“Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.” – Drew Carey

   

Job searching can be one of the most isolating and confidence-crushing experiences a person can face. I know for me I tend to shy away from spending time with friends and family when I am having career troubles because of a couple of reasons. One, I don’t want to be a downer who is always droning on about my unhappiness. Two, it’s hard to have people who are gainfully and happily employed try and understand the tough feelings I am experiencing at the time.

I have come to the realization I have options in handling my frustrations about job searching.

So, Vanna, if you please . . .

1. Drink. Heavily. I do enjoy red wine, but this option is not good for my pocketbook, waistline, or liver.  It also does not produce any real, long-term solutions.

2. Suffer in silence. I’ve tried this, which tends to lead to option one.

3. Suffer in rage. Explaining during an interview why you spent a night in jail due to writing curse words into your boss’s front lawn with Round Up tends to be a buzz kill.

 4. Find others to commiserate with . . .

Which is why I have decided to start the Strategic Networking Group. The main focuses of the group will be to keep other professionals up-to-date on career opportunities, provide feedback on resumes and interview techniques, as well as providing support to others looking for a new avenue in their career. If you live in the Fargo-Moorhead area and would like to be a part of the Strategic Networking Group, please feel free to e-mail me at hangintheredante@gmail.com.

Meeting times and locations will be discussed once we get up and running. Skype options for those of you who are outside the F-M area may open up down the road.  Finding others going through similar experiences is always helpful.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Editor’s Note: I know I’ve used Drew Carey’s quote in an earlier post, but it was so fitting for what this is I had to recycle it. Normally I’m against reusing ideas. In fact, I wrote the rough draft of this post on first-growth rainforest paper.

Positive Thought of the Day:

“I’ve always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.” – Leo Buscaglia