Unemployment Can Be Isolating, Shameful, and Like Grieving Death
Debbie Levitt ????
LifeAfterTech.info ???? & dcx.to - Strategist, author, coach, researcher, and designer finding & solving human problems. "The Mary Poppins of CX and UX"
I received this email yesterday from someone buying my new “Life After Tech" book. It’s an actionable book and workbook with 18 exercises, designed to help people figure out their next career. Or stay in tech and add non-tech work to your world.
Does this sound like you or someone you know? Or many people you know? You’re far from alone.
This last year has felt like an incredibly isolating experience. I wish I had been more vocal about it but it was kind of shameful. Even seeing your book has validated the last year for me. I’m intrigued to see where others are moving to, career wise. I’m quite curious to see if others are going through a similar emotional process, and if they’ve also remained silent. The loss of work has impacted me in deeper ways than I ever expected.?I would go as far as to say I’m still massively grieving the loss of a career that was going absolutely brilliantly up until the last year. I feel somewhat duped by the tech industry. My work meant so much to me, and had such significant meaning in my life that I then had an identity crisis throughout the process, as well as burn-out from job searching.
It makes me think of the line from the Ryan George video, “A tornado launched my grandmother into a hurricane.” OK, that was comedy. But I think many people feel like they went from the tornado of working in tech to the hurricane of being unemployed.
Even if you didn’t always have the best jobs working on the best products with the best and highest #empathy people, you now miss that career. Why?
Because it’s how you defined yourself.
As I dive into in Life After Tech, I find that so many of us have defined ourselves by our work. But that can lead to a lot of trouble and heartbreak.
领英推荐
Define yourself by your Core Personal Qualities. Who are you at your core? What do you like or love about yourself? What do others like or love about you? Not your hair or fave band, but who are you inside. Your true definition.
You may have picked work that matched these Core Personal Qualities, and then blended how you define yourself into that work. It’s time to separate the two. You will find other work that matches your CPQs, and gives you a sense of reward.
Chapter 5 has an exercise on this as phase 1 of the eight-phase Phoenix Flight Plan. Sense of Reward is Chapter 6, and phase 2.
Please check out my book, and spread the word.
???? https://lat.link Life After Tech is a book, exercises, coaching, community, and more. You are the phoenix.
Subscribe to my new LinkedIn Newsletter, Life After Tech.
Global Research & Strategy Leader | Consumer Cultural Experience Leader | Senior UX International Researcher | Multilingual | AI Enthusiast
6 个月Unfortunately this is the feeling of too many people I know, including what I went through myself. Luckily I joined a group that made me think differently and recognize that unemployment is not a personal attribute, is a circumstance, is temporary. I'm enjoying your book too!
CNA; healthcare student
6 个月Definitely feeling this; thanks for creating a space for us to process the grief
Full Funnel Content Marketing Strategist | From lurkers to leads | Content that targets and converts your ICP | Digital Enthusiast | AI nerd aspirant | Wife and mother of 2 adorable children
6 个月This really cuts deep into the heart. Going for a long time without bringing in a sustainable income (or any at all) and constantly being in survival mode is traumatizing and demoralizing. I find comments like being told I have all this time off to myself extremely offensive. As Ariella Brown, PhD said, I find it patronizing and unhelpful being told to shell out a ton of money on career services and courses when I need to tighten my belt. And yes, I feel lonely and isolated from this whole experience. Mainly due to the lack of sympathy and dismissiveness as well as being made to feel worthless and shamed for asking for help. Sure, I'm grateful for the bit of help I get, including referrals that have helped me land a few interviews. I wish there were stronger advocacy for the unemployed, not a thinly veiled pitch to get us to spend money we don't have.
Experience Researcher & A11y for hire.
6 个月When one points a finger, three points back. I heard that decades ago by a wise woman, and never forgot it.
?? Strategic ??Bias for Action combined with outstanding ??Storytelling ??Ghostwriting ??Editing & ??Project Management experience translates into exceptional value for your marketing content.
6 个月It can, indeed, and I have special loathing for the people who capitalize on that to sell you the services to "fix" the problem. Resume rewrites don't fix the problem, and in this market are not all that likely to land you a job.