innerspaceboy

An update on my career search for anyone following my saga.

Next week is my final unemployment appointment. They said they're not going to grant me the standard 26 weeks of benefits and instead will hand me the first job they Google and if I don't accept it it counts as my refusing to work and they'll cancel my benefits. I'm hoping my anxiety and panic aren't exacerbated by the job they hand me.

And my career counselor screwed up yet again and said she forgot to request a required document back in early February when I qualified for the IT apprenticeship, delaying the process for over six weeks and counting while my unemployment benefits are rapidly expiring.

I did the work for her and tracked down the document from the apprenticeship organization, but noticed that they just changed the cost of their program to almost three times the price. This may delay the federal grant approval even further. I've reached out to them for clarification to hopefully have this resolved soon.

There is good news. I applied to a warm lead for a government job back in January. They just got back to me and I had a phone interview this morning. A friend of mine works there doing the very job he referred me to saying he was confident I would excel there.

The supervisor I spoke with said I did excellent, said I have an incredibly professional and calming phone voice, and said I am likely qualified for much higher-paying positions at the organization. He said I should receive an email or call from their out of state HR department and if approved can start in as soon as 6-12 weeks. I aced the interview!

And as it is a government job, the listed benefits absolutely blew my mind. I had never seen anything like them, and it vanquished my fears of not being able to take a day off here or there throughout the year to see my girlfriend in Canada if I’m able to secure and keep the job.

Benefits would include:

- 13 to 26 days of paid annual leave
- an additional 13 sick days annually, with unlimited accumulation
- an additional 11 paid federal holidays
- Work-from-home options
- Comprehensive federal health insurance for life
- Up to 75% of health premiums paid
- Flexible savings accounts to pay for health care expenses, tax-free
- Eligible for monthly retirement benefits after just 5 years of federal service
- Supplement your retirement with the tax-deferred Thrift Savings Plan, similar to a 401(k)
- Regular performance-based increases and accelerated increases for outstanding performance

and more!

The unparalleled health insurance alone makes it worthwhile for my routine health expenses. And in my first year I'd have more than 5 weeks of paid vacation time between PTO and sick days. And I'd be all set for early retirement.

Unfortunately another property of it being a government job is that it takes 6-12 weeks for their HR department to make a hiring decision. My benefits are scheduled for early-termination next week. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I hope they hire me soon.

I was told to check my spam folder daily for the next 3 months.

Wish me luck.

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