Unemployment - What Leaving the Rat Race Has Taught Me Lesson #19 -Good Employees are not Good Job Seekers

       I admit that I have no idea how to search for a job in today's job market.  It's tough.  There are pros and cons to the techny-social media society that we now live in.  The internet means I can learn about thousands of jobs via websites like Monster.com, and CareerBuilders.com,  and USAjobs.com, etc.  I have spent more than a year searching the websites and getting on email lists so that I get daily emails from these sites on what jobs suit me.  I fill out the on-line job applications and hit send and my resume goes off to some hiring manager or recruiter.  But what really happens is if my resume and cover letter do not have "key words" then my resume may never be seen by anyone.  There are computer programs that employers enlist to go through the thousands of resumes they receive.  They program in their "key" words.  These words may be found in their job application or may not.  You can try and guess what these words are.  Those people who make a living trying to tell you how to improve your resume or how to get a job in this difficult job market will tell you that you need to create a new resume for each job that you apply for because of this new technology.  They say you need to take a stab at what these key words are and what you need is to practically copy and paste all the "key" words from the job ad.  Many of these people who I believe are just trying to prey on the unemployed, want you to pay hundreds of dollars to have access to their expertise.  Perhaps some of these people can get you a great job.  The problem is that after you spend months on your own trying to find a new job, you have exhausted a lot of your financial savings and it's hard to part with 95 to 150 dollars for a possibility.  Some of these places have a guarantee.  But just because they find you a job, how can you be assured it's the right job for you?  Are you willing to take any job they find for you?  I have become quite cynical about all those people out there who want me to spend money I can't spare to help me navigate the job search landmines.  I need my cash for groceries, gas, electricity, water, trash pick-up, the phone, my internet, my television, my cats.  I need any extra cash for unforeseen emergencies - like car reparis, my cats getting sick, my oven breaking, my lawn mower repair, etc.  I need any extra cash for things that have to get done - my termite renewal on my home, paying for mulch for my flower beds, paying for gas for the lawn mower to mow my lawn- and yes I do it myself, buying new air fliters for the furnace/ac, getting the oil changed in the car, etc. 

    So I have not paid to get professional help in my job search.  But perhaps I need to because what I have learned is that I really don't know how to find a job in today's world.  I have met a lot of unemployed people. They are talented and have great skills.  But none of us know how to get a job today.  I was a television news producer.  I have worked at a local news station here and then got a job at one of the national networks located in this city.  When I was suddenly let go from my job at the national network, I didn't think I wanted to go back to doing local news.  I spent many months thinking I could put my journalism skills to use by working in public relations.  But there are thousands of public relations and media relations employees who have held those jobs for 8 to 10 to 15 years who are also looking for jobs.  My job skills in that regard do not match up with those who have already held those jobs.  So it is not likely I can get such a job unless I know someone.  But even knowing someone does not guarantee you a job.  I know some people who still work in the local news market.  After being unemployed for a year and 3 months, I resolved myself to the fact that perhaps I would have to do what I know I don't have the stomach for anymore, and return to local news.  I just need a job.  So I emailed some of my friends and phoned some others.  I sent out a bunch of resumes and made some follow up calls to news directors.  To my surprise, my phone was not ringing with job offers and I was not being offered jobs.  I have the experience they should be looking for.  But here is the sad reality of today's job market or at least what is happening in local news:  These stations don't want to pay for experience.  They want to hire people with half my experience for a third of the salary that I would be expecting.  I don't want to be cynical and add that they want to hire someone half my age, but truthfully, that is part of the problem also.  No one wants to admit that our society discriminates against older employees, but I see it every time I go to the unemployment office.  Most of the people there are over the age of 40 and a majority of those people are close to or over the age of 50.  Companies today truly don't want experience because that means paying an experienced person more money.  They would rather hire a younger person at a lower salary.  

  Perhaps there are more older people at the unemployment office because we just don't know how to get around this techno-savvy new way of job hunting.  Experienced workers are not experienced job seekers.  Experienced job seekers know how to apply for jobs.  They are skilled at answering all those stupid job interview questions.  When you are in your late 40s do you really want to be answering questions such as - where do you see yourself in 10 years or even 5 years?  Does someone hiring want to hear - I see myself suffering through menopause or I see myself a few years away from retiring and I want to spend my senior years on a tropical island.  Experienced job seekers know how to schmooze and to answer the job applicant questions.  Experienced employees simply know how to work and have the experience in dealing with people and being efficient in the job they were hired to do.  Experienced employees haven't looked that often for a job because they know how to work and work hard and to keep their job.  I wish those doing the hiring would realize that the best applicant is someone who does not have the perfect answers to those stupid interview questions.  The best employee is not someone who has the perfect resume because if you are an experienced worker, you've spent the past 4 to 10 years working for your employer and not working on your resume because you are not thinking of going to work for someone else, you are working hard for your current employer.  The best employees don't know how to be the best job seekers.  

  It's very tough for hard workers to find themselves unemployed.  It's really tough for hard workers to suddently find themselves without a job because so many hard workers truly define themselves by their job. So when I was left without a job, I had to ask myself who I am?  What do I want to do?  My problem in my job search is that I still have not found great answers to those questions.  I always wanted to be a television news reporter.  I was one in a small television market for a number of years.  Then I went behind the camera and became a news producer.  Working in the news business is what I always wanted to do.  The sad reality is that the days of Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite are as dead as those two men.  No one in the news industry is in it to right the wrongs any longer.  The television news business has become one of making money.  No one is standing up for the little man any longer.  No one reports on controversial stories anymore.  How can they when big companies like GE and Disney now own NBC and ABC respectively.  Local television stations are fighting to make money also and you can't do undercover stories about a local business doing wrong when that business is funding your 6 o'clock newscast.  There is no integrity in the news business anymore.  The news business is not the same business that I worked so hard to be a part of.  I know I don't want to work in the television news business anymore.   The newspaper industry is dying fast.  I don't want to be a part of that industry anymore.  My problem is I don't know who I am if I am not a television news producer.  I don't know what I want to do.  I know what I want I don't want to do, but still have not gotten the answer to what I want to do now.  

   My unemployment has taught me a lot about myself.  I am learning more about myself and what I am capable of doing.  I have learned that I am not good at searching for a job.  I have learned that it is very tough these days to find a job.  I have learned that I am not alone in this.  I have learned how wonderful friends and family can be.  I have learned so much about myself.  And I have met some wonderfully talented and smart unemployed people who like me, have no clue as ot how to find a job in this changing job market and horrible economy.  Because what we know how to do is work hard not work at finding work.