Comments on: Dealing With Unemployment Like a Man

By: Zevik

Zevik — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:50:41 +0000

I'm looking right now and feeling quite trapped. I have 5 kids to feed, bills to pay and not sure what to do. To stay sane, I keep on sending out resumes and mountain biking... solar

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:21:23 +0000

Really solid advice. I went through this a while back — I was without work, and I had a five-month-old daughter to support. Not fun. (Plus, my wife had dramatically decreased her workload to stay at home with our daughter.) Everyday, my first thought was to stay in bed and feel sorry for myself. (Although that wasn’t really an option, since my daughter was waking up before 5am every day. But still.)

So it wasn’t easy, believe me. But you have to look beyond your immediate circumstances and look big-picture. Losing a job is a big setback, but you can still better yourself. You can exercise, volunteer, and catch up with old friends (who might just know of a job opening). And you simply cannot let self-pity get in the way of good old pounding the pavement. You have to stay busy — finding a job is a full-time job.

And to go back for a second — the exercise thing is pretty huge. The inclination is there to want to just melt into the couch with a battalion-sized bag of Dorito’s and all of the old “Starsky and Hutch” DVDs. But you will feel much, much better about yourself if you work out — aside from the role of endorphins, you can say, “Hey, I may not have a job (yet!), but I’m starting to feel and look better.” That can really help your mindset.

By: Arno

Arno — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:01:12 +0000

Another great thing to do when unemployed, if you have the resources for it, is to increase your employability with new skills, certifications, or even a Master’s degree. Scholarships are often available, computer texts to study for a certification aren’t so expensive.

Power through it.

By: Nathon

Nathon — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:33:41 +0000

@Scott. Awesome story. Thanks for sharing.

I just found this blog today on AllTop. Great timing because I was laid off at 3:30 today!

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:08:11 +0000

Unlike my friends, I never got a job in high school because I was not interested in working just to turn around and dump my funds into video games, restaurants, and pointless electronics. But then college began to approach, and I realized that nobody was going to hire me because I had no job experience. Two summers in a row I loafed around jobless, feeling incompetent. I justified myself by thinking, “Well, this is the last time in life I’ll have free summers.” But I did nothing. I told myself I’d work on my languages studies, but really didn’t. It was stupid. Really stupid. And I was jealous of all of my friends who seemed to be moving along just fine. Sophomore year in college, I started looking more seriously, though again I got no response from anybody. I was freaking out. One day the library had a booksale on the lawn, and, being something of a reader, I stopped to look. I was able to talk to the librarian in charge of the sale, and after talking to him for some time, was invited to put an application in even though they didn’t currently need any workers. A week or two later, the university email announced an open position at the library. I opened the email one hour after it was sent. I had sort of given up by then, but I knew I needed to grow a pair and at least give it a shot, so I went right on down to the library to ask about the position, and was more or less hired on the spot. The pay was low and the hours were few, but I really enjoyed the job, and was thrilled to have one. I transferred the next semester, and with my experience and references from the librarians at the old school, easily got a job at the school I transferred to, which is where I still work now. And I make better pay than my friends who have been working for years. I can’t say I deserve that, but I’ll take it!

I was, during those summers, “too good” to apply to retail and fast food. However, I was ready for anything that sophomore year. It is interesting that when I became humble enough to apply all over, I got the job I had been looking for. Oh, and the guy who originally hired me is something of a friend now, too. We both enjoy working with ancient languages, and I might even find myself working in a similar field someday. Friends and contacts are good things.