Hello America,

My blog name is “your.ally.”  I’m introducing the many faces of – your.ally as the face of unemployed jobseekers, the face of the uninsured, and the face of disabled job seekers. Keep this in mind as you read my story.

I’m one of the founding members of unemployedjobseekers.com. This forum was born in part out of my Human Development education and background where helping hurting people has been a huge part of my life. My hope is that my story will encourage you to share your own unemployment experiences.

In 2006, within a period of three months, I went through life changes that almost destroyed me. I went from being divorced and uninsured to being diagnosed with Leukemia, my son nearly committing suicide in my home while I was hospitalized and finally the loss of my job.

All of these circumstances pale in comparison to my current greatest challenge – staying alive with an $80,000 a year medication requirement to treat my leukemia.  My story is a journey through stages of emotion that have led me to create this forum where I hope to inspire other unemployed and underemployed job seekers in crisis.

Month One:

SHOCK AND BEFUDDLED DISBELIEF – My response to announcement: “The company is folding:” My boss breaks the news. There is a sense of confusion where I try to wrap my brain around those words and the circumstances of impending doom that go against every fiber of my being. I keep saying to myself, “I can’t believe this is happening; this isn’t happening, this can’t be happening to me.” And yet it is . . . I was in that fog of confusion for the next 6 months and when I awoke to the fact that I was all alone and no one was going to take care of me, I fully understood the seriousness of my situation. 

Month Two:

POWERLESSNESS AND FULL OF SELF-DOUBT - As sick as I am and looking at the next year of chemo treatment; I’m still applying for jobs sending at least two resumes a week. Not even knowing if I can hold a job, I tell myself, “I’ll deal with it when the time comes.” I ask myself how I ended up here; what did I do wrong to deserve losing everything? The physical toll, the emotional cycling through feelings of failure and powerlessness consumes me; I have NO choice and NO control over these circumstances. I keep going by telling myself that I have to get a job and at this point I begin an assessment of my resources and my options. 

Month Three:

ABANDONMENT, ANGER AND ISOLATION - I’m averaging about five resumes a week now and getting pretty good at timing them when the job ads are first posted. Thinking this new strategy will surely work and I will surely get a job this week.  Still no job. I’m becoming angrier about my circumstances and friends don’t come around as much which leaves me feeling abandoned. It’s easy to play the blame game in an attempt to direct my anger at someone, thinking this could somehow make things bearable. I’m angry with myself because I didn’t prepare for this. 

Month Four:

PANIC AND OBSESSION - Money is running out and I have to do something. Maybe a mantra will help, so daily I’ll recite, “I HAVE TO GET A JOB; I WILL GET A JOB. I HAVE TO GET A JOB; I WILL GET A JOB!” I figure this job application process is a numbers game and if I send out enough resumes I have to hit the jackpot so, I sit at my computer for weeks on end just SLAMMING OUT RESUMES - 15 to 20 a week

With a bachelor’s in human development, impeccable references, letters of recommendation, and a strong resume; it didn’t happen, AND IT STILL HASN’T HAPPENED. I begin obsessing and spending all my time online researching and watching every daytime talk show with job hunting guru’s, interviewing tips, and strategies on how to create a winning resume. Still no calls and still no job; anxiety grips me and I feel like my world is caving in.

Month Six:

DEPRESSION AND FEAR - Depression has set in and my job hunting effort diminishes. In the beginning I thought I could stay organized enough to keep track of all of my application activities. I spent countless hours online sending resumes, applying to every kind of employment website and getting no response.  The application process has become so overwhelming and disorganized that I’m not following up because I’ve lost track of when I sent what to whom and for what job! This only compounds my feelings of failure and worthlessness. 

Month Eight:

DESPERATION - The money is gone, I’ve sold everything of value, and the rent is due. I don’t qualify for unemployment benefits because I worked for 2 years in a contract position, so now it comes down to selling my beautiful car to pay the rent and meet my bills, which I did. I realized I had hit bottom and despair gripped me. If I didn’t do something; anything to change my circumstances I would surely die.

Month Twelve:

I’LL FIGHT FOR LIFE AND I WON’T GIVE UP -  I’ve identified six issues that I still haven’t addressed and if I’m going to survive this I need to develop a system that will address these issues:

1.      The employment application process is really messed up.

2.      My application efforts are a major investment of time – I need a system that saves me time.

3.      The return on my investment is poor — I need a system that provides better results.

4.      I have to get organized to be successful in this highly competitive job market.

5.      I must increase my chances of GETTING THAT JOB!

6.      I need a better mantra, “ORGANIZATION, TRACKING AND MANAGEMENT”

Over the next six months I set up a system that organized and tracked all my job application activities. Though I still don’t have a job - and it certainly isn’t due to lack of trying - the results have been life changing. What were feelings of powerlessness have transformed to a strong sense of achievement.

I now have control over my process that was, early in my two-year journey, overwhelming and nearly impossible for me to manage.

I’ve been using my system for about a month and have already had great successes. I’m now sending out twice as many resumes with the ability to track every activity or event related to a single job application. I’m also able to look at all my activities in a central location without having to flip back and forth between files and email to match up what I sent and to whom. I’m more productive and have better outcomes because I have complete control of my data in the job application process. What used to take hours now takes minutes and I’m able to track and reference all job information in seconds and this is so empowering! So now I’m in control at a time when I desperately needed stability, where I can see measurable successes in my efforts, I feel I’m in control of my destiny because I’m still in the game and I’m using my system to track every single detail of where I’ve applied, who the contact is, what date I applied, when I need to follow-up, and have all the contact information in one place.

My success may not be a job, but it has put me in control of my own efforts and when I’m organized and have a strategy I know the results will be far better than floundering about, lost, confused, feeling defeated and powerless – on top of being unemployed and broke!  

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?

This blog site is something I’m passionate about and, when I shared my system with a friend, he was so excited about the simplicity of the application that he connected me with one of his friends, and so on and so on.

When I continued to get the same positive response I thought I should share the idea with software professionals who could give me their expert opinion. The response has been an overwhelming WOW! Now I’m trying to get the software written and see where I go from there.

All in all it’s been the toughest two years of my life; landing on my feet is where I plan to remain and this is the path I intend to walk as so many questions throughout this journey are now being answered with this forum and maybe even a system that everyone can use in the near future. . .

I’ll keep you all posted. Thank you for reading my story and I look forward to hearing from you. Please join in with your own experiences. Thank you.

Founder

unemployedjobseekers.com

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