Reasons for Unemployment
To get a better mindset for money, you must do your best to find some income. That sounds simple until you stop earning, get laid off, or some other form of unemployment.
If you have neglected to save enough to cover this kind of emergency, panic will soon set in, because we all like to eat!
Keep It Short
Loss of income can be unnerving. It hits your self-confidence and becomes a thorn in your ego, causing some deflation.
So, how do we limit the time without an income? For most of us, who take pride in our jobs, we identify with the work we do. You may have to swallow our pride and get some part-time work to keep food on the table until you can get a long-term income source. You must value the effort to cover a temporary need.
Bridge the Gap
When you build a resume or a job application, the dates you put down for employment history may show a gap, when you did not have an income. The question often comes up during an interview, “What was the reason for the gap in dates and what did you do to cover that gap in employment?” How you answer that question may affect your chances of being hired.
Aside from emailing resumes and waiting to get an interview, how will you attempt to fill that gap in time?
Maybe you have a game plan already. If not, I have some suggestions that I learned over a long-term unemployment stretch with the help of a state employment service project to help displaced workers.
“Project Refocus”
The program was aptly called “Project Refocus”. I say “aptly” since most of us in the program were there because of a dip in the business cycle and a lot of recent technology changes. The chances of us getting a similar job to what we had before were very slim.
Do you feel secure in your present job? Things can change depending on how profitable a business is. Cutting labor costs is the fastest way for a company to increase profits.
Are you keeping up with technological changes? I had to take a couple of computer courses during my period of underemployment.
Unemployment Benefits Help
If you qualify, unemployment benefits help bridge the gap. However, these benefits were not meant to be livable wages.
You will most likely need a temporary or part-time job to keep the bills paid. If you have a budget and do some planning, you will know what you must do to meet your needs.
You Have Options
There are many more options today than what I had in my pre-Uber unemployment days. Although pizza delivery was available, I never thought to do that. I did some night-stocking at a grocery store just long enough to find out why they call that the graveyard shift!
Today, you have online options, many options for delivery services, including a regular short-term route with Amazon. I just hope you have a well-maintained and fuel-efficient vehicle.
My suggestion is that you try to establish a work schedule that will allow you to keep that job for a while after you get your new full-time job, to help regain some savings and reduce credit card debt build-up from your unemployment, and in case the new job does not work out.
Hard Work!
Finding a job can seem like hard work. Sourcing job openings and applying for them can take a lot of time. Time that you would rather be doing other things.
The truth is that this process is your main job! You must make this happen!
Get the Interview
Sometimes finding a job is a numbers game. Being confident about an interview is important. However, you may have been only one of five such confident candidates.
Your goal should be to get five interviews over a one-to-three-month period. You may need to send out at least three to five applications per day to get that lined up. Yes, getting a job takes a lot of effort.
Before You Send Applications
You will need a good mindset and a well-defined plan for starting the job-application process. This is a good opportunity to change or improve your career options. Are you working on your career progression?
I will offer some reading that will enhance your planning and goal setting process to make this a golden opportunity for a better future.
Yes, you will try to get a resume ready and start applying to jobs soon after you lick the wounds to your self-confidence. However, before you waste a lot of time, I want you to stop and read the following books. Maybe you will only skim them but look for important points to help you develop a clear picture of what kind of employment that would be pleasing to you:
- What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Boiles. Get a recent edition since they update every year. They are specific to job seekers.
- No More Mondays! by Dan Miller. “Fire yourself and other revolutionary ways to discover your true calling at work.”
- 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. “As a leading vocational thinker, Dan Miller helps you better understand and organize your God-given skills, personality traits, values, dreams, and passions. In turn, you’ll see clearer patterns form that point you toward successful career decisions.”
Act on Your Plan
After you do some reading and thinking about what you really want to do over the rest of your working career, even if you get a job right away, you may see it as a stepping-stone to mark your progression to what you really want to do.
Setting goals will help you see beyond how you will spend your next paycheck. Many of your goals will require intermediate steps and maybe years to achieve. However, those steps become a part of your daily plan as well as your long-term plan.
Other Short-Term Actions
Back to the urgency of the moment, finding a source of income. That is your primary goal of the moment.
Slow down, calm down, just breathe! Make your moves on purpose. You want to appear calm and confident, even if you are not. Act as if you are.
That will benefit you as you proceed to another suggestion from my experiences of unemployment. We were taught that not all job openings are advertised. Therefore, there are usually too many people looking for too few jobs that are advertised.
You can increase your chances for an interview by making some calls while waiting for an email application reply.
Go to the library and ask the research librarian for help finding a list of local companies you might want to apply to. When I was looking, many years ago, there was a publication called Sorkin’s Directory, which lists business and government employers. It may be a database online, now.
Why Would I Call?
Of course, employers usually want applications and resumes sent online. However, how do you know if a job is still available?
Better yet, ignore the ads while you look for companies you might want to work for and ask yourself why. Then, call them and ask if they have any openings that might be of interest to you. If the need to fill that position is urgent, you might get an interview on the spot. So, be prepared to do so!
Think About Why and How Much
Before you get those interviews, think about this. A job is a contract to provide a service for an agreed upon rate of pay. And just because a rate is suggested does not mean they are not willing to pay more for a qualified candidate.
Most ads for jobs do not list the pay rate. They might ask what you earned from your previous job to see if you will work for that much again. The point I want to make is that there is a shortage of labor available to fill jobs, currently. You will do yourself a disservice if you do not ask for more than is offered. If nothing else, they might offer more time off instead of extra pay.
Got a Job!
That was your goal, to get a job. Now, you must make the most of this new opportunity. Then, make some goals and be open to other opportunities. You might be able to “fire yourself” for a better future!