My name is Raven. I design and market visual advocacy tools for an NPO start-up in Chicago, IL.
Yellow is my favorite color.
On a whim, I sent an e-mail to Penelope Trunk asking her what she thought of Paul Nawrocki. If you haven’t heard, Mr. Nawrocki really wants you to know that he doesn’t have a job. Here’s what I sent:
Hi Penelope,
What do you think people like Paul Nawrocki (the guy advertising his near homelessness with a sandwich board in NY) should do – should job seekers be as “aggressive” as he is about finding a job or is that a little desperate?
Penelope says:
I think that guy has some sort of personality disorder. He’s been unemployed for nine months, which means he could not get a job when there was nearly 0% unemployment for people under 40. To put on the sandwich board is to declare that he can no longer do anything to help himself and so he doesn’t care about his image and wants to tell people how angry he is. He’s got a problem.
OK, so finding a job is not as easy now as it used to be (and will probably only get worse). Yet, I’ll admit that Nawrocki’s attempts at job hunting are “imaginative” to say the least.
Some recruiters claim they are being pushed to their limits with the overwhelming amount of by job seekers looking for help. There are desperate people out there and some really don’t know what to do. How do you help yourself when you are feeling helpless?
Hopefully, you don’t become Mr. Nawrocki, but instead:
- Stay positive
- Develop a productive job search strategy
- Conduct informational interviews
- Network
- Don’t rely solely on the Internet for job opportunities
- Volunteer
- Treat yourself
- Take advantage of the downturn to embark on a career change
- Blog
- Twitter your way to a new job
- Channel your inner entrepreneur and start your own business
- Travel
- Pick up a new hobby or develop a neglected talent
- Learn new software
- Curb your spending
- Buy a coloring book or try this
- Steer clear of unemployment depression
- Go to church
- Go to a meet up
- Become a community journalist
- Hang out with your friends
- Read
- Keep yourself relevant
- Engage in unabashed nepotism
- Go to a pink slip party
- Go to a job fair
- Avoid hiding out by going to grad school
- Consider re-locating.
I’m sure I could think of more, but I’d like to hear what you have to say – how do you put steam back into your job search? What other ways can you avoid “recession depression”?
