A bit of hope on the horizon?

It’s been such a bleak week and it is impossible to put a good spin on anything economic right now.  I’m personally disgusted at the collapse of the world economy…kind of fall of the Roman Empire on steroids, really.  I was always brought up to believe that money was worthless in itself…that it was how you used that money and what you did with it to enhance or secure the wellbeing of your family is what it was about.  Not about getting the newest, best car and the biggest plasma, the most sought-after shoes or purses, or pursuing that unique thingee that would ensure you stood out from the rest.  It was about having a good, happy life, with good values, caring for one’s neighbor and community and working together to better the world. 

Over the past 4 or 5 years I’ve received SO many emails from unemployed Boomers and beyond who just can’t find work and don’t know what to do.  With the current crisis, that despair has, of course, escalated.  As I was thinking about what I wanted to write about today, I got a question from a jobseeker, who after over 8 months of search without so much as a nod, ended up getting TWO job offers within a few weeks of each other.  It’s not the norm in this market…in fact many jobseekers will be looking for 2 years or more in order to find employment, however, it gave me a glimmer of hope.  This particular jobseeker got connected.

When I think back to how I got my first real job (sales girl for a retail clothing boutique), it was after days and days of walking from store to store to store in every mall I could find, filling out endless applications and finally showing up in one boutique on the very day that someone had just quit.  I was hired the next day.  Good timing. 

Do you remember how you got that first job?  I’ll bet you either pounded the pavement or someone you knew passed your name along to someone they knew.  THAT is going to be the hope for the coming years.  Going back to the human connection.  Rebuilding the working community.  Helping each other find work. 

Anyway, that reader’s email gave me MY lift for the day.