Between Jobs Anonymous

by Jonathan Harrison

"Hi my name is Jonathan and I'm between jobs"

Millions of tired souls cry out, "Hi Jonathan!"

"Umm...I'm not sure how it happened. I went to graduate school like everyone said to do. I graduated with a 4.0. I had connections in my chosen line of work, and well, it just wasn't enough."

The assembly responds, "Yes." "Lord have mercy." "Ummmmmmhmmmmm." "Preach!"

"And well," suddenly becoming comfortable, "I didn't understand, so I crashed for about three months. I let it get me down, but I'm back up now and I've recently created a blog about my dream career (libranding.blogspot.com, see what I did there?).  I have had four or five interviews over the past month, and I've learned to work harder at both work and in my free time. I get the feeling that one of them will come through. It's been a difficult journey, but I want to thank y'all and God for the support."

*Applause*

End scene.

Ok, I'm technically partially employed like a lot of other people out there, but ten hours a week isn't cutting it. The job market right now is brutal: really, really brutal.

Earlier in the year, I believed having a semi-decent interview would be enough to land me that position, but then employers started passing me over for positions that I really, really wanted. I have good experience. I'm a pretty awesome person. So why wasn't I getting hired?

Then I realized that it wasn't that I was a bad worker, it was that everyone out there is going the extra mile, and a semi-successful interview is not enough to get you a job. You need a great interview, good experience, do tons of little things right, be godfather of the interviewer's children and if you're lucky they'll send you a personally written rejection email.

But I love a challenge, and I've taken the challenge head on.

Being an unemployed Christian takes everything about unemployment up a notch. Spiritual people will tell you that, "You're where you are because God wants you to be there."  Meaning, of course, that God wanted me to not have a job the past six months.

Hmm. I guess I could see how that's legit.

I've learned a lot about myself and my work ethic, and I've also learned a certain sense of humility, but I wouldn't say that to anyone else who is currently unemployed. Sometimes your connections don't follow through, sometimes your networking doesn't network, sometimes you get a Masters in a field whose job outlook has fallen from above-average to abysmal in three short years (Forbes listed the MLIS as the #1 worst masters to obtain. Ahead of MFA for crying out loud).

If being unemployed has taught me anything, it's that you can have every reason in the world to be a wonderful worker, but finding a job will still elude you.   

Jesus loved everyone, but he had a special place in his heart for the poor and downtrodden. I'm not putting myself in this category because I'm supremely blessed, but unemployment hits the poor the hardest. I'm not saying Jesus would have said, "Blessed are the Unemployed", but I am saying that it sounds like something he would of said. Just think about it.

If anyone is unemployed and reading this, don't give up. You'll find something. Be smart, pray and if you have a passion, do it.

If you don't, then I hope you find it. If you need encouragement, hit me up (seriously). I won't be able to do much besides encourage you, but sometimes we really need that in our lives. Anyways.

A semi-serious post from someone who is seldom semi-serious.  Blessings.

Jonathan Harrison is a partially employed librarian. If you know of anyone who is hiring in the Nashville area, hit him up. He's been teaching himself nonprofit marketing over the past  8 or 9 months and is semi-sure that's what God wants him to do since he really, really enjoys it.  He loves data mining, has an avid understanding of web design, and really enjoys live-feed Shiba Inu puppy cams.  He can also be serious if need be. He writes over at http://driedhumor.wordpress.com/ (not serious) and http://libranding.blogspot.com/ (very, very serious).