Unemployed and Confused

I am a 22-year-old guy who has recently passed out of college. Although I had hoped to study further, due to adverse circumstances and to support my family I am forced to take up a job. However I am going though repeated failures at the many job interviews that I have been for. I don't know what to do about it. Some of my friends, who passed out with me, have already got decent jobs and are doing quite well for themselves.

This has only eroded my confidence all the more. I keep asking myself, what am I doing wrong? What should I do better? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? He knows that I'm more in need of a job than my other friends. Don't I pray to him everyday? Some of my friends have asked me to "jazz up" my resume just as they have done, by adding fake experience etc. "It's the only way," they say. I'm confused. There's a war going on inside my head. Where do I go from here?

Ruby: Not having a job can be one of the most devastating personal crises of a lifetime. Unemployment, divorce, and the death of a loved one are considered to be the most stressful and potentially crippling events that an individual ever experiences. Although financial difficulties is a serious issue, the blow to one's ego and self-confidence is even more difficult to face.

Coral: Some of the consequences are a loss of self-esteem; loss of faith; uncertainty, fears and disappointments; insecurities, temptations and escapism; lack of financial security; lack of independence (having to depend on friends and family).

Ruby: Like any other painful event, however, this crisis can present an opportunity for growth. Commitment and diligence are required to transform present pain into future positive outcomes.

Coral: Here are some of the things that have be known to help:

1. Write down how you feel. Resentment often blocks our creative juices from flowing
2. Form a small support group. Link up with others like yourself.
3. Hold brainstorming sessions about how to find employment opportunities. Be alert to help each other discover good opportunities.
4. Rebuild your self-esteem. Make a list of everything you like and appreciate about yourself. Include all the things you've done in the past that you like yourself for doing.
5. Write a detailed description of what you do well and practice talking about your reliable strengths. Describe specific projects or assignments you feel proud about. Describe your people skills. This exercise is a start to creating what is known as a portfolio. This collection of credentials, samples and documents reflects your skills.
6. Discover something of value in your experience. People hit with major, life disrupting experiences will tend to have either a victim/blaming reaction or a coping/learning reaction. Find the gift. Why did this happen to me? What is the lesson here? It's the hardest thing to do at this stage, but the rewards are certainly worth giving it a try.
7. Make finding a job a temporary job. Break the inertia. Switch off that TV. Get out and talk with people. Nine out of ten job openings are never advertised in the newspaper.
8. Be persistent. Trials are breeding grounds for endurance. Be persistent, look at successful people and try following their example.
9. Focus on the employer's needs, more than your own. No one will hire you because you need a job (I'm sorry, but that's the experience of many). Focus on what the Employer needs. They must see you as uniquely qualified for the position. Its not a sin to market yourself, on the contrary, false humility is!
10. Be open to unexpected opportunities. Keep all options open.
11. Take creative action. Create an opportunity; make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen

Ruby: Well I guess after you do this you won't have to 'bolster up' your resume! Apart from being a wrong thing to do, you'll always live in the fear of being found out by your employer. There's enough of pressure at work without adding this fear to it!

Coral: Now to come to the issue of where God is in this crisis of yours. What is the role of faith? How does one hold onto faith?

Ruby: One needs to hold firm, and the Lord will strengthen him. Listen to this:

There are plenty of examples in the Bible of God seeing His people through crisis and using that crisis as a means of strengthening them. Remember God loves you more than you love yourself.

Coral: Ultimately, it is the triumph of God's love over all the trials, tribulations and temptations that life can (and does!) throw up. As long as we remain in His Love, we have hope in divine providence. When the final test of endurance is passed we can proudly claim to have vanquished the demon of unemployment from our lives forever.

Ruby: That's encouraging indeed!

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