I’m back in the great New York state after a busy week in the Florida sunshine state. We love visiting Florida. The people we interact with are extremely friendly, prices are reasonable, and the weather is mostly excellent. Granted, it is humid at times.
As a Viking, I’m not built for the humidity. It feels like I’m wearing a wet suit, and due to the heat, I’m losing weight. The latter is a win-win for a slightly overweight Viking.
When we visit Florida, we try to see new sites and experience new food. While Disney is great, for some, we are fascinated by Universal Parks instead.
Moving our daughter to her new home in Gainesville as she started her college life was a hectic experience, which you can read about in my previous post.
She was lucky to find a job before going to Florida, which allowed her to earn money while she focused on her studies. Yes, I know she will meet people and party, but that is part of the college experience.
It was a relief that she found a job, especially given the current job market nightmare, and will have her financially.
On the flip side, the last 18 months (the majority of 2023 and 2024) have been financially challenging, as my wife has been unable to find a job in this chaotic job market.
Job Hunting Battle Royale
People who claim the job market is doing well and that we are adding more jobs to the economy are not living in the real world. Finding a job is challenging, and most job seekers are regularly disappointed.
The downturn in the job market started almost two years ago when large organizations started to lay off thousands of people – people with tremendous skills and experiences were let go as the companies adjusted to a downward turn in the economy. The “famous” reorganization or adjusting priorities saw teams and functions being closed down, sending people into unemployment uncertainties.
Granted, some organizations have inflated their workforce by hiring an excessive number of people and creating services or products they thought would take off. But they also offered excess staff benefits that require a lot of funding, such as establishing posh cafes, setting up game rooms, offering pet days, slides, unlimited PTO, and fully working remotely.
While all these benefits are excellent, the cost to support these initiatives will require a company to increase prices and explore new markets to keep up the cost overhead.
I’m not against providing excellent work/life benefits to staff, but we have to balance this against the company’s ability to pay for these services and assess the impact on our customer prices.
So, some of the redundancies we have seen in the past two years are self-inflicted, resulting from some companies overspending on expenses to provide an environment that is perceived to foster a more robust and better workforce.
A free latte, bringing your pet to work, sliding down slides, and playing pool during meetings are great, but they do not foster a workforce that focuses on customers. Instead, you get people who come to work to play and only focus on themselves and not working on a common goal.
We have thousands of skilled people searching for new jobs, but the available jobs are limited, so companies now have the luxury of picking the people they want at a much lower cost.
Job seekers are facing a new form of Squid Games
The challenge is that many posted jobs do not exist or are already filled internally. The rumor is that many vacancies are posted to make companies look good for the investors and shareholders but never get filled or do not exist. Companies are playing with people’s emotions and eagerness to keep money flowing in!
Unfortunately, my wife was let go in December 2022 due to organizational changes.
The company wanted to move in a new direction, so it fired an entire department. Since then, she has been actively applying for jobs.
She has applied for almost 300 jobs and probably had a human response of 5%. Yes, she has been through some interviews but was ghosted by the HR people. The market is saturated (and overflowing) with people looking for jobs.
Some people smirk and roll their eyes when they hear how long she has been out, assuming she’s lazy, underskilled, inexperienced, or too picky to get a job.
Since being laid off, she began online training to keep her skills current, learned new skills, obtained valuable certifications (PMP, Agile, etc.), attended webinars, consulted with resume “wizards,” and even started an MBA to make herself more sellable.
We contacted old colleagues who mostly ghosted us, attempting to get an inside referral or contact to get in front of the hiring managers.
It is disheartening to beg someone to respond to you, primarily if you’ve worked closely with them for 5-10 years and were considered good colleagues and perhaps even friends.
HR departments are deploying AI bots to scan through candidates and reject those who do not match one of the 15 skills required. You rarely get to talk to someone in HR and instead get the standard automated rejection email.
You have to know someone who knows someone who will talk to you!
These days, the job market is fully network-driven. People stand little chance of getting a job by applying directly on a company’s website.
She has applied for jobs in various industries and at different levels, but the results are the same.
A few jobs saw her make it to the final round, but she was told that the job had been pulled or put on hold. In some cases, it was awarded internally.
The Mental Impact
Job seekers are going through emotional turmoil as they attempt to sell themselves and stand out, only to be let down repeatedly. It is modern prostitution, and there are few winners.
