Unemployment Blues

Although I have had no less than twenty five legitimate jobs in my life, I can boast that I have never actually been unemployed for more than a week or so since I started working more than thirty years ago. However, being that I have spent most of that time working in the seasonal tax return preparation business, I have been underemployed for much of my life, so I have a feel for what many of you that are unemployed are going through during these hard economic times. I'd like to contribute my two cents worth of knowledge on the subject, if I may.

First of all, anyone who tells you they know what you are going through is misinformed, unless they have actually been unemployed for an extended period of time themselves. You never know how hard it is to walk in someone else's shoes until you put them on and walk in them. So don't expect a lot of sympathy from your family, friends and associates. If you need support, seek help from others who are or have been unemployed, since they can better sympathize with your situation.

Losing your job is like the lights going out in your house during a storm. The first thing you do is run for the bedroom and flick on the light switch so you can find your flashlight, only to realize that you have no light because the electricity is out. Little by little you start to realize that without electricity, you can't cook, watch television, check your e-mail, run the air conditioning, or even move about comfortably at night. Civilized life as we know it is put on hold until the power is turned back on, and so it is for the unemployed until they find a job.

Everything becomes a chore when you are unemployed. Just getting out of bed in the morning is difficult, being that you have nowhere to go once you are up. Days filled with nothing to do drag on endlessly. Each day you tell yourself that this cannot continue, but everyday it does. You are riding on a down bound train, en rout to a virtual meltdown the day your unemployment checks finally run out. You have the unemployment blues!

Without a job, you have limited financial resources to live at a standard you enjoyed when you were gainfully employed. Thus, little by little you find yourself doing without. It suddenly occurs to you that virtually every time you leave your house it costs you money, a commodity that is in short supply. Eventually, you find yourself just staying home all of the time, because you can no longer afford to go anywhere.

The slower things get, the lazier you get. The laziness feeds on itself and makes even simple tasks unbearably hard to manage. When you are unemployed, you have all day to work on your job search, but it is so incredibly hard to get yourself motivated to do it. Thus, the difficult task of finding a job is made all the more challenging since you cannot find the motivation to manage your job search effectively.

Your inability to effectively hunt down a job prolongs your period of unemployment, which adds to your depression, making it  harder still to get motivated to work on your job search. As your job search progresses, you tend to exhaust avenues you explored to find work. You have been to employment agencies,  answered ads in the paper, and asked associates if they are hiring, all to no avail. At some point in time, you realize that these activities are not very productive so you have a tendency to give up and scale back your search efforts.

So what should you do now? You have to step out of the box a little and try something different. Look, things could not get any worse, so what do you have to lose? Ninety percent of Americans who want to work have a job, so surely there is a job with your name on it out there somewhere, you just need to find it.

Submitting resumes on the internet for your dream job has basically gotten you nowhere, so it is time to change things up a little. First, put some resumes together and go door to door to establishments where you think you might be hireable. Visit them all, not just a few. Prospective employers will admire you for your effort. Also, getting out of the house will do you some good, and a change of scenery will cheer you up. I know that this may be demeaning to you, but as I said, things can't get any worse, so what do you have to lose?

Second, go online to Craigslist.com and search all job categories in your town for a job you may be qualified for. Don't overlook part-time employment, as you can use this to supplement your unemployment benefits. Also be receptive to volunteer activities and low paying jobs, as these opportunities may lead to a better position down the road. Remember, I said search all jobs you may be qualified for, not just the jobs you are interested in. Again, we are outside of the box now, so consider applying your job skills in a new profession if you feel you may be qualified, or can learn the necessary skills to be productive.

Above all, stay active in your job search. Just as your initial frustration in finding a job led you down a path of apathy and laziness, a renewed effort to find work will energize you, which will make your job search more productive, and at the same time lift your spirits.

If these measures do not help you find a job, then you may have to go a little radical and consider moving to a new town where employment prospects are better. Also, you may have to consider taking a job that pays less than you were making before, and adjusting your cost of living accordingly. In any case, you will feel somewhat empowered if you take charge of your situation and come up with a plan to manage your future, instead of just sitting around the house waiting for something good to happen.

Above all, realize that you live in a community and there is help for you if you seek it out. Look around and you will find government agencies and non-profit organizations that have programs to help people like yourself that are down on your luck. Also, a lot of people are out of work so you are not alone. Turn to your community of  neighbors, friends, associates and family members if you need help from them.

Being thrown out of work is very stressful and traumatic, but it is not the worst thing that could of happened to you. You will recover from it and find gainful employment again if you just stay persistent and work hard at finding a new job. So don't despair, but do get off of the couch and start working today on building a better tomorrow!