6 Reasons Not to Be Lulled into the Unemployed Mindset

As summer draws to a close and the children get ready to go back to school, it seems natural to get ready to go back to work. But wait: Work isn’t there!

 

How did the summer pass by so quickly for a few of my fellow unemployed colleagues without them really being fully aware of being unemployed? They were lulled into a nice comfortable zone of thinking that the job search can wait for another day. Much like a warm summer breeze lulling you to sleep in a hammock under a shady tree, why shouldn’t a job seeker be lulled into the mindset of being unemployed?

 

#1: Something called Time Value of Money. As I understand this finance term, it can be applied to anything in life. Any delays in having a revenue stream decrease the upside in your earned Time Value of Money for the future. This is particularly important if you have children to put through college and need to save money now for compounded interest growth

 

#2: Your competition is searching for a job while you might not be. You may be the better job candidate, but if you aren’t visible in the job market, your competition may get all the prizes

 

#3: Potential employers’ perception of you being unemployed without any concrete activity or demonstrable answers about what you have been doing with your time since being downsized. ”Oh, I spent a few weeks at the beach with my kids while they were off from school.” Doing that all 12 summer weeks doesn’t really sit well with recruiters and other hiring managers

 

#4: Lack of fire in the belly in your job search comes out verbally in your daily conversations with friends and family who know about your job status. They will start to wonder, “Gee, what’s wrong with John? Why can’t he find a job?”

 

#5: Having a beautifully maintained yard or well-organized house given extra time on your hands as a result of being unemployed may be a strong indicator that your energies devoted to your job search have been lulled to sleep. It’s really hard and requires substantial effort to recover the momentum in job searching after a lull or hiatus. It’s much easier to just keeping moving at a steady pace. Think about having to push a car into gear versus just rolling along (like the VW camper scenes of starting from a dead stop in the movie Little Miss Sunshine).

 

#6: You have skills and talent to contribute to an organization and deserve to be compensated for such attributes. Letting yourself settle into the unemployment mindset begins to dull your sharpness in being a more meaningful member of any organization (public, private, nonprofit). It’s a slippery slope, and you simply need to not allow it start happening. Exercise your mind as well as your body during unemployment -- it will make you much fitter all around.

 

Those are my 6 reasons for why you need to avoid the unemployed mindset. So how do you combat the pull of being lulled in?

 

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