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OK, so. Maybe this is my depression talking, but I'll lay out my situation. In real life, I'm 30. I have a cocktail of disabilities, being blind in one eye (and unable to drive because the other eye is in a weird limbo between not legally blind and yet not truly functional) is only the most notable. (Also includes stuff like cerebral palsy, etc). When I did my undergraduate degree from 2002-2007, well...As the timeline might indicate, I screwed it up. I graduated, got a BS in Political Science, but with a GPA of 2.3. Reasons are legion, but they boil down to "Depression sucks, not being able to drive sucks, combine that with Northeastern PA and being away from home for the first time and you get an avalanche of suck" - there were weeks I literally did not leave my dorm room, despite trying very hard to. The one job I've had since getting said undergrad degree was from October 2007 to July 2008, a job which saw me updating and moderating a blog, plus random clerical work, for a market research firm...Hours were initially 40 hours a week...Then, by February 2008, they were cut to 20. Then they were cut in April 2008 to 8 hours all worked from home. Then in July 2008 my contract (which was initially 3 months, then at the end of that extended for another 6 months...) wasn't renewed. A 1099, so no unemployment insurance for me. Because I was disabled at birth (pretty much), I draw both SSI and social security disability...And since I live with my parents, I guess if I were willing to forego dignity and self-respect I could give up on the idea of working. When the recession was really on, from 2008 through 2009, I basically did that. I then shoved myself to go for a paralegal AAS degree from my local community college, started in 2010 and finished in May 2014 (because the school basically couldn't make its mind up for the better part of a year as to whether they'd take a CLEP test I took instead of freshman comp, which I'd tested out of during undergrad, among other insanities). Finished that with a GPA of 3.7, something that made me feel like a decent, functional human with possibilties for once. And since then, I've been looking for work. Forget not getting an interview, I've never once had anyone (except the feds, via form letters) reply when I send my resume. At this point, I look at getting up each day and looking for jobs with dread. There is a voice in my head loudly saying "You'll never get a job, so why bother?", and that voice gets harder and harder to ignore. I still do it, though. Every day, I'm crawling Monster, Indeed, USAJobs, etc. and applying for any job I *might* qualify for, with no real feedback on whether I *do* qualify. To say it makes me more depressed the longer it goes on is an understatement. Thus the question: At what point am I essentially unemployable on a permanent basis, regardless of my efforts? At what point does it not make sense to keep looking?
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# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 20:15 |
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 19:57 |
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EugeneJ posted:How much is this per month, roughly? About $700 per month (that's the number I fix in my head for discussion purposes, it's within $10 of that). Could I get a place on my own...? drat good question. We've been pondering it for years. Because of where I live (hesitant to reveal that, except to say that the median price for a 1-BR apartment means you need to earn about $40k a year for it to be affordable), as a practical matter, no, without a job (that paid really well for an entry level job) I couldn't live on my own. I don't need a home health aide or anything like that, but the plan always was "Spacewolf gets a job, keeps the job long enough to know he's likely to have it in 6 months to a year, and *then* moves to own place (after a good bit of preparation)". It's hard to see how any plan would be sustainable without me having a job, anyway. moana posted:What skills do you have? What kinds of jobs are you qualified for? Could you do work-from-home stuff or would that just make you more depressed? I'm a fully-trained paralegal. I can do jobs in most facets of a law office (or really any other office environment), that means. Work from home is something I consider, but only reluctantly - it does fill my parents and my shrink with horror when I do, because you are exactly right, it would be terrible for me psychologically. I wouldn't even know where to look and how not to get scammed in terms of a work-from-home thing, anyway. Slow Motion posted:Lie on your resume. Make up a work history. Your lack of work is a HUGE red flag that hiring managers are interpreting to mean you're unemployable (which is bullshit. But that's how they see it). Then when you go in to interview let them know what you did and why. Not right away. Make a good impression first. Then halfway through the interview let them know. Ask how it makes them feel. If they say they can't hire you having learned that information ask them what they would do in your position. Basically let that interviewer train you for the next. Rinse. Repeat. I have considered this, but (because paralegals are held by the courts in my state to be held to basically the same ethics rules as lawyers (following the same rules of professional conduct anyway) and lawyers can get disbarred if they hire someone who blatantly lies like that and something happens later, even inadvertently) always rejected it as not likely to help me and to basically be shooting myself in the foot, or possibly the head. I'd be curious to see how others regard that idea, though.
