Longest time you have being out of a job?

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What was the longest time you guys/girls here have being out of work and what you do in the mean time.

 

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About fifteen years. During that time, I attended school, played with toys, and crapped my diapers (I did the latter only in the early part of my unemployment).

 

5 months, this time last year

 

18 months
when i moved to the US the first time, and then after I got back

have not been out of employment more than a desired window since

 

I have been lucky in that I have not been unemployed for long i.e. a few weeks if that. I have always been active and even took jobs outside of IT, i.e. customer service roles and a bit of office admin type roles.

However, in those times I was always job seeking via the internet, new papers and studying in my spare time to gain a cert or two.

I hope you find something soon if you're unemployed as times are hard especially with all the cuts currently happening in the public sector which can have a ripple effect on the economy.

Stay positive, keep active and use your time productively, maybe even volunteer if applicable. Best wishes

 

DAMN YOU!!!!! I wanted to use that line!

Mine (apart from that) was a month. One long month where I was on the Dole... I hated it.

 

About 6 months when I was 19 or so. I sat around on the dole, smoked, drank and pulled apart motorcycles and put them together again. Then another 6 months when I was travelling around Europe.

Apart from those two periods I've always been working.

 

I had a 3 months or so break between finishing my A Levels and getting my first job, since then 6 1/2 years employed.

 

Other than a year I took off to attend college (the first time), I've been working ever since. Never been unintentionally unemployed.

 

Officially about 6 months.

But not really ever been out of a job. I would do any job rather than nothing and I think thats whats wrong with our country at the minute. People say I cant get a job as a plumber so I am gonna do nothing, I cant get a job in IT so I will do nothing etc etc.

I have cleaned toilets in shopping centers, helped bake bread in a supermarket, stack shelves, stock taking for a sports shop and all other kinds of crap jobs that held no interest for me but its better to be doing than not and it looks better to an employer that you can say you have worked whilst waiting for what you want too.

 

I think mine was just under 6 months and this is when I decided to change my life and started studying for the A+. Prevouis to this I was working in call centres, shops and loads of other temp jobs and just had enough of it.

Then after alot of walking around agencies, I got my first IT job doing basic helpdesk task and 4 years later am still in IT although with a different company.

 

I've been unemployed for about 1 month while finishing off the computing course and got lucky and got a job right away after finishing the course.

 

About 18 months.

I didn't see the work I was doing as being my long term future. I had been studying on the side for a while, both with the OU and privately but work kept getting in the way causing me to have to drop one OU course half way through.

I found myself thinking - if this work isn't what I want long term, why am I letting it take priority over what is? So I jacked it in and threw myself into study and all kinds of related stuff. Kept me really busy, the only downside was a lack of income.

But it was well worth it. I think everyone should be allowed to take a year out every 10 or 15 years. You get to do all the stuff that you miss out on working 9-5, like picking the kids up from school.

Then I got into IT and it was happy days...

Well, actually most of the days were pretty lousy, but you know what I mean...

 

three weeks.

 

Never been unemployed... although didn't get my first job till I was 17, was too busy screwing up college at the time

 

Although not techniclly unemployed I was out of ICT for 7 years...

I was a software developer for a partnership programe between NTL & Virgin. I started as a beta-tester when I was 18 and by the time I was 21 I was a lead developer earning an obsene sallery and traveling europe (life was sweet). A few days just before Christmas 2001 the compnay's cashflow crashed and I was made unemployed with imedate effect. I had a reduclusly large redundancy settlemet, and thought I could just walk into any other job I wanted, so left with a big smile on my face, and booked a long holiday with my girlfirend.

After 4 months of applying for and getting turned down for every Programming job I started to get despreate I did the following jobs


- 6 months - Website Designer - actualy I was taken advantage of, I made the company over £½ per month, but was paid less than minimum wage for this wonderful thankless job and left after it was obvious I would not be promoted within the company.

- 1 year - Call centre helpdesk for mobile phone company - I left after refusing to tell the parents of a young woman who had recently died, that the company wants an early termination fee of £10 for dieing a month before her contract was up...


- 6 months - ASDA checkout - (beep - beep - beep.....)


- 2 - years PC Repair Shop Owner & ADI (Driving Instructor) to help with the cash flow - working too many hours almost made me loose my mind.

- 3 years - Bus Driver (I started to go back to part time education at this point)

After 7 years in the wilderness I was back in ICT (although only a technition and on a low salery), but for the first time in 7 years I felt I had a future again, now I'm a network manager, and looking ahead. I may go back into programming and I may not, atleast now with certifications and qualifications I can choose my path.

 

20 months from when my business went down in April 2008 all the way thru to the end of Dec 2009.

Then got a job as a teacher in Jan this year and have just clocked up 12 months with them. Different skill set but one I have really enjoyed (although the pay could be a LOT better).

Teaching HND business studies subjects, some accounting and law, also on Pre-Masters courses and keeping my hand in IT by a spot of teaching now and then and developing their VLE

If I could solve the pay issue I'd be a really happy bunny

Being out of work was tough; just about hung on to my house; applied for over 400 jobs, handful of interviews and got precisely nowhere.

Got current job thru' networking contact via the BCS - it really does pay to network folks !

 

I was always doing something, (on the uni and high school as well) if not full time, then part time, the longest unemployed time (after I left Uni) was about 10 days when I came to UK. like GBL I prefer to do anything that to sit on my ass waiting for something that may never happen
Now I wash dishes hoping for better career :/