There is so much media focus on the recession right now, that job hunting is an incredibly daunting task. It can be very disheartening, overly stressful and cause you to second guess every decision you make.
This is compounded by the fact that the job hunt is fraught with enemies - overloaded recruitment agency employees who can't keep up with their workload; hundreds of candidates vying for the same job; managers and bosses who realise they have an abundance of choices and so take their sweet time.
Each day on the hunt is like an emotional rollercoaster. You scan the advertisements and see a job that you like, and you feel hopeful and optimistic. You apply, taking care to match your cover letter to the requirements of the advertiser, and you feel a small sense of achievement. You check your email, receiving a letter to say that your application has been unsuccessful, and you feel a sense of failure. Your interview times get moved around. You get nervous before interviews, anxious waiting to hear from potential employers, and excited about the prospect of having an inflow of dollars. All the while, you are still unemployed and whittling away valuable cash in the process.
The cycle goes around and around, each day making incremental improvements - research leads to advertisements, advertisements lead to applications, applications turn to interviews, interviews turn to offers. But after 4 weeks and still no job, one can certainly begin to feel that there is no hope of ever being employed.
Today, after yet another day on the 'recession rollercoaster', I began to feel that sense of trying to achieve the unachievable. It only takes the tiniest catalyst, like a bad purchase decision, and all of a sudden that positive outlook you’ve maintained throughout comes crashing down and you want to find the nearest large rock and hide under it until Cyclone Recession blows over.
I started to panic. How will I pay the bills? How will I eat? Oh no, I'm going to have to work in a strip club. Maybe it's not so bad. Maybe they are really friendly and I can earn mega-bucks for serving overpriced cocktails to middle aged men.
I google get rich quick schemes. I peruse 'wealth creation' sites, and consider referring them to a professional web designer. I actually contemplate selling out to some 'home-based' business with a domain name like www.alltheriches4uwithoutworkingitsamazing.com. And all of this only leaves me with an increased sense of overcoming the impossible. How do I fix it?!
Many people are found in this situation, now more than ever, asking themselves the question – is there a better way? Well, apparently there is. The recession is creating a phenomenon coined as ‘forced entrepreneurship’ – where job candidates frustrated with the hunt are producing new ways to support themselves, usually through new business. It is essentially a ‘no time like the present’ approach, which could bring some great new business concepts out of the woodwork as shelved inventions make their way back to the fore.
So this begs the question... Could I become a forced entrepreneur? I have begun the hunt for inspiration – I have had articles from Steve Pavlina earmarked for a long time to return to; I’m reading a great book on developing your own ‘Impact Factor’; I’m following a series of successful and interesting people for ideas. My first step is learning to create content which adds value, something I find enjoyable and hopefully others will too.
Whether it is easier than job hunting remains to be seen, but it is a welcome distraction.
So with that in mind, and a lot of time on my hands as the job hunt continues, I now embark on a mission to find my true calling and ultimately create value for others. Stay tuned!
