Advice for the Unemployed by Suze Orman Last week we started discussing important advice about jobs and the economy by Suze Orman author of The Money Class: How to Stand in Your Truth and Create the Future You Deserve
. Today we share some of her best advice. Orman explains that the longer you are out of work, the harder it becomes to find work.
She says, "I know you have no intention of becoming chronically unemployed, but what you may not realize is how your mindset could be keeping you from getting back to work faster:
Do not hold out for the same job, and the same pay.
An important lesson in dealing with what is real for you today, rather than staying stuck on what you had in the past. That is very relevant in your job search. What you made at your last job, what your responsibilities were at your last job, is irrelevant. To get back to work you must focus on what is real today. A potential employer with so many qualified candidates to choose from does not really need to worry too much about making your pay and benefits from your last job; all that matters is what the current market rate is for you job. The faster you accept this cold fact the faster you will be back to work.
If your issue is that you can't find any job opportunities that match your skills or salary range, the solution is to not sit back and wait for those jobs to surface. Remember, the focus must be on getting back to work as fast as possible. If that means taking a job that is "less than" your last job and pays less, I am telling you to take that job! Please listen to me here: In this job market you simply cannot afford to be patient. You think you'll just give it two more months, then that becomes five months, then a year. And now you have been out of work so long you lose your competitive edge compared to other job seekers who are still working. Having a job today -- any job -- is far better than continuing to look for a job."
Let's not forget that long gaps of being unemployed also looks bad to a potential employers. If you haven't been hired in several months, or a year or more, that's one of the first thing a potential employers notice and they wonder, "Why won't anyone hire her?"
And don't forget that typcially unemployment benefits are only a fraction of your former salary. So get working as quickly as possible!
Good advise, but easier said than done. I think it's hard for nannies to accept jobs that they know is beneth them. Their true feelings will show in one way or another to the children. I've always been able to fill the gaps between jobs, by taking babysitting jobs for SAHM's who need a day each week to get out- at least that way I can still have time to look for a job- but get other reference and a bit of money coming in- and not have such a non-working gap on my resume.
ReplyDeleteI've also filled my time by volunteering at local libraries in the children's dept.
Great for networking- and brushing up on the latest children's books. Also picking the librarians mind was very interesting! Also sometimes they have contacts and know of families needing childcare.