For ex-offenders, older workers, uneducated, jobs even harder to find

[babylonsister]

My 54-year old sis-in-law would agree with this. :(

For ex-offenders, older workers, uneducated, jobs even harder to find

By Halimah Abdullah | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON -- Julie Sizemore can only imagine what employers think when her resume crosses their desks.

After all, the Danville, Ky., native is an ex-convict trying to re-enter the workforce during a severe recession after having spent several years at home caring for her three children. Hardly the type of credentials that would ordinarily help her rise above the throngs of recent college graduates and middle managers with MBAs all clamoring for the same jobs as baristas or restaurant greeters.

"It's rough. I prefer something in administration, but I would settle for anything I can find," she said. "The economy right now, there's so many people out of work and if there's an opening at a place, it's gone."

Sizemore recently went to a small tobacco outlet in her town to fill out a job application. Four hundred other people applied for the same position.

She didn't get the job.

She's filled out applications at restaurants, gas stations, stores and offices -- all to no avail.

"I can't even get a job at McDonalds," she said.

Sizemore is part of the unemployment underclass, a group comprised of people with little or spotty work histories, workers without college degrees nearing retirement and those with criminal records who've recently found themselves crowded out by the ever-swelling ranks of overly qualified, younger applicants applying for low-paying jobs.

That trend will likely continue.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/63428.html

[stray cat]

1. Supposedly those under 30 are also getting hit harder than others

[notadmblnd]

2. I don't have a record, but I hit the big 5-oh no

I even took 10 years of experience off of my resume and s till no bites. I stopped working after my husband died to finish raising our son. I never thought I would not be able to find a job five years later.

[Lost in CT]

3. Well that is a problem put it is a bit obvious isn't it?

That is always the case even in good times...

Right now the biggest problem people have is they are overqualified for what is out there...

[northernlights]

4. I'm 55

I've worked 17 months in the last 6 years. I couldn't find anything for 2 years after hi-tech crash/911. I could have worked from 04-05, but was too busy trying to repair property damage by a bad contractor and protect my new home from 2 criminals in the neighborhood (who fortunately got outta town). Since leaving an unbelievably bad job in '07, I've been rejected everywhere I've applied for either fulltime or parttime work.

I'm back in school now, living on the last of my retirement savings and a bit left over from stafford loans. But the school "advisor" (read sales liar) lied to me about several things when I started the program, resulting in a 1 year delay before I can get degree & certification. So now unless I can sell my home asap, taking a huge bath, I'll be forced to take on megaloans to finish -- more than the salary justifies. :(