Need some advice (worried about losing unemployment benefits). Anyone been through this?

As if things aren't stressful enough...

I've been collecting unemployment benefits since late January (some of you might know my story; it's posted in this forum, so I won't repeat it). Anyway, I've been applying for work, as required (at least 2 jobs, sometimes more, per week). To give you a little of my background, I have an undergraduate degree in English plus 14 years of experience in marketing, communications, PR and tech. writing/editing.

I had an interview at a place a couple of weeks ago for a job that was related to my field, but that didn't work out (I found this out, because I got a call last Saturday (yes, Saturday) morning from the place (they usually operate M-F, so I thought it was unusual). The lady said they hired someone else, but there is an opening in another dept. that she thinks I may be interested in (apparently, the person had unexpectedly quit the day before). The job is for an admin. asst. She said there may be some tech. writing involved, so I said to go ahead and email me the job description, and I thanked her for thinking of me.

I read the description, and while there is some tech. writing, I was a disappointed in that the core requirements were a high school diploma or GED (non-essential requirements are undergraduate degree and/or some tech. writing experience). I figured I'm probably overqualified, but I'll see what happens.

On Monday, she called me and said she wanted to see if I would be available to come in for an interview the next day. I said that would be fine. Hell, what do I have to lose, right?

So, I go in and meet with the people. It sounds OK, but it seems more admin. than writing. They ask me about salary, and I try to put it in their court ("What is the range?" No dice.). I tell them what I earned in my last two jobs. Their mouths flew open. It wasn't that crazy, I thought. After that, they asked for references and that was about it.

Anyway, yesterday, I get an offer. It's $12,500 less than what I was making at my last job. I ask if there is any room for negotiation or if maybe in six months, it can be revisited. Nope. She says there is a concern that maybe I might leave in a couple of months if I'm bored, so she wanted to be sure I know what I'm getting into if I take it. I'm supposed to let her know today.

Here's the deal: when I file for unemployment each week, I have to tell them if I refuse an offer of work. If I say yes, they'll ask why, of course, and can deny me any future benefits. I don't want to leave it off because I've listed the place in my past report (when I applied for the other job that was more "suitable," in terms of relation to my experience.

Help!

But it sounds like refusing employment is grounds for terminating your benefits.

1) Have you talked with someone at the unemployment office about any latitude you might have in refusing lower paying work? Be careful of accepting the benfits under false pretenses, because they could well come back to recover them.

2) What are the prospects for a promotion if you accept the job and perform well?

2) In this market, having been out of work all year, you might want to consider taking the job and keeping an eye out for a better one. I assume it will net you at least as much as your unemployment benefits. And let's face it, the longer anyone is out of work the more leery employers become, fair or not. Without getting too personal, I'm not sure what a 12,500 pay cut would mean. If it's a cut from 28,000 to 15,500 I can see why you're hesitating. But if it's from 62,500 to 50,000 you really might want to think about taking it. I'm personally in the market (plant soon to close and I have just a few months) and am ready to take a 10k cut or so under some circumstances.

I did call the employment office. I was told that considering the fact that the job requirements and salary aren't suitable to my experience, it won't count against me and I'm not required to report it. I do have an interview on Monday. My plan is that if I don't have a f/t job by the time my unemployment benefits run out, I'm going to temp (a former employer has offered to have me work as a consultant in a couple of months). From the discussions I had with the people at the place, they said they couldn't guarantee any promotion (it was an admin. asst. job, and my experience is a mid-to-senior level marketing specialist type).

Oh, before I forget: welcome to DU!

And thanks for the welcome. :hi:

Had been collecting UE since Sept, refused a job (one that I thought I would like and work for a man who was really nice), but the pay was more than 25% less than I had been making and resposibility up way high.

UE stopped for 3 weeks while they investigated my "refusal". On the 4th week, UE sent me a letter stating that the position I refused normally pays $10-12/hr more than they were offering and my benefits were reinstated and in less than 2 weeks I received the 3 checks they held and a current one.