Choosing a job when unemployed.

When you are unemployed and looking for work, many people around you will tell you to take the first job that comes along. This thinking is the main slogan offered by both the Welfare Office and Job Office since their goal is to get you working again. But is this easy way of thinking the best way? What if the job you are first offered isn't the ideal job for you? Do you stay unemployed and continue searching for the ideal job?

Why People Work

Working, even when it is not the ideal job, provides payoffs:

• Income, obviously to support ourselves
• Status by allowing you to take on the provider role along with self sufficiency
• Power when you are in control of situations either your own or others.

This list would suffice if being paid for a job was the only consideration in holding onto a job. Unfortunately, pay isn't enough of a reason in itself for someone to get up each morning for work; although it is a major factor in daily thinking. There is a need for motivation to achieve anything in our lives. There needs to be a reason, otherwise there is no sense in making the effort.

What Happens When Pay Isn't Enough

Working a less than ideal job is a reality for most people. If you have been working at something that doesn't realistically represent you or your skills, frustration and resentment begin to build up. This causes physical reactions:

• The speed and efficiency of the work is lost
• The quality of the work degrades
• Stress levels increase
• Overall physical health begins to diminish

If there is a lack of feeling valued or appreciated, both morale and motivation become low as the human spirit loses strength. At this point we spend as much time 'clock watching' as we do working. Our effectiveness at the job is reduced and may threaten our means of earning an income. Realistically you will not be happy in your work all the time, nor will you like everyone you work with. But you are allowed the right to enjoy the work and develop skills as much as possible.

How To Avoid The Bad Job As First Job Offered

How do you find the ideal job, while not being forced to take the first lousy job offered?

• Know what your ideal job is, and in what field it is in.
• Look mainly in the field that will give you your ideal job
• Look for ways to enter your field, even at a lower stage, which allow growth and upward movement to your ideal job
• Continue networking, searching, and contacting others about positions in your ideal job field
• Create skills that allow you to get into your ideal job faster

While being unemployed does mean money becomes most of the issue to taking a job, finding yourself in a position of taking a bad job because it was the first to be offered is not always a requirement.