Losing a “career job” often leads to unemployment stress and getting off track.
Quit fooling around, get off your butt and get a job! Advice that is easy to give to the unemployed, sure if you are sitting pretty and you are employed. For the individual that is fired or loses a “career job” the event can have a devastating effect, especially for a professional with a long track record with the same employer. There is often a feeling of betrayal carried towards the ex-employer especially for those who are loyal and devoted career professionals.
The Great Recession and Long-term Unemployment
CNN reported recently, “The Great Recession has hit the long-term unemployed even harder.”
- 5.4 million people who’ve been out of work for more than six months, make up 42.8% of the unemployed
- On average, the length of time it takes to get a job, has hovered around 40 weeks for the past year
Depressed and Stressed
In my experience as a head-hunter and as a job search coach, the longer one is unemployed, and that is 5.4 million of you according to CNN, the more this dreadful stress tends to creep up and becomes debilitating.
Many job seekers are depressed, stressed and unmotivated by the job search process …this is typical of what I hear from job seekers today, as depicted in this introduction by a new member to our online job search help Meetup group: “Hi there! I have been looking for a job for over eight months now, and I am becoming severely depressed and unmotivated. I am looking for ways to revitalize my job search…”
So how does one turn the situation around?
Turn It Around
Begin by asking a better question: How do you create and harness the bad stress and turn it into good stress in order to drive towards your new employment goal with confidence? The key is having a clear goal of what you want and then it is all about alignment and confidence. The process of job search for the unemployed job hunter is a conundrum – one must be most desirable and yet one is usually most vulnerable! When you are an employed job hunter looking for a better job or a step up in your career often feelings of vulnerability are not so acute and rejection is easier to take after all you still have a job. The best advice is always to find a new job when you’re employed rather than when you are unemployed. However, if you find yourself in the unemployment quicksand and sinking fast then get it turned around quickly and heading in the right direction… to the land of hired!
Successful Job Search-Get Hired
Job search for the long term unemployed requires much more than just delving into job search tactics/mechanics but rather it requires alignment, confidence, and then deploying great panic free job search tactics. This focus on alignment and confidence is critical as outlined in the book The Panic Free Job Search: Unleash the Power of the Web and Social Networking to Get Hired. Dr Scott, MD, the Stress Relief Coach, supports this philosophy of alignment and confidence by controlling your stress reaction.
As an ER physician Dr. Carol Scott, MD, deals with patients suffering from stress induced by the effects of being unemployed and/or mismatched in a job or career. Her observations of the effects of bad stress on patients led
her to launch her radio show on CRN and to write her book Optimal Stress: Living in Your Best Stress Zone. To find out more about Dr. Scott and her work in stress management, and the Best Stress Zone, watch my interview with Dr. Scott on The Get Hired Fast Track show.
Best Stress Zone
“The Best Stress Zone (BSZ) is a dynamic place for optimal emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well being. In the BSZ you achieve the highest levels of energy, satisfaction, happiness and productivity when you are looking for work, working or at home. It’s all about creating Optimal Stress. It is a choice ‘where you want to live’ …with anxiety and panic and its negative effects or instead make a committed decision to create your optimal stress and live in your BSZ,” said Dr. Scott, MD, MSED, FACEP. “As a practicing job stress relief coach, seeing the transformation in clients who embrace their optimal stress and the positive boost it brings to their life is truly amazing.”
Taking Control of Your Career Management
You have to be at your best in order to follow through with a successful job search and get hired in a great job that fits for you. This requires learning how to harness your stress, get back on track and get hired fast! Often this means focusing on your mind and body first – and getting aligned. If you are really serious about finding out how to get aligned and then getting hired in a great job that is right for you, then pick up the book, get aligned, learn how to turn from feeling vulnerable to confident, and learn how to do a smart targeted job search that gets results. Lastly, you never ever want to be in this long-term unemployment situation ever again, so make sure to put your career management on cruise control and take the action detailed in the book on how to promote yourself online in order to attract career opportunities. To live in alignment requires that you take control of your career management and not leave it up to your next employer – once you embrace the panic free job search – there is no looking back!