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I am almost never surprised after all these years of helping people with financial problems by the lack of understanding and compassion that others have. Now, don’t call me cynical because for the most part, I’m an optimist. But in the face of the obvious or unknown, most people will leap to conclusions.

And without a doubt, when I explain to people the types of individuals and situations that I help with, the most common reaction of the lay is “Why don’t they just go and get a fucking job. What a loser.” Nice!

90% of the people that say that just don’t understand what it is really like to be in that kind of terrible financial situation. The other 10% of people are just assholes.

Those that don’t understand the hard struggle that many go through on the twisted emotional road of being without a job, just can’t appreciate the strain and ego slaughtering that rejection after rejection can bring. It’s tough, it’s bruising and it sucks. That’s a fact jack.

Soon, many looking for a job will just give up and stop looking. How much rejection can one person take?

Let’s Not Jump to Conclusions

I remember this one situation where the wife was spending more than the husband wanted and he turned to her and started screaming “Stop spending money. Stop spending money we don’t have!” My only response, “So how’s that approach working for you so far?”

Screaming at someone to get a job is just about as ineffective. So what is it that we can do for ourselves or for others to help them find a job? Here are some suggestions:

  1. Make a Job of Getting a Job - Have regular business hours that you are exploring job opportunities. Get yourself up, washed and at your home workspace on a regular schedule. Half the secret to success is just showing up. Show up to your job of getting a job.
  2. Love “No” - I’ve taught myself to find comfort in No to help me get through rejection. Hey, we all face it. If you welcome every “No” as one step closer to a “Yes”, it really, really helps.
  3. Open the Local Phone Book - A lot of jobs are not advertised. Open your local phone book and look for those categories that interest you. Start at the top and start calling and asking if they have any job openings. Many openings are not advertised. If you don’t get any leads by the time you exhaust your favorite categories, start calling the rest of the phone book.
  4. Take a Sucky Job - Don’t sit on your ass at home. Take any job you can find. Even the worst job in the world can be beneficial. If the employer is an ass it will help you feel better about yourself that you really are someone that deserves a better job. Besides, activity breeds activity and being out and about always seems to lead to new opportunities.
  5. Stop Being Part of the Crowd - Everyone wants to conform, for what, to be part of the crowd? Stop conforming. When did conforming ever get you noticed? If your resume is not getting attention, try a different approach. Consider putting a gold star in the top right hand corner to make yours stand out. Don’t laugh, it works. Put a scanned picture of yourself, a good one, on the resume. Use a unique color paper. Do something, do anything to stand out.
  6. Call Back After Interviews - One person I know of got hired simple because she called back. The employer said after all the people he interviewed she was the first one to call back, to thank him for the interview and check on the status of the position. He said he was waiting for someone to call to show some interest and initiative.
  7. Put Your Employer Hat On - Think like an employer. Employers, like myself, don’t want people coming and asking for high paying low responsibility jobs, and people really do that. We want to find people that have a good attitude, are ready to work and think about how to maximize the business and returns for the company.

And once you get your job and no matter how polite and religious you might be, it feels good to prove the bastards wrong. So, even silently to yourself, you can politely and with a smile tell all those people that thought you were a loser, to fuck off, you are not a loser.

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Steve

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