I recall the search for employment when I was between my junior and senior years in high school. There were soooo many options available for a sixteen-year-old willing and wanting to do just about anything. There were multiple fast food restaurants, the local grocery store, my family’s hardware store; many options. I felt pretty darn lucky with the whole world open up to me. I chose a job working on a dairy farm; baling hay, moving irrigation pipes and any other odd project the ranch hands chose not to do. It was, however, a great feeling as I selected that job.
Fast forward a couple of decades and I am, once again, looking for a career. I have that same giddy feeling that there are many possibilities available. I know, I know, the unemployment rate is 10% or so, but still doesn’t change the fact that we get to choose what we want to do “when we grow up”. The only limitation is choice. Those of us that are in search of a career due to a layoff, a company closure (my reason for being unemployed) or a downsizing, are the lucky ones in today’s job market. A recent poll showed that 60% of all of those that are currently working hate their job (up from 50% a year ago). They do not have the world in front of them, just the same routine, in the same office with the same responsibilities; that is a shame.
I am not saying the search is terribly fun. I really have never interviewed for a job in 25+ years. I have never authored a resume.......never. I don’t think I have ever really been on a job interview, per se. I guess it is another reason why I feel so lucky at life. I have been quite flattered at those relationships I have had over the years looking out for me, with suggestions and little tidbits of information on companies that could use my talents. I am quite grateful for the help and the relationships I have, and do ask that they continue to be on the lookout for me.
Those of us that find ourselves unemployed, for what ever reason, are the lucky ones and should be grateful; we have the entire world in front of us.......and do, indeed, get to choose. We get to choose where we desire to work and make a difference, and become one of the 40% that truly likes their job.
Just my thoughts............blah, blah, blah.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnboytz
