I hope you enjoyed reading my other posts about my challenges of going through unemployment in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Finally, Part 4 is the logistics of what I did to find that next job.
  1. Schedule your day
    • When you have a job, do you feel tied down to your work with deadlines and meetings? Your calendar and the hour-long blocks of time on it structure your day. If you are your own boss (aka unemployed), stay on track by doing the same thing! Get the most out of Google Calendar and block out time to do important things and silly things. Below is a picture of an example of my weekly to-do list and you can see I even have cleaning the house on there! Every little thing that you do is an accomplishment, so cross it off like you deserve it!
  2. Network everywhere
    • And I mean everywhere. I'm not lying when I say I used 3 of my friends to connect me to the hiring department at a company through their significant other. It may seem weird and like you are "taking advantage" of your friends, family, or acquaintances but really everyone wants to help where they can! Ask if they know anyone! Tell everyone what you are looking for!
  3. Define success for yourself
    • Without a 6-month review cycle and bonuses to work towards, you might feel a wave of "what's the point" or "where am I going" during your job search. Do some soul searching and make it about you. Set 3-month and 6-month goals that are more than "get a new job". I began learning a new language, German. I am writing a book so I made goals about how many chapters I'd finish this month. Then, when another month comes and goes you won't feel so defeated.
Oh, and for heavensakes, get out of the house. Seriously. I loved living in my slippers 24/7 and not doing my hair every morning, but interviews are about your people skills and first impressions. Get out and talk to people and meet new people at least once a week. You don't want to forget how to hold a conversation during a lull in a phone interview. :-) I hope these tips and my experiences helped you understand how unemployment is. Best of luck!
My Week 9 To Do List

One of the main reasons job seeking when unemployed is so difficult is because it is hard to maintain a positive attitude. Every time a recruiter calls you have to respond in a cheery voice and describe all of the great attributes you have without any self doubt. Many times, the person on the other end, the recruiter, can influence your attitude by testing your patience, forcing you through tough Q&A, or not sharing your enthusiasm. I bet it would be hard to be a recruiter and be verbally excited every day, but that is part of that job; you ARE the first impression a job seeker has of your company. I've had some good, interesting, and bad experiences and I think they are worth sharing.
  1. No response
    • After an initial phone screen, sometimes you hear nothing. Seriously, it is the worst. When the same job posting is on a website for 5 months and you thought you were in the running, how often can you repeatedly follow up with a recruiter with no response before it is rude? Once, I got contacted 4 times by 4 different people at a single company about a single position and not one of them followed up a second time. Do I want to work in that disorganization? No. Another time I flat out called asking about the status of the position and finally got the "we decided to pursue other candidates" answer, but the closure was totally worth it. The "we decided to go in another direction" answer is a tough one because you rarely know why but it is better than nothing. Don't leave us hanging!!
  2. Conversationalist, or not
    • There are many types of recruiters. First are the "formal questions only" type. It is dry and you will get dry responses. I hate doing all of the talking because I want to learn about you as much as you want to learn about me! Two, the tactic of assessing what questions I ask is effective... as long as you have the answers. Third, talking with a recruiter that shows genuine excitement about finding a good fit will turn the interview into a friendly conversation. Thank you! My time and your time is valuable and we both want the same thing so why not talk about things we care about.
  3. Dangling carrot
    • What's hard is the "we should be opening up a position soon". Because my unemployment was around the holidays, I got postponed interviews and interesting stories that just dragged out for months. It is frustrating when I could start tomorrow. I know recruiters are trying to be encouraging but unless you get another contact to talk to, you need to move on. Circle back around in another month if you are still unemployed but don't let them control you with an endless waiting game!
In short, recruiters that are honest is refreshing during the interview process. They can read your reaction to a question and understand your thought process when explaining a scenario. These recruiters return your calls within a week (Hitachi Consulting), send company fact sheets before your next interview (DaVita), and tell you whether you will like the hiring manager or not (Charter). (Yes, I just name dropped). Even though they didn't hire me, these HR departments turned a headache into an enjoyable experience. (P.S. They should get a raise.) Keep reading for more advice about job hunting in Part 4!
    Dear Family and Friends,
    I know I haven't been around as much lately but the truth is it isn't because I don't want to be. Being unemployed is one of the hardest things I've been through and just answering the simple question of "what have you been up to?" or "how are you?" hurts. I don't want to bring you down, I don't want to be reminded of how much my life sucks (because it does, I won't lie), and I don't really have anything else to say. My days consist of job submissions and hope; that's it. I know you are my friends and you support me and want to be there for me but it is hard. So here are a few ideas that maybe can help us have fun together during this period of my life.
    1. Do activities that don't require talking
      • I don't want to hear about your day and you don't want to hear about mine. We can still enjoy each other's company even without the heart-to-heart talks. Sports are a great excuse to get hyped up about the game. Watching a movie is another great example. They allow me to escape emotionally to another world and that really is helpful at times.
    2. Offer to help
      • I never want to take advantage of our friendship for monetary gains and so asking for you to help is not something that I feel is okay. If you want, you can initiate that conversation and break that awkward silence if you really do have a connection that could help. But be advised, you may have a short "I don't want to talk about it" response, or a launch into a rant, so be prepared if you really do want to ask about the job hunt. 
    3. Just wait it out
      • We are still friends and me avoiding you has nothing to do with our friendship at all. I just need some space and will come back like a faithful puppy when it is over. You are the first person I will want to celebrate with!
    Thank you for understanding. This troubling time will pass and then we can go out for lunch, stay up late at parties, and share crazy stories about gym hotties or slow baristas. Keep reading by going to Part 3.
    It is finally here! I have a job! I start next week and I couldn't be happier to be contributing to society again. It wasn't easy and I'm sure I'm not the only person that has (or will have to) go through this. So I want to share my experience and write a few posts about what I went through and how I got through it. Being unemployed is exhausting on many levels: emotionally, professionally, physically, and personally, and the only way to survive it is to believe you are constantly on the cusp of that next great opportunity.

