Got job security?

[marmar]

Poll question: Got job security?

I'm about to change careers. Right now, staying in my current field (the newspaper business) is about as secure as trying to cross the Grand Canyon on a bridge made of wet napkins. I'm moving to an employer (the Federal Gub-mint) that seems as stable as anything else right now.

How secure are you feeling about your job security in these very insecure times?

[Earth_First]

1. As a landscape contractor...

I worry. I worry ALOT.

[enlightenment]

You should add

"rolling on floor, laughing hysterically at the very idea" :rofl:

[Lisa0825]

2. My job ends January 17th.

I love my job :-(

Fuck Hurricane Ike. And UT and the State of Texas for throwing us under the bus.

[phusion]

25. Do you work at the UT medical school?

I think I read something about the cuts recently. Sorry. :( Hope you find something new soon...

[Lisa0825]

30. Yep.... 3800 jobs gone including mine. nt

[rndmprsn]

3. I am in the wireless industry and we are still opening profitable stores...

we'll see how long it'll last.

[skooooo]

4. Working for the government....or being in a union..

...are the best options I can think of now. Not that either one is immune to job loss, but I think there is potential for much more security than otherwise.

[Muttocracy]

5. Somewhat secure...

I have multiple part-time jobs which may actually protect me in case any one of them goes out.

But most of salary is currently coming from government funding which technically could be pulled at any moment. And in a couple of years some of that money will be gone.

And since I'm working on a variety of things I'm not really building my resume on any one area which worries me.

Even with relative security, I'm digging myself out of a deep negative net worth hole from past periods of unemployment, so it's hard to feel secure.

[Edweird]

6. I keep the lights on. Even when times are hard, people need electricity.

I'm really good at what I do, and I generate revenue. So, I feel pretty secure.

[Muttocracy]

7. awesome! you should feel important!

and we need that whether it's solar or carbon based :)

[cboy4]

8. Tenuously secure.

Who knows what's going to happen with my company, with the way the stock market is behaving.

I try not to constantly worry, but it's always in the back of my head.

All I know is so many people are worse off than me.

Okay, now I'm depressed. :cry:

[csziggy]

9. I've been self employed for 30 years but now thinking I need to get something else to do

I raised horses until Ronald Reagan's administration crashed the horse market with changed in the tax laws. Then I boarded horses for other people for 20 years until age and injuries made it impossible for me to do the work involved. Then I leased my facilities for a number of years. While boarding and leasing I still breed a couple of foals a year. Now the horse market has totally crashed - high quality well trained riding horses are going for less than it costs to feed a horse for three months. Feed prices have doubled this year, hay is hard to get.

One reason horse prices are low is that there is no "bottom" - while it may seem cruel, having killer prices for horses as meat animals keeps the price for riding horses up. In addition, some horses are dangerous or simply not worth keeping for work or pleasure animals. Those used to go to the killers. Now they are a drag on the market. Since there is now a ban on butchering horses in the US, horses sold for meat are shipped to Canada or Mexico. And they are shipped in cruel situations - packed into trailers with no feed, hay or water. So the concept that banning the sale of horse meat in the US saves horses from a cruel death is a fallacy.

Horses are being abandoned, starved, turned out in public areas and dumped on rescue organizations in record numbers as people become unable to take care of their luxury pets. Auctions are saturated with unwanted horses. This is the worst I have seen it in the 40+ years I have owned horses. And it will only get worse.

Yesterday my trainer and I agreed that we will not breed any mares this year - or for the foreseeable future. While there have been years we have not produced a foal, this is the first time I do not know if I will ever breed my mares again. And these are show mares that we used to sell foals from before the foals saw their first daylight.

I am going to have to find something else to do with my life. Maybe I will become a full time volunteer for the Florida Democratic Party...

[Nevernose]

12. Strays COULD actually improve the breeding stock of wild horses

The BLM says that 150 animals are needed for a genetically viable herd of wild horses, right? Which is mostly an excuse for the Bush-BLM to round up wild horses in economically-viable land so that "growth" can occur. While wild horses do damage the native ecology, the BLM isn't very interested in taking them off soon-to-be-developed land.

A domestic horse introduced to a wild herd would drastically alter the gene pool, though, wouldn't it?

[csziggy]

27. I'm not talking about strays out west - strays in rural Florida and populated parts of the East

Not in the wide open areas of the west, but in parks and national forests in the less suitable parts of the east. Some are just abandoned in whatever available pasture can be found - without making sure there is water or enough forage to sustain them.

But as far as the feral mustangs are concerned, the romantics like to think they are a pure strain of the Spanish horses that were released (or liberated by American Indians). In reality, the feral horses in the west and on Chincoteague Island off the East Coast have always had "new" blood introduced periodically.

Certainly as settlers moved out west, stock got loose and mixed with the horses already there. After the Spanish American War, the US Remount Program provided quality stallions to many ranches, some of which were released to run with mustang herds to improve their offspring. During the Depression, many horses were released when owners could not care for them - same as could happen again now.

The gene pool could be altered slightly but since the characteristics that define the feral mustangs are selected for by the environment, I doubt over the long run it would make a lot of difference in the horses. More likely, domesticated horses released would not survive all that long and die horrible deaths.

As for the Chincoteague ponies, Arabian stallions were released in the 60s to give more genetic diversity and to improve the ponies which are a source of revenue for the community fire department.

