"More workers who find themselves unemployed are turning to survival jobs, taking hourly or part-time work to make ends meet as the economic rebound drags on." (USA Today article, 10/23/2003).
From December 2001 to May 2002, I had a contract that had been reduced to no more than 15 hours per week. Then they let me go. I got another contract for 10 weeks in summer 2002 (a contract I hated and was very happy to see end) .I got unemployment insurance for that one.
Then I had nothing until a short-term temporary contract fell into my lap in the middle of last month. It's Perl programming (which I like) and VBScript (which is lame, but easy) on Windows (which I loathe). It's a 50 mile drive from my house. The pay rate is less than I had hoped for (but it went from 3 days/week to fulltime in the first week). I'm not crazy about it... but it provides a paycheck.
The risk, says Robin Ryan, a Seattle career counselor and author of 60 Seconds & You're Hired!, is that workers who take survival jobs will get depressed about their plight, which can immobilize the job search.
"Where is your time to network, to work on your résumé?" Ryan says. "You can get in a rut, get depressed. They almost get a low-grade depression. The days blend together, they do their part-time thing, and they meander through life with no hope they're getting a new one."
For many, it's a harsh waiting game. While talk of an economic turnaround has some underemployed workers hopeful that jobs will return, few say they're convinced they'll see the same incomes they earned a few years ago.
I didn't take a job as a waitress... I'd go mad. I didn't apply at Barnes & Noble. I did drive my bank account into the ground, run up my credit cards, and take a loan from my dad.
My "survival job" is Perl and VBScript programming on Windows... I should be thankful.