job rescinded before i even started

[tigerlilly00]

i am new to this board and was drawn here due to my current situation. read on:

after school i relocated from the midwest (where i am originally from) to the east coast to pursue job opportunities. after 4 years there i decided to move back to the midwest to be closer to family. in november i accepted a job offer with a high profile nonprofit in the midwest. after i moved back and was unpacking the moving van, i got a call from my supposed future employer and they told me due to financial constraints they had to rescind my job offer. then a couple of days after that, i saw on the local news that the whole organization folded.

i temped for a while and now i have a job that pays the bills, but is by no means satisfying or providing any growth. i have been looking for jobs here with no luck.

i am thinking i may just go back to the east coast, where i have a lot of friends and contacts.

i guess i would like any advice or comments anyone would like to offer.

also, i am beginning to look for jobs in my east coast town and i was thinking i could use the address of a friend on my resume, so that i look local and i don't have to explain this ridiculous situation to any prospective employers.

any thoughts?

[chicagogirl]

That sucks. I'm waiting to hear this week about the final ok for me to be hired. Where are you in the midwest? I'm in Chicago and have been looking for a job in the nonprofit sector. Feel free to pm me if you want. :)

[chicagogirl]

Ooh, I just remembered that th YNPN is a good resource. Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. Googe it

[tigerlilly00]

i'm in indianapolis. the job market here doesn't seem to be the greatest, unless i am missing something. and i wasn't good with keeping in touch with contacts while i was in DC for the last 4 years.

[rightstar76]

First of all, you have to decide if you are going to pursue work in the midwest or return to the east coast. If you stay in the midwest, then all you have to say to employers is that through no fault of your own, the non-profit went out of business and you're ready to move on with the great service you've always provided.

However, if you plan to return to the east coast, here are some things you could do. One strategy is for you to purchase a cell line and have it forwarded to your phone. That way you can use your friend's address and when people call you back they will have no way of knowing that you're living in the midwest. Just make sure that you block your phone's caller id function when you return calls or people will know where you're calling from!

Of course your friend will have to fax you important mail that gets sent to you, but that shouldn't be too hard since you won't be receiving a whole lot and you'll be looking for a place once you're back on the east coast.

This way all you have to say to an employer is that you left your last job because it was best for the non-profit, wasn't the right fit, was mutually agreeable, etc. Since you've only been out of work for three months the gap shouldn't be big enough to raise too many eyebrows.

On the other hand, if the non-profit does a background investigation (I don't know what level you were working at and what level you plan on applying for), you could find yourself in hot water if the truth gets out that you were living in the midwest and the address you used was your friend's. Then you could be fired/disqualified and your work history would then look really bad. Since you did move, you probably opened up some new lines of credit, and even if you didn't, you probably notified your creditors of your new address. A credit report ordered by a prospective employer might show a midwest address. That would definitely cause the employer to wonder if you had lied during the hiring process.

A safer approach would be to be honest and say that you did leave your last job for an opportunity in the midwest, but that it ended through no fault of your own. You could emphasize in your cover letter and subsequent interviews that you're back on your feet again and ready to deliver the same great service you did at your last job. Plus you have references to vouch for you.

The only obstacle is that a prospective employer might question your commitment since you did move and losing your job because your non-profit went out of business doesn't change the fact that you wanted to move to the midwest. You'd have to say something like I consider my decisions to be learning experiences and I've learned from my brief stay in the midwest that the east coast is the best place for the outstanding work I've done. For example, the work I did at x improved y and I would like to do the same for your non-profit. When can I start?

You get the picture. You take a risk by being honest, but you keep yourself from getting hurt later on if you were to make up a story and then have your cover blown. Everyone has bad luck at one point or another and you're basically smoothing out the wrinkles while promoting your good points. I wish you all the best in your next move!

Rightstar

[tigerlilly00]

thank you for your advice everyone. i will defintiely take it into consideration. i am just going to keep sending out resumes and hopefully something will come up. this is just so frustrating. i was trying to do the right thing by taking an opportunity to live closer to my family.

and to make things even more interesting, i learned through a reliable office gossip that my position at my old employer (a prominent non profit in DC) was going to eliminate my position this year. so i would have been screwed even if i hadn't taken the indianapolis position.

this just changes everything and my outlook on my career. i don't even know if i want to continue in non profit, b/c they are so unstable at times.