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Economic hard times: strategies and tactics
October 8th, 2008
No doubt about it, a recession is hitting the world, very hard in some places. That’s not good for job hunters, but there are ways of living through the storm.
The big issues in recessions are
- Income,
- Expenses,
- Accommodation,
- General stability in your life,
- Figuring out how to finally escape from the unemployment trap
This is survival, and you need to watch your step. Even getting a job has to be kept in perspective.
INCOME
How you get your income is the primary concern, but you need more than one option. Living on welfare is a grinding, frustrating, infuriating process.
It’s also the bottom rung of the ladder, and it’s not the only possible source of income for some people.
There are other options, depending on your profession, qualifications, and what’s available. These other options are sometimes very useful, and you can improve your employment and career moves.
These are a few possibilities:
- Arts grants
- Student grants/allowances
- Literature grants
- Mature age training schemes
- Community schemes
- Philanthropic scholarships and grants
- Paid internships
- Online jobs
- Self employment
These grants and schemes are a step up from unemployment benefits, any way you look at them. They’re all training related, so you’re also picking up skills which can translate into jobs.
For mature age people, study and other options are a bit easier to get. They may take a bit of finding, depending on where you live, but they’re not impossible.
Many student and training support schemes are based on long experience of the realities of the needs of people in these situations. They’re pretty good, if not luxurious, and you don’t have to trudge around in the unemployment desert with no sense of direction.
Internships aren’t flashy jobs, but they come with career credentials on the other end of them. They are real jobs, and they do help down the track when you’re going for full-time professional jobs.
Self employment is a realistic option for some people, if their skills can translate into a cash-generating business on any level. Most unemployment benefits aren’t particularly generous, and self employment looks a lot better on a CV than an empty space. It proves initiative.
Not great jobs, but-
In really tough times, some jobs are better than none, even if they’re not particularly impressive in normal employment markets.
Even commission sales jobs can work, if you’re prepared to put in the effort. They’re tough, and notoriously hard work, but if you have the talent, they’re a good option.
Demonstrator jobs in supermarkets, and other acquired tastes are a bit of an improvement, particularly if they generate better money and ongoing work.
Important Note: There is a downside with these types of jobs. If they don’t deliver in terms of return for effort, move on and try something else.
EXPENSES
- If you can cut or share costs, do it.
- If you can afford to use some of your savings, do it, provided it leads somewhere.
- If you can avoid spending, do it.
- Learn how to budget for food and covering costs.
- Make life more bearable with affordable entertainment and a social life.
The financial problems in recessions can be severe beyond belief.
Everybody’s having a hard time, and you need some reliable way to cover your tail and stay afloat.
Realism can be a very annoying state of mind, but with costs it’s essential. Try and have some spare cash for when you actually need it.
ACCOMMODATION
For those that don’t know, it is quite possible for anyone who’s been living on an average wage to find themselves at risk of losing the roof over their heads when they lose their job.
Never take accommodation costs for granted. Rents can be murderous, and you need a place which is both acceptable and affordable. Cheap and nasty can be real trouble, but some people pay far more than they need for accommodation. You need a decent place, but a sustainable cost.
Mortgages, need it be said, can get mean, and become serious problems. Sad to say, sometimes they’re more dangerous than it’s worth. People saddled with the high mortgages for homes during the housing bubble need to consider their options. Sometimes that means the mortgage just has to go.
Getting rid of a mortgage and selling is not easy in a falling housing market, but it’s necessary if the mortgage is likely to sink you.
GENERAL STABILITY IN YOUR LIFE
Above all else you do not need any further crises while unemployed.
If you’re young, you may need to change your entire lifestyle to avoid the normal teenage trouble. That’s not morality talking. It’s because you’re extremely vulnerable. Everybody goes through this phase, and the fact is that the teens and early 20s are more at risk than anyone else in society.
The lifestyle is frantic, and trouble comes with it. Being unemployed makes things a lot worse. No money equates to no options. Worse, it also means no way out when you’re trying to avoid situations. Just stay out of harm’s way.
Older people, most of whom probably have had some experience of unemployment, also probably know the score. For them, it’s like being nuked. The story is duck and cover. Don’t stick your neck out, and you’ll probably still have your head attached.
There’s nothing good about unemployment.
For most people, it’s a brush with poverty, and it’s not a lot of fun, however cute mainstream media makes it look. You need a life you can live. Stabilizing your life means cutting risks and really working on survival above all else. For some people this really is life or death.
FIGURING OUT HOW TO FINALLY ESCAPE FROM THE UNEMPLOYMENT TRAP
If you’ve done all the other things, you can now have the luxury of working out how to get control of your life.
The unemployment trap is a very simple thing. It’s been making the lives of people miserable for centuries, and it’s easy to see why, when you see the pattern
Say this is the pattern of employment of a person aged 18:
- Job (3 years)
- Redundant- Unemployed (2 years)
- Job (18 months)
- Laid off- Unemployed (18 months)
- Part time job (3 years)
- Cutbacks- Unemployed (1 year and counting)
At age 30, this person has an employment record like a sieve. This won’t be the star candidate at interviews, and the CV won’t look too interesting. Even spread out over 12 years, the actual period of unemployment is 6 years. It’s more, if the part time job is considered on percentages of full time work.
This is a very ordinary work record, much like many younger people who can’t find their way into long term work. It wasn’t even this person’s fault, to lose those two first jobs.
However, this is the trap. The cycle is obvious, and the idea of finally escaping the unemployment trap is to break that pattern, permanently.
The solution varies a lot, between individuals, but the basic idea is to have something working for you all the time. If this person had taken a second part time job, or had started up some sort of business as a sideline at any point in this 12 years around the workforce, they’d be out of the trap.
The continuity of employment offsets things like redundancies, layoffs and cutbacks. They’re not as much of a problem for future employers, and the financial situation of the job hunter is a lot better. The risks are reduced.
In this case, instead of being a 30 year old with a serious situation, things would be relatively stable.
Even in this case, there are still ways out. Getting more skills, creating more options, and doing more actual exploration of possibilities will, eventually, break the cycle.
In a recession, you need all the help you can get.
If you can help yourself, you’re on your way out of the trap, and you may be able to get out under your own power.
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