Starting to get a bit depressed

[smileyeagle1021]

While I am no economic expert, and I don't have the studies to back this up, I think I can fairly say that the economy where I live is ranked somewhere between 3rd world cesspool and Elbonian (the made up country in Dilbert) mud hole... well, at least for my field. Everyone keeps telling me I should keep my chin up, we are about to have a jobs boom, soon you won't be able to walk out your door without hitting a job. Jobs will be so plentiful that there will be a shortage of people to build homes for all the new people who will have to relocate just to fill them. And all of this may be true... but you see, I made the poor life decision that I wanted a higher education and since I enjoy analysing data, decided to go for accounting... well, those aren't the jobs we are getting. No, we are getting manufacturing jobs.
These are good jobs, don't get me wrong. But, I didn't go to school to earn a degree so I could mindlessly press a button on an assembly line. Yes, there are jobs that require a lot of intelligence in manufacturing... all of which require education I don't have and can't afford. Oh, and I'm assured that engineering companies will open offices left and right in the valley to support the factories... oh yeah, still not an engineer either... well, surely they will need someone to do their... oh, no, they are keeping all their accounting and finance operations in San Jose or whatever real city it is that they are currently already located in.
To add insult to injury, to achieve this manufacturing boom, the state spent a billion dollars (that's not a typo, that is billion with a B) to bring ONE factory here, which in fairness, it looks like it is inducing other factories to want to locate here as well, but now we can't afford to fix roadways or fund our schools, and what business in their right mind is going to put their account/finance/admin positions in a city without schools or roads?
So, my outlooks are bleak enough as it is of getting out of the cesspool of the casino industry (seriously, if you are given the choice between starving and working in a casino, I might suggest choosing starving), there simply aren't enough jobs to go around. What few rare precious jobs that are available are starting to get a common refrain, "we don't care about your education, we don't care about your aptitudes, we don't care about your work ethic, you are a casino clerk and you'd best learn your place, now go back to that cesspool where you belong." Seriously, employers here don't take casino jobs seriously, I'd be better off having had no experience, because at least then I wouldn't be tainted by casinos. It would be funny the excuses I've heard employers come up with to make sure that they don't risk contamination from a former casino employee, if it didn't mean I was still stuck in the cesspool... one place told me that they wanted someone with experience posting journal entries... simply preparing them isn't enough, they want someone who actually posted them... umm... actually posting them would take me one more mouse click than what I have to do to prepare them, you are going to disqualify me over a fucking mouse click?
I made a promise to my mother that I wouldn't "abandon" her by looking out of the area for a better job until at least January, which if the winter continues to be as bad as it looks like it will be, really means I'll start looking about next May, because the places I'm looking are all realistically places I could drive to on relatively short notice... but only if the roads are clear, which in this bankrupt state is a difficult enough assumption on a mild winter.
So, here I am, working a job, which while I can't honestly say I hate, is so mind numbingly tedious and underpaid that I've gotten to the point where I have to force myself to look both ways before crossing the road because I'm so dead inside that being dead outside no longer seems like a bad thing, with almost no prospects of escape locally, and even fewer prospects of escape outside the region. Then again, TESLA pays their mindless drones fairly well, maybe being dead inside with a slightly better paycheck would be worth it, isn't that the thing to do now, throw away your degree and take whatever crap job you can?
I honestly don't know what I hope to get out of posting it, other than maybe catharsis of finally not bottling it up anymore, but there it is.

[Teysa]

I do feel you on the job market. I work two seasonal jobs in two different states. I would much rather work full time year round here in Texas but I make more money working out of state. I did notice that the company I work for over the summer has a full-time year round lead accounting clerk position open in Fairbanks. They also have several seasonal positions open at various properties. Being out of the hot desert for the summer might be a nice change of pace for you.

In any case, I hope things look up for you.

[Javarod]

•hugs (if you're into that sorta thing••

•whistles•• Billion, that's impressive. Living in the shadow of Boeing, we've seen that sorta thing, and then there's all the special tax zone nonsense every time someone wants to build a great big shopping center. Always a bad idea, but they never learn.

I know your pain somewhat, having worked 6 years as an independent contractor. Real hard to get a job when you don't have any verifiable work for the last six years. I was lucky last year that a WalMart 13 miles from here was hiring anyone with a pulse do to a major expansion. Hopefully i'll escape about the time i hit the 2 year mark... again.

Best i can recommend is try to escape, i managed that with NJ. Bought a car i couldn't really afford, filled it with my stuff, at least that which i didn't give away/sell/throw out/mail to m'self, and drove 2400 miles to where a friend would put me up (3 days, that was a hell of a trip). Its had its ups and downs, but overall its been better than staying put, and and getting better (and with its share of surprises).

Good luck no matter what you choose.

[bhskittykatt]

From talking to my mother-in-law in Oregon, she suggest trying to get out in January/February if you can, before peak tax season, because that's when a lot of jobs get posted. She suggested Portland as a potentially decent market to find work. As I've mentioned, I'll send you any leads I find come that time of year in my region.

[Akasa]

/hugs

I have no advice. Only support.

[Seshat]

I have advice: keep posting.

Talking to people is one of the guaranteed, works-for-most-people, ways to keep medical-type depression at bay. (Sadly, doesn't work on economic-type depression.)

Talk about the depression. Talk about your environment. Talk about working in a casino. Talk about not working in a casino! Talk about what you ate. Talk about your dreams. Hopes. Fears.

Just talk. Doesn't matter very much what about, but connecting to the rest of humanity is a major part of what keeps us from curling into little balls and hiding away.