When I was made redundant at the end of November last year I
optimistically thought getting a new would not be too much of an issue.
After all I am relatively well qualified, plentiful in terms
of experience and a person with a lot to offer many different firms.
Unfortunately the reality has been somewhat different and so I thought it worth
sharing my thoughts on the experience so far.
The whole experience is mentally challenging. Many times I
have myself slipping deeper into frustration and a sense of worthlessness,
thankfully I can, usually, recognise the signs of when this is happening and
manage to readjust my thinking but I imagine there are many people out there,
in the same boat, who do not realise what is happening and that their mental
health is becoming seriously challenged.
One reason is the apparent invisibility that you take on as
an unemployed person. Endless applications seem to be swallowed by a black hole
where you receive absolutely no acknowledgement of your application or any
response, even to tell you that you do not have the job. The rare occasion that
rejections are actually received they are so impersonal, automated messages
that leave with no idea of why you have been rejected. Without this knowledge
it is difficult to know what to do in the future to try and at least secure
yourself an interview.
The more you fail to generate any sort of responses the more
you feel invisible, frustrated and, at times, even stupid.
Added to this obviously is the pre-election fever by
Government politicians keen to tell us that the economy is growing and more
jobs are being created, well if that is the case where is mine! Or, if you are
in a darker mood, why can’t I find one of those new jobs, why does nobody want
to employ me?
Added to this is the technological age’s job searching
methods that prove to be frustrating and exasperating. There are so many jobs
websites nowadays and there is a need to check many of them just to try and
ensure that you miss nothing yet at the same time many of these sites overlap
so you find yourself looking at the same job a number of times because all
sites are carrying it. The when you do try to apply you are redirected a number
of times only to find that you don’t have all the criteria they are after
anyway!
The worst of the sites is, undoubtedly, the Governments own
Universal Jobmatch. Although it has been in the news for allegedly offering sex
jobs it is also a haven for multi-level marketing jobs which disguise
themselves with an imaginative variety of different job titles to lure you in.
The site also fails in helping you match work to your skills, currently it is
recommending, for me, a Head Chef role and a Veterinary role, despite being
qualified in neither!
Obviously none of this is good for the soul and the longer
it goes the more soul destroying it becomes.
Yet despite that it must be treated as a learning experience
and I encourage anyone sinking in the same boat right now to put your
lifejacket on and not get dragged down by the feelings of isolation, worthlessness
and rejection.
To fellow job hunters – good luck and keep positive. To
everyone else “I can do that, give us a job”
@TonyButcher
No comments:
Post a Comment