Get Hired During COVID · Misconception 0: Unemployment is not your fault!

This is a cross-post from the Edify Content blog, where I'll be posting content more regularly regarding our new online course, Get Hired During Covid. It's only $10 right now, but we have been giving it away to those in need. Just email us at [email protected].

There’s a social stigma for being unemployed. America has a very work-first mentality, and we tend to collectively classify our friends, family, and professional network peers as “unemployed” or “employed.”

There’s this really perverse “hustle culture” all over social media. This stuff is the modern equivalent of the billboard and magazine cover supermodels we saw everywhere in the 1990s. You may have heard of concepts like “body shaming,” and hustle culture is the equivalent of employment shaming. It’s just plain wrong.

Being unemployed can feel embarrassing. So much of our daily conversation is, “What do you do for work?” It can be really awkward to say, “Oh, I’m unemployed right now.”

You don’t need to be embarrassed. Most of the people who lost their jobs in 2020 suffered from a situation far beyond their control. This isn’t an isolated incident where you are the problem and did something wrong that led to you losing your job. I know software developers, aerospace engineers, and medical professionals who have lost employment in the past year. These are in-demand professions! They were supposedly recession-proof. 

No one is immune from this horrible situation.

What we call “misconceptions” throughout our course are not “reasons you’re wrong and don’t have a job.” Instead, see them as a different way to think about the job search, and a different way to position yourself to prospective employers.

If you can’t seem to get anywhere in your job search, maybe thinking differently will help you stand out from the crowd.

Don’t blame yourself. As a hiring manager, all I can tell you is that people get jobs and lose jobs. I’ve seen the worst people get hired and I’ve seen the best people get into ruts.

2020 has been a year-long kidney punch; who knows what the decade will bring. Regardless, don’t let it win.

Need help thinking differently to stand out in your resume or job interview? Check out our course, “Get Hired During COVID.”