Tenth week-Waiting week

This week is the waiting week for me. In Pennsylvania, when you apply for unemployment compensation there is one week where you wait for the process to start. Applying for unemployment was a choice I made because I still hadn't found work and was laid off from my last job. In this tenth week, the anxieties of the first week seem to intensify. You wonder about how you will fulfill the state requirements to get and maintain the compensation. You feel a bit guilty for the burden you have laid on those that are depending on you. You know, and you are grateful, that this compensation will only be enough to keep you in your house and food on the table.

Attitude is everything. This is the week you go over your plan, if you have one. If you don't, then you really need one. Employers are going to ask you what you've done with the time you were out. Were you productive? If you say no, then you're really "shooting yourself in the foot." Plan to set up at least one phone meeting per week. Talking to someone else either by phone (which is best) or e-mail does help. Plan to do a job search and apply for at least two jobs per week. You'll have to do this anyway soon enough. Attend one Career support meeting or job fair a month.

Yes, I do know the horror stories about people being out of work for years. I'm choosing not to focus on them, but let them be a motivation for you to press on.

Ninth week-Preparation time

This is the week you prepare for interviews and other social events. Yes, this can be nerve racking as you decide what works for you. No matter what anyone tells you about how you should act, the most important piece of advice anyone can give you is to be yourself. That means only you can know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Don't be afraid to capitalize on them. I know that I have to keep reminding myself of this every day. No amount of preparation will prepare for everything. I know this, but no preparation causes all sorts of problems.

I know the feeling of bitterness that arises when you feel as if you have worked hard and nothing comes of it. At this period of time, that feeling hits hard. You wonder if it's all worth it. Some, not all, have given up. This is not the time to do that. No one ever said that this period of unemployment would be easy. Most are now saying that it's extremely hard. You can't let either side sink you. Remember what all the experts say about attitude. It is important to keep a positive attitude no matter what your present circumstances may be. I tell myself this every day. Some days it's harder to keep than other days.Yet I have to keep telling myself on those days that it is all worth it.

Eighth week-Time to reach out

By the eighth week, you've listened to all the advice everyone has tried to give you. You weighed your options carefully and picked out what you wanted to act on. This week is a week of reassessment and research. Everyone tells you what has worked for them. No one, however, can tell you that it will work for you. I know this, but sometimes it's definitely hard to put into practice.

Last week I shared with you a poem I wrote back in 2002. I do feel that it's even more relevant today as it was then. Evidence is everywhere that more and more big corporations are using overseas talent and/or hiring foreign workers than ever before. I know I can't compete with this. Many people I've talked to have mentioned this as a reason why they are still unemployed. What I can't understand, even as it has been explained to me at least a dozen times, is why.

Maybe I am being old fashioned here, but it makes it even more difficult, if not impossible to find employment if you're not only completing with people in your own country, but with everyone around the world. From my research, I discovered that over half of the corporations presently in the United States hire or would hire overseas for positions rather than train their own countrymen. Something about that is wrong.

Yes, I know we're in a global economy now. There is no denying that any longer, yet it just feels like you are exploiting a person if you expect them to do a job and not get paid for doing it. This makes my stomach turn, especially when someone is struggling to find work to survive.

I have to ask myself how to do I reach out and find a solution. How do we stop these good paying jobs from going overseas? Do we start boycotting products and services from companies that practice what they call outsourcing? It's not possible, because as I mentioned earlier over half of the corporations in the United States outsource to one degree or another. I don't have the solution right now, and can sympathize with the 99% when they shout that this is one of the main reasons why they are protesting right now.

Seventh week-Time of reflection

It doesn't seem that long. You are now in autopilot mode, trying to work on a plan that isn't working. Yet everyone tells you that you have to be someone you're not and put yourself out on display. You balk at this. Yes, I know that desperation is now starting to set in. You want to scream, but hold it in if you can.

I wrote a poem during my last "bout" of unemployment that seems appropriate now.

Here it is:

Unemployment Blues

        

I got the unemployment blues. Feelings of uneasiness and restlessness assail me. I got the unemployment blues. Talk about war and depression overwhelm me. I don't know what to do. I got the unemployment blues. They say its natural and that I'll get over it. I got the unemployment blues. The situation is tense all around me and its not getting better. I got the unemployment blues.

My mind goes around in circles as I run from interview to interview trying each time to find the right fit. Some say its natural to feel this way being pulled in too many directions. Parading before the masses sitting in thousands upon thousands of desks, each laughing smugly at you secure in the knowledge that they have a job, and you don't. Oh, I wish I could stop, but I can't. I need the money. My debt is running high. I got the unemployment blues.

The computer is the way the unemployment office touts while saying in secret that you have to beg companies to hire you for minimum wage. All the jobs are going overseas, and there's nothing you can do. I got the unemployment blues.

I got a big invisible sign around my neck. It marks me as one of the rejected as I struggle to survive. I got the unemployment blues.

I am a good person, but this competition is wearing me out. I feel like I am fighting in quicksand. I know I am not alone in this struggle. Thousands are now on the street thanks to NAFA. They predicted it, but the higher ups wouldn't listen. It wasn't their jobs that would flee south and overseas never to return. I got the unemployment blues.

Still I must go on and not go back to the cocoon of education so many are taking. The cocoon is deceptive and offers promises it can't keep. A job or career you'll love, they tout in their many advertisements. Yet they know as all do, the competition is fierce even then. What guarantee would I have if I did go back? None...I am a good person. I deserve a decent job! Oh, why must I struggle so? I got the unemployment blues.

I got to be thankful I am not out on the street yet. So many of us are though and more arrive each day. The streets are hungry. Their arms open wide to receive their victims both old and young. I can't help thinking about them and feeling depressed at their state. Victims of the greedy always wanting more. Their mansions sicken me when I consider all the homeless scrambling on the street grateful for shelter from the bitter cold. I am thankful for and grateful all that I have, but it saddens me to see the struggle of the poor. I am fearful and frightened that maybe someday soon I will be labeled so. I got the unemployment blues. Why, I ask, should it be this way? How I long for a place of employment that won't let me go through downsizing or layoffs! Its an often told story though of the people that you see on the streets. I got the unemployment blues.

I see no solution to this, no way out of the unemployment blues. So I'll keep plugging, hoping that instead of being on the streets, I'll be happily employed once again. Until then, I'll sing the unemployment blues...

@October 2002