I’m going to share a story here and it’s probably going to be a little wordy. Side effects from an illness I had last year tend to make me ramble and it’s hard to stay focused. But in 2003 I turned 50 and had been in the plumbing trade for 25 years and it was getting much harder do do what I do, physically that is. So I started talking to friends about it. And I’ll add here that I have a small group of very close friends and We are a great support system for each other.

A couple of my friends work for the municipality where we live and they suggested checking online for openings and applying there. I was surprised to find they were compensated much better than I ever thought a City employee was, the benefits are the best in the state and one of the best packages in the nation. And I saw a posting that I thought matched my skill set and I applied. The following week I got a phone call and scheduled a time to take some sort of aptitude test and I aced it. I then scheduled an interview and it went very well. I’m also going to add here that I’d never, ever, interviewed for a job and not gotten a job offer. Not one single time in my entire life. Well, there’s a first time for everything and that rejection letter absolutely crushed me! I was fucking devastated! I was 50 years old and really wanted to cry like a baby. That’s a very humbling experience and I really didn’t understand how to process these feelings.

Like I said earlier, I have a great support group. I am allowed to have feelings and talk about them and get great feedback. Nobody told me to suck it up and be a man. No, they all said they understood let me have these feelings and nobody laughed. Because it wasn’t fucking funny. But they helped me understand that in life, for most people, this is how it goes. And they encouraged me to keep trying. And I did just that. Time and time again, I went through the same drill and was rejected. This went on for a few years too.

I’m also going to throw in here that I was self employed. I had a small, successful plumbing business and I was in a place where I was going to have to invest a bunch of money to add employees and equipment so I could take myself out of the field because I just couldn’t do the work, physically, anymore. I was 54 at this point and my body hurt. Yes, I was still applying for every position posted that fit my skill set for a few years now. And going through the exact same drill every time. But by this time I’d had enough. So when I got a call from Marion (yes, I know her by name now) I just went off. Told her that this was bullshit! I ace your fucking tests, dazzle everybody at every interview, and get the same rejection letter! Why don’t you just be honest with me and tell me that for whatever reason they’re not ever going to hire me? I’m tired of taking time off to test, time off to interview and then get rejected! And she was very calm and very understanding and assured me that the process can take longer than necessary sometimes and can be very frustrating. But asked me to try and be patient a little while longer because yes, I have a valuable skill set that they can use. So I scheduled a time to take the same damn test.

The next morning I got a call from Marion with a job offer. Seems they could just use my last test scores and interview. So I go to HR and fill out the paperwork and take a physical and have a start date. It’s Labor Day weekend in 2007 and we went to San Antonio to spend it with some friends. Staying in the Menger Hotel which is supposed to be haunted so we roamed the halls every night looking for ghosts. Never found any BTW. But on Friday, after we checked in and met up with another couple of friends I got a call. Being self employed still, I had to take it. It was from a man I didn’t remember and he offered me another job I barely remember interviewing for because I had interviewed with them back in May! Anyhow, that job is much more suited to me since it required a master plumbing license and paid 10.00 more per hour. So I had to then call Marion and decline her job offer and started the job I have today on October 1, 2007. It is with the same municipality just in a different division. And it was a frustrating and humbling experience that went on for years and I’d never gotten through it without my friends support.

Sorry for this long ass post! Jesus fuck! I probably should have put a warning at the beginning. Tl;Dr or some shit like that.

Not sure if this helps, but all experiences are useful, if not immediately then eventually. Negative experiences are often more instructive than positive ones, and positive experience can also lead to net negative results. I took a job for at a cable tv corporate HQ, strictly for the money, that turned out to be hell on earth, and my position was eliminated in a corporate takeover right after my then wife was laid off. At the time, we had little one year old girl and no prospects. We moved cross-country , both found work, and I lasted 28 years at a great job here. It doesn't always work out that way, but you never know. You don't lose unless you quit, but I think you know that already. Best of luck to you, hon. I'm betting you'll land on your feet.

You are not alone in this situation, I am unemployed too, and I lost my job because of a lack of faith, friends and even family have already told me that it would not help me with a job because what they have came from God, and that when I believe in God, help with pleasure. It's devastating to hear from people who grew up with you, and to have the same blood, and to be alone for not having the same belief. I have hope and I always look for a job, but I stopped talking about my disbelief, mute the subject, or just thank for the affection. Not to enter into discussion. I wanted to give you a solution, but I'm also in this search.

To my way of thinking 'Thoughts and Prayers' are akin to them saying " I don't REALLY give a f*** BUT so God doesn't see me in a bad light I'll just pretend to care and offer them something that takes no effort on my behalf anyway."

"You will be in our thoughts and prayers." Thanks, can you also send a fruit basket?

Sorry it didn't work out Es. When things like that happen to me I think that at least I had that time feeling positive and hopeful. I don't mean that in a cynical way.. but maintaining that forward momentum that comes with optimism is a challenge. Having a a couple or few weeks of up time is a good thing.

Sorry you didn't get the job. It sucks when you get the rug pulled out from under you.

Personally, when people start throwing their god-crap at me, I cut them off. I don't want to hear that garbage. Since most everyone who knows me knows that I'm an
atheist, they should know not to say that garbage to me.
If they do, they're being disrespectful, so it's perfectly reasonable for me to tell them to stop, and that they aren't helping with that bullshit.

I try really hard to believe that everything happens for a reason, even if I can't see
what it is right away.
The jobs I thought I had, and didn't get, were more than likely not going to be the right fit for me, and I probably would have been miserable in them.
There are two that spring immediately to mind that I'm SO glad I didn't get.
Granted, at the time, I was really disappointed, but with one, I learned they closed
pretty soon after I would have started working there.
The other was with a company that ended up getting into tax trouble and also went out of business.

You'll be okay.

Hang in there fellow member of the community. It will get better and will find better friends, job,etc. in the days ahead. No one said life would be easy.

I know that feeling. I was rejected by jobs for almost 2 years before I found something. I was employed during that time, but I was making so little that I was considered "under the poverty level" according to my parent's tax guy. That doesn't do a lot of good for your mental state when you're already struggling.

When the new job finally did come, the change was so drastic and so quick, that I could barely keep up. My life did an entire 180. It'll happen for you too, in time.

Also, God isn't real and religion sucks. You know who made all that shit happen? Me. No higher power. Me.