I took on this project because of my own experiences with unemployment, which have caused psychological hardship not just for me, but also for my family. There are ripple effects. At one point soon after I was laid off, I was having nightmares, waking up every morning in a haze of irritation and fatigue. I snapped at my daughter while we were getting her ready for school, and she started crying, and left in a bad mood. My wife demanded that I seek some kind of professional help. I began attending a support group, then decided to take up hobbies -- singing, learning Hebrew on Sunday mornings, circuit training. We got through a bad patch. But what happens to marriages that are already fragile, to families that were just managing to make ends meet on their incomes before the breadwinner got laid off? What of people like Shawn, an acquaintance of mine with only a high school degree, who worked faithfully for a decade or more at a small manufacturing company that went bankrupt, and has a wife, two twin sons and a young sister-in-law to support? The unemployment benefits only cover half his former salary; his skills aren't in as much demand as they were when he first began working. Moreover, it's a private subject, painful, not easy to talk about with friends and neighbors for risk of seeming weak and needy, and yet, the most effective way of finding work by far is through networking with acquaintances -- coming out into the open about one's job hunt and asking others to keep an eye out.
What a mess!
The three most recent posts are quotes from the interviews I recently conducted. I also updated my Dec 31 post with an interesting set of observations from L.A.-area career counselor Jennifer Rosky, of www.CareerProgressions.net. If you know any one in the Los Angeles area who is unemployed, or underemployed, and would appreciate being interviewed for this article, please let me know by commenting on this blog post or sending me an email at cdmitridavidson@gmail.com.
Posted by Christopher Davidson on 01/08/10