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# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 21:52 |
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I did not make a typo. Granted, I may be freaking out too soon, but...Yeah. Gap of Doom is staring back at me from my resume.
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# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 23:38 |
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Is there any opportunity in your area to do some sort of pro-bono para legal work? That would be a good way to build your resume, avoid a gap, and make some contacts. That's something I'm looking into, but unfortunately, where I am (New Jersey is *as specific as I'm gonna get*), the legal arena is very "who you know" and I got no real contacts. kidhash posted:How's your resume/cover letter? Perhaps that's what causing the issue? There's a Goon in SAMart who offers a service specialising in improving your resume - might be worth looking into. I have considered that very service. Sort of hard to get the money for it though - Social Security mandates I pay a large *something* to my parents in rent (or else they cut my check fairly significantly), and that something works out to $634 out of my check. I have about $60 to spend every month (fortunately, the "rent" is allowed to be way below market rate, which it is, and the parents help out with all my other bills), so building up the $200+ for a proper review and stuff is...Going to take a while. litany of gulps posted:Definitely don't give up though. Read these things. I shall. Once the NYTimes paywall falls (since I don't read it enough to pay for a subscription, but do read 10 articles a month...). Thanks for what I've seen so far, from most of you anyway. The ideas are helpful. For right now, because it's August, I'm still taking 2 weeks to just go "No job searching today unless something seriously time limited pops up in the Federal employee thread on SA", because the daily routine of "search for job, find nothing, make no progress" has not helped *at all*. But once those 2 weeks are up, you bet I'll be reviewing this thread.
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# ¿ Aug 8, 2014 02:04 |
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It's New Jersey. They're under a continual hiring freeze from what I understand. I'd do it (even though it'd probably make them suspend my SSI payments, so it'd be a net loss financially), because it'd be awesome work, but the problem is finding a job. Never mind that NJ's civil service hiring website is a shitshow beyond belief....Uggggh.
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# ¿ Aug 8, 2014 03:16 |
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Adar posted:Does your resume in any way allude to your being disabled or can someone figure it out from looking at it? No. I was never one for the disability organizations, and I would have been terrified of losing shots because people figure out I'm disabled. I do, however, mention it in my cover letter, every time - only after my shrink prodded me to include it, though. I'm still wondering if that was a good idea.
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# ¿ Aug 8, 2014 18:51 |
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slap me silly posted:I agree. Best strategy is to act like it doesn't even exist, as in it doesn't affect your work, as in anybody would be stupid to worry about it. When I'm hiring I don't give a poo poo if you flomp around on crutches or scoot around in a chair, just engage with me at the level of what we need and I will actively ignore other poo poo. Not everyone works that way, but it is the right way, so assume they will and act accordingly. The problem: It *does* impact things. Where I live, because we're a suburban-ish area, paralegals are *usually* expected to do courier runs (eg to the courthouse, etc). It's never written down anywhere but usually is expected, I'm told by lawyers and teachers. Being too blind to drive, I cannot do those (as a practical matter; the paratransit system requires you to book rides 24 hours in advance, and taxis are *hugely* expensive); transportation wise, I get paratransit to and from a worksite, and then go on foot during the day. I get what you're saying, let me be clear. In a perfect world, it shouldn't matter a drat and what's on the job ad should be the job. In a non-perfect world, the job ad is just the beginning. So I'm...stuck.
