Coping with Unemployment

Two ideas for helping people cope with the loss of their job:

First, find other people in your same situation with whom you can brainstorm and bounce ideas off of. Find people in a similar situation and talk to them. Use them as a resource on which you can build your job search and your mental toughness.

This does not have to be in person, mind you. If you are already using or are interested in using social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, then use those as a tool. I am on them myself, so please look me up and jump into my friend network. You can also start your own blog or Twitter account to just let your friends know what you are doing.

The key is that more minds and different points of view can many times be of benefit. I have done it in my job search, and I have done it while writing this book. There needs to be more than just your own viewpoint, or you can easily become complacent and accepting to your current methods. Find people in the same boat and provide them with the same feedback that you are hoping to find yourself.

Second, do not become discouraged. For me, there was a period when I was not getting calls back on resumes, and I had sort of accepted that I was out of work. We were not struggling too much on money, and it was easy for me to be complacent and accepting.

No one wants to get rejection after rejection, and it can sometimes seem that way when you are in an interview drought. You cannot, however, just give in to the situation. Many of you will say to yourself that it won’t happen to you, but it does. I experienced a period where I just was not applying for positions that I did not fit perfectly. It was almost a depression of some kind where I had accepted the status quo, even though I was not happy about it.

When you do find yourself in this position, use the people you found in my the previous recommendation. In addition, talk to your family and friends, tell them what you are experiencing and see if they can help alleviate some of the concern and complacency. It is much easier to accept your complacency when you are all alone and keeping to yourself.