Unemployment is not such a bad thing. At least that is what YUD leads us to believe. YUD, who lives in New York City, is unemployed and she is some one’s daughter. YUD, “Your Unemployed Daughter”, maintains a blog detailing her exploits about “the halcyon days and sleepless nights of a formerly high-powered media exec”.
You can learn more about YUD here. Want the Full-YUD? Find it here.
YUD and I have something in common…aside from a penchant for stiff drinks and so-bad-but-so-good KISS songs…we are both unemployed. While YUD has more than enough to say to keep us interested about unemployment, I thought she might like an international perspective.
I just relo’d to London from Sydney. In the process, I left my job behind and now rank amongst London’s ever growing gang of unemployed down and out’ers. I am stringing together a few words about my London exploits and sharing them on YUD.
Seeing as my wife (my “partner”) is the one with her nose to the grindstone each day, I am taking on the role of YUP: Your Unemployed Partner. It is all fun and games before the novelty wears off and YUP turns in to S.O.B faster than you can shake an unemployment check at.
My initial post on YUD, “Take This Job and Shove It”, can be found here. For the latest on my lowdown-London-unemployment ways, go here and/or read below:
Release the Hounds!
The one good thing about being unemployed in London is being unemployed in London. I am so busy keeping busy I haven’t had time to start the job search. There is so much to experience and explore here that I wonder why anyone would want to work in the first place
Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way.
The news flash this week told us that unemployment in the UK has reached a 14-year high, 7.9 percent. Since July some 210,000 people have become jobless. Bravo, Londoners. I am inspired by your decision to leave your jobs and stop letting this great city and all it has to offer pass you by
Oh, wait … you mean to tell me people are not choosing to be unemployed? Almost two million newly unemployed in the past 12 months is not a good thing
Of course it isn’t. People in London are struggling to find jobs. For those who have jobs, the prospect of a raise or receiving annual bonuses is bleak. Worst of all, “they” tell us it isn’t going to get better any time too soon
Timing is everything. Just two weeks ago I left Sydney and a six-figure salary. Now I sit in my rented London flat banging away on my keyboard entering my stats into online job-find sites. Me and 1.8 million of my new found jobless mates, looking for salvation via a search engine
And don’t forget about the zombie parade going in and out of the recruiter’s office. That meat market march is a chore I detest
Do I sound jaded? I’m not. These are just the cold, hard facts of unemployed life. No one is going to serve it up for you, and if they do, it’s probably too good to be true
Remember, I have moved three times to three countries and have had to find work with each relocation. I’m well-versed in this game. It is never a fun process, but it’s one that, at the very least, I have come to terms with
That being said, I have been doing more than sightseeing
There was some low-hanging fruit I needed pluck since my arrival—two leads that I had prior to leaving Sydney turned into interviews. Two interviews in 11 days … not too shabby. If anything, it was good to get back in the game
Interviewing is nothing more than the art of storytelling. People want to talk to you because they want to hear your story. You tell a good story and they listen. If they want to be part of that story, they hire you
My story, apparently, is an interesting one. The two interviews went well and there was promise of a second round from both companies. Nothing is nothing until it is something, so we’ll just have to see if they call back
In the meantime, I’m going back out to explore London. No sense waiting by the phone for it to ring … I did enough of that in high school (and she never called back like she said she would!)
Not to mention all of the pubs. There is a pub on every corner and one in between. I have still yet decided what my favourite local ale is to be. I am sure I have plenty of time to figure it out before the second round of interviews … if they ever call back, that is.
