You all have been an encouraging community for me the last couple years, and I appreciate any prayers you can send our way. To give some context, my husband does contract IT work (remote/work from home), and his last contract ended in October. As you probably know, the job market has been tough recently, there's been a ton of layoffs and it's been hard for him to to find work in his field. He's applied to a ton of jobs, had a lot of recruiter phone calls, but nothing has come through yet. Many jobs are STILL requiring the vax (even remote ones!) which my husband will never do, and he's passed up good opportunities because of this. Since a lot of the work is contract based, most of the positions are only hiring for 6, 9, or 12 months. It's hard to find anything long term/permanent in his field anymore. He's thought about switching careers and has even applied to jobs outside his industry, but has a lot of good experience built up and as you know it's hard to switch careers later in life. Just praying for one of these opportunities to work out, and also if this is God leading him to something else, that he will be open to that calling.
Thank you so much, and please let me know if there's anything I can pray for you about as well!
EDIT: Thank you so much for everyone who took the time to respond! I shared all of the encouragement, prayers, advice, and job recommendations to my husband and we are so appreciative of all of you. I tried to reply or DM to each person here, but I apologize if I missed anyone. This community is awesome and I am so grateful to have found it. I hope to update you all soon with good news about a new job/opportunity for both of us! Much love and blessings to you ❤️
Been there. I was hit by that sequester when our idiotic government couldn't get along and all the agencies had to cut 15% off their budgets (during Obama's downturn). I was contracting in a great position and was suddenly unemployed - for 7 months. Fortunately I took one of those personal loans the day I found out and we lived on that (I took $40k). I finally took a contract that was a 3-month only, and was ultimately there for 5 years. And yes - I do cyber security. I was an NRC cyber inspector before the NRC laid off almost ALL of their contractors, and 7 months later one of the nuclear plants found me on Linked-In. Instead of being a regulator I was suddenly the person that protected my plant from the regulators.
Don't worry too much about the contracts saying they are only 3 or 6 months. I once worked a contract in San Diego and the place I worked was really close to a power plant. IT from both places knew each other and we often went to lunch together. When the 1st contract ended the power plant brought me over there. I was there for over a year. The NRC contract was offered but I had to wait about 10 months for them to get my Q clearance pushed through so the power plant just kept me until my clearance was final. Once you get in good with a company or 2 on a contract you will have a better chance of finding more.
My last contract I took was for a refinery in TX (cyber), and I was contract-to-hire. I happened to be in FL as well, and I traveled back and forth but the whole point for taking that was to get moved back to Texas. I was hired 6 months later and have been there for several years now. I was ready to stop traveling finally.
I'll pray for you, but you got this. Update your Linked-In page. Get the pro version if you can still afford it, and get online and start talking with friends across the country and ask them for help. I've been hired multiple times based on recommendations from friends of mine - with no interviews. Networking really helps a lot. Also don't worry if you have no degree or certifications. I've been in this industry since the 90s and I have no degree or certs. My experience is worth far more than papers. One more thing - if you don't know Linux now is the time to learn. Good Luck!
That is some great advice!
Networking is so underrated. Even reaching out through is will create opportunities.