Bruised but Not Beaten: Surviving the Job-Hunting Battlefield

I wanted to write something upbeat and inspiring in this, my first blog entry about unemployment; but you’ve caught me on one of my cranky days.

It’s one of those days when it’s really, really hard to focus on the positive, to find one thing that I can cling to that enables me to believe that there might actually be light at the end of this jobless tunnel.  Today I am really hating being unemployed. 

Not that I ever like being unemployed.  But I tend to be an optimistic person, and more often than not, I’m able to find some little thing on which I can focus that gives me hope.  But today hasn’t been one of those days. 

I’ve been unemployed for more than a year now, so I know from experience that my current melancholy will soon pass.  I’ll spot some really interesting job posting that sounds perfect for me, or someone I know will put in a good word for me to someone they know, or I’ll get one of those too-rare phone calls about a job for which I’ve applied.  One of these things will happen and suddenly, I’ll be feeling hopeful again.  It’s a rollercoaster and it drains you.

Not being able to find work for an extended period of time is much harder than it looks.  You have to be pretty secure in your belief in yourself as someone with value.  You especially need to realize that your value as a human being does not derive solely from employment!  This is one of the psychological hazards of unemployment that, like landmines, dot the job-hunting battlefield and can detonate in your psyche without warning.  

Yes, I’ve been networking.  Yes, I’m on LinkedIn and Facebook and Twitter and everyone I know knows I’m looking for a job.  I’ve redone my resume once and am redoing it again.  I’m taking advantage of every connection, of everyone I know or have ever worked with, to help me.  I’ve been freelancing and volunteering and I even went to grad school for an advanced degree.  But so far, here’s the unpleasant truth:

Nothing’s working.  Including me.

So why am I writing this blog?  Not to complain about how tough it is to be unemployed.  It is, but I don’t believe in whining (extensively – for short periods, it’s cathartic).  Optimist that I try to be, I don’t believe it’s healthy to dwell on the negative. 

I am a skilled, experienced, educated person who, in the past, never had a problem finding a new job.  Everything’s different today.  If you’re not personally going through this, you know too many people among your family and friends who are.

So I’m going to blog about unemployment and in particular, about how it feels, how it affects you personally.  I’m doing this because I want to remind you – and me – that, in today’s awful economy, there is no shame, no stigma, in the fact that it can take a long time to find a job.  There are good days and cranky days like today, days of promise and days of disappointment, days when you feel like giving up and other days when you’re sure that a great new job is just around the corner.

We can talk about all of that here.  You’re not alone.  I’m not alone.  Just writing that makes me feel better!