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“Job-Search Expert Revises His Advice for the Unemployed”

Filed under Job Hunting, Job Search Process, Networking
Posted by Libraries, August 16, 2007
View all posts for August 2007

Joann S. Lublin, The Wall Street Journal Online
http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/manageyourcareer/
20070808-managingyourcareer.html

Even the experts struggle with unemployment. This Wall Street Journal article profiles career counselor J. Damian Birkel, who after years of giving talks and lectures about job finding and career building, suddenly found himself unemployed, without a severance package. Birkel had not had to job hunt since 1999, even though he was an expert in the field. His predicament helped him regain empathy with the unemployed: “I will never underestimate the long emotional impact of job loss,” he vowed.

He is using his newfound knowledge of the trauma of unemployment to revise his career finding strategy, keeping in mind the emotional toll that unemployment takes on jobseekers. Birkel now advises jobseekers to schedule “worrying time,” separate from time spent job seeking. He also stresses that jobseekers have to face their fears about failure when job hunting; otherwise their job search will never progress. Birkel also stresses the power of networking but urges job seekers to try to hold back their frustration and anger at their situation so that they can gain assistance from their contacts rather than pity.

Birkel’s tips for job hunters are now much more sympathetic, but they are still effective. By following his tips, jobseekers can acknowledge their personal difficulty without having to compromise their career search.

—Deborah Borsuk