The Economy

This is my favorite bitch session topic at the moment. I will likely post about this more than once.

A couple of days ago I posted about the job interview I had to turn down. Being desperate for a full time, permanent job, I am sure there is someone out there whose brain screams "why!!???" Believe me, mine did too.

When I sent off my resume/applied for the position, the job description stated that this state-position could be virtually anywhere in the state, and to please post my preference(s) as to location. I did so. When I got the call for the interview, I asked a couple of questions. First, the particular positions the state is fillling at the moment are all in our state capital. Interviews would take place for approximately a one week period, offers would go out within a week after that, and the jobs begin within two weeks after that.

In other words, I would have had to move within a two to three week period.

There are a few things wrong with moving that quickly, some of which can be overcome. Two things, in my mind could not. First, moving and leaving behind ANY dwelling is hard to do in a two week period. Even a landlord requires 30 days notice, at the very least. Add in that I am purchasing this house, that the economy is depressed, home sales are depressed, and moving that quickly looked like it would also equal having a house payment here AND paying rent in the new place for an undefined period of time. The new position being offered, was being offered at what I think of as 'new attorney minimum wage', about $38k a year. It would be hard making ends meet on that salary with just one rent/house payment a month. That is one.

The second reason, and the one that I could not get around, is that our state requires (not suggests, requires) that a divorced parent provide the other parent 60 days notice of a move. There are arguments to be made, for certain, about lack of employment, depressed economy, etc., but in the end, making a move can equal change of physical custody of the child. That is too high a price to pay even if the job paid $120k a year.

I made the decision in the seconds I had to either turn it down or schedule an interview. I went back to my work area at the temp job, and told the other temporary attorneys that our state had potential jobs available. I waited a few minutes, then went to the bathroom and cried, my father's voice in my head, in that snide tone he used, "you go where the jobs are. period. beggers can't be choosers." Being a mom IS a 'job'. It is the most important job I have. It is the one that comes first, before all else.

It is NOT that I would not move for a job. But I need more than two weeks to make a move.

It also is NOT that I would stand in my son's way if he decided to live with his father (I would make certain he really wanted that.) However, there are extenuating circumstances that would make me consider trying to keep that from happening. In my heart and head I do not believe he would be safe with his father.

And so, for now, the job hunt in this depressed economy continues.