[scorpiogirl]

10. My husband lost his job in mid-July

Didn't find and start a new one until the beginning of October. Now he's working at a start-up for a married couple who do not know how to manage people. And, there are zero benefits of any kind. Not what I'd consider stable really, except that he's working. His employers are getting a hell of a deal and we're footing the bill for cobra at $1,600/mo. I really miss stability. I think by January my husband will have had enough of their bullshit and look for another job; one hopefully with benefits.

[SmileyRose]

22. $1600 a month? Our combined income isn't even that much.

I can't imagine what it would be like to pay that for medical insurance. Good heavens that's insane. (the cost of the insurance) We are "fortunate" in that my husband was wounded in Desert Storm and has VA benefits and I am fairly healthy so a $200 a month high deductable plan is working out OK for me. If I had to pay $1600 a month for medical insurance I'd just flat out have to go without. I feel for you big time.

[scorpiogirl]

31. I know it's crazy!

That actually includes vision and dental because I knew at least for dental that I am probably due for some work so I didn't want to give it up. We live in a really expensive area and we've contemplated moving to another state, which I'd still like to do. Unfortunately, we are in a job 'rich' area so it's hard to take a chance someplace where jobs may be harder to find, especially right now. Unemployment barely covered cobra and fortunately we had some money in the bank, but we spent most of it to live on. I know I'm better off than most, but stability is my number one priority and causes me great anxiety without it.

I am still hoping he'll find a job with benefits and we can get rid of cobra. I cringe every month when I have to write that check.

[marmar]

28. $1600 per month? Yikes!

n/t

[ACTION BASTARD]

11. Very secure

FSM bless NYS civil service,(13+ yr seniority)and the corrections union. I work with forensic psych. patients (serial killers/rapists etc)and we've always been hiring.

In my dept of 30+ guys, I'm #9 in the seniority list. And we STILL need people. Damn near untouchable at this point. I'd have to kill somebody, on tape, with Jesus Christ as a eye witness and even then...50/50 chance I still keep my job.

+ I live less than 5 miles from the job FTW!

[rug]

24. Sounds like Kirby.

[LuckyTheDog]

13. I was laid off in October

I also was in the media in metro Detroit, BTW.

[TroglodyteScholar]

14. I voted "very secure" but I want to caveat that...

...with the fact that I hate my job. The whole organization is a goddamn mess, and I just happen to be a bit of the glue holding it together. I'm looking for work in another state so I can be closer to family (and maybe even accomplish some career advancement)....

[graywarrior]

15. I am looking for a job and I'm feeling very insecure.

[Poiuyt]

19. That's where I am too

I left my job about 6 weeks ago because I wanted to leave on my terms, not theirs. I felt it was important to be able to say that I've never left a job involuntarily. But finding a new job in this economy and at my age is not easy.

[BlooInBloo]

16. As far as selfishness goes, I'm thankful that Americans are so stupid on average...

that my job is completely secure for all practical purposes.

It's really not good for the country (or for me, for that matter), but it is what it is.


EDIT: Learned my lesson about leaving loopholes. Now I'll just watch people jump through non-loopholes.

[CoffeeCat]

17. I have the ultimate job security...

...because I am a stay-at-home mom.

However, the pay is pretty poor. :)

What can I say...it's a labor of love.

[Rowdyboy]

18. Retired thank God with a fairly safe retirement.....(state retirement)

[proud patriot]

20. I'm a Union SEA (special education assistant)

the school district faces major cuts for the 4th year in a row
if not more .

I have 4 years seniority and am not sure that will be enough :scared:

I hope it is .

I'd say my job is tenuously secure.

[Coyote_Bandit]

21. Ummmm......

Laid off during the downturn of 2001-2002. After collecting over a thousand rejection letters I determined that my age (40+) and education (three graduate and professional degrees) made me damn near unemployable. The desk that occupies a corner in a spare bedroom represents job creation (yeah right, whatever). Meanwhile, I am working to acquire new skills (art glass and metalsmithing among others).

There is no such thing as job security. Regardless of whether one is employed or self employed their livlihood is ultimately dependent upon the willingness of someone else to purchase the goods or services offered. Any skill which one possess can be taken. Circumstances change. People and organizations can be traitorous.

[SmileyRose]

23. Ya know...........

In the 80's when pretty much my whole high school graduate or less extended family was losing factory jobs the college people that run the world told us if we were too lazy to go to college then we deserved to be poor and unemployed. It was hammered into us - college college and more college. I was never college material (got below 1100 on the SAT and was turned down by everybody - not that I even had the money to go) - but my friends that tested well enough and scrounged up the money and have advanced degrees are in big trouble financially. Even getting what they would consider a throw away job (my job) is impossible for them because every employer knows the minute something better paying comes along they'll bolt. When the world gets to the point college people become the homeless because they can't earn any money at all - and the not college people can't get jobs because all the college people aren't employing them. What are we supposed to do?

[Coyote_Bandit]

26. I've spent a lot of time

trying to figure that out. Best I can come up with is what I'm doing. And part pf what I'm doing is acquiring portable skills which may enable me to expatriate myself as a self-employed business person.

The value of formal education is highly overrated - especially as it pertains to career success and income. We no longer understand the difference between skills and credentials. If you need credentials then get the best you can afford. Formal training may be completely unnecessary to obtain and refine skills. In some niche markets you will find that formal training programs are virtually non-existent.

[tabbycat31]

29. as a former banker

I've already gotten the pink slip in June. I couldn't even find a seasonal retail job. My unemployment is about to run out too.

Luckily I rent from family, but I still feel like a mooch. I'm depleting my savings on going back to school.

I'm ready to take on odd jobs though. I should post some ads on craigslist today about it.