Approximately one
year ago, we had the good fortune of being laid off from our most recent employer
of seven years. We say good fortune as
the first time this happened to us, after seven years at our first employer (on
September 10, 2001, which is a story for another day) it marked the beginning
of what continues to be the greatest adventure of our lives.
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| Laid off in Portlandia? Here's what to do! |
Staying in one
place is comfortable, one knows what to expect, what to do, more or less what
the rules are. It is easy to see why
many people get a job and then go on autopilot for 30 years. However, staying in one place is also dangerous
in that one runs the risk of stagnating to the point that they unwittingly join
the ranks of the walking dead.
If you have just
been laid off, you are likely uncomfortable, which is good, because there is
hope for you. There will be time for
that hope to blossom and trust us, it will.
However, if you have just been laid off from a long time employer,
chances are that what you feel at the moment is intense discomfort laced with
panic. This is normal, and should drive
you to take decisive action.
What should that
action be? As a public service here at
The Mint, we are offering a series of steps that were applicable to our
situation in Portland, Oregon, circa 2014.
They may or may not be useful and/or accessible to you depending upon
your situation, and are not to be taken as any manner of legal/financial/tax or
any other sort of advice.
With that
disclaimer out of the way, we hope to guide others and save them some time and confusion
in navigating the system of public support available in the Willamette Valley.
One last caveat,
the following list is comprised primarily of public resources. At this moment in time, faced with losing a
primary source of income, it is unlikely that one’s political ideology will stand
in the way of taking advantage of the resources available to them. If you find yourself struggling at all with
this, be reminded that these public resources are absolutely necessary given
the broken monetary system that we live in.
Indeed, the use of debt as money and the economic distortions it causes
every day is likely the indirect cause of your present circumstance. Acknowledging this fact should put to rest
any hesitations about whether or not to apply for public assistance, not matter
what your present circumstance.
1.
Unemployment Insurance: The first thing we recommend,
unless you have a job that you will start within the next 5 days, is to file an
unemployment claim against Oregon here: https://ssl8.emp.state.or.us/ocs4/index.cfm?u=F20141022A163756B40164586.0519&lang=E if you were working in Oregon and laid
off (not fired with cause), you should have no problem qualifying. The
reason not to delay this step is that you have the right to claim the first day
you are out of work and have to wait a week before you can claim a week of
benefits. They last for six months and are usually ~$500 per week on the high
end as of this writing. Even if you were fired for cause,
you may still qualify for unemployment insurance. Oregon is generous in this sense and many employers are paying for it in the form of an
employment tax anyway and will encourage you to take it. Do not delay on this step! Call the same day you are dismissed,
otherwise you are literally leaving money on the table.
The next two steps may or may not apply to one’s
specific circumstance as they are income qualified programs which take into
consideration other income sources that a household may have. If you and your household have no other
income source, bear in mind that you are below many of the income thresholds as
of the day you were laid off and are likely to qualify based on the current
circumstance. This is important, because
certain programs, such as SNAP, last for six months before you have to
recertify income. At that point, you
will be employed (we here at The Mint believe in you!), but in the meantime,
you get a six month stipend.
2. SNAP (Food Stamps): They usually will give these within a week as
they are considered essential. It is scaled on income and you qualify the
minute your income drops below a certain level based on the number of people in
your household. Below is the website to apply through if applicable: http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/assistance/pages/foodstamps/foodstamps.aspx
3. OHP (Obamacare): If you qualify for SNAP, you are likely to qualify
for OHP, Oregon’s version of Medicaid, which is basically free health insurance
thanks to Obamacare. The website is here: http://www.oregon.gov/oha/healthplan/pages/apply.aspx
In some cases, enrolling in SNAP will
automatically qualify you for coverage, which is nice, because by this time,
you may be getting sick of pulling together all of your personal data and
submitting it to a government agency that will no doubt be hacked. This step is important as, once qualified,
you will not have to pay COBRA or a private health insurance. The coverage may not be great, and, depending
upon how much you use your health insurance, it may be best to stick with the current
provider, but if all you need is peace of mind on this front, it will save a
chunk of change.
4. Housing Assistance: Depending upon
your housing situation, there may be rent or mortgage assistance which you now,
overnight, have become eligible for. They
can be a pain to apply and take a while to kick in (if they do at all), but may
be worth it if they do. Here is a list
of resources in Oregon: http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/assistance/Pages/housing.aspx
The above four
steps are "defensive," now for the job search, or "offensive"
side, assuming you will be looking for a job, at least for the short term until
your next movie deal comes through:
2. Networking: There are a number of
networking opportunities that any job seeker or small business owner would be
wise to attend from time to time.
Attending these events will not only give you something to do other than
surf the internet for jobs, it will inevitably encourage you to see you are not
alone. You may even be inspired. One of the best in Portland is Portland
Connect, you can request an invite here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Portland-Connect-36370/about They host a number of popular events and
is a nice and efficient way to get to know some people who are there to
mutually help each other. The
group drives home an oddity that we have found to be true in Portland, that it
is a town where you must network face-to-face.
Portland Connect is a great place to do just that.
3. Recruiters: If your profession is in such
demand that it can support a recruiting industry, reach out to them, as they
are literally in the business of finding you a job. In Finance and Accounting, which happens to be
our industry, we recommend Robert Half.
There are many others as that are industry specific. Find them, call them, they will help.
4. As for internet job searching: For the most part, applying online,
while giving a strange sense of accomplishment, is akin to sending a message in
a bottle. Chances are it will never get
read and, if it does, the chances of it reaching the intended recipient at the
right time may be slim. It is always
best to call someone at the company if possible to at least know you are not
sending an “SOS to the world.”
Nevertheless, there are some sites which tend to be more responsive than
others. We seemed to have the most luck
in terms of response from Craigslist posting, and Mac's List: http://www.macslist.org/ which is specifically targeted towards
non-profits, our present area of expertise. Idealist: http://www.idealist.org/ also has good leads in terms of
non-profits. Generally speaking, we had little luck with large
companies and wasted a lot of time on their sites applying, though it can be
good practice.
5. Friends and Family:
Now is the time to reach out rather than retract. Theoretically, your friends and family are
another set of eyes and ears on the ground and generally be willing to assist
you in your plight if it is within their means.
Reach out to the great brother and sisterhood of mankind, for we were
made to help each other. Indeed,
disinterested service to others is the sure path to happiness. Just remember to lend a hand when you are on
the other side as well!
There are
innumerable resources out there which may or may not apply to your
situation. We provide those listed above
as a public service, for they were pearls of wisdom that we had to grasp for
mostly in the dark, if it sheds the light on someone else’s way as they walk
the path of unemployment, the time spent compiling it has been well worth it.
Above all, stay
encouraged! The US economy is going
gangbusters and you have a place in it, it may require relocating, training,
and generally becoming uncomfortable.
Get used to it,
for you are now being asked to play a larger part of the long story of human progress.
Embrace it.
Stay Fresh!
David Mint
Key
Indicators for October 22, 2014
