Virtual Support Group

Okay, since you all know that I'm still struggling with the job search and trying to maintain some shred of self-esteem I have decided to create here at LPIAEW a virtual support group for unemployed and underemployed job seekers. All are welcome to post pertinent information and encouraging words in the comments and I will post some of the better tips and resources I find in my ongoing search. Today's tip is advice on how to make real connections at networking events. It's not enough to just show up and talk to folks you already know - you're there to expand your contacts so here's some advice that may help. I welcome your input and the sharing of experiences.

Secret Weapon

The news is gloomier and gloomier every day it seems. Unemployment is getting higher, jobs are getting scarcer and well, the times... they are hard. I spoke in my last post about just how difficult it is to deal with the rejection involved in a prolonged job search. It gets to the point where you just stop wanting to talk about the jobs you've applied for. On the one hand, I don't want anyone thinking that I'm not trying but on the other hand it's just so disheartening to get excited about a prospect and talk about it and then have to tell folks again that you didn't get it. You begin to imagine that everyone is starting to see a great big loser "L" smack in the middle of your forehead when they look at you. So I just keep applying, sending out several resumes almost every day along with appropriately enthusiastic cover letters and then I hang on to my secret weapon for dear life. The thing that keeps me from lying down in the road and letting cars run over me. And that thing is faith. Faith that God is there with me, that he loves me and has plans to give me hope and a future just as he did for Jeremiah. Some days I'm only able to hang on to the tiniest thread of faith but you know what? That's enough. God, who created the universe and created me holds tight to the other end. I wish I could say that I'm serenely anticipating a superfantastic outcome at any moment but I just can't. I'm almost eaten up with anxiety a good deal of the time which is definitely not a Pollyanna attribute. But that tiny thread is the thing that keeps me from being totally overwhelmed by it. God never promised that life would be easy, that we wouldn't have difficulty in life. But he did promise to be there with me and for me. And that is the secret that makes all the difference. Thanks be to God.