Total disaster!!!
In December I decided I needed out of municipal government. The arbitrary blame-game, the ridiculous politics, the omnipresent CYA attitudes, etc. I began looking in earnest in late December and quickly happened upon what seemed to be a dream job. A small consulting agency in the Netherlands, multi-million dollar profits, exponential growth needs communications jack of all trades to manage collateral, Web site content, technology, promotional pieces, photography, etc. Right up my alley. Talk ensue and I seem to have the job, provided I do well on some "test" assignments from my home-base in Austin. Those go swimmingly and plans are for me to start in mid-March. The company is reloacting to Dublin for various reasons and I'm to join them. We arrange a contract for the forst three months with the expectation I'll be provided a work permit following that period, their immigration attorney signs off on the plan and I begin to sell off stuff that can't make the trip. In the meantime I turn down a GREAT offer here in Austin... Long story short, Ireland revised their immigration laws on Feb 28 and I get booted from the border. Because of political concerns, the company has basically blamed the entire situation on me and cut off communications. I think they want to avoid being seen as facilitating illegal activity (which hiring "foreigners" without proper clearances certainly is). I am now unemployed but not eligible for unemployment. I'm homeless in two weeks. My car is being repossessed in three. I've managed to scrape up some freelance work to pay for cost of living expenses, but the other job offer is gone. Without an IT or MBA, it seems impossible to be hired in Austin. I think my only option is to move back in with my mon or dad (I'm 32 in a few weeks) and try to find some retail work. Since the second week of March I've sent out more than 200 resumes, made countless calls, dropped in on local public policy/PR/communications consulting firms, and nothing. For almost two months, nothing. No calls back, no interviews, nothing. I'm hosed. Completely and utterly hosed. I'll admit my enthusiasm for the Ireland job probably blinded me to some practical, logistical and legal issues, and I dumbly assumed those would be taken care of by the company. So shame on me. I'm an idiot with a communications degree. Want fries with that? Now wait. You're not totally hosed. You're 32 yrs old and have your whole career in front of you, and you didn't lose any of the skills you have. Maybe you can't collect unemployment comp, but why not see if you can qualify for the workforce reinvestment act training? Especially if you're moving back in w/Mom and Dad - which many of us in IT have had to do. The thing is with the training, you must be working toward a cert or degree, it's paid for, but you cannot be working full-time. In other words, only if someone else is paying your bills. Screwed, huh? But it might work great for you. Talk to one of the counselors there and see if there are other options. You've paid into the system, now it's time for the system to "give back". No, you cannot trust the employer to take care of you. They take care of themselves and no one else. Look, I've been out of work for much longer than 2 months, I'm an over-50 white female, and I have no college degree. If you can take some training, for your sake get out of the IT jobs that can be easily sent offshore. I feel for you. I know it looks bad but it really hasn't been that long that you've been out of work, and you've got youth and a college degree on your side. Even if you have to work retail and take night courses at the community college, do it.
Wow, sorry for your misfortune, that's a sad story. Did you actually get to Dublin and were sent back? Bad deal. I worked overseas back in the '90's everything went smooth for me. The company had other's from the US there already. I just overnighted my passport to them, they got the work visa stamped in it and sent it back to me. They sent me an air ticket and prepaid a hotel room in my name for 30 days, I had to find a place to stay after that. It was an adventure. I'm a conservative, so I did take leave from my job in the US until I was on the new job for a week. Not everyone can do that. It sounds like you were the test case for whether they knew what they were doing as far as bring someone from the US into Ireland to work. Apparently they failed. I don't believe that stuff about the rules changing, I'd tend to believe they dropped the ball somewhere. If I were you I'd contact the Irish embassy and make sure they understand it wasn't your fault, don't let those guys use you for a scapegoat, unless they're paying you serverance or something for your trouble. Myabe you can get a few bucks out of them for not sharing the story with everyone from the new media to their client/customers. Don't beat yourself up, this could happen to anyone. "Without an IT or MBA..." A lot of folks seem to think another degree is the solution. The way I look at it, if you invested four years in a degree that won't get you a job, going back to school seems like throwning good time and money after bad. You need to figure out what's keeping you from getting a job, then worry about futrher credentials. Moving home isn't all that bad. Dad probably could use some help around the house. Be glad you have that option. You're about 6 weeks into the job search, that's too soon to give up. I expect the public policy/PR/communications business has more applicants than jobs. If you're considering retail sales, I assume you're willing to do mosts anything. Have you ever tried honest labor? I don't mean that quite the way it sounds, but there are guys making a living doing jobs where they wear hardhats and boots. Most of them make more than retail clerks do. If you're a smart, educated guy, you might be able to rise rapidy. A year from now you could be driving the truck with your own crew in the back. ON the other hand, it won't take you four years to find out if you can make it either. Just a thought.
So you go from doing fine to homeless and car repossed in a month? And you blame all that on this employer? I'm sorry this didn't work out but it sounds like you had issues well before this point. In the meantime, try temp agencies to get yourself bringing some income in quickly until you can find the right thing. Remember, too that you were willing to move overseas, you can certainly look past Austin, Texas for employment if you can't find something appropriate there.
Tess Busto says that if the government job was in the USA, it may have been a union position, and that you should have worked with the union in those circumstances instead of simply leaving.
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