career-limiting moves

[NbyNW]

Shootingstar, I'm not angry at you but will admit to feeling a bit punchy about the situation in general.

I think the tips you shared from your career counselor were great. The ones from the Globe and Mail seemed to be more for shock value, and not so helpful.

What I really want to know is how to overcome this bias against the long-term unemployed. I know there are people who are in far more dire straits than I am, and it's heartbreaking to think of its long-term effects on society in general.

Zoom-zoom, thanks for sharing your story. I've started to think about how to widen my net and you offer a lot of good food for thought. I've always worried even in good times how difficult it is to return to work after taking time off for children, and I can only imagine how things are compounded in this environment.

[goldfinch]

We have a society that tends to blame individuals for things that are systematic problems. It wears on me. I know several people in their 50s who were laid off more than two years ago and have not found work. I don't know how they ever will get back in the work force. Age discrimination based on erroneous beliefs about older workers. The continuing recession. Problems with loss of skills when you are out of work for too long. Not good times for far too many. And now it is hard to get job development programs going because our government is obsessed with deficits rather than obsessed with lack of jobs. My sister and her ex ended up moving back in together just because her ex could not find work.