Depression and the job hunter (or…why I own my own business)
December 19, 2007 | by Jennifer Gniadecki | Filed Under Networking, Resources, The Everything Basket
I think everyone I know has been unemployed at some point in their professional life.
It sucks. Really, really bad.
Because it’s like dating. When you’re hanging on someone’s arm, people come from all corners of the room to talk to you, to woo you, and you have your choice of eligible potential beaus.
The MINUTE you’re single it’s like the desert. No more interested people, no one wants to hook up for the long haul, and the only thing chasing you is a tumbleweed.
Same when you get laid off from a job. You become some plague-rat that no one wants to hire. Why? Because no matter WHY you don’t have a job, there is a completely negative connotation to being unemployed. It’s assumed you did something wrong for your company to have let you go, and no one wants to deal with that. But with people getting laid off because companies are deciding to have one person in the office do the job of two for the same salary, it’s becoming common for completely “okay” or even “rock star” employees to get laid off.
Over at JibberJobber there is an amazing post about depression and the job search. Even though I own my own company, I still hang out and read JibberJobber and other career blogs, because really I’m an employee as much as anyone else and I get great tips and tricks from the blog. Today, however, I’m reminded how lucky and amazed I am that every day I get up and walk to my office in my fuzzy slippers and start my workday.
If you know someone looking for a job, if you’ve ever looked for a job, if you may ever look for a job…read this…just so if it does happen to you or someone you care about, you can come at it from a place of understanding.
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Thank you for sharing this issue with your readers
When I wrote that post I didn’t think anyone would comment, since it’s a rather touchy area. The responses have been overwhelming - I love your twist on it, and I hope that more entrepreneurs would follow your example by keeping abreast of career issues!