Your Recession: Eleven Months And Counting
When Travis Rogers was laid off from Safeco in May 2008, he was wearing “so many ‘hats’ it wasn’t funny.” In addition to event planning, project management, training employees, and co-managing all audio/visual services, he was working on audio and video production, lent his voice to podcasts, and more.
Travis was “quite literally underpaid and overworked,” he says. “What I wouldn’t give to have that back now.”
It’s been almost a year. He says he applies to ten or more jobs a week.
“I have made it my 8a.m.-4p.m. job to look for work, five days a week…I have rewritten my resume countless times, heeded all the advice, done tons of research…” Travis has been to just three in-person interviews in all this time.
Today, his last unemployment check arrives. He’ll continue to get a small ($230/month) check for a minor military disability, but that’s it. Travis plans to sell his car and as many of his possessions as he can and move into a friend’s spare room.
“The hardest part is fighting off the inevitable depression that comes along with all the stress and worry,” he told us. “I have been humbled by the realization of how short the fall is to homelessness…if I didn’t have friends and a little government money coming in, the streets is where I would be in just a week or two. Thank goodness I don’t have a family to support.”
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