Start Reviewing Your Options Now!
On the front page of yahoo today, appeared a little blip “The Unemployed Need Not Apply”. Since I try to stay on top of what is happening in the job market of course I clicked on the link to find out more about this article http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/job-listings-unemployed-not-apply-133143362.html. There are ads currently by companies searching for employees who actually state that those who are unemployed are less attractive applicants and those who have been unemployed a long time need not apply! Talk about a slap in the face!
It is the truth and at least they are now stating up front and out for public view rather than what was once “hush hush” and only discussed behind closed doors.
Sure enough, it confirmed exactly what I have said for years and what I have been trying to stress to you all in my posts! It is easier to get a job when you have a job and there are many reasons for this.
Your not under as much pressure to accept an offer of employment that you feel will not meet your needs because you have got to get something…… anything…. just to put food on the table and a roof over your head!
Your demeanor is different when you go on interviews. There is a real smile on your face, not a fake pressured one, a spring in your step, a hardy handshake and a sparkle in your eyes.
Let me share with you some of my professional background. I have held positions in the past where I did many interviews of people who were searching for work. When I was a Credit Manager for a large retail furniture store in Austin, Texas, I interviewed people for employment in the office or in the warehouse. When I worked for a permanent placement employment agency, I interviewed people from entry to professional level who needed professional assistance in finding a new position. Working for a temporary agency, I interviewed people who were out of work and needing some type of work to bring in money, as well as those who preferred working on a part-time/temporary basis rather than seeking full time employment.
I have seen the various tolls that unemployment or underemployment takes on people. It shows all over you. In your eyes, your smile, and your body language and in your voice, you cannot hide it. The sparkle is not there in your eyes, the smile is forced, no spring in your step and your body is slumped at the shoulders as if you have been beaten and broken, a weak handshake and your voice lacks confidence. The longer you are out of work, the more these things become apparent to the interviewer.
The longer you are out of work the more reclusive you become and your self-esteem gets lower and lower. You begin to question your own worth and abilities. They were there before you became unemployed and they are still there now, but you have lost confidence in yourself.
One thing that I saw back when I was in those hiring positions were many women who were entering the work force in order to help bring income in because their husbands had lost their jobs or they were women who were newly divorced and now needed to work to care for themselves and in many cases their children. They had not worked in years and they worried about how they were going to find a position that would pay them enough to handle these new responsibilities of being the breadwinner of the family. Surprisingly enough, many of these women found work faster than the males who were looking for work. Back in those times (in the 1980’s early 1990’s) most people were able to find a new position before six months of unemployment and certainly within nine months. That is not the case in the last couple of years. Many people have been out of work as long as two and three years, even with their every effort to find employment. Companies have downsized and have not gone into a rehiring mode because of our very sluggish economy. We have not even begun to bounce back as we did back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, when we suffered a prior recession.
If you are fortunate enough to be drawing unemployment benefits, please I beg you, ask for the free assistance that is available at many of your state unemployment offices to help you revamp your resumes, to structure a new letter of introduction and give you tips on interviewing techniques.
Attend any and every job fair that comes to your area and continue to send out your resumes and go to interviews if offered in order to keep your interviewing skills up. Utilize your networking resources, friends, church, job boards on the internet, your social network pages such as face book, linked in and my space.
Begin to look at things that you can do at home to bring in money while you continue your job search. Review my archived articles for some ideas of places to look for work using the Internet. Look at your personal skills and see if there is a way that you can market them to others to earn an income.
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