The Worst thing You Can do When You’re Unemployed is Spend all Your Time Looking for a Job
The spring of 2009 was one of the most difficult times to graduate from any kind of school. We were in the midst of a global economic recession. Employers were receiving upwards of 1000 resumes from overqualified candidates for one 1 job. That’s the story of people who chose to react to a crisis with fear, panic, and anxiety.
A young designer named Jamie Varon took a different approach. She started a web site called Twitter Should Hire Me. Instead of sending out 1000’s of resumes, she had dozens of unsolicited job offers, and eventually so much demand for her skills that she was able to start a business. Her’s is a story responding to crises with creativity, resourcefulness, and imagination.
People who sat around waiting for the economy to improve didn’t recognize the most important lesson of all. Most of the jobs that disappeared weren’t coming back. The industrial economy rewarded people for fitting in. But the new economy rewarded people for standing out.
A few months after I graduated from the MBA program at Pepperdine, I heard the most counterintuitive career advice I’ve been given in my life.
“The worst thing you can do when you’re unemployed is to spend all of your time…