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# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 16:38 |
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Hugbot posted:This is great advice. I am also a paralegal and I got started through an internship offered by my program, which then gave me real experience and got me my first real job. Get in touch with your school and see if they can set you up. Your GPA was pretty good so it shouldn't be too hard to get placed. Lawyers love (unpaid) interns. I love my school, but the career services folks...Part of the reason it took me 4 years to do a 2 year program is on them. Because I listened to them when they said "don't look for an internship on your own, we'll do the search and set up"...Until finally, after a year of getting the run-around from them, and finding out on my own that nobody wanted academic-credit interns in a legal market as crappy as that in the NJ/NY area (there's barely enough work to support paid employees, let alone interns), I just did a final course instead of an internship so I could finish the drat program. When September hits and everybody's back, I might call them again, but I don't have hopes on it producing much.
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# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 16:42 |
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Sign posted:What about some volunteer work. It's a reason to do something, a chance to learn some skills, and fill in your resume with more than nothing. Especially since you don't need the income desperately for rent or food. If I could find links to my local pro bono outlets, I would do this, but they're awfully hard to find current info on. I already volunteer with the local Red Cross chapter as a disaster services volunteer (don't actually get called out much, but that's a function of "Wow, it's been light for major disasters", since I can't work fire calls (due to not driving), but can work shelter situations), but I'd be happy to volunteer for stuff more relevant, yes.
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# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 16:45 |
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Networking is a weird thing, both because of me and because of the field I'm in. Law is very "who you know". I know this. However: 1. I'm an extreme introvert, for a whole bunch of reasons; 2. I have no contacts really that could help me with a job search, even by referring me to people. Sure, I know a few lawyers via parents, who on a personal level have known me since I was born, but they're all retired or close to retirement - I've asked them for help, and while every one of them sympathizes with me, none of them is in a position where they even know all that well lawyers who are young and practicing and would need paralegals, let alone newbie paralegals. (The older the lawyer, the less they want a paralegal, and honestly the less they know how to even *use* a paralegal.) Basically, they're decent references when applying, but can't help beyond that. Moving on...National Association of Blind Lawyers - OK, I've looked them up via Google. NFB association...I've dealt with the NFB locally, didn't like their approach to blindness (they're the guys who send blind folks to climb Everest, for example, and believe in what I not-so-fondly call the "superblind" model of blindness, whereas I acknowledge it as a disability and seek ways to deal with the practical problems it presents), but what the heck. The problem (and the showstopper) is that the website they direct you to, https://www.blindlawyer.org comes up as a 404. Which makes me wonder if they're active, even. So I can't even tell if they're intended for paralegals or would have anything for me. Alumni stuff - the university I got my undergrad degree from, sadly, mostly has alumni near the university...Something I wish I'd known when I was looking at schools 12 years ago. Even their career services folks said they aren't of much help beyond the immediate area, as of three weeks ago. The community college where I got my paralegal degree from, I've been using their alumni job postings to complement my use of Monster and Indeed. Point is, bam thwok, I get what you're saying. I'm trying to network. There's only so much one can do when you're entry level, though.
