How to Survive Being Unemployed

Today's job market is very competive. Add to that the economic crunch we are facing and you have the recipe for a lot of people being unemployed. According to the Bureau of Labor the jobless rate at this writing is 5.2%. 7.7 million people in the US are unemployed. A further breakdown of those stats looks like this:

Current Unemployment Rates

• Adult men (4.4 percent)
• adult women (4.6 percent)
• teenagers (17.7 percent)
• whites (4.4 percent)
• blacks (10.4 percent)

Being unemployed can be a humiliating experience. For some of us our work is our life and when our work is taken away embarassment, shame, anger. fear and humiliation are just a few of the emotions you may experience. Life has a way of taking funny turns. What may appear to be a traumatic event can be turned into a positive life changing event. Some of the best career moves I've ever made were those I was pushed into making. I've been laid off at least twice in my career and I can honestly say the decisions I was forced to make as a result of being unemployed were some of the best career choices I've made.

How to Survive Being Unemployed

Adversity is a part of life. How we respond when facing adversity will determine the outcome. Unemployment doesn't have to be the end of a productive life. Let's explore some positive things that can come out of you being unemployed.

• Opportunity to Evaluate Your Career
• Opportunity to Add Skills to Enhance Your Career
• Opportunity to Change Career Paths
• Opportunity to Start a Business
• Opportunity to Redefine Career Goals

Opportunities are some times presented to us in a package wrapped in adversity. It is up to us to recognize opportunities that are not so obvious. A key to being able to recognize opportunities that unemployment may present is to get past all the negative emotions quickly. You've got to be quick to recover from the anger, embarassment, fear and humiliation that you may be feeling as a result of losing your job. These emotions will tend to keep you focused on what just happened to you while what you really need to do at this point is to focus on what is in front of you.

How to Survive Being Unemployed

Once you've dealt with the negative emotions you are ready to come out and fight. Don't let your life be defined by what just happened to you. Take advantage of all the opportunities that are in front of you. Sign up for unemployment wages. Get out and network with people in your field. Don't just sit home everyday and get comfortable not working once the unemployment checks start showing up. Begin to look at what you can do to improve your marketable job skills. Consider taking some classes. Most state employment commisions have programs that will assist and sometimes even pay in full for classes if you are unemployed. Investigate all these options. Talk to someone who has been unemployed and get tips from them on how they survived and got back to work. If you've ever given any thought to starting your own business, this may be the perfect time to do so. Consider volunteering, part time or temporary work assignments while you are seeking to be employed full time.

All these are great things to consider doing but one of the greatest moves you can make at this time is to do a little self improvement. You are your greatest resource. You are an asset to yourself. Making an investment in yourself increases your potential as a resource and your value as an asset. Perhaps your skills are not that much in demand any more or you are not at the top of your game in your field. There are some great online resources to help you add job skills that will improve your ability to secure another full time position. Click on the online resources link at the bottom of the page to view a course catalog of one such resource. Computers are everywhere and if you are lacking basic computer skills you are working with a serious disadvantage in today's workplace. Click on the online resources link at the bottom of the page to view an affordable online resource to add computer skills to your skill set.

 Remember this is not the end of the world. It could be the beginning of a whole new life of new opportunities. Keep your head up. The sun will shine tomorrow.