BellaOnline Forums Career Unemployment Unemployment Websites

Hello all,

As the unemployment numbers rise, more and more people are starting websites to offer information about being unemployed, job search, etc... Have you started or visited any "unemployment" websites recently?

Hi Dianne, I recently started a site called www.10millionpeople.com that will eventually have a combination of content for those in need as well as information for those looking to give back. We're only in the first phase and just have links to the critical content for each state's UI system. I make the pages one at a time so I can tell you there's no database generated garbage with links to scams. It's a lot of links. Took about 30 hours just to research it all. We're finishing up content for our next section on health care programs. It should go live by Wednesday. We're trying not to reinvent the wheel unless the wheel is broken. I know there's a ton of sites like this out there, but we're really trying to make a quality resource and not another affiliate scam. The information is free for anyone. Take a look and tell us what we can do better.

Hi Dianne, I started a community to allow people in the Atlanta area to network and support each other. Part of the goal is to allow people to post job leads from their family, friends and contacts that they cannot use so hopefully other members can find the underground jobs. Another thought is to allow people to share their experiences with employers, recruiters, and the unemployemnt office. There is also a chat room to allow members connect in real time. Last but not least, we hope to facilitate meetings where people can get out and get to know each other (hence the Atlanta part). The site is open to anyone who fears the loss of their job or is now unemployed. the community is at: [url=http://atlanta4unemployed.yuku.com/]Atlanta Unemployed Community[/url]

Thanks so much for the info. I will definitely check out both sites. I think it's great when people are able to help people during this "recession". Support is so needed!!!

Once I have a chance to check out the sites I'll try to contact you either back through this forum or through your site.
Thanks!!!

I am a journalist at FLYPmedia.com and we are doing a story for our next issue about the unemployment crisis. As I am sure you are well aware, the unemployment rate in the US is the highest it has been in 30 years. As part of our story, however, we know that numbers do not tell the personal experiences and perspectives of the people who are directly affected by the layoffs, cut-backs, etc. We are asking people to record themselves, via web-cam or camcorder, talking about their situation; how you got where you are, specifically what are the problems you are facing now, what resources are available to you. Basically, we want to hear anything you want to say. If you would be willing to share your story, thanks! The easiest way to get me the videos is via yousendit.com. But if you would like to participate but prefer another method, please get in touch with me and we can work it out. thanks Chris Chris Bravo Flyp Magazine 10 E. 40th Street, Suite 1900 New York, New York 10016 www.flypmedia.com cbravo@flypmedia.com

Hi MIster Funnyman,
WOW!!! I took a look at the site and can't believe it only took you 30 hours. That's a LOT of information there...I think a one stop shop for everyone to look is a great idea. It's a site that contains just the facts. For people that are newly unemployed finding one place to look for information is extremely helpful and will probably reduce some of the frantic hours spent scouring through a bunch of different sites. I see that you are going to add health information. What do you envision the end product to be? How will you be getting the news out about your site? I'll be following you as you continue to progress.

Hi Ms Recessionesta,
I tried pulling up your website, unfortunately I couldn't pull it up. Bella Online has updated the rules for posting links to protect our readers. If you could write it out for me without linking, I would be happy to take a look.
Thanks!!!

Thanks Dianne, I don't think there can ever be an "end product" as long as search engines promote scammers to the top of their search lists. We really feel people need a secondary resource at this point to help filter through the garbage. Don't get me wrong, I love Google. However, they're not doing a good job right now of getting the best content to the top of their indexes with regard to certain topics. With that said, I'm not doing a good job getting my resources there either. It takes both traffic and backlinks to promote a site in the Google rankings. I'm not buying backlinks based on principal alone and therefore I have little traffic. We may at some point investigate hiring an SEO, but they'll just be buying backlinks on my behalf. We've already registered the site with the search engines. As for content, we're taking another look at our healthcare info before posting. We had included medical facilities that are classified as charitable institutions because of the amount of money they allocate towards those efforts. We're having second thoughts on that as it could prompt a flood of uninsured patients to those facilities. That would likely elicit some unhappy emails from those facilities if we're not careful. Legally we can't say they perform services for free even though that is precisely what they do in some cases. A concurrent project for the site is the development of a national food bank directory. This is taking a massive amount of time and is discouraging. Our goal is to provide the best information possible to the user. The user needs local information for their area. We started at the state level and then took it to the county level, but if we go further than that we have problems. The hours and locations of the distribution sites change regularly. We can't stay on top of that for the entire country. We couldn't even do that for a single city without investing hours every day. So what we're doing is making the last jump off point from our site to be at the county level to a site that lists distribution points. That's really the best we can. That was a ridiculously long response. I'll let you know when we have the new content posted.

Mr. Funnyman
The information that you're providing is extremely important and extremely helpful. It will take a little while for your traffic to build and as the unemployment figures grow you will will start to generate even more traffic, especially as people look at your website and find the information accurate and reliable.
No worries!!!!
How many people do you have working with you on this venture?

Dianne, Right now we have two guys working on research specifically. I do some of the research, but I'm also the programmer. We all have day jobs and families so the going is slow as time can be scarce.