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# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 15:34 |
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OK, so, reviewing this thread so far, suggestions from the community...I am intentionally excluding stuff like "lie on your resume", because really. I'm going into a regulated-as-all-gently caress industry (paralegals in NJ are not licensed or state-certified, but that's been proposed repeatedly over the last 20 years to the State supreme court, which regulates lawyers and everybody else involved with the legal system), so that's just beyond "not smart" and verges on "insanely dumb". Let me know if I'm leaving anything out from previous posts, but here's what I see people have suggested, and some brief responses and updates on those. 1. Get all mention of disability off the cover letter and resume - Done. Resume was disability-free, but cover letter was not. That has now changed. It'll cast my long gaps in a harsher light, but so be it. 2. Volunteering and internships - Was hunting for these before I decided "gently caress it, need to take 2 weeks to regroup and recharge and basically not hunt for jobs every day". Most internships want you still in school, and I'm graduated, but that's a minor issue (I'd hope). 3. Resume and cover letter service from Goon - Looking at this. His prices are *very* steep when you pay all but $60 of a $700 monthly check into bills. I'd need the complete package, and that runs, what, $400? I'd love to do this, but not sure how I'd get the money (aside from begging parents, who are guaranteed to say "Why do you need to spend $400 on a resume and cover letter, do it yourself and listen to your therapist") 4. Public Defender's office and such - Looked them up. They basically do not have a web presence, but will call them once my 2 week sanity break is up, and see what they say. 5. Networking - Addressed in immediately previous post. Anything I'm missing? If not, I invite the conversation to continue. In fact, I beg for it to continue - you've all been pretty helpful, and it's done wonders to have other brains on this topic than just mine.
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# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 15:49 |
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Sure, but how do I mask stuff so that I'm not swarmed by Internet Detectives?
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# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 14:39 |
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Irish Joe posted:What life do you have worth ruining? Ouch.
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# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 15:11 |
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No, but I'm tired of struggling with Word and figuring out if it even has redaction features in the latest version (excellent help files, microsoft...), so I went to the expedient of "Save as png files, put black rectangles over sensitive info in Paint, enjoy". On the other hand, can't post attachments without paying money...Money, the one thing I do not have readily available. gently caress you, social security. Eh, I'll put it up on a site in a bit and edit this to share the link. Edit: On third thought, never mind, following Moana's advice. I probably left in enough to identify me clearly, but eh. As Irish Joe so succinctly put it, what life do I have to ruin? Resume: http://www.filedropper.com/sareviewresume Cover Letter: http://www.filedropper.com/sareviewcoverletter Spacewolf fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Aug 11, 2014 |
# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 15:53 |
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OK, grammar. I'm actually usually really good at that, no idea where I went wrong there? (It's like...I know there are severe errors there, Adar, but I can't pinpoint them?) The other stuff. Cover letter: Ahhhh, I was *wondering* how to put that down. Yes, I am looking at the firm's website...When they have one. A lot of local firms don't, or they're general practice firms that do a bit of everything. Resume: Gurp. Did not realize I did that. References section is where it is because I was unsure *where* to put it. Grammar. Yes...Oh boy.
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# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 18:17 |
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I ditched the 'responsible for' construct with the SRBI job when I tweaked this resume a few hours ago (after posting it) because, Krydon has it right, it feels awkward. KL Communications is different, there it was a lot less "I did stuff" and more "I did extremely varied poo poo all having to do with this project", and I'm not really sure *how* to phrase it. The qualifications section: I *know* it feels mealy-mouthed and gah. I have no idea what to replace it with. When I did the resume originally (this is version..11?, and the thing has been through a *lot* of rewrites from the ground up!), people were all like "Qualifications sections are good for entry-level resumes!" but then very vague when you asked "What *do* I put there?" Part of my problem is that a ton of my skills come from hobbies and the like - not stuff you'd put on a resume. I'm *regularly* responsible for customer service as an admin on one game I play on - granted, the game is small, but you still learn how to deal with crazy people from the Internet. And so on, and so forth. Numerous times, my whine of the moment has been "Holy crap, I do this poo poo to run a game...And I can't even put it on a resume!" Well, now it comes true.
