THIS GAL JUST WANTS TA WORK

Imagine Cindy Lauper singing the song, This Gal Just Wants to Wo-ork... Applying for unemployment is an embarrassing experience. You have to fill out a form and have the information verified by your former employer. The former employer can cause problems and get you denied, which has occurred to friends of mine. Unfortunately, I have had to utilize unemployment several times since graduating from college. I fall into the statistic that if a person is laid off or fired once, it will probably occur again. Poor employment choices and my own fault/social skills are a bad combination.

It is a lot faster now to use the computer system to answer the weekly questions in Minnesota. In the past I had to use the phone-in system and that took a lot longer each week. I just hate using a dial-up Internet connection, it is so blasted slow. These are the questions that I have to answer every single week or else I don’t get my check. My responses are capitalized behind the question.

***** WEEKLY REPORT *****
Please answer the following questions carefully for the week of Sunday through Saturday.
1. Did you work or have a paid holiday during the reporting period listed above? This includes Full Time, Part Time , Temporary Work , Self Employment or Volunteer Work. NO
2. For this reporting period, did you or will you receive or apply for income, from any other source, that you have not previously reported to us? NO
3. During the above period:
a) Did you refuse an offer of employment? NO
b) Did you quit a job that you have not previously reported to us? NO
c) Were you discharged from a job that you have not previously reported to us? NO
4. During the above period:
a) Were you available for work? (This includes being medically able to work.) YES
b) Did you look for work? YES
***** END *****

Of course I continue to seek a job. I’ve applied for almost 200 jobs since last July and participated in five interviews, to no avail. In the past the ratio was 1 interview for every 10 applications sent so this is abysmal. I spend so many boring hours on line that I want to scream. I do not sit around watching tv and eating bon-bons! Dial up is cheaper but wearing on one’s soul after exposure to a fast Internet connection. It bloody well takes so long to fill out on-line questionnaires or download information. I hate websites with lots of bells and whistles. Just the basics are necessary.

Federal applications are some of the worst. They are complicated and take an hour or more to apply for one position. All federal jobs and positions with the state should have one basic application that requires less than ten supplemental questions for initial screening. If I make it through the first screening, I am happy to send in more information. That is the way for any job. Some corporate entities are horrid too. Don’t they realize that job seekers don’t have an hour to complete their application; we just want to click-click and be done.

Don’t waste my time!
© 2011