I have been jobless-- for about three weeks, to be exact.
Since school ended, I have been frantically applying for jobs, writing dozens of cover letters and heavily embellishing my resume. (Did you know I practically ran Jack Scott's state senate campaign when I was in high school?)
My friends and family try to mitigate my worries of permanent unemployment by saying things like:
"I never imagined you with a 9 to 5 job."
"Why did you go to journalism school?"
"Man, the job market sucks right now. My cousin Tony just got laid off from his architecture firm and now works at Home Depot."
While I am a very capable house painter, I don't think Home Depot would ever hire me.
Dr. Nancy Molitor, from the American Psychological Association, suggests that people should exercise some sensitivity to their income challenged acquaintances.
She says refrain from showing pity: "No one wants to feel like they're a victim on a regular basis." It makes the other person feel weaker than they already do.
Molitor also says to avoid asking, "Have you called more people?" "How many resumes have you sent out?"
From personal experience, I find these questions to be really unhelpful. Your so-called concerns are just dumb statements that don't mean anything. Suppose I have called more people, does that mean I have a job now? No, dummy. It just means I have less "Whenever" minutes this month.
Experts quoted in a recent New York Times article suggest that the best way to help the unemployed is to actually offer them help.
- See if your company is hiring and offer to hand in a resume for them.
- Offer a loan or a couch to sleep on (if you're comfortable doing so).
- Offer to look at their resume or cover letters or provide a letter of recommendation.
- Don't treat them like they have a baby's arm growing out of their forehead-they are still your friends.
- Offer encouragement-- a card, an e-mail, a high five. Any of these acts of kindness are preferable to that "awwww face."
Sure one day, I hope to swim in an Olympic-sized pool filled with gold coins, but there is a bright side to being jobless. In the midst of writing this blog, I received the yearly call from my college alumni association, asking me to donate hundreds of dollars and my kidneys to higher
education. I greeted the solicitor: "Hello, I'm sorry. I'm unemployed."
He hung up on me.
Best. call. ever.
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