CNNMoney.com
Companies Economy International Corrections Pre-market Trading After-hours Trading Winners/Losers/Actives Bonds Currencies Commodities World Markets Money Magazine Real Estate Taxes Jobs Ask the Expert Money 101 Autos Mutual Funds The Help Desk Loan Center Best Places to Live Ask the Expert Ultimate Guide to Retirement Retirement Calculators Best Funds Best Places to Retire Fortune Brainstorm Tech Apple 2.0 Blog Big Tech Blog Sectors and Stocks Tech Talk Resource Guide Small Business Makeovers Questions & Answers Small Business Video 100 Best Places to Launch FSB 100 Fortune Small Business Fortune 500 Brainstorm Tech Investing Management C-Suite Rankings Main Create Portfolio Edit Portfolio Create Alerts Edit Alerts

Stay engaged with the job market

Gerri Willis answers your questions about protecting your employability.

EMAIL  |   PRINT  |   SHARE  |   RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
By Gerri Willis, CNN

home_rich_cover.03.jpg
For more information on managing your largest investment, check out Gerri Willis' "Home Rich," now in bookstores.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With unemployment at its highest level in 15 years, you've got questions about what to do if you lose your job.

1. What if your resume has a blank spot?

What do you tell a potential employer during an interview process about why you were unemployed for an extended period of time? - William

That's a hard place to be. If you've volunteered or done consulting projects make sure you highlight that in the interview says John Challenger of Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

Stay engaged in community organizations. You may even say that you've taken some time off to take care of the kids or a sick relative if that's true. Another tactic that could work: leave the months off your resume.

2. What if your employer goes bankrupt?

My daughter's place of employment may be going bankrupt. She is a three-year cancer survivor and will lose her insurance. Is there anything she can do to get insurance because of her pre-existing condition? - Shirley

If the company she works for goes bankrupt and isn't offering insurance, she can get coverage for a pre-existing condition if she is HIPPA-protected-meaning she had a year and a half of health insurance coverage. All states have a way of covering HIPPA-protected people who have pre-existing conditions. It may be a high-risk insurance pool or the state may designate a specific insurer to cover her.

But these policies will be expensive - more expensive than COBRA in some cases according to Cheryl Fish-Parcham of Families USA. Call your state Department of Insurance to find out about the laws in your state.

A better alternative: If your daughter is married, she may be able to get on her spouses' plan. That will be the cheapest option out there.

3. How do I file for unemployment?

I was recently laid off, given a 60 day notice, severance and paid vacation. What date should I tell unemployment I last worked if I'm still receiving money from the company? - Cheryl

You should provide the date that you last worked. You will likely have to give the state more information about your severance and vacation pay.

If you get severance and/or vacation pay, it MAY affect your eligibility for unemployment according to the U.S. Department of Labor. But that varies from state to state.

In some states, your severance and/or vacation pay may delay when you start receiving benefits. But that's not true in other states. To top of page

Gerri's Mailbox: Got questions about your money? We want to hear them! Send e-mails to toptips@cnn.com or click here - each week, we'll answer questions on CNN, Headline News and CNNMoney.com.
Features
  • karolyne_sosa_film_producer.04.jpg
    Anne Giapapas has a job in one of the 15 most overworked and underpaid professions. More
  • heels.04.jpg
    These 5 businesses are offering their services -- from shoes to hair cuts -- to the unemployed. More
  • mark_zuckerberg__2007.04.jpg
    These rising stars, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, have great jobs to fill. Here's what they're looking for. More
  • whitney_wise.04.jpg
    They graduated into the worst economy in decades. Here's how 11 grads are getting by. More
  • masoud_modarres.04.jpg
    For some, getting laid off ends up being the ultimate opportunity. More
  • james_murdoch.04.jpg
    Executives like News Corp. chairman James Murdoch raked it in. Where the other 19 rank. More
  • lincoln_ne.ju.04.jpg
    These 5 cities have the fastest-growing foreclosure rates. And they're not the usual suspects. More
Markets Last Change
Dow Jones 10,246.97 20.03 / 0.20%
Nasdaq 2,151.08 -2.98 / -0.14%
S&P 500 1,093.01 -0.07 / -0.01%
10-year Bond 101 6/32 Yield: 3.47%
U.S.Dollar 1 euro = $1.504 0.005
November 10, 2009 12:00 AM ET
CompanyPrice% Change
Beazer Homes USA Inc 5.11 8.96%
Fluor Corp 44.27 -7.79%
YRC Worldwide Inc 1.10 -6.78%
ArvinMeritor Inc 9.23 6.22%
Nov 10 3:53pm ET †
More Galleries
Pieces of Madoff Many of Bernie Madoff's victims would like to have a piece of the felonious financier. Now they can. This week hundreds of his and Ruth's possessions go up for auction. More
Inside Donald Trump's private jet The real estate mogul's upgrading to a larger private jet, so his 1968 Boeing 727, estimated to cost between $4 million and $8 million, is on the market. More
Hope for homeowners Critics thought homeownership would never work in the South Bronx. They were wrong. Tour the one house currently for sale on Charlotte Street. More

© 2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2009 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Intraday data is at least 20-minutes delayed. All times are ET.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Morningstar, Inc..
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.