Looking For Work In A Economically Depressed Area Is Impossible

By Nathan Young on March 19, 2014

First off, I made my latest infographic surrounding my never-ending job search called the Nathan Young Visual Resume Infographic. Unlike the board game infographic, this infographic is truly special! Enjoy below!

Today, I am at a local library for one simple reason, I don’t have any internet access at my apartment. And since I don’t have a working car, and the bus system is way too unreliable, I walked several miles to get here. If I was living in a metro area that was better than Anniston, I would have a full-time job by now, and would not have bills like these below. These bills are several months behind without payment, and I have already taken care of the WordPress renewal thanks to someone I know. As of right now, I believe my phone is about to be shut off as well.

Look, I have looked everywhere in this town, and in surrounding towns as well before my car broke down. Along with Gadsden being the fourth poorest city in America, and Talladega/Sylacauga being the fifth poorest region in America. I really wanted to concentrate on the Anniston/Oxford area. Late last year, the Milken Institute ranked the Anniston/Oxford area as the second worst small performing metro in America. That is out of 179 small metro areas across the country. In 2008, Anniston/Oxford was ranked as the 34th best performing small metro area in America. How times can change in five short years. Even some professors at JSU are saying “this is ugly for us.” And I have already told several JSU students to leave this area once they graduate because they will find nothing here.

Even the real estate professionals here in Anniston are saying that home sales are way down. Several Realtors that I have talked too have already moved away to better areas like Birmingham. And this news makes the situation worse, according to HomeVestors, Anniston/Oxford is one of the worst metro areas in America to buy or sell a home. Our market has been lumped into the dangerous category.

Look, I don’t like talking about the bad news here. But when report, after report, after report, comes out about the bad economy in this area, I feel obligated to talk about it, because I am one of the many people here in Anniston/Oxford looking for work. When the metro area has hardly any jobs available, I am trying to climb an impossible mountain here. Just like the last story that ranked US 431 in Alabama as the fourth most dangerous highway in America. This area can not stay out of the bad news cycle, and it’s mostly because hardly anyone can find jobs. Things are so bad, the local headquarters to the delivery company I used to work for before being fired, is about to move to the Lincoln area.

When I wrote the viral post about why I believe the American Dream is dead for me, I really meant it. I enjoy helping others achieving the American dream, even though I am not living the American dream. And have doubts that the American dream will ever come to me. I believe the American Dream has come and gone. Today, it’s like what you see during the Medieval period. Where a fortunate few get everything they want, while most others are left with the scraps. It’s almost like you could scrap the Statue of Liberty and give it to a country that has more successful dreams for people. Or you could remodel the Liberty Bell with the money symbol, because America has lost its liberty because of money. Or you could remodel the heads on Mt. Rushmore to four guys of greed, because it’s not about the dream anymore, it’s about greed.

And, you could replace the Lincoln Memorial with statues of donkeys and elephants fighting each other. Because people in America can’t agree on anything anymore. America has lost the art of the compromise and it has become the it’s my way or the highway attitude. Someone left the comment on the original article, and it reads “Reading back through your job issues, you are very quick to blame someone else, but you’ve had a large number of jobs in a short period of time. In the eyes of most companies, you are a huge liability, and would be considered unemployable by most HR recruiters. I’m sorry for you, but I think you have some serious issues. This little blog of yours isn’t going to fix them.”

I am sorry I have held so many jobs since graduating from high school in 2006. Hey, I know there are other people that have held this many jobs as well. I just live in an area that is right now economy depressed, and it’s getting worse. Since I don’t have internet at home right now, I had to cancel two Skype chats with people who wanted to talk to me. And I know professionals online are going to wonder where I am tonight to share my latest thoughts. Yep, I have one of the highest social media and online scores in Alabama, and I am reduced to walking and almost falling asleep at the library, is life fun!

This is something the folks that knows me are going to have to realize. After talking to several people in and around the Anniston area, we all agree on one thing, that Anniston is dead and my only hope to find any job is to move away. Over the past few weeks, several more businesses in Anniston/Oxford have closed. And add the over 400 people who became unemployed because of the holiday work ending, and you can see why this area is in trouble. There are thousands and thousands of people out of work in Anniston/Oxford and I am one of them. I mean, I have tried registering for many sites, networking, and creating visual presentations to show off what I do. My visual resume has close to 6,000 views now, but no one has contacted me for any job offers.

I have even tried the Social Security Disability route, and the attorney has basically said my chances on getting on disability are close to zero. And yes, even the attorney has said my best chances are to move away. And thanks to some lawmakers in Montgomery, soon, my food stamps card could be getting cut off, because I don’t have a job. Oh joy! Several people I know here in Anniston have already moved on to places like Birmingham, Atlanta, Huntsville, Nashville, Auburn, and other places like Oklahoma. How do I know, well they follow me on social media and have updated their city locations. If some people in my social media networks see the writing on the walls and left town, I think my time is coming soon to leave as well.

The only reason I feel like I am Anniston/Oxford, is to continue to drain the bank accounts from some people I know. People around here wish they could pay me for what I do with event coverage on this blog, but since this area is one of the poorest in America, you can see why they can’t pay anything. I hate to be harsh to the Anniston/Oxford area, but this area is in deep trouble. More and more jobs are being lost each week, and people are either giving up and becoming homeless, or moving away from Anniston to find anything. To anyone who thinks they can come to Anniston/Oxford to find a job, think again! Just keep on going down I-20 towards Atlanta or Birmingham.

So for the rest of today, I will continue to walk around town bouncing from place to place with wi-fi so I can do my online work. And using the little money I have to buy wi-fi time. I stayed up all up last night finishing up the new infographic before the internet was closed down, and I wonder if I will even make it back to the apartment to sleep, or crash someone else. It sucks to live in one of the poorest and jobless towns in America. To sum things up, if I am going to find anything full-time and for good pay, I will have to move on, whether I like it or not.