Here’s another holiday job-seeking tip

More holiday job-seeking advice from the Chicago Sun-Times: Get out of your house this holiday season. And find inexpensive ways to be good to yourself.

Best tip for job-seekers? Get out of the house :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Business.

Merry Job-Hunting!

It’s officially the holiday season. Time for partying, shopping, and gift-giving. Not the time for job-hunting, right?

Wrong. At least according to this article I found today, which suggests ways to keep up your search during the holiday season: Tips for Job-Hunting During the Holidays

Just Breathe …

Ryan Star – Breathe video

I just saw this music video tonight for the first time on Yahoo Music. The people in it are real unemployed people, carrying their signs in New York City. I’m posting it as another reminder that there are faces behind the unemployment statistics and stories. (Plus the song is nice.)

Things for which you can be thankful

So today is Thanksgiving Day. The parades are on TV. Your turkey’s in the oven, or you’re preparing to go eat Grandma’s cooking. You’re watching the Lions game at 12:30 p.m. because, after all, it’s tradition to watch the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

But you’re unemployed and you’re not feeling, well, thankful.

If your high school didn’t stress early American history as much as mine did, you may not remember that the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving at the end of a harsh first year in the New World of America. They were simply thankful they had survived.

It’s no stretch to say 2009 has been a hard year for many of us here in America. Many of us may not be feeling particularly thankful this year — or we’re especially thankful we’ve survived this year.

So for Thanksgiving, I present a list of things for which you and I can be thankful (in no particular order):

• Unemployment benefits and extensions. Without them, a lot of us would be in deep, deep trouble right now.
• Jay Leno’s performances at The Palace and in Ohio for the unemployed. Thanks again, Jay.
• Friends and family. Especially those who keep saying “it’s on me,” who help you network, and who just call to say they love you. You know who you are.
• Facebook, because it keeps us in touch with our far-flung friends, family, and fans.
• Your favorite music. You know what mine is. Enjoy some of yours soon. Maybe today.
• Your health. If it’s good — if it’s even okay — be thankful.
• My Aunt Joanne’s Thanksgiving dinners. (Yes, I have an Aunt Joanne.)

Another interview, and handling other rejections

On this site’s Facebook page, I said yesterday I had a job interview. Which two of WSFAU’s fans “liked,” and one asked how I thought it went. (Now that’s the sort of fan interaction I like.)

I think it went okay. It wasn’t for my dream job — but then, I have to admit my “dream job” is rapidly changing to any job that will pay my bills, keep food on my table, and keep my Internet connection on.

I also received two more rejection letters Monday and yesterday. 

However, the best idea I’ve heard lately as to what to do with rejection letters is to write the rejector a thank you letter. This supposedly works best if you were one of the top two or three candidates. That way, if their pick doesn’t take the job or quits, you’ll be next in their mind.

Thought for the Day

From the novel “Fight Club”:  “Getting fired is the best thing that could happen to any of us.  That way, we’d quit treading water and do something with our lives.”

Now, I technically wasn’t fired; my old job was eliminated. Same difference. Losing your job, however it happens, forces you to start doing something different with your life since you’re not ‘treading water’ working at that same old job anymore. Whatever you choose to do next — network, sit in your La-z-boy, volunteer — is up to you.

 

Unemployment Insurance History Of The World

In celebration of the fact that we’re getting our unemployment payment today (Yay! We need the money!), here’s a little Mel Brooks video on the ancient history of unemployment insurance. Enjoy.

Funny Job Interview Video

It’s YouTube video day here at WSFAU.

This is a YouTube video of a job interview. Listen carefully and you will hear this candidate shoot himself in the foot (although he obviously doesn’t think so).

In the wee small hours of the morning …

It’s now almost 5:30 a.m., and I’ve been up for two hours.

This sort of thing happens to me more often since I’ve been unemployed.

For one thing, I used to wake up in the middle of the night totally stressed out over my future (or my present).

For another, since I now don’t have to go to work in the morning, it’s far too easy to stay up if I wake up in the middle of the night — and start watching TV, surfing the Internet for jobs, playing on Facebook, or writing a blog post.

However, there’s a job fair starting at 11 a.m. this morning on the other side of town. I’d like to be reasonably alert for it, so I need to go back to sleep for a few hours.

I have no idea how to cure insomnia. It seems to be a vicious cycle: You can’t sleep because you’re worried, and you worry because you can’t sleep.

Good night (or good morning).

Detroit vs. Rest of U.S. in Unemployed Per Job Posting

Here’s a link to a graph making the rounds of my Facebook page today. It shows there’s 18 applicants per job posting here in Detroit, versus only two in Washington, D.C., with the rest of the country somewhere in between.

Detroit vs. Rest of U.S. in Unemployed Per Job Posting

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