The Jobhunting Doldrums

Maybe I’m just drained from all these 90-degree-plus days lately, but my job application activity has definitely slowed down.

It’s not really the weather; it’s just that jobs that interest me have been few and far between.

I’m having a hard time finding jobs that are good matches for me. Either they require much more or much different experience than I have, or the job duties are, for me, too mind-numbingly tedious (tracking, filing, following, updating).

Is it my imagination that things seem exceptionally sluggish?

I decided to browse for some updated economic data. After all, since it’s now July, the unemployment figures for June are due out at the end of this week.

I found an interesting article just published today by Bloomberg News entitled “Hiring Probably Cooled in Second Quarter – U.S. Economy Preview.” 

The story opens on this cheerful note: “The jobs tally in June probably crowned the weakest quarter for employment in more than two years, evidence the U.S. recovery has lost momentum, economists said before reports this week.”

(Aside from me: when did it have momentum?)  Hmmm, maybe this is why things have seemed quiet lately.

And then, painting a picture of “stagnation” without using the term, an economist is quoted as saying, “We really need to see job creation pick up, which is the only thing that’s going to get households spending on a sustained basis…. The economy isn’t going to get exceptionally weak from here, but neither is it going to get much stronger.”

At least I know what I’ve been feeling is based on economic reality.

The article goes on to predict that the unemployment rate for June will “probably hold at 8.2 percent” and reminds the reader joblessness has exceeded 8 percent for nearly 3½ years – since February 2009, the longest period for such a devastatingly high rate since 1948.

Since I was born quite a few years after 1948, this lengthy stretch of high unemployment is the worst it’s been in my entire life. Not that I find this especially comforting, but again, at least I know it’s not just me. It also reminds me that things haven't always been this way.

So what am I going to do about it? How do I snap myself out of my slump when the jobs just aren’t there? 

What do you do when your job search hits the doldrums?  Ideas, anyone?  I'd love to hear them!