Ditch Unemployment and Land that Job
The following post is contributed by Richard Hemby who frequently writes about online degrees and college related topics for Online College Guru, a directory of accredited online degrees
Especially in today’s economic environment, many people have found themselves among the ranks of the unemployed through no fault of their own. Some people are fortunate enough to find other work immediately; others are not so lucky and seek work in vain for months or even years. Unemployment benefits bridge the gap for many out-of-work individuals but, over time, this can become a trap for some who become accustomed to drawing unemployment and lose touch with the working world.
Unemployment benefits are meant to be a temporary measure; workers who forget this can find themselves in serious difficulty when those benefits run out. Milking your unemployment benefits for all they are worth is not only bad for the economy; it’s harmful to your future employment prospects as well. Here are some hints on how to maximize your employment chances while minimizing your time on unemployment.
Learn new tricks
Instead of staying at home and becoming addicted to soap operas, many unemployed workers choose to brush up on basic skills or learn a new trade. Incentives and financial assistance can provide an entry point for furthering one’s education. Whether you opt for a degree program, advanced certification, or a few credit hours in a new field, these educational excursions can show prospective employers that you’re open to learning new things and willing to take risks; this can make the difference between a job offer and another polite rejection letter.
Stay in the game
Even when you feel discouraged by constant rejection, it’s essential that you continue sending out resumes and working toward the career you want. Perseverance and determination are the keys to finding the right job opportunity for you. If you want to work for a particular company, send them a resume even if they are not hiring; in most cases, your resume will be retained by the human resources staff and you’ll be the first name they see when an opportunity becomes available.
Shape up
Unemployment is not an excuse to let yourself go. Devote some time every day to fitness and health. This will improve your energy level, your self-esteem, and ensure that you stay healthy and in good shape for job interviews and other activities.
Be willing to compromise
Look into jobs that may be slightly outside your field of expertise; these can open up far more opportunities than a strict adherence to the type of work you’ve done before. If you’ve been employed in public relations, look into fundraising or human resources; the skills and experience necessary are largely the same. Don’t unnecessarily limit yourself to one specific job description. Similarly, be willing to accept a temporary or part-time job in order to get back into the marketplace. Employers tend to look with suspicion on large gaps in your job history; two part-time jobs may provide approximately the same level of income as one full-time job. By being flexible about your employment expectations, you can often find the right job far more quickly.
Most importantly, don’t give up. Don’t relax and collect your unemployment benefits, regarding this period as a vacation. It’s not. Instead, consider it as an opportunity to hone your job skills and enhance your employability. By maximizing your qualifications, persisting in your job search, and thinking outside the box, you can improve your chances of landing a job that’s precisely right for you.
For more advice from Richard Hemby check out his site.
This is the best recession ever! Some unemployed can collect for a record 99 weeks.
When getting a QUALITY job is harder than being accepted to Harvard, why settle for arbitrary furloughs, pay cuts, and reduced hours?
Working also has opportunity costs. I’m using my free time to complete an online degree (4.0 GPA while unemployed), and try out commissioned business opportunities.
This is great, but what if you’ve done all that and STILL HAVE NO JOB!
I don’t really think that anyone believes unemployment is a vacation. Honestly, it doesn’t seem to matter right now WHAT you do, or don’t do. I know people in all sorts of professions that are out of work. People with advanced degrees, as well as blue-collar folks.
I’ve been an unemployed special education teacher in the great State of Michigan for 1 1/2 years. I’m currently working towards an Ed. Specialist degree thanks to the MichiganWorks! program. I’m hopeful that by next school year I’ll be employed in a higher paying administrative position, and unemployment will be a small blip on my life’s screen. In the meantime, do NOT ever say to someone’s face to stop looking at this as a vacation! Those of us who are unemployed play all kinds of mind games with ourselves to help us through. I have my “unemployment clothes” – well worn comfy clothes-that I wear most days, but I’d give anything to wear a suit again.
I’ve been unemployed since I graduated in May. As much as I would love to have a full time job it’s given me the opportunity to start my own business doing what I love and also help out other unemployed people!!
Check out my new company at http://www.resumefacelift.com and get the edge over all those other job seekers!!
This is sad. All these self-help types act like unemployment is just a matter of a resume, a wardrobe, or interview skills that need improvement. While those things may be true, we, who are out of work or underemployed or in industries not because of our choosing, have been affected by the deepest recession since the 1930s. This isn’t an individual problem, but a SYSTEMATIC problem that we’ve been affected by.
We should be organizing ourselves, helping each other out, and demanding jobs and assistance. Many companies are still very successful, they’ve just laid off people to make their stockholders happy. I know ‘cus this exact thing happened to my brother – and now he’s been out of work for 6 months. I myself had been unemployed almost a year, before I found a couple low-pay jobs to keep me active while I figure out my next steps.
