By Ed Orum for AOL Find a Job

It was a drive I had done many times before - home to office, office to home - but this time was different. I had just been laid off from my job, and I knew I wouldn't be back. HR didn't ask for my keys or badge, but I felt strangely disconnected from a place that once served as my home away from home.

By Ed Orum for AOL Find a Job

If you think it's tough to find a job where you live, consider yourself lucky you're not looking in El Centro, California - the unemployment rate hit 30 percent there in September. To be fair, even when times were good in the rest of the U.S., El Centro still struggled with a 20 percent unemployment rate.

As the Great Recession continues to devour jobs at an alarming rate, tales are legion about the millions of unemployed struggling to right their lives and recover their self-esteem. But what happens to those left behind?

By Ed Orum

Flickr

It's impossible to forget such a game-changing day. I was a high paid journalist at a prestigious publication, and had worked hard to get there. Sometimes, my job seemed too good to be true - it was fun, exciting and different every day. This day was very different, though - within seconds of my arrival at my desk, I was greeted by my boss. This was odd, because we hardly ever interacted. Most of my communication was with my executive editor, who took care of everyday tasks including assignments, vacation time and special projects.

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