How the mighty falls

I work for a staffing service and as I review applications that come in I always notice the applicant's previous income levels. There was one man who came in and his salary at his previous job was $75,000. He was now applying for a job that pays $9 an hour. Sometimes I feel sad when I look at this because I see myself and how my gross income last year was about $57,000 and now I'm working part time for $13 and taking temporary jobs for less than that. Also, the jobs that I'm applying for are only making about half that amount. The last position I applied for stated that the salary would be $1051 biweekly. That's about $25,000 a year. Of course I"m not oppossed to making that, but it just makes me feel like I'm either going backwards or starting all over.

10 years ago, when I joined the workforce, I was fresh out of college and making $28,000 as a new teacher. I was laid off and went to work for a community college as an academic advisor. The salary was around $25,000 but that didn't include my health insurance which when added to my salary would be around $28,000. When I left there, I was making about $29,000. I went to teach again and I was making about $35,000. My last two years of teaching I was making over $50,000 because not only was I teaching, but I was also coordinating supplemental programs. Of course my job required me to work so many hours that I got burned out that I just wanted out and I got out. I left to make $2700 a month which would have been over $30,000 a year. I was happy with that because my schedule was flexible and I was doing what I loved to do. Now I'm in a situation where I don't know what I want to do. My heart is in working with nonprofits, however, do I compromise what I want to do just for money? I applied for a teaching position at a University and I could see myself there, however, I wasn't sure if that's where my heart was. The last job I applied for was a community position. I can see myself there, but the salary was on the lower end.

My prayer at church last night was not just for a job, but for a job that I can make an impact and a difference in. I want to do something meaningful. I want to provide a service, make someone's life better. That would be the perfect job. Of course, I'd want to be compensated so that I could be comfortable.

So, today when I went to the temp job there were quit a few people who were there who recognized my name. I simply said that I had been there before. What I didn't tell them was that the Sr. VP took me and another teacher to Washington D.C. on the companies private jet about 2 years ago. The news of that was all over the company my picture was in everyone's inbox at the company. I also didn't tell them that two summers ago the company gave me a scholarship to attend their program for teachers. My name and picture was in there news articles. I'm not sure if anyone there cares to look me up, but if they put two and two together they can figure out that I was once a golden star to their company because of my work between them and the school district, but now I was a lowly temporary employee. It's quite humbling.