I should mention that he did try for a sales position with his current company, but so far, they have turned him down, twice. I'm not sure why. He has 12 years with the company. He has placed in the top 3 reps for every sales promotion they have had since he started working there. He was named customer service rep of the year a couple of years ago. But every time he tries for any sort of promotion, he never gets it. I know it has been very frustrating for him.

Adding detail to a resume can bring it up to the next level. Instead of saying "improved customer relations," state "my customer service satisfaction scores were 35% higher than the average." or "Implemented a new procedure that increased customer satisfaction by xx%"

Also, sometimes a short-term sacrifice is necessary to jump into a new position. I started as a technician out of high school and worked my way through school, earned an associates, a bachelors, and currently working on a masters. When I finshed my bachelors, I took a low paying entry level engineering job just to earn experience. About a year later I was able to change positions and make a lot more money because I had expereince.

Maybe your husband can work as a call center manager for a short time, and then apply his management skills toward the field of his choice later on?

Writer,

Did you guys do his resume? I'll be happy to go over it for you. John and I have gotten paid for resumes. You can email the mods for my email, if you like.

The Cleveland, Ohio area is booming for sales jobs, but sales jobs, even base + commission are hard to make it. DH was in sales off and on, and he'll still do it part time, but our family doesn't want to rely on it. He's a great sales person and always sells, but it's higher stress.

What about call center support management? His experience would translate well there and back office is a different animal than phones.

Has he ever asked for a de-interview? Ask for feedback on what he needs to work on and why he didn't get the job?

Yes to what BrainHurts asked. Could he maybe ask his supervisor if there is something he could do differently (new skill, etc) that would have made him more competitive for the promotion?

what ever happened to the idea of you advertising to provide after school child care for someone at that child's home, along with your child? I think you might feel less helpless if you were actively involved in solving the problem?

Thanks Hopeful! I'm sure my DH would love anyone who is willing to look at his resume. He's worked on it a lot, but additional input is always welcomed.

I think he would definitely be open to call center management, but he doesn't have any management experience other than his pending degree. He has applied for management positions, but they all seem to want at least 2-5 years of management experience on top of the degree.

I think DH has talked to his supervisor about this a few times and they have given him some pointers. I just get the distinct feeling from what he's told me that his current company doesn't intend to offer him any advancement opportunities. They don't tend to promote from within for some reason I fail to understand.

As far as daycare goes, I'm not really looking at that right now, largely because we don't plan on staying in our current apartment past March and most people are looking for a longer commitment than that. I'm really not sure where we will end up, whether it will be out-of-state if DH finds a job or in some other part of the county we are living in now if he doesn't, but we can't afford another place near where we are now. I think I need to have a more firm idea of where we're going to be living before I can really look into opportunities for me to earn extra money.

I don't know any details about your situation, but how is your DH finding interview opportunities? Is he just findign them himself? Perhaps he is self-limiting himself subconsciously.


Perhaps you could suggest that he get a fresh perspective on job hunting and suggest he could go to the placement office of his college and have them help assess his skills and suggest places for him to interview. They can help him on his resume and his interviewing skills.

I'm not sure how this works since it is an online program. The school is located in AZ and we live in CA, so he couldn't actually go there, but they might have some online resources. I will ask him about it.

writer, see if they have an online career center that could help him out. They might have connections to recruiters and other career services that many colleges have.

Career center/career coaching would be good. It might also be a good idea for your husband to ask those that interviewed him recently in which he was not selected for the job what areas he is weak in when interviewing. I've made this a practice and it helps tremendously because we all have habits/mannerisms/etc that we do when interviewing that we don't realize. I didn't realize for a long time that when I interviewed I seemed nervous and anxious and I needed to relax more. Since I'm very comfortable with public speaking and talking to people, I didn't think that I came across this way. But it is very important to get this feedback. Interviewing is a learned skill and an art form.

Does your husband send post-interview thank you emails? This is a good one to get in the habit of doing within 24 hours post-interview.

You might encourage him to seek out employers that he might not necessarily even qualify to work for and ask to be interviewed to see what their perception of him is.

Has his resume been looked over? I have an award winning resume. But it took me having multiple different individuals (8 to be exact) that were directly responsible for the hiring and employee selection for the company/business/organization. It isn't unusual that the resume was the first impression that they get before even speaking/meeting/interviewing a potential candidate. I didn't realize just how much a resume can get you in or get you passed up.

To bring in some extra cash in the short term, is he into sports? I make anywhere from $150-$300 a week cash-on-the-spot from reffing indoor soccer. While that's not a ton of money, it takes care of our car payment, sudden emergencies, gasoline, etc.

