| Unregistered |
08-07-2020 05:11 PM |
Tired
I'm not sure if the original poster has found a job already but.. just wanted to share my experiences if its relevant to the community.
I have experienced 2-3 stints of being jobless.
The first was when I had just graduated and looking for that all important first job. I graduated in June and only managed to get a job the following March (around 9 mths without a job). I ended up choosing a job based on the first offer I got and I still remember the starting pay - $1.7k a mth. The job was decent - not too stressful or anything but I didn't stay long, only for a year and a half. It was pretty clear that the first job was not what I wanted to do. I had compromised because of the stress of not earning a salary and starting to repay my student loan.
This started another phase of being jobless. This time, it took nearly a year to find another job, this time in a field/role which interested me. Similar to my first job search, I sent off resumes based on listings in the Straits Times and other places (gives you an idea how old I am now). I managed to get a job during this period which I lasted a grand total of a week or so. Eventually, I got a developer job in a local IT company and (learning the lessons I had made previously) stayed employed for nearly 9 years. I took a sabbatical after that for 4 mths when my first kid was born but I had already made up my mind to find another job. Using the same method I had used before - sending off resumes, I managed to get a job at a MNC software company.
It was tough going. In a that company, the role wasnt as "defined" as before. I had to double as marketing, sales, research. Basically any work that needed to be done. I got to travel - making dozens of trips per year. The company I joined was acquired, and re-acquired. I ended up staying there for more than 8 years when I had had enough, did what I told myself never to do - leave a company without finding a new job first.
I stayed at home for more than a year. By that time, I had already worked for approximately 20 years and I was essentially not actively looking for a job. Out of the blue, an ex-colleague was in town and asked me if I would like to meet up for dinner. During that dinner, he asked if I would be interested to join his current company. Long story short, I went through the interview process and I have been in that company ever since. It made me think that the job acquisition process has changed. It is probably more likely nowadays to get a job via a connection of yours. It doesn't even have to be a really close connection.
I am not sure if any of this has helped. I understand the stress of not being employed. In my opinion, the best thing to do is to:
firstly - not give up the search and pick a job based on pressure or because of money and lose sight of what you really want to do,
secondly - stay connected to people even though these might be people you are not close to or even not really like in the first place
thirdly - it might seem to contradict my first point, but try new jobs and experiences. You will never know what you really want to do if you haven't experienced it.
Good luck with your search
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