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Not sure what will happen with the economy as of now. I just try to learn from my own life experiences.
Back in 2012/13 I had a pretty decent job. The only thing that sucked about it was it was a federal government contract position. The benefits weren't great but the pay was good. The thing is contract positions are very unstable. They may lose the contract and lay everyone off with little to no notice.
I ended up in a situation where the company was being real hush as to whether their contract got renewed or not. We were all beginning to assume that they had lost out on the contract. Once a new company came in it would be up in the air as to whether they hired us back and how many and which people would be hired back.
I didn't want to wait around and leave things to chance. So I started looking for another job. Back then I was a new nurse and didn't have much experience so landing another job wasn't a guarantee. Luckily I found something. It resulted in a pretty severe pay cut but I would have a job. It had better benefits too. Catch was those benefits were coming out of a much smaller check.
I ended up so in debt that I was on the verge of losing our home. I was having to get loans to pay on loans. I was at my wits end and was very unsure how I was going to get out of this hole. I was applying for better jobs but nothing was panning out. I wasn't getting any calls back. I was pretty much about 2 to 3 months from everything just falling apart. My credit was being ruined.
I kept on putting in applications though. I wasn't about to give up. I got a few offers from some local hospitals but based on my experience nothing that paid as high as I was making before. I was able to negotiate and get a bid of a bidding war started between 2 of them and they went a bit higher.
One night I was just sitting in my bedroom stressed as could be. I just felt beat. My wife came in and suggested I look online a bit more. She said worrying isn't going to fix anything and to helped me to look around online. I was searching the federal jobs website. She noticed I was only looking locally. She said why aren't you searching all of Texas instead of just here.
She was right. I was limiting my search to just local jobs when our situation would have us move if that would put us in a better situation.
I expanded the search. I ended up applying for a position out of town. They had also just posted a local position on base and I applied there also. Low and behold I ended up getting call backs and interviews for both. They both paid pretty well and had very good benefits as they were federal government jobs. The one out of town was the best offer though. It paid more and came with a very hefty sign on bonus.
I ended up getting conditional offers from both. I wasn't sure how long the hiring process would be though. The one that was out of town was expected to have a very lengthy hiring process. I ended up going to work at the local one. I hadn't been there two weeks when the out of town position called and said they were ready for me to start and with a $12k up front sign on bonus.
My oldest daughter was almost finished with school. She had 1 month left. So I told my wife to stay behind and I would go out and get things set up. I contacted an apartment complex near the facility I would be working at and paid a deposit. I packed a few items and took one of our cars and headed out.
When I got there there was a mix up and they had rented out the apartment I made the deposit on. Another apartment wasn't available until the end of the week. I had just enough money to make it and keep myself and my wife and kids afloat until the bonus came in and was not sure what to do now. I spun my wheels. I talked to the apartment complex staff and asked if they were sure that they would have the apartment ready. They gave me written guarantee that the apartment would be ready.
I pawned a 9mm gun I had for enough money to get a motel room for a week. I stayed there for the week and at the end of the week the apartment was ready. I got paid that same day. It was my first and only check from the local job. It was a decent amount. I paid the first months rent which was prorated.
After that I laid low. I had another 2 weeks until my first check would come in from the new job. Finally that day came and the bonus was included with the check. Of course tax had to come out of it but I still ended up pocketing a very large amount. I was able to pay off all our debts, pay the mortgage on our house, got my 9mm back from pawn and furnish the apartment.
About a week I went back over the weekend and picked up my wife and daughters and they came out. We decided to keep our house as we knew we would eventually like to go back to our home town. I was able to get a lot of overtime at the new job so I was able to afford to pay rent there and keep my mortgage paid back home. The mortgage was wasn't very high because I was just paying on a single wide mobile home. The work schedule there came to 15 days on shift and 15 days off shift. All I had to do was work 2 of my days off and that would take care of the mortgage.
Somehow miraculously things had worked out! I worked my way from that to getting a job back in home. I ended up selling the single-wide mobile home and upgraded to a double-wide. I ended up selling it and got a house in the city. Over the next few years I kept moving around and accepting every job transfer I could, each with a pay increase.
Since I was a federal government employee now my employment was much more stable. Even if you get laid off for any reason you get first pick for any federal job you applied for. Basically you were guaranteed a job at the same or higher pay in the event you get displaced. I networked and found some part time nursing gigs on the side also. I have pretty much always kept at least 1 part time job every since. Not only do I make more money but it serves as insurance in case of displacement which isn't likely or government shutdowns. Although my agency generally isn't affected by shutdowns, it's better safe than sorry.