The uncertainty and constant battle to land a job fuels depression and anxiety. I may even go as far as to state that they have permanent scars, a growing sense of insecurity, and a deepening lack of confidence.
Even when they get a job, they constantly look over their shoulders, fearing that there’s another round of “adjustments.” The first-in, first-out concept nags at them. When will they be let go again?
Every person wants to work and be part of a team. We seek gratification, belonging, and a sense of purpose. Granted, sometimes you decide not to work as you look after kids, change careers, or help loved ones.
Individuals who have been rejected consistently will automatically get depressed, which can negatively impact their prospects and also affect their relationships with family and friends.
Here are a few tips for companies:
- treat people with respect
- don’t post a job if it doesn’t exist
- close the vacant job as soon as it’s filled
- provide more timely responses
- be honest with job seekers why they didn’t make it
Here are a few tips for people being contacted to provide insights:
- don’t ghost old colleagues
- it does not take much to respond to an email – even if it is no
- don’t pretend to offer a referral or contacts on LinkedIn and then ignore people
I respond to people who reach out to me asking for employment or guidance. I look through my network, contact people looking, make connections, and promote people. I cannot promise any job, but a connection and conversation with a business contact can start a new opportunity.
We have encountered many wonderful people who have offered to help, people we barely know, which is fantastic. We are grateful for their support and eagerness.
Our faith in humanity is restored when we meet people who help without sinister objectives or selfish motivations. They help because they are kind.
We need to help inspire and support our future colleagues in the journey. All it takes is a chance, and they will do wonders.
I will get off my soap box and get on to meal planning.
Week Thirty-three Meals
Talking about inspiration, I hope my meal plans and dinners inspire you to prepare food for yourself and your families. Food has a magical quality. It can bring people closer and make people happy, and that is what we need during these dark times.
I’m helping our youngest daughter with her Girl Scout silver project. She (we) is designing and building a shelving unit for our church’s food pantry. The unit is intended to make it easy for parishioners to drop off food for the pantry, display it nicely, and then move it to a larger storage room for distribution.
It is a wonderful project that sends a message that we need to help our community through hard times and that food is essential to people’s well-being.
People across the US are starving or on the brink of homelessness, so if we can come together to source and share food, then we can make sure no one goes to bed hungry.
Since returning from Florida, I will make food from scratch again, including baking. Most of the food we buy premade is of lower quality, contains too many strange additives, and other food is processed. Neither is healthy and only causes obesity.
School Lunches
Our daughter has wrapped up Girl Scout summer camp, so I no longer need to prepare and pack lunches for her. And she’s old enough to prepare her lunch when she crawls out of the room.
Our son has one more week of extended summer school left, so I’ll be making a few delicious lunch options for him.
I made a tasty muffuletta stuffed with ham, salami, provolone, and black olives.
I created a nice summer shrimp salad with cucumber and a homemade dressing.
Lastly, I’m supporting our local bakery and will make a roll with egg salad.
Dinner Time
We are enjoying some nice freshly made dinners this week. I’m attempting to make comfort food that can help my wife enjoy a nice meal and find gratitude in food. She needs a boost.
I found an intriguing potato pie that I made with homemade crust and potatoes from the local farmers’ market sprinkled with grated cheese.
Our local farm also had juicy, thick pork chops and bone-in, which I gently fried in the pan and then made into a creamy sauce with onions. It’ll be served with roasted mini potatoes.
Lastly, we needed some Italian inspiration, so I made a cheesy mushroom and spinach sauce and added a large quantity of stuffed tortellini. Italian food is excellent!
If we do not have enough leftovers, I will defrost a premade meal and serve it with garlic spaghetti.
Meal Plan
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Monday | Muffuletta Pizza Rolls | Irish Savory Potato Pie with Summer Salad |
| Tuesday | Muffuletta Pizza Rolls | Spinach and Mushroom with Cheesy Tortellini |
| Wednesday | Cucumber Shrimp Salad | Creamy Smothered Pork Chops with Rice |
| Thursday | Cucumber Shrimp Salad | Freezer Surprise with Garlic Pasta |
| Friday | Bagel with egg salad | Over-the-fire cooking |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Meal Prep Party Pictures
Here’s a sneak preview of some of the dishes I made this week.
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.
Stay in touch with me through social media!
The Viking Heart Within 