Adventures in Unemployment: The Black Hole

A long, long time ago, in this very galaxy, I came to be unemployed. The firm I was with downsized, having various waves of layoffs. I caught the second wave. After joining the unemployed masses I began looking for a new job, following the typical procedures.

It became apparent that hiring was at a record low. After months of searching, networking with various contracting firms, the only “job” that I had managed to land was a 7 hour stint helping someone finish off a database application. Soon after that I started getting the dreaded news: I was quickly becoming “unemployable” due to the fact that I had been unemployed for so long. My first thought was “Gee, it was not my choice to be unemployed”. Unfortunately, at that time I was an “unemployment rookie”. I had never been unemployed before and it caught me by surprise.

Instead of panicking (well, ok, I did panic for a moment) I decided to analyze what had happened and how I could correct this. I took various steps:

Adapt the Résumé

I had over a decade of experience in my field and my résumé reflected this. Apparently, my lack of employment for 8 months was more important to the recruiters than my 12 years of experience. I changed my résumé to reflect a “lite” version of me, highlighting strengths and level of expertise in different areas and not so much the years of experience in said fields.

Change Position Objective

I started to aim towards more entry level positions where I would not be chastised for my lack of employment in recent months. Since I knew I would most likely be over qualified I made it a point to ask the interviewer about possible advancement within the company. This would at least give me the chance to seek better positions with the company once I had proven my self-worth.

Work!

I started to work again, immediately. Up to that point in my unemployment my full time job was finding a job. I was on unemployment insurance and the office required that I spend time performing activities related to job hunting and documenting these for any possible audit. This became a project in itself which took up a good part of the day. It started out easy enough: locate a suitable position, initiate contact by sending them the most appropriate version of my résumé then following up. After 8 months of unemployment, I was busy perusing various job web sites, newspapers and other resources where job positions were listed. At times I would locate up to 10 open positions, so that meant 10 résumés, 10 new open files to keep track of the stage I was in and lots of documentation. Add to this the task of updating already existing files. After a while I was keeping track of several dozen open cases in addition to the contacts I had made while networking.

This had to stop. I needed to get back to work doing something in my field. I decided to reduce this full time activity to part-time. As a software/hardware developer I started offering my services repairing computers and developing small apps. I helped a friend with his business by producing a contact management system. Most of this work was pro bono, but I saw it as an investment that I could add to my résumé to keep that unemployment black hole from getting any bigger.

Learn!

Another activity that I started was training. I checked out the unemployment office and found that my state had several programs for those that were unemployed. One of these included training. I found a certificate program for Advanced Computer Programming that was offered at a nearby community college. I jumped at the chance. Since I had been out of school for nearly 20 years, one concern I had was that I might not have the same mental capacity as my younger classmates and that they would run circles around me. I feared that I might have to struggle to relearn how to study, do homework and turn in projects on time. Nope! If anyone did any running in circles, it was me! I sustained a 4.0 average throughout the one-year certificate program. Was it a piece of cake? No, it wasn’t. I did the work and put in the effort.

Network Out of the Box

When we think of networking we usually think job fairs, career events, job websites, professional networking sites and basically any event, location or activity where you can meet people that might be helpful to you in locating a suitable position. While I did most of the above, one activity that I began was participating in support forums. Once there I found that people were having problems that I had encountered sometime during my tenure as a developer. I began helping others out. This helped me in various ways:

1. I saw what other people were doing, what tendencies within my field were popular and what aspects within my field were the most troublesome for others.
2. Network, of course! I can’t say that participating in forums got me a job, but it did get me friends who understood that I was there to help. I built bridges. That in itself, to me, was a valuable asset.
3. Learn. I proved beyond any doubt that the best learning tool is teaching.
4. Skill gauge. By seeing what others were doing I could see what how relevant my own skills were. If I saw a certain topic that was popular and I was not familiar with it then I knew it would be beneficial to learn it.

***

A few months later I saw an ad in the newspaper where a company was hiring a senior programmer/analyst. I applied for the position and after three interviews I was offered the position. I would have thought that this would be the clichéd "happily ever after" ending to my job hunt adventure, but no. It was the beginning because I decided to take the time to analyze my 13 month black hole with the objective of not having it repeat anytime in the future. The lessons I learned:

1. No job is secure. I have to give it my all, enjoy the time there, but never assume that this will be the job of a lifetime. Since I had never been unemployed I had the erroneous belief that once I had a job everything was good and there was no need to look past the horizon. Many reading will say “Well, yeah, duh!” But recall, my experience was in being employed. I had no experience being unemployed.
2. Always work. Whether it is work within a payroll or independent projects don’t stop working ever. Unemployment black holes are bad. Even if the payroll goes away, I needed to keep busy with projects related to my field. I picked my projects so that they were “documentable” on my résumé and served as a resource to my main objective of finding a job.
3. Always learn. Don’t ever stop learning. I kept perfecting the skills of my craft. I needed to learn something new since I never knew with certainty where life could take me or what opportunities it could provide.
4. Network. I made new friends; I joined clubs or groups related to my craft and participated in activities. I sought out forums related to my field and helped others. While helping others might at first appear only as a philanthropic activity, it could also prove beneficial. I have found that in helping others I also help myself. I felt alone when I became unemployed. Aside from the recruiters there was no one to call, to tell or to share my experience with. Having a circle of friends with common interests helped mitigate this sensation of loneliness.

When unemployment comes unexpectedly into our lives it can really be a life altering event, but this does not mean that our life will come to a screeching halt. The actions that we take now and then should this happen to us can make a big difference on how well equipped we will be to get back on track. Thank you.