I am sorry to hear that Break for the Light. I am an expat and your situation seems similar to where I live. About 3 years ago when I was unemployed, I had a real hard time finding something. Many people I'd come across thought that with my education and languages skills I should be in demand but I rarely got called for interviews. I ended taking what I could get and it didn’t end well.

I am not sure where you live, but I think that the problem here is who you know is so important. Many jobs are given to someone who knows someone. Connections through college, even what private high school you went to mean a lot. Same with family connections. I am from a country where nearly all of us went to public high school and once you have a degree, no one cares where you went. Not having any such connections definitely makes things tougher. I wonder if that might be part of the problem where you live.

I was let go last November and decided to look into getting freelance work from clients in my home country because the economy where I live is terrible at the moment. And, of course, I had such a hard time finding work last time even when the economy was better. I have been started doing regular freelance work for one company in my home country, and so far, so good. It’s part-time but the currency exchange favors me right now, so the money is not bad. I would still have time to take on something else if it came up. Maybe that is an option you could explore.