Category Archives for "Unemployment"

Feb 28

Unemployment’s not so Black and White

By ZoWun | Employment/Career Statistics , Unemployment

“The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.” 

Mahatma Ghandi

Last week, I wrote about numbers. About how underemployment is sitting at a 23-year high and trending up, how we have 1.1 million Australians looking for more work than they currently have, and how even the unemployment rate is significantly higher when you change the parameters of the survey from a person who hasn’t worked at least one hour in the previous month to a person not working and looking for work at some point over the previous month.

This week, I want to write about a common story found behind the numbers. For many of us, finding work in Australia is hard. As a society, we seem to have little patience for people experiencing unemployment or underemployment, and we base this on two things. Firstly, the assumption that finding work isn’t actually that hard because “I’ve never had any trouble”, and so by default, the unemployed person must be either too picky or too lazy to “get off their bum and get a job.” Secondly, that in some way, the unemployed person is beholden to us because “our taxes” pay their welfare.

I was stunned when I saw the responses on a local social media page when a woman sought advice regarding finding work here.

There was no consideration given for her qualifications, experience, her strengths and weaknesses, health or capabilities. No one even inquired about them. Every suggestion was menial and was often accompanied with a comment about how she should take whatever she could get.

There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding that if the job is unskilled, it’s easy to get.

There are a number of problems with this. Firstly, this advice is often administered by people who have been in the same job for decades or haven’t experienced unemployment, especially not long-term unemployment. The comments generally start with “I’ve never had a problem finding a job, you just have to get off the couch.” Therefore, it’s not coming from a place of experience or empathy, but of judgment. Secondly, menial and unskilled work is not actually easy to attain, especially if you have unrelated qualifications and a work history that doesn’t demonstrate the required skills. Even then, the willingness to undertake menial work does not necessarily lead to employment.

Unemployment is often a demeaning experience on its own, without the social media trolls coming out of the woodwork to tell them how easy finding work is and to get a job scrubbing toilets.

There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding that if the job is unskilled, it’s easy to get. A hirer in this situation is still doing risk assessments when it comes to hiring decisions and often being unsuitably, or over, qualified can be a huge disadvantage. Telling this woman that ABC company is looking for a concreter isn’t realistically helpful when she is a trained counsellor.

Unemployment is often a demeaning experience on its own, without the social media trolls coming out of the woodwork to tell them how easy finding work is and to get a job scrubbing toilets. Unemployment is the leading cause of poverty according to the Australian Council of Social Service. It puts people at a significantly higher risk of depression, which in itself impacts a person’s self-motivation, sense of intrinsic value and ability to engage with others. When this person actually reaches out and seeks help, only to be told that they aren’t trying hard enough, this advice compounds an already challenging and emotional situation.

Ghandi famously said: “The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.” If this is the case, we are going to be found wanting. Out of the federal budget, the cost of welfare for the unemployed and sick is $10 billion a year – it costs us more to support families with children than it does to help those experiencing unemployment. Allow me to ask you, what is the cost of not helping them?

This article was first published in the Border Mail on February 27, 2018, and is republished here with permission from the Editor in Chief, Xavier Mardling.

Mar 14

The danger of looking for ‘any job’

By ZoWun | Career development , Unemployment

As both a recruiter and a careers practitioner, ‘anything’ is the answer I have often heard when I have asked someone what they want to do for a job. People perhaps don’t want to appear to be picky in case you don’t consider them for a role that would mean money to them, or perhaps they are so desperate for work that they don’t stop to think about what they should do, what they want to do, or even what realistically they can do. Work is work and when there are bills to be paid, choice can be seen as a luxury that they simply cannot afford.

According to many online forums, ‘anything’ is also often the answer to what people should be willing to do but apparently aren’t when they are experiencing unemployment. Social media is rife with keyboard warriors spreading the idea that ‘anything’ is an appropriate, if not expected outcome for the job seekers in our community, set against the belief that people are experiencing unemployment because they are hanging out for a ‘better’ role. It seems that once you are experiencing unemployment, all bets are off and there is a social expectation that you will take the first job that comes along regardless of suitability.

There is a huge problem with this approach that needs to be addressed. Firstly, I understand the panic of feeling like you need to get into another job immediately regardless of what it is because of impending financial chaos with the debt collectors knocking at your door. However, you also need to consider the wider implications of this reaction.

Your mental health can be significantly impacted if you take a job that is a step (or a leap) backwards for you in your career – will you hate work every day? Research suggests that we spend up to 75% of our day in work-related activities and as such, it is so important that we get this right. Taking a job that you don’t really want can also damage the work chronology of your résumé, making it harder to get back on track. The stress (and sometimes resentment) you feel about taking this position can impact your personal relationships and cause stress in your personal life, and the longer you stay in the undesirable role, the harder it will be to break out of it and find a job that you actually want, resulting in you feeling trapped in the position that was only meant to be a ‘filler.’

Research tells us that less than half of Australians are happy with their job, and our work-life balance is getting worse. It’s so important to pay attention to our career development and look at how we can make decisions to better meet our broader needs.

We all need money to survive, but it’s not the only thing that we need. We need to be smart about how we plan our next step – even through the haze of panic that experiencing unemployment can stir. We need to be strong in our convictions and be able to truthfully answer the question ‘why do you want this job?’ demonstrating that we have thought about it and specifically want to attain the role. Considering a lower level job in a company that we want to work for or in an industry we’d like to be in, can be a way of side stepping without creating too much damage to our careers along the way.

We also need to remember that ultimately, these decisions are rarely in our hands; being overqualified is a leading cause of failing to be shortlisted for a job. It’s not always about being willing to accept ‘any’ job that comes along – it isn’t a matter of snobbery – it is very difficult to convince a hirer to hire you when they believe you are overqualified and will leave the minute a better role comes along. The assumption that people are experiencing unemployment because they won’t accept ‘any’ job is based on the premise that they are being offered jobs and declining them. Many of us in this situation never have that opportunity.

Remember – while unemployment is rarely a choice, how you go about searching for work is. It’s not snobbery to look for work in a company, industry or career that you want. It’s not about waiting for a ‘dream job,’ it’s about being smart about what you do with the fresh start you’ve been given.

This article was first published in the Border Mail and is re-published here with permission.