    A few facts:
    • 25 weeks without a job
    • 150 job applications
    • 14 networking events
    • 10 personal contacts
    • 4 career fairs
    • 17 phone interviews
    • 5 in-person interviews
    • 2 emotional breakdowns
    What can you gather from this? Three things:
    1. I have these numbers
      • I know what these numbers are. Period. That means I kept track of what I did for each of those 175 days. Writing down your accomplishments as you go is important! It helps you know when to remind that recruiter again or check that top 3 company career page again. In case you didn't know, in order to receive unemployment checks you do have to complete the minimum number of job submissions (for me it was 5) each week (and yes, I got audited and had to prove it).
    2. It is not easy
      • The hardest thing without a doubt is staying positive. I did go through tough money conversations, weight gain, avoiding old work friends, and more. Don't feel guilty for feeling however you do. I felt it was impossible to find energy or fully relax. I even tried to have fun by trying T'ai Chi (bucket list, check!). It is a constant roller coaster with interview invites and rejections. You need to force yourself into some sort of balance in which can reward yourself and manage yourself. Visit family and friends out of town that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. Sleep in and cry when you need it. Do whatever you want as long as your want to join the workforce again is the strongest desire and you actively work towards finding a new job all the time.
    3. Finding a job IS a job
      • You can definitely spend 40 hours a week applying to jobs. The truth is that you have nothing to show for it until it is all over. I didn't laze around "happily living off the government's dime". I bet people surf Facebook on the job more than I did the past few months. Because no one has a manager when unemployed, active job seekers actually have 2 jobs to do: strategize as the boss AND do the work like an individual contributor. Oh, and you also need to be your own HR department for benefits and job satisfaction (self motivation).
    For more on my story, check out Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4! I blog about what to do if you know someone unemployed, what I found entertaining about HR, and what I did to earn that next job. And my first post with my reaction that very first week is here. I hope my experience can help you if ever face the trials of unemployment.

