Unemployment insurance meeting, etc.

[redbird]

Last week, I was summoned to a meeting about my unemployment insurance benefits. I had to take the letter they sent me (I think it said that) and fill out a form about my job hunt. The meeting was at 8:30, which turned out to mean that they open the building then; got about 20 of us in a room for a presentation that started about 8:50; and then there was a short wait and a meeting with someone.

I was nervous beforehand, because I wasn't sure about all of what to put on the forms. Some of it seems odder in retrospect: for example, it asks about my maximum travel time, and then in the presentation we were told that we had to be willing to travel an hour one way if by car, or an hour and a half if by public transit. OK, I can accept that, but then why ask me? So that they can get back to me and ask if I've been ignoring job openings because I thought they were too far away?

I am now registered in an allegedly AI job-matching system them have. Since I hadn't brought my resume (we weren't told to, and in fact one of the questions on the form was "do you customize your resume for every application?"), I have now emailed it, to go with the information they already had (like my address and most recent employment). I also asked to sign up for an interviewing workshop, because I could use some hints (assuming optimistically that sooner or later I will get some interviews). She also found one job that I am supposed to apply for—it's a contract proofreading job, so reasonable for me.

There was also a bunch of stuff about applying for "capable" jobs, meaning ones we have skills for even if they aren't what we've done in the past. Somewhere on either the state Department of Labor website or the separate one for the "Workforce 1" program is supposed to be information on this. I don't have it, because they told us not to take notes on URLs etc., we'd get a handout with them afterwards, and I was on the downtown train before I realized I should have been given a handout and wasn't. If I don't find it on the website I'll email the person at DoL who I sent my resume to for their system. The theory is basically that there are transferable skills, but there are complications about what jobs a person is required to accept to keep their benefits.

That did in fact take almost the full 90 minutes they told me to allow, from the 8:30 arrival time to when I was back out in the sunshine on 125th Street. (It could be a lot worse: the office is relatively near both my home and an accessible subway station.)

The next stop was the gym. Or, well, that was the plan. I got to the hotel where my gym is, noticed a fire truck outside, but everyone seemed calm, so I walked in. As I was walking through the lobby, one of the trainers stopped me and told me the gym was closed because of a "chemical spill." I inquired further, and found that it would be at least a few hours, maybe the rest of the day. My membership is good for any branch, but I wasn't carrying exercise clothes, I was going to use the ones I keep at the gym.

So, I gave up on that idea, and made a quick trip to Macy's. Quick and successful. I went to the same corner of the store where I successfully found pants last week; picked out five pairs to try on, all nominally in my size; and wound up buying four of them. Then I got cattitude to meet me in Chinatown for an early lunch (I had a relatively small breakfast, and then a banana and a few pecans for second breakfast, which isn't a lot), and came home.

Next step, that job application. Which wants a cover letter including salary requirements. I hate writing cover letters anyway; this makes it worse. I told the person at DoL this, and she expressed sympathy but had no suggestions.

Comments

[amaebi]

I am informed that one should always indicate that salary is something to negotiate. Of course, that gets one tossed out some places.

An HR once told a writer's group I was part, with charming levity, that it's all a game. More fun for some than others, said I, and the HR person looked some combination of affronted and embarrassed.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I sure am glad I'm Retired, because it looks to me as though merely _applying_ for a job requires a considerable amount of specialized skill and (perhaps) talent. Even worse, applying for extended unemployment compensation seems to have the same requirements, and if the lack of them is a big part of the reason one is unemployed....

And that "expected salary" bit sounds like a real Mine Field. Really now. Minimum wage? Something in the range/average of your last three (say) jobs? Enough to pay your current (relatively modest, apparently) lifestyle bills? Twice, or half, the salary of the person who approves or disapproves your application? [I've been known to mention -- when someone presses me to Volunteer for something, or give them advice about plants -- that one of the last Consulting jobs I had paid $300.00 per hour. I don't mention that this was the usual honorarium for Speakers at a posh Garden Club in a city that looks down on Beverly Hills people as being both neuveau and not _really_ rich, that it lasted only an hour (or not much more, because the drinks were out then, and I'm not daring enough to stand between a hord of Little Old Ladies and their booze), or that I turned the check in to the Arboretum (where I worked, at the time) because my status there was involved with being asked to do the job, though I probably could have deposited it in my personal account since I was doing the talk/demonstration on my own time.]

Also... I'm sure you'd have a hell of a time _proving_ that you're not being offered a job because... errr... ummm... you're getting to be a bit up there in age. Somewhat more than half as far as I am, actually. It's safe to figure that the Unemployment Office people know that, but it probably does no harm to to perfect The Shrug of Resigned Acceptance.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

for example, it asks about my maximum travel time, and then in the presentation we were told that we had to be willing to travel an hour one way if by car, or an hour and a half if by public transit.

Ugh. Always nice to know that your tax dollars are supporting a programme which discriminates against people who can't travel that far/long because of their disability. Also nice to be reminded of the additional barriers a person like me might face in getting a job once I finally finish my degree :/

I can do my 50 minute commute because half of it's in a taxi. I'd find it very hard to do it entirely by public transport (and, it would increase in length to a 1 hr 10 minute commute).

Glad the meeting wasn't too stressful, anyway.

[redbird]

I don't know how that if at all they would adjust that rule to fit with Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations, not having asked for any. All I am sure of is that the building and meeting spaces I was in today are wheelchair accessible; I expect that a deaf person would have needed accommodations, given how much of the presentation was oral. And yes, what accommodations are available for using the government services is a different question from whether the program rules are a barrier in ways not directly connected to interacting with the government office or its website.

I don't like it—and I also don't like that it effectively discriminates against city residents and poor people, both groups who are less likely to have cars. (A blind job-seeker, or anyone else with medical reasons why they couldn't drive, might be able to make a case that they should be able to limit their job search radius to one hour by public transit and still get benefits, but that would do nothing for someone who can in fact work but can't travel even an hour each way. But that's all speculative, as I haven't inquired.)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten you live in Queens rather than Manhattan. I was thinking "who drives in New York?" and forgetting that New York is more than just Manhattan. Still, 3 hours commute for 8 hours at work seems like a lot to expect of people. Unless it's your dream job, and you're renting the place you live, and can move relatively easily to be nearer.

[redbird]

Actually, I haven't lived in Queens since the 1980s, and I don't even have a drivers' license. I'm thinking more of the half of the state that isn't New York City (which they use the same forms for).

[coth.livejournal.com]

My sympathy. It sounds very similar to what would be happening here, now, and after the last two times I vowed never to bother the state with my employment status again. Which is of course part of their objective.

I too find the travel time requirements unreasonable. I found an hour's drive or hour and a half public transport commute too much for me after a few weeks when I was a reasonably fit and healthy thirty-something. If anyone asked me to do it now I'd be a physical wreck in fortnight!

On the other hand it does concentrate the mind on better options.

It does sound as if you have tranferable skills, and I have just got a job on that basis. So good luck.