Back in 2012/13 I had a pretty decent job. The only thing that sucked about it was it was a federal government contract position. The benefits weren't great but the pay was good. The thing is contract positions are very unstable. They may lose the contract and lay everyone off with little to no notice.
I ended up in a situation where the company was being real hush as to whether their contract got renewed or not. We were all beginning to assume that they had lost out on the contract. Once a new company came in it would be up in the air as to whether they hired us back and how many and which people would be hired back.
I didn't want to wait around and leave things to chance. So I started looking for another job. Back then I was a new nurse and didn't have much experience so landing another job wasn't a guarantee. Luckily I found something. It resulted in a pretty severe pay cut but I would have a job. It had better benefits too. Catch was those benefits were coming out of a much smaller check.
I ended up so in debt that I was on the verge of losing our home. I was having to get loans to pay on loans. I was at my wits end and was very unsure how I was going to get out of this hole. I was applying for better jobs but nothing was panning out. I wasn't getting any calls back. I was pretty much about 2 to 3 months from everything just falling apart. My credit was being ruined.
I kept on putting in applications though. I wasn't about to give up. I got a few offers from some local hospitals but based on my experience nothing that paid as high as I was making before. I was able to negotiate and get a bid of a bidding war started between 2 of them and they went a bit higher.
One night I was just sitting in my bedroom stressed as could be. I just felt beat. My wife came in and suggested I look online a bit more. She said worrying isn't going to fix anything and to helped me to look around online. I was searching the federal jobs website. She noticed I was only looking locally. She said why aren't you searching all of Texas instead of just here.
She was right. I was limiting my search to just local jobs when our situation would have us move if that would put us in a better situation.
I expanded the search. I ended up applying for a position out of town. They had also just posted a local position on base and I applied there also. Low and behold I ended up getting call backs and interviews for both. They both paid pretty well and had very good benefits as they were federal government jobs. The one out of town was the best offer though. It paid more and came with a very hefty sign on bonus.
I ended up getting conditional offers from both. I wasn't sure how long the hiring process would be though. The one that was out of town was expected to have a very lengthy hiring process. I ended up going to work at the local one. I hadn't been there two weeks when the out of town position called and said they were ready for me to start and with a $12k up front sign on bonus.
My oldest daughter was almost finished with school. She had 1 month left. So I told my wife to stay behind and I would go out and get things set up. I contacted an apartment complex near the facility I would be working at and paid a deposit. I packed a few items and took one of our cars and headed out.
When I got there there was a mix up and they had rented out the apartment I made the deposit on. Another apartment wasn't available until the end of the week. I had just enough money to make it and keep myself and my wife and kids afloat until the bonus came in and was not sure what to do now. I spun my wheels. I talked to the apartment complex staff and asked if they were sure that they would have the apartment ready. They gave me written guarantee that the apartment would be ready.
I pawned a 9mm gun I had for enough money to get a motel room for a week. I stayed there for the week and at the end of the week the apartment was ready. I got paid that same day. It was my first and only check from the local job. It was a decent amount. I paid the first months rent which was prorated.
After that I laid low. I had another 2 weeks until my first check would come in from the new job. Finally that day came and the bonus was included with the check. Of course tax had to come out of it but I still ended up pocketing a very large amount. I was able to pay off all our debts, pay the mortgage on our house, got my 9mm back from pawn and furnish the apartment.
About a week I went back over the weekend and picked up my wife and daughters and they came out. We decided to keep our house as we knew we would eventually like to go back to our home town. I was able to get a lot of overtime at the new job so I was able to afford to pay rent there and keep my mortgage paid back home. The mortgage was wasn't very high because I was just paying on a single wide mobile home. The work schedule there came to 15 days on shift and 15 days off shift. All I had to do was work 2 of my days off and that would take care of the mortgage.
Somehow miraculously things had worked out! I worked my way from that to getting a job back in home. I ended up selling the single-wide mobile home and upgraded to a double-wide. I ended up selling it and got a house in the city. Over the next few years I kept moving around and accepting every job transfer I could, each with a pay increase.
Since I was a federal government employee now my employment was much more stable. Even if you get laid off for any reason you get first pick for any federal job you applied for. Basically you were guaranteed a job at the same or higher pay in the event you get displaced. I networked and found some part time nursing gigs on the side also. I have pretty much always kept at least 1 part time job every since. Not only do I make more money but it serves as insurance in case of displacement which isn't likely or government shutdowns. Although my agency generally isn't affected by shutdowns, it's better safe than sorry.