    Whew! What a relief to do some new year's cleaning in the basement to make room for new resolutions (a.k.a. new treadmill). A shout out to the Salvation Army for making it possible. We had an old ping pong table that would have cost nearly $50 to trash but by donating it with their free pickup, we were able to give back instead! This is definitely worthy of blog inspiration this week. What else can you recycle and re-give this season?
    1. Advice
      • A great quote by Oscar Wilde is that "The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.". Your experiences provide tons of lessons learned that less experienced people could learn from. Sharing your wisdom with someone else lets you relive those trials and tribulations and pass it on to be reused by someone else. Become a mentor today at your sewing club, your work, or as a parent.
    2. Trained skills
      • Professional development is usually part of everyone's annual goals at work, but formal education can be expensive. Some skills, however, never go out of style like leadership, time management, or basic coding skills. If you took a course, have a book, or simply have 10 years of experience, share it with others! Do a study group, write a summary report, or sign up to mentor someone 1-on-1.
    3. Home items
      • In case you haven't gotten caught up with the arts and crafts section of Pinterest, there are many ways to re-purpose items laying around your house. Whether it is cleaning out the winter wardrobe of clothes, redecorating a guest room and changing impersonal decor, or basement pre-spring cleaning, don't just throw it away. Donate it to Goodwill, a friend, or refinish it to look like new.
    Recently I read that only 26.5% of people volunteer. Your time is the cheapest thing to donate! Replace that TV watching time with getting out and doing some good in your community. Don't feel like it has to be at a food bank either; there are tons of opportunities that fit a passion such as Heart Walks, Pet Shelters, or computer, cell phone, and battery recycling.
    The bad news is my washing machine stopped working. The good news? I wasn't afraid to get my hands dirty and fix it myself! More bad news? No one had the parts I needed. The good news? Amazon saved the day with its two-day shipping. This DIY success definitely calls for blog inspiration. Even though I was able and willing to solve the problem myself, I couldn't jump in and fix it overnight. The pieces lay on the floor for 4 days (2 weekend days and 2 business shipping days) until the new pieces arrived. What can this teach us about dealing with problems at work?
    1. Don't ignore the problem
      • I could easily have pretended the washer wasn't broken and continued to wash clothes in a broken washer. The clothes still went in dry and came out wet so the end result appeared to be the same on the surface. Many redundant chores at work can be the same like monthly metric spreadsheets. If you aren't careful about the process you could produce useless results that look suspiciously like last month's. Maybe the mistakes are unintentional but regardless, be aware of the details because the details matter.
    2. Don't hide from the problem
      • The problem usually affects more than just you so be open about the issue and your intentions to fix it. The other people in the house, the curious cat were all affected by the washing machine being out of commission. Get them involved in the problem and the solution. It will avoid heated emotions of people breathing down your neck as to when it will be done.
    3. Don't leave the problem alone forever
      • Whether I liked it or not, I had to leave my project and come back to it later. Sometimes it takes a lot of energy to psych yourself up to be Ms.Fix-it in the first place so asking yourself to hold on to that inspiration for longer than anticipated is tough. Don't start something unless you intend to fix it (or pay someone else to fix it) and press "Pause" not "Stop".  And my advice? Make sure to return to the issue before you forget how the pieces go back together!
    Do you have a redundant task that you like to procrastinate about or a big project you are dreading beginning because you know you can't finish it in one sitting? You can do it! AND you can persevere and finish it too!
    I know everyone is writing about the weather this week but I can't help but think of any amount of snow as just an easy "small talk" topic. Where I am in Colorado we had about a foot of snow over the weekend and it is still counting. Personally I love the excuse to cuddle up with a cup of tea. It is also a great way to break the silence in some of those awkward networking events. Filling the void of silence is not always a waste of time and small talk does have its benefits.
    1. Find something in common
      • When in an uncomfortable setting, friendly banter can ease the conversation into something a bit more relevant. You might start with snow as a topic and it might lead to you finding out that your neighbor has a condo on the ski slope that you could rent for cheap. Now you know you both like to ski and you automatically have something to talk about with them every subsequent time you meet inadvertently.
    2. Learn something new
      • Small talk doesn't have to be mindless banter. If you aren't someone who watches the news on a daily basis or not someone that follows Twitter trends regularly, you might actually learn that the Winter Storm Nika is the cause of all the moisture or to watch for the Goldieblox Super Bowl commercial sponsored by Intuit. It might not all be useless facts!
    3. Pass the time
      • Sometimes you simply are waiting out the clock. What about "time flies when you're having fun"? If you really are just waiting until the meeting starts, why not make twiddling your thumbs a bit more exciting and strike up a conversation with some else in the same situation.
    Can I recommend that you stretch your small talk skills and initiate a conversation instead of checking your email needlessly on your smart phone? Whether the closest random stranger is sitting next to you on the bus, at the conference table, or in the elevator, try sparking up a conversation and it just might be worth your time. Also, if you struggle with small talk, Debra Fine is a great local speaker and author that can give you some tips!

    About Me



    So if you want to be happy at work like I am, then thanks for being a reader! I am a consultant that travels constantly and is always working with new people. I love what I do! I'm formally trained with an MBA and BS Engineering. At home and in my free time, I like to drink beer, travel, garden, read, hike with my dog, and play board games.

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