Lu Logic's Blog

Another week is now coming to a close and after spending the week doing research on places for possible employment, and actually this week I have sent out quite a few resumes, more than in the past few weeks actually. Which to me might be a good sign, I now have to take a step back and regroup on what to do next.

Kind of like a game of chess, where after you make your move you wait for your competitors move and then strategize on what your next move will be. It’s kind of the same when it comes to job hunting. You have an idea on where you want to send your resume out to. But after that you have to plan the next step and process on where to go next.

One might try to concentrate on one type of industry one week and then branch out into other field the next week for example. Or even try a few new employment agencies to see what they might have to offer. Sounds more like hunting for fish or crabs. You try to put out the biggest net into the ocean just to see how many you can catch.

When I first became unemployed I use to scramble just about every day to look for work, even on weekends I would spend all my time looking for work. I still do but not as intense, granted it’s not because I have gotten lazy or frustrated. But now a days I try to focus, breathe and concentrate at the task at hand. The stress of looking for work has to be approached with minimal thought and care. For as we all know any type of stress can or could kill a person.

Is the process of looking for work frustrating? My answer is “yes, it is.” But I like many others must go on and search. That is why I try to take a step back when the weekend comes and I try not to think about it that much and actually plan my next move in looking for work. I feel that if I rush to look for work I might find a job that pays way to low and I would not be happy with.

It’s not pride that is holding me back from taking a job that is low in pay. But we all have a limit on how low we will go. After all we do have to take into account our living expenses. And after making cuts to one’s life style, you do have to also take into account how much money you need to function on a day to day basis, such as transportation, lunch, and paying bills and so on.

So weekends for me are very important to use as a time to focus and regroup. And in doing so you may just discover a new idea that might help you in your search for work, an idea that you might have missed if you had rushed through the same process.

Most of my friends ask me “How do I manage looking for work?” My answer is this… “When you feel that you are at a point that you feel that everything is closing in on you. That is when you need to walk away from the computer, Blackberry and just take a moment to yourself.” For when you rush and are in a panic, it could lead to errors that you might have not realized you have made. It’s always better to think things over and refocus at the task at hand.

When Monday comes around most people start what you can say is the “usual routine.” This routine actually starts on Sunday night for most people actually. They start to get ready for the beginning of the new work week and prepare for the week ahead.

Monday’s too many people can be considered a drag. For many of us do not want to go into work after two days off from what might have been a relaxing weekend. Mondays for people who are not working is the start of a new job search.

We start to call our temporary recruiters and see if they might have anything for us work wise or even to see if they might have an interview scheduled for us. And after doing research on the weekend on certain companies, we might apply to them online that we think might be of interest in maybe giving us an interview or even hiring a person such as ourselves.

Usually Mondays for the regular working person is the start of whatever job assignment that they are required to do. Or maybe to even continue an assignment from the previous week, when you are unemployed there is only one assignment and that is to look for new employment once again.

Many of us hate going into work on Mondays for in some cases there could be major drama or office politics that one does not want to get involved with. The only drama that one has when not working is to find work. And of course try to pay the bills then again even when we are working we are trying to pay off our bills, it’s one of the few things that the employed and unemployed have in common.

Actually… there are more things in common other than what was just mentioned. At work one may follow new client leads, for the unemployed its new job leads. Also at work one may look for ways to cut cost and save money. For the unemployed we are often looking to save and stretch our money.

If you look at them (the employed and unemployed) are at two opposite ends of the spectrum. But yet share a similar balance. Mondays and the rest of the work week maybe different to people who are employed and unemployed but the overall task is the same. And that is to get the job done. The job that is assigned to one that is working and the one that needs to be done when not working at the moment.

This past week has been like all the other weeks in my past. Uneventful but busy with errands and sending my resume to places for possible employment and catching up with a friend that I have not seen since they left the United States to start a new job overseas. Seeing them was one of the refreshing events of this past week. But overall an uneventful week like I had said previously, but it was nice to see a good friend that I have not seen in a while, and was a good break from my usual routine.

Now the only major difference with this week unlike all the others is the fact that my unemployment has run out and I am still without a job. Of course I have saved up enough money to hold me over for the next few weeks, but once that runs out it will take living on a daily basis to a whole new level, that level of getting by with no funding at all.

During a person’s day and even with my days, we all wait for things. We wait on lines at the bank; we wait for a bus or a subway to take us where we need to go. We wait in traffic when one waits for the light to change when we are traveling somewhere. We even wait for replies and or phone calls from people who we send our resume to and so on.

But the one thing I think we should not wait for is an extension on unemployment benefits. Now we all know that times are rough for millions of people out there, even in New York state things are not well. Our state is under a budget crunch and strapped for cash. And have even gone as far to withhold people’s state tax return so that they can use the interest to operate the state. It’s a first to my knowledge that they have done this.

And of course our government in Washington D.C. goes on Easter break before even attempting to get an unemployment extension passed. You think they would do so before going on break, but they have not. Waiting to see what happens next just adds more stress to millions of people who are unemployed. It’s just one more factor that people have to think about when planning what to do next, since they are not working.

Personally I think that unemployed people should not have to wait for any type of funding that they are entitled to. We all paid into this via our taxes and will continue to pay into this once we start working again. But it seems that we now have to play this game of “wait and see what happens next” and see who is going to make the first move.

It’s a game that we are all apart of but have no say in it. It’s those in our state capitals and Washington that are calling all the shots. So it just makes me wonder what is going to happen down the line. Are they going to extend benefits on a monthly basis, or until the end of the year?

Any little bit of help is better than no help at all. But we are all left to wonder what is going to happen next. And I feel that should not be. Only time will tell what is going to happen down the line. We may get some sort of funding or maybe even find some type of new work that will help us get back on track. But waiting for what is going to happen leaves us all to wondering what is going to be next for us all.