Six months and counting

I have now passed six months since my last job. It is the longest I have ever been without work, usually it has taken me five months between jobs.

I would be lying if I said this is not something that gets me down or weighs on me. Like everyone else in this situation, I have good days and more difficult ones. It is a test of many qualities, such as patience, cheerfulness and hope. I have learned over the years the importance of having a network and felt that I had done some work to develop one. And I do have one, but nothing has come in through that path that has worked out for me.

I know I need to keep on working at it, but the effort to do so feels like more than I can do at times, it is just easier to stay within my cocoon of not risking being ignored or being told 'no' one more time. As I have learned every time I have had to look for work, you become invisible when you are not in the mainstream of the world of work. I really have nothing to offer to anyone who is working, so there is little incentive for them to take notice of me. Certainly, friends and former colleagues have been helpful, along with many other people to whom I have been referred. Nevertheless, it is challenging to exist on people's radar.

This is not the first time I have had to learn life's hard lessons when looking for work, but I had hoped it would not be this long. So there are new and tough lessons for me this time around. I hope I remember them and put them to good use.