Updated 4th Nov 2011:
I launched this blog during a long period of unemployment, which started in spring 2008. I wasn’t laid off or sacked. I had a mid-life crisis – as you do – and decided I needed a career break. I left behind a successful sales manager job at a children’s book publisher and signed up for a super-intensive NCTJ diploma course to train as a journalist.
Unfortunately, the end of my planned career break coincided with the beginning of global recession. Jobs were being cut right, left and centre. No publisher nor news room were hiring. I joined the dole queue and discovered the realities of life as an unemployed.
In spring of 2010, a year after I had resigned, my former employer lured me back into my old job…on a maternity cover contract. When the contract terminated earlier this year (2011), and there were no prospects for a new job, I signed on with the JobCentre once again, and, man, was it harder the second time around…
Long-term unemployment can be demoralising and tends to undermine your confidence and self-esteem. I have been documenting my thoughts and experiences as a jobseeker in this blog, hoping it will help others in a similar situation. Sharing the burden makes it lighter.
From the end of last month, I have been working full-time again, albeit on a fixed-term contract. But this wasn’t achieved overnight and long-term unemployment took a toll on me, the effects of which I am still recovering from.
Although, technically, I am no longer on the dole, the lessons I’ve I learned are worth sharing with the world, so the blog lives on. Many people who read my blog have written to say it helped them survive rough patches during their own unemployment. Their voices keep me going.
I welcome guest contributors to this blog, whether you are unemployed or employed but looking for work, have a strong opinion to air about employment practices or simply want to comment on something that’s been in the news, which affects those on the dole. Don’t be shy: get in touch.
A few other places where you can find me are:
- On Twitter, where I am @OrangeBlossomer.
- My other blog: Blagetty Blogetty Bragitee.
- Help Me Investigate Welfare site, which I community manage/edit.
- The Help Me Investigate blog, where I am a contributor.
- Brighton Future of News group meetups, which I co-organise.
I live life as an open book, so get ready to be surprised by my honesty.
The cows in the heading above live in the nature reserve near my house. Whenever I go there to practise taichi at this secluded spot, they gather in a row along the gate to watch me. They are my captive audience so I thought it would bode well to bring them here to watch over me while I blog away.