Money needs to be put into education, and jobs, like during the Great Depression. Where’s our Civilian Conservation Corps, like my grandpa was in? Why not use this as an opportunity to jumpstart our green jobs economy? To revitalize the arts (like the amazing murals and photography funded by the government in the 30s – think Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, Coit Tower in SF, etc.)
Individually, we should be thinking about what kind of work we would be happy doing, what we really want out of life, and how best to get it. Unemployment isn’t about learning how to sell ourselves, but learning who we are, as individuals and as a people, deciding what’s best, and making plans for the future.
Trust yourself, not these ’self-help’ gurus who just want you to buy their crap.
All very good points Josh. During the Great Depression my grandfather worked building bridges and roads to make ends meet and feed his family. The WPA helped many artists, writers, and journalists during hard times. I am unemployed right now, and I would be willing to work for the Fed doing graphic design, art or writing articles for pay or in lieu of my college tuition.
Unfortunately, the opposition party GOP and all their loud-mouth pundits just call this type of government work for pay programs Socialism.
I feel that until the government decides on a plan to deal with the basic structural problems in our financial system of too much debt, we will not have a sustainable recovery. So even though the stock market can stay irrational in the shorter term, in the long run I believe it will go back to reflecting the fundamentals of our boom and bust economy. And that’s why I continue to feel that for long term investors a better portfolio allocation is in cash and gold. I think the gold price will continue to rise due to a lack of faith in central banks’ policies and in fiat currencies. I recently saw a very interesting story called What Gold Bubble? Setting the Record Straight which I think is particularly useful for investors to read to get a better sense of what’s going on in the economy and the govt’s role in influencing it.
I don’t think going back to school provides any more opportunity. Plenty of people with undergraduate degrees are out of a job (including myself). Many of them went to prestigious colleges.
There is a danger in taking on student-loan debt at a very vulnerable time. If you do go back, you’d better make sure the degree is for something with real growth potential where you’ll earn back the cost of the degree.
In other words, a medical degree is useful – liberal arts, not so much.
“Learn new tricks
Instead of staying at home and becoming addicted to soap operas, many unemployed workers choose to brush up on basic skills or learn a new trade. Incentives and financial assistance can provide an entry point for furthering one’s education. Whether you opt for a degree program, advanced certification, or a few credit hours in a new field, these educational excursions can show prospective employers that you’re open to learning new things and willing to take risks; this can make the difference between a job offer and another polite rejection letter.”
Where is this claptrap coming from? In WA state, you must be available for work each and every day on UI. Enrollment in school negates this – there go your benefits. Yes, training is available IF: 1) your job has been deemed to be in low demand FOR GOOD (in other words, permanently sent overseas and never coming back, and 2) if you train in a area that is in demand – basically this means nursing and nurses aides!
I agree with the poster above – more education is not the answer. I have a BA, plus went back to school not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES already. How much education does one need to get an effing job?
This is propaganda from the New World Order. Think about it. Yeah, sure, we’re a drain on society while the government bails out billionaires with trillions. What the government does in the best interest of you is purely accidental. Do you think health care reform is because someone figured out the system is looting the little guy? Think again. Health care reform is discussed because the system is starting to loot the major corporations. Ford, GM and Chrysler can’t compete with cars made in Canada. I’m ridding this one for what it’s worth. As a legit job just feeds the people who are looting us, I don’t plan to EVER go back to work. If the country has to nearly die to get rid of the parasites… so be it. What’s more, they have been murdering our leaders for a hundred years. It’s high time we whack a few of theirs. Rothschild family, enemy number one, followed by the domestic Zionists.
what is milking unemployment benies???–if you duly qualify you duly qualify. how can one get a job, IF they do NOT exist? more education is NOT the answer, as the US lets in anyone illegal or foreign or otherwise to displace an American!?! H1-B visas, green cards, all NONSENSE. the country is failing, and all that the sheeple can construct are job articles, happy go-lucky message about hard work, and education–WTF???
can anyone justify the BILLIONS bailing out failed US slime corporations, junky american car companies–anything in the US that is is made with true quality? bueller, bueller?
the US taxpayer is not the problem; big useless government, fake “overhauls”, corrupt failed corporations are, not some mother or father duly collecting UI. this article is another example of government propaganda for the sheeple and lemmings. many are leaving the US, the party is over.
also, article is written by an “educator.” the education industry can make money during a severe recession/depression by using propaganda/nonsense and stats to show how very impt. “education” is.–unless your degree is a health care, dentistry, CPA, engineering–GOOD LUCK getting a job in USA. those H1-B visa holders are all set….enjoy collecting, self inflicted really, USA has been PC, social worker, too nice to everyone but legal americans