Unemployed

I made the conscious decision to not begin serious job hunting until after the holidays but with that comes some fear and a bit of anxiety about falling into the dark pit of unemployment.  Last night I was on a job site updating my profile when I was faced with the task of writing a headline summary for the profile, which sounds easy enough right?  Describing who I am and what I’m looking for in a few sentences seems easy enough until I remember my current employment status.  A quick search found most people recommend not mentioning that you’re unemployed but not lying just not outright saying that you’re unemployed.

The word unemployed carries so many negative connotations I am beginning understand how people allow themselves to fall into pitfalls and lose momentum to move on to the next chapter of their life.  Losing sight of goals and allowing complacency to seep into life are steps toward giving up but I’ve still got my eye on the prize.  As mentioned in a previous post the end of my employment was like the end of bad relationship so taking time off to “recharge my battery” is not a ridiculous notion.

Some of the customers I spoke to before the store closed were all doom and gloom when I explained how I did not have a job lined up immediately, telling me tales of how their son, daughter, brother, cousin, sister, uncle, etc. was laid off and could never find a job despite their mile long list of qualifications.  Some days these stories affected me but most days I just had to remind myself that I’m making the best decision for me and that’s all that matters. Perhaps I’m overconfident but I’m not scared of never finding a job.  I am scared of not finding a job in the field I want to go into or a job with even similar pay to what I was making but I believe in myself enough to know jobs exist and I’m qualified for them.

I am again perhaps overly optimistic in hoping my next place of unemployment would understand that I might need some down time after leaving a job I worked at for 12 years especially when the decision to leave was not mine.  Part of me wanted to lay out my soul in the summary proclaiming poetically about my transitional period working my way out of retail into a field better related to my degree; however, in the end I left my summary blank still awaiting inspiration to help me find the perfect words that will intrigue a recruiter instead of scaring them off with the dreaded “u” word.