How To Avoid the Drudgery of Unemployment

It’s too easy to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of unemployment. It’s a fact of life right now; we all can’t have jobs. The unemployment rate is rising and jobs are getting scaled back. The supply is overwhelming the demand. Chances are you know someone who is unemployed or on his way to being unemployed. Constant rejection, general lack of interest from potential employers, or jobs that just string you along until the last stages of hiring but leave you hanging for months at a time isn’t a pretty reality, so you have to take certain steps to help yourself get out of it.

1. Make a schedule. Yes. I know. The 9-5 part of a job isn’t what keeps people coming back but keeping busy is a bonus. The benefits and salary are what usually do. But take it from me, if you don’t keep yourself busy between the hours of 9-5, you’re going to find yourself cascading into a new level of lethargy. You want to go hang out with someone but all of your friends are in the office busting their chops to make their money. You can only hang out with those unemployed just like you, which isn’t a pretty sight because where is the sense in a bunch of unemployed people hanging out, going out to eat with money that isn’t theirs? So what do you do? Hang out with a bunch of college people at your alma mater? If you don’t kick that habit fast, you’ll end up the creepy old guy. Yes, that creepy old guy.

So what do you do? Make a schedule and stick to it. Commit how many hours you will, but do something probable. Don’t say you’re going to “work” on your employment for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. That’ll crush the will of even the most stalwart being. Start with two hours in the morning, every business day. Spend those hours actively working on getting out of your unemployment. Edit your resume, tweak your cover letter, research your options, scour the internet, send out inquiry emails etc. Keep yourself busy. You can only reap what you sow. Don’t expect a golden opportunity to fall on your lap because you send out a couple emails every other week or so. Do work to get work!

2. Stay positive and proactive. Staying positive is completely a battle within your mind. The circumstances might feel overwhelming but if you keep a positive attitude, you’ll be able to press on through it. Little will set you apart from the hundreds to thousands of other applicants that go for the same job that you’re going for but persistence certainly will. Most people that get rejected from a job opportunity blacklist that opportunity like a bad breakup but if you stay in contact with the hiring manager, ask for criticism and constantly reshape yourself and re-apply yourself, the least you will do is make an impression on the hiring manager, which is more than what the other applicants can say.