4 ms·
Hi, I'm under-educated and a single parent of a special needs child. I was a stay-at-home mom (my son was 4) when a looming divorce prompted me to re-enter the
by HedgeMage 15y ago
Hi, I'm under-educated and a single parent of a special needs child. I was a stay-at-home mom (my son was 4) when a looming divorce prompted me to re-enter the workforce.
Nobody wanted to hire me, so I started a company.
Now (almost 4 years later) not only am I employable, but I get 2-5 contacts from people who want to talk about hiring me per month.
I'm really tired of hearing the "poor single mom" drum beaten. I did it, despite my child's special needs, despite a medical condition that limits my employment options, and plenty of other challenges other people can do it to. If it's hard to figure out, and I just haven't noticed that it is, tell me and I'll write a book.
Putting myself in an employer's shoes, I'd be leery of hiring anyone who's been long-term unemployed. What does one do with the time? When I couldn't find a job, I created one. While not everyone is predisposed to entrepreneurship, surely a few months in to not finding employment, any sufficiently determined person would at least try it.
I'm not saying they'll all succeed -- but I'm not sure you have to succeed. When you start your own venture, you go from being unemployed to being employed, and that solves the original problem -- you are no longer a member of the long-term unemployed.
I think its fair to say that someone who's had no break in their unemployment more than a year (assuming they aren't a full-time student, seriously ill, a stay-at-home parent, etc.) probably has something wrong with how they approach becoming employed, and a lot of those somethings would also negatively impact their performance as an employee. It's fine to be skeptical, and it's not a slight against the under-educated or single parents.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago"I think its fair to say that someone who's had no break in their unemployment more than a year (assuming they aren't a full-time student, seriously ill, a stay-at-home parent, etc.) probably has something wrong with how they approach becoming employed, and a lot of those somethings would also negatively impact their performance as an employee." I suspect that captures the essence of why companies have this sort of policy. And, as you point out, its pretty straight forward to be "employed" if only self employed by creating your own business and running it.