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# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 21:36 |
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Moana: That's a good point. (I put less time than it sounds like into my gaming, but that's averaged over a while. Some days it's a little....Some days, purely by factor of "I gotta do something to fill my time", it's a lot.) The problem is that in New Jersey, paralegals are regulated by a State Supreme Court decision - if I could recall the cite, I would post it. The basic thrust is that they wouldn't even be legal except that they're supposed to be supervised, more-or-less directly, by an attorney who employs them. So it's hard to "do stuff to build up a portfolio", really. (I kept *some* of my stuff from school to use as a portfolio, but I unfortunately didn't think to keep *all* of it until fairly late in the process. Argh, brain.) So I'm not sure what I could do that would be job-relevant and yet also not unauthorized practice of law. Maybe I'm just not thinking creatively enough. (I should note again, I'm really grateful for the time people are taking with this thread. I didn't expect that at all, honestly, and it's been very helpful. With that said, if I don't reply for a day or two, it's because I'm focusing my job-search energy on smacking my resume into shape and generally rebooting things.)
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# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 15:03 |
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Is there not any sort of pro-bono legal aid organization in your county? In my county? I've been looking for one for a few weeks now, I'll say that much. I know they're out there, not sure where though.
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# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 18:13 |
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My personal hope would be criminal law, because of the pace of the cases more than anything else, but I know what you mean re competition being fierce. Family law, honestly, is sort of my "fallback to a fallback" position - I kind of squirm at the idea of handling such emotionally rough stuff day after day. At least in criminal law there's a theoretical hope of a happy (or at least just) outcome. Divorce cases...not really. Real Estate I was good at, but they change the forms so regularly on the federal level (HUD forms, etc) who knows if my grades are any good there. And honestly, at this point I'll be glad to get *any* interviews. Prepping for interviews feels like a bridge I'll cross after the current bridge or two.
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# ¿ Aug 13, 2014 01:36 |
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My brain is obviously fried. I completely missed that site. The fact they don't have an email address sort of weirds me out, but eh. I'll call them sometime this week.
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# ¿ Aug 13, 2014 16:09 |
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I have familiarity *as an SSDI recipient*. I'm not sure how that works in terms of being able to help people through the maze. Otherwise, yeah, your thoughts are basically the same as mine. (Wish: That the forums would have a thing where it'd email me when there are replies to my threads...)
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# ¿ Aug 13, 2014 17:26 |
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OK, so. Plan of action, though I'm *explicitly not* Tox'ing myself, so nobody ban me if this doesn't happen. 1. Try to call legal aid folks (thanks for the suggestion and link, Hot Dog Day!) today and see if I can reach whoever handles paralegal volunteers. I say try because I can't find any of the receivers for the cordless phones on the house line, and guess whose cellphone is being taken in to T-mobile as we speak to get the sim card swapped in (old phone and new phone use different sizes of sim card) and stuff? Hopefully I'll have my cellphone back by the end of the day. I'm cold-calling, which is another reason why I say "try" - because my experiences as a telephone interviewer have my lizard-brain convinced cold-calling people will result in Bad Things Happening. (I was not great at persuading people to stay on the phone, no.) I'm especially eager and motivated today though, so hopefully that'll overcome my brain's reluctance. 2. If #1 is successful, see about volunteering starting in 2 weeks (next week I'll have relatives down, so gotta block that week off) or whenever would be most convenient for them to have a new person start. 3. If #1 is unsuccessful, try Wednesday (I figure I'd just be annoying if I tried tomorrow?), and if Wednesday is unsuccessful, try Friday. Hopefully I can accomplish point 1 at least.
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# ¿ Aug 18, 2014 16:25 |
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Spoken like someone who never did survey interviewing. Cold-calling scares me because I keep expecting to be (one of): A. Swore at; B. Swore at in a foreign language; C. Threatened with bodily harm; D. Not even given a response, just hung up on. It was very rare where I got E, a polite response, or F, someone actually willing to help me at my task. Do it for a whole summer or two, like I did, and you feel like a complete and total failure at everything you ever do. I know it makes no sense intellectually, but like I said, we're trying to convince my lizard brain this won't end up like the last time I had to cold-call people. There's really no intellectual function involved.
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# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 17:34 |
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SSA definitions, no. State of New Jersey definitions, yes. Schedule A...Well, I qualify for it. Whether I'm blind or not depends on whose definition you use.
