How I Know the Economy is Picking Up - Oct. 30, 2012
THINGS ARE LOOKIN' UP
This will be a get-it-out quick article. Why? Because the 2012 Presidential Election is only a week away as I write this, and any undecided voters need to get the lowdown on inside information from this ordinary, admittedly biased, citizen. Having a biased intent, however, doesn't mean what I have learned since the middle of last week is untrue. I'm just going to tell you the facts, man, just the facts.
So a little background: My husband is a software engineer (yes, one of the Sheldon from "Big Bang types, but not quite that extreme). The week after President Obama was elected in 2008, Mike was laid off. Normally when he would get laid off, he'd get on the geeky job boards online, and recruiters would start calling immediately. There would always be a software job to be had SOMEWHERE - North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania. We certainly didn't expect Mike to land something permanent in light of the economy, but we were confident he'd be able to get a short term 6 month assignment like he's had to do before. But in January of 2009, unlike previous years, very few recruiters were calling. As the weeks wore on, there were NO recruiter calls. Fortunately, we were able to keep our health insurance payments up because of an extension of Cobra benefits under the Obama administration.(ah-hem) Since we didn't have a house and were living in an RV, our expenses were low. I started blogging about our experience in a blog paralleling President Obama's first 100 days and ours! At the beginning of that blog, I wrote that I was certain that Mike would find a job before the President's 100 days were up. Toward the 75th day, however, there were no leads. Then, just before the walls of our tiny 5th wheel were ready to close completely in on us, and before President Obama's 100 days were up, Mike found a job. Unfortunately, the position was located in Burbank, CA and we were living in our rv in the OC - a two hour train ride (one way!). But a job is a job and this one was especially appealing because it was a permanent position, so Mike took it.
By 2011 with housing prices low, we felt confident enough to try to purchase a little condo. So we packed up our meager belongings in our 400 sq. ft RV and started to live a much roomier life in our 940 sq. ft. condo. (People give up a lot to be near water and after all, my sign is Aquarius.)
During this time, from 2009 to the present, Mike has always kept his resume up on the job boards hoping that eventually he could get something that would be, say only an HOUR train ride away, or miracle of miracles - perhaps just 20 minutes away!
So that brings us to the information I wish to impart to all of us who are waiting, hoping, praying that we can stop buying our shoes from K-Mart, and especially for those who might need a push toward the party with the capital D and the President we already have in place: In all the years that Mike has had his resume up, from 2009 to now, there have been less then a trickle of recruiter calls. Since last week, however, and I'm telling you true, recruiters have been swarming Mike. He has an interview on Friday and one on Monday. While he loves the job he has, it costs $385 on the train each month to say nothing on the wear and tear to poor Mike. This is, and again, I'm not embellishing the truth, a significant change that we have personally noticed. But you say, those are software jobs. Yes, that's true, but it's been our experience and we've been around for quite awhile, that when recruiters start calling, it's a good indicator that the economy in general is picking up.
So no matter how you're voting, but I do wish it were for my guy, you heard it here first. And even if Romney should get elected, remember that the upswing started in the Fall of 2012 and "things are lookin' up.".