Not sure if this is viable but I have a couple friends that make quite a bit of money working for AT&T selling phones.

Does he use LinkedIn, careerbuilder.com, monster.com and other sites?

I also got an MBA at night school.

Based on your description, he is applying to jobs that are beneath his leel. He doesnt get hired because a manager would know he would probably get a new, better job and leave. He wants to hire somebody who will stick around a while and be committed to the job.

Second, He should focus on an industry or job that he wants and where he wants to be in 5 years. Then build a resume around that. Then get it to recruiters. Reality is, he will have MUCH better luck after graduation. Hang in there, and help him get his classes done.

Third, You can get all the SF you'll need by relieving his stress and congratulating him on any interview he gets. It is very difficult to ride the emotional rollercoaster of interviews, swearing undying allegience to a position you really really like, then get rejected. Then get up and do it again. Be his best cheerleader! It will pay you $$$FS!!!

Fourth, ENJOY your time together, no matter how poor. Soon he will be working like a dog, and you or he will regret the lost opportunities, time and "afternoon delights"! That is one thing I really resented, being "persona non grata" because "I'm in a transition" to a better job and better HER FS needs.

Five, get set up in LinkedIn.com, use college recruiters, find recruiters in his job field, ask their feedback after every interview. They will ask the hiring manager for feedback.

Six: The economy SUCKS right now, due to the clowns in DC and the anti-business president. Its not your DH fault, its Obamas.

OK, thats about $0.04.

Wow, sounds like your H is working hard to improve your situation, that's fantastic!

My H went back to school full time after we were married and had a small child, and it was HARD, but so worth it! We were on a very tight budget, with no wiggle room.

You mentioned he will graduate next fall, that will be here very soon!

When you mentioned he was using an online program based in Az. I wondered if it's UoP? I have heard that many people that have degrees from there have some trouble with job placement...??

No, it isn't UoP. We weren't impressed with their program either.

Oh Phew!! I am so happy to hear that! I didn't want to get too specific and be a downer, so I was trying to word it VERY carefully, but good for you guys!

Today is our court date for our bankruptcy. I'm very nervous and not feeling so good about much of anything at the moment. Just trying to make it through the day.

We've also been dealing with issues with my 90-year-old grandmother. She had to go into a nursing home over the weekend and now we're trying to figure out if her insurance/Medicare will pay for her to stay longer than 30 days without selling her house. If she has to sell the house, my mother, aunt, and uncle will have nowhere to live, so we will have to figure out a workable situation for my mom at least.

Sometimes, it feels like everything happens at once. It doesn't help that UA time has been put aside while dealing with the situation with my grandmother and a sick 4-year-old.

Sorry, I'm just having a lot of trouble focusing on the positive today.

I hope everything goes well for you today, writer.

Why doesnt the mother, aunt and uncle buy the home they live in? Or sell it to buy a more affordable place?

Seems like you are taking on their responsibilities. Too much stress for you.

Good luck, git'er done. And thank your hubby for working hard to get a Masters so you are in a better FS position. He needs your support and attention!

Thanks BH.

Made it through the day. Court wasn't so bad. I've had way worse experiences in a courthouse.

As far as my mom, aunt, and uncle buying my grandmother's house, it isn't possible. My aunt and uncle have terrible credit. They get daily threatening phone calls from creditors. My mom did talk to an attorney today, and he told her to call MediCal, but he did mention the fact that my grandmother could do a quick sale on the house to my mom. I'm not sure how that would work though. My mom wouldn't actually have enough money to buy the house. She lives off $700 in disability and that is her only income.

Yeah, it's a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. My grandmother went downhill very fast. The last time I saw her a few weeks ago, she was lucid and mentally fine. Now, she's talking about lots of things that make absolutely no sense. She seems to be losing touch with reality very quickly. We thought she might have had another stroke, but her CT scan came back normal, so I'm not sure what's going on.

It would just be very nice if problems could come one at a time.

Tomorrow, I have to take my very sick 4-year-old back to the doctor. She's been on antibiotics since last Thursday and isn't improving at all.

DH had another phone interview on Monday. Got the rejection today.

Not a whole lot of leads left at the moment and we have to make a decision regarding our lease in 4 weeks. The rent is going to go up at least $75-$100 and we won't know the exact amount of the increase until several days before we have to make a decision. We just can't afford to stay here and we haven't had much luck finding anywhere else to go. Our bankruptcy won't be discharged for about 60 days and it's so difficult to really do anything during the time between filing and discharge.

DH and I are fighting all the time. We've barely spoken the last few days.

Feeling really down.