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# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 23:53 |
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I'm male, if that matters. Tawd: For the record, the reason I see it as part and parcel of everything else is because of where the depression is rooted - basically, if I were not physically disabled I wouldn't have the roots of my depression. If you fix the disabilities, everything else might well clear up...But as that isn't possible (by this point, even if my eyes (to name one issue) magically worked perfectly tomorrow, my brain has likely long since pruned away the connections that tell it to take sight from that eye), it's something me and my therapist manage, not that we hope to "cure". It took me years and years to realize that, and it was incredibly demoralizing when I did (for obvious reasons), but it's true. I understand what you're saying, believe me. You touched on a fear I do have (everything gets set up and yet nothing changes mentally), but it's one I am trying to work on. Re the LinkedIn thread: So....big.... I've looked at that thread and the resume thread in BFC, but their sheer size scares the hell out of me.
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# ¿ Aug 25, 2014 18:31 |
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Not yet. Things have been crazy IRL, so the job hunt went to the back burner for a bit.
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# ¿ Sep 7, 2014 17:33 |
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I'm amused by the direction this thread has taken. An update, that said: 1. I now have PMs here. Yay. I had the extra burning a hole in pocket, so hey. 2. Job search is still very dead. I look every other day now (no more every-day-searches, too depressing), but the same problem remains. Where there are jobs, they want years of experience - and they state that, doesn't matter what the position is. But usually, jobs aren't even being posted. 3. I keep bugging myself to call the local legal aid society about volunteering, but stop before making the call. I dunno, I keep getting afraid I'll sound too desperate and begging. (Stupid qualm, you'd think. I am desperate and I am begging. Well, it's one thing to admit that on the internet, another thing to sound like that to someone you intend to work for, even on a no-pay basis.) 4. Therapist knows a ton of lawyers. Said yesterday he might have a lead on someone willing to take a chance on me. Here's hoping.
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# ¿ Nov 2, 2014 17:15 |
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Hot Dog: You're absolutely right, but I'll admit that the thought *still* gives me nightmares like someone will laugh at me over the phone. I don't know why. Sephiroth: OK, so. $697/mo in SSI/SSDI checks at the moment ($340 on one end, $357.03 on the other). It'll go up with the COLA for social security, but I don't recall how much. $400 of the total gets taken out for "rent" (I use quotes because I'm only being charged rent because SSA insists), $234 for all sorts of other stuff that I don't control, for a total of $634 in bills off $697. Then, on top of the $697, I get $176 in food stamps. Earning money on SSI is a weird thing. Basically, you ordinarily get benefits cut off completely the moment you hit $2000 in your possession at any time. There are exceptions like Ticket to Work that I cannot explain with any clarity because, honestly, I don't understand them much beyond knowing they're there. I don't remember what the min amount is that I can earn per month before they start deducting benefits. (Big problem here is that a lot of SSI benefits/minimum amounts/max amounts vary by state. This is great in an "accounting for COL" point of view, but when you're trying to look stuff up it gets confusing.) I *know*, however, there is a huge cliff once I earn money - I don't remember the details, just that there's a yawning gap between when earning money causes me to lose benefits money, and how much I'd have to make to make up for the lost benefits money. (For those just strolling by this thread, this is why being on SSI is actually frustrating as hell. Once you get on it, it becomes a net *loss* to get off it.) Zombies: Oh, I'll actually agree with you. The OP was me in a terrible, horrible frame of mind, and that has continued to a degree. There *is* a ton of self-pity and general malaise on my end, that I fight against more than is probably readily apparent. So, to get *out* of that malaise: 1. Tomorrow is my big "Get up and do stuff" day. It was going to be anyway, but this seems like an excellent time to tack stuff onto the list. So long as I still have a cellphone that works, I will call the local legal aid folks. I have no guarantee I'll get through to the right person, but dammit I'll call them. Hopefully I won't have to be too annoying to get to the right person, but if I have to be annoying and call back some other time, OK. I might be a mess of anxiety by the time I call, but I will call dammit. 2. I will post to here when I have called them tomorrow. If I do not post by 7:30 PM EST tomorrow (just to allow for delay between calling and posting, as well as a finicky laptop), go ahead and ban me. I'd deserve to be out the $20. On the other hand, my post might just be "I called", because I'm not going to try to predict what'll happen if/when I call. It could go excellently, or it could suck.
