Limited progress

The second time I was laid off, I noted that the VEC had finally progressed to the point of delivering unemployment benefits via direct deposit or debit card instead of cutting and mailing paper checks (as they were still doing three years before, during my first layoff).

This time around, I was hoping for more innovations or streamlining in the whole process, but so far my application for unemployment and registration for job services has proceeded pretty much the same as in 2008; they still had my records on file and again I just had to update them with my latest (terminated) employment. A determination of benefits and a notification of my PIN arrived in the mail yesterday (in two separate envelopes – now really, was that necessary?). The PIN is again unchanged from the one originally assigned to me way back in '05, and the amount of my weekly benefit, alas, is barely changed from '08: only 4% higher than three years ago. I suppose that's only to be expected considering the state of the economy over that time; I should probably consider myself lucky it didn't actually go down.

One thing that apparently has changed – and not for the better – is the number of positions showing up on the job boards for technical writers. They seemed to be much more prevalent three years ago. Mind you, I wasn't necessarily fully qualified for many of those positions (the one requiring experience with Navy small boat maintenance sticks in my mind for some reason), but at least they were there to apply for; after all, people posting job openings tend to go overboard with their requirement wishlists, knowing full well that they'll almost certainly have to settle for something a little more realistic. The pickings appear to be slimmer now.

Could be tricky to come up with two "job contacts" a week to qualify for benefits...