circumstances than I, but I would much rather be given the money straight up or not at all.
Recently, I received a letter in the mail from the New York State Department of Labor stating that they've scheduled me for a job placement assistance interview. This interview cannot be rescheduled or cancelled for any reason. If I do not show up, then it may result in a cancellation of my unemployment benefits. This appointment is at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. It's pretty funny that they've scheduled an attorney for this interview, considering I doubt they would be able to help me. We shall see what tomorrow brings...perhaps I will be given very useful advice in my job hunt or I will be told to go look for a job at McDonalds or maybe Starbucks. Hmmmm, now that's an idea...good benefits and a steady minimum wage salary, I will definitely sleep on that! Goodnight all!
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