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# ¿ Nov 4, 2014 23:16 |
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OK, nobody need ban me. I called at 9:11 AM this morning according to my cellphone. If I knew how to take a screenshot of said phone I would! I should note that I got directed to voicemail for the person who handles volunteers, but! I called and that's the important part, am I right?
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 15:13 |
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Yes I did. "Hi, this is (name) from (number), and I'm calling about volunteering as a paralegal. I'm a recent graduate of (local community college) with a paralegal degree, and I'm looking to gain experience as a paralegal." Followed by the usual "when I'm available to go in and talk" and "have a nice day" and such. Since it's come up on the thread, I made no mention of being disabled. Better to let them discover that when they meet me, it's not like I need accommodations to work in an office. (Unless being in an office means lifting 50 lbs of stuff regularly.)
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 17:09 |
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Nocheez posted:Also: Make sure you're getting 30 minutes of exercise every day at a minimum. Going for a nice 3 or 4 mile walk is great for clearing your head, as well as good for your waistline. I figured I should ask about this. I'm not just disabled, I'm practically a shut-in. Yes, I live with parents, but they aren't always around (Dad being retired and mom being semi-retired, they travel a lot)...And meanwhile, I'm in suburbia that lacks crucial things on the getting around side, like sidewalks on side streets (It's a fairly old neighborhood) or even "stop lights that have accompanying walk lights, or are visible from corners by pedestrians" in some cases. (There are stop lights, but no walk signals) Any recommendations on "getting into shape" that *wouldn't* require me to brave crazy New Jersey drivers as a pedestrian, or pay for a gym that most of the time I can't get to? I'm already doing 20 min on the treadmill at home semi-regularly, but that's got the problem of being kinda boring.
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 17:15 |
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AA is for Quitters posted:You're in Jersey? Where in Jersey are you? Monmouth County. (If people expect me to say more re where I live outside of PMs, you're crazy. That said, I have PMs and I'm willing to use em.) SSD actually comes via my dad (since I was disabled before age 2, let alone age 22, and I have nowhere *near* enough credits to qualify for SSD on my own), but yeah, that cutoff is what worries me. I have my parents willing to help me (obviously), but...Guh, that yawning gap between how much I'm likely to make (I'll be doing really well if I get $12 an hour, I figure) and how much I need to make to make up for the loss of benefits (at least $20/hour by my calculations) makes my budget cry. I *want* to survive on my own, but see no financially sane way that'd be possible even after I get a paying job. Anyway, yeah, here's hoping OMLS (legal aid) calls back.
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# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 03:53 |
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AA is for Quitters posted:One thing you need to be really really careful of being on adult child benefits is if SSA goes sniffing around and decides that you going to school and trying to find work and stuff means that you are able to work, they can axe you off of that, and once you're off of adult child benefits you can't ever get back on, your only hope is to appeal them pulling you off of them and pray to god the appeal goes through and they don't cancel them, leaving you with just SSI. I know you said you don't meet the SSA definitions for statutory blindness, which is the one exception to that stuff, so be careful. That makes me, literally, teeth-chatteringly nervous. Do you have a written source on that that I could read/show to folks?
