Don’t Give up the Job Search

Don’t become a statistic

If you’re unemployed and you give up looking for a job, you will not be alone. In economic jargon you will be a “discouraged worker,” and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 717,000 of those in the first quarter of this year. That’s a 70% increase over the first three months of 2008.

Here’s why you shouldn’t give up:

Lots of people have given up on searching for a job right now and are waiting it out, hoping the economy will pick up next year. But not everyone has  enough cash today to wait out the recession, and those people are still out there pounding the streets looking for a payday source. As bleak as your employment prospects may seem, hiring is a numbers game and the people who land the most interviews get the jobs. That’s not to say that it’s easy to keep searching when nothing seems to come of it.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about it:

A discouraged worker is a person of legal employment age who is not actively seeking employment. This is usually due to the fact that an individual has given up looking or has had no success in finding a job, hence the term “discouraged.” Their belief may derive from a variety of factors including: a shortage of jobs in their locality or line of work; perceived discrimination for reasons such as age, race, sex and religion; a lack of necessary skills, training or experience; or, a chronic illness or disability.

Here’s a helpful book:

Recently I came across a helpful book by Whelan and Stone called Goal!: Your 30-Day Game Plan for Business and Career Success (Quill Driver Books, $14.95). It’s a one-day-at-a-time workbook for crystallizing short-term steps toward long-term goals, and recording each day’s progress. If you’re struggling to find work, the book could be a helpful tool for keeping track of what you’ve done and what you should do next.

Here’s what I’d suggest:

Last year I went through the ups and downs of job-searching for more than six months. I was inundated with all kinds of advice, but the best suggestions were the simplest, and they came from my local employment office:

• Contact three prospective employers each day. Employer contacts include applying for a job online or in person, going to an interview, or inquiring about employment at a company that interests you, whether or not they’re advertising any job openings. Record the contact information for each company along with a description of what you did.
• Meet with someone in your network every day. Networking makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but it’s better than becoming isolated while you’re in transition. Plus, it’s the best way to find out what’s going on in the hiring world. So meet with someone every day, even if all you do is stop by someone’s office for a brief chat or share a cup of coffee somewhere. Networking isn’t so much about asking for a job as it is about sharing information. Getting out and staying connected is a great way to ward off discouragement.
• Be accountable to someone. To keep yourself motivated, at the end of each week report to someone who is interested in your progress. It should be someone you trust and whose opinion you value. A spouse or a friend or an ex-coworker can be a great coach – someone to remind you that you are worthy and that it’s not hopeless.
• Keep your mind on the job. Keep your goal clearly in mind. The mind is a powerful thing. Focus on what you want in a job, and dismiss those nagging thoughts about the things you do not want. Think about success, keep plodding, and you will eventually get the job you want.