Journey In Unemployment Land | 29

Post 29: 6/6/2025

2025-06-06 14:32:55

🗓️It’s been a year into my #JourneyInUnemploymentLand. Let’s recap what happened to me.

📤 Approximately 17% of my former employer's workforce was unceremoniously laid off. Around 9:30 a.m. on June 13th, I received an email letting me know I was part of this unlucky number. By 1 p.m., my laptop was locked, and all my channels of communication were cut off.

❄️ I wasn’t entirely surprised by this news. I haven’t said this publicly, but I had an inclination that something was amiss at the company from winter 2023. So, in reality, I’ve been applying for jobs since that time.

📊 I have applied to roughly 400+ positions, interviewed with over 20 organizations, had a minimum of 15 referrals from my colleagues, and an unknowable amount of networking conversations. Still, no job offer.

🤔 At this point, you’re probably wondering: Amira, how in the hell are you earning money? The answer is simple, friends: freelancing. My unemployment isn’t really the case. But Journey in underemployment land doesn’t have the same ring to it so the hashtag stays, okay?!

🏢 That being said, I should mention that I never received unemployment from the State of Georgia. In fact, they threw out my entire case. On top of that, recent changes in Georgia law say that I cannot get food stamps unless I work a minimum of 20 hours a week AND our household income can’t exceed $2700 a month. I had no choice but to freelance. It was that, or starve.

📝 You’d think that I’d be going a bit nutty with all this happening. You’d be correct. However, I’m a very cynical and practical person. So here are some hard facts:

1️⃣ Business is business to the men who own these agencies. I say men because, ultimately, it was a male-driven decision-making process that led to my layoff. I could get into the politics of this statement, however, it's a useless discussion.

2️⃣ Business owners aren’t prioritizing full-time employment. The current economic system is designed to disincentivize full-time employment, which is why so many people are contractors. Keeping a full-time employee is expensive and it’s often the first thing businesses cut when their books are in the red.

3️⃣ Our state government officials deeply misunderstand the realities that people live in. Our systems for social programs are antiquated. They don’t understand or care how or why people are jobless.

4️⃣ Do not be fooled by low unemployment numbers reported at the federal level. The reason that number is low is because many people are like me: they aren’t claiming benefits or were denied. There are thousands of Americans like me who are working part-time, accepting lower wages to make ends meet.

5️⃣ Job seekers like me—an individual contributor, college educated, at the associate or mid-senior level—are all fighting for the same jobs: for better pay and benefits to brace for the economic uncertainty to come.

💐I still have hope my circumstances will change. Until then, I choose joy.

#hireme #opentowork

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