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# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 21:14 |
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Uh, gently caress. Thanks for the link AA, sent it off to my dad (who is the one who helps me navigate the SSA maze) to read, with your comments. If the situation is actually as bad as you describe, I am screwed in that I've spent the last few years preparing for a career I cannot allow myself to become employed in. (Because SSI/SSDI also gives me medicare *and* medicaid, it gives me eligibility for food stamps, etc. All the ways I make the math work so far as me living with parents pole vault off SSI/SSDI, really. The reason I've been so dogged-yet-scared re work and stuff is that working, for me, is (currently) about the dignity of being independent (one day)...If it clashes with practical day to day reality, I am screwed.) Not exactly happy news, but I'm glad someone warned me.
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# ¿ Nov 7, 2014 15:06 |
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Nocheez posted:If you're able to work, then isn't the good news that you are on the path to establishing a career and can become independent? I'd much rather work an entry level job than sit around in my parent's basement and collect a check that barely helps ends meet. Almost but not quite, because one of the realities of being disabled is that you are pretty much always last hired and first fired (in the event of a layoff especially). I'm fairly certain other people here can back me up on that. (In case you don't know, nocheez, the unemployment rate for disabled people in the US is something like 65%, and that is not a typo or missing a decimal sign. That excludes all the people who are retired or literally have absolutely no possibility of working, that's just the people who are looking for jobs.) We (me and parents) knew going in, even when I was in college from 2002-2007, that just because I might have a career might not mean I have a job continuously, and so SSI/SSDI and the other benefits (like being on my dad's federal retiree health insurance, THANK YOU OPM) are a pretty essential set of fallbacks, and would especially be so early on in any career. In a lot of ways, it's why we signed up for benefits - the idea was always that I would work, but have SSI/SSDI to fall back on between jobs...With hopefully those "between jobs" periods just being fallow points in a longer career, the kind of gaps anybody has. (It hasn't worked out that way, but that was the idea; can you really blame us for being slightly, though still rationally, optimistic?) The news AA gives is that, nope, if I ever work and establish myself in any job, I am screwed. ($1084 a month is...Let me do the math publicly so people can check my numbers. 40 hours per work week, 4 weeks in a standard month, 160 hours...$6.775. Less than minimum wage. I can't even work a minimum wage dead end job full time, because that would bring me over the SGA limit.) Essentially, you would be right, except that your view combined with what AA is telling me would mean I could have nothing to fall back on if a particular job didn't last. And I do mean nothing. Just as frustrating and enraging on a personal level, to me, is a little nugget contained in the article AA posted: If I ever am lucky enough to find someone who wants me, I can't ever get married...Because that permanently cuts off disabled adult child benefits too, even if the marriage doesn't last and ends in divorce.
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# ¿ Nov 7, 2014 15:50 |
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Thesaurus posted:Unless you get married to another person who also falls into the "disabled adult child" category .... Got PMs turned on (I now do)? If so, let me know, I might need that help.
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# ¿ Nov 7, 2014 17:09 |
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Hot Dog Day #91 posted:By the way spacewolf, the first fired rule doesn't really apply to disabled people at some law firms. Don't give up all hope because you think your disabilities will get you fired too fast. My firm had a blind, wheelchair bound attorney doing legal work until his death. In fields that cater to the disabled and vulnerable, you may not be viewed as much of a liability as you think you are. I'm trying not to, but it's very difficult.
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# ¿ Nov 7, 2014 22:53 |
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Hot Dog, I'll PM you with my specific diagnoses and stuff. No offense to everybody else, but I am wary of getting intricately detailed on those in public forums that can be Googled.
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# ¿ Nov 8, 2014 01:06 |
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Oh agreed, SSI/SSD work would have the most varied cast of characters. Almost as wonderful as criminal in that regard. But there's a thing: I have no actual training in SSI/SSD stuff. And I would frankly feel like poo poo trying to learn it while representing people, which I suspect is the only way I would be able to learn it.
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# ¿ Nov 8, 2014 13:19 |
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 19:57 |
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I thought (and correct me if I'm wrong AA) that AA was suggesting I work for myself in that scenario.
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# ¿ Nov 8, 2014 14:23 |