I was especially taken with Barbara Ehrenreich’s most interesting article in the Los Angeles Times, entitled “Trying to Find a Job is Not a Job.” Not only did I find the article particularly witty, but it cut right to the chase with its point of view. Both of these elements are refreshing to see these days, especially within the same bit of writing. I also fact that we Americans take our joblessness in stride if not in a mood elevated drug stupor.
Among the things with which Ehrenreich takes issue is the idea that those who have been laid off still have a job. HR consultants and employment gurus assure the executive jobless that you must view the pursuit of another job as a job in itself. To some degree it is. For many reasons, it is worse than most jobs. Pursuing work, especially in this economic climate can prove frustrating and dismaying, no matter how many mood elevators you have been taking. It’s a bad economy and it’s tough finding work right now. It’s tough enough on a good, yet alone now when the nation’s employers are laying off 600,000 a month.
Perhaps, in reading Ehrenreich’s article, being told you have a job serves as some small cushioning against the reality that you don’t have an income. Perhaps it eases the anger and frustration, and even the guilt that comes with not working. But the reality is that the anger may be justified and that frustration is a true emotion. All rhetoric aside about the resourceful American, we would be more comforted by the reality that the America the resourceful American lives in has the kinds of industries that can offer jobs to its population. Bottom line, money and not platitudes is what puts food on the table.
While I don’t necessarily agree with all of what Ehrenreich has to say, about waiting it out and not really looking for work until the economy rebounds and there are jobs to be had, I can certainly understand her point. I do, however, believe it is necessary to keep looking, but also necessary to know the difference between realities of employment versus looking for a job. As for those poor souls conduct background checks on themselves to be sure nothing negative rises up to prevent them from being hired, I would agree they are better off spending their money on frozen yogurt. Any employer will disregard your background search and conduct its own as part of its own preemployment screening program.
As Ehrenreich takes note, if a employment adviser is urging you to play interview subject and boss, or for that matter any other ridiculous and desperate play acting, then render his name to the permanent cast of “never taken seriously.” If you can’t tell the difference between boos and subject, and if you need your spouse to stand in as the boss while you play the interview subject, should decorum permit I would suggest better ways for the two of you to spend that regrettable leisure time.
Remember, in economic times such as these, there is always someone espousing some half-baked theory that will justify his own existence while making money from desperation. Don’t be reassured by nonsensical logic. Most of us have been out of work before. If your the rare exception, then forget about the employment adviser. Ask the guy who has been out of work how he found his new job. It may not be the total answer, but it’s probably more helpful than trying to think that hunting for work is commensurate with actually having a job.
