My 4 months of funemployment in 2016 was the longest I have been funemployed in my career. In previous years I had only been without a job for about a month at a time, which was exactly enough time to network, find another job and do little else. This longer stint originally frustrated me. One company claimed to want to hire me before I even left my previous job, but was then put on hold. Then I went traveling. Despite my schedule rarely having me in Seattle for more than 24 hours another company a few weeks later said they wanted to hire me, but it fell through. I kept traveling. Another company inexplicably worked around my busy travel schedule and let me do several interviews over the phone claimed they wanted to hire me. And this too fell through in the end. There were several less serious disappointments along the way.
Originally this frustrated me, but then I remembered: I was traveling this whole time. Imagine what I could do if I actually stopped visiting friends around the country, stayed put and did nothing but tried to find a job. So after 3 months of travel that’s what I did. And during that time I realized that my routine had changed. I had picked up a few habits that while difficult made me happier. I started:
- Having weekly calls with my college roommate in Argentina. Previously we would talk maybe once a year and now it’s every week
- Having weekly calls with my “sister-in-law”
- Trying to take a walk outside daily. These big windows in our apartment make me feel like I’m outside when I’m really not 🙂
- To realize that I like working from home: getting up, searching for jobs, making lunch with my partner when he works from home too. It was lovely
This time away from the daily grind not only helped me put things on my calendar that help me and my relationships grow, but it also made me realize an important factor in my job search: the ability to work from home.
Originally when I interviewed at the company I now work with I was a little ambivalent. I was already far down the funnel of the interview process with two other companies. But then they mentioned they all work from home. GAME CHANGER. When two companies both came to me with offers I immediately went for Company 6 in my mind. I thought working from home would make anything bearable. And so far I’ve been correct. So despite the round about journey I took to find my current job (which I love) I wouldn’t have had it any other way. What I originally thought was a frustrating time taught me many lessons and left me in a much better state than I started.
Surely many of your friends from college fell to the wayside… shy the effort with your argentinian friend and also the sister in law vs any other relative??
I ask because over the years I’ve periodically tried to reconnect with friends i was once very close with, including a roommate or two and it petered out like it did before or that closeness was difficult to re-establish.
Luckily no – I still keep up with my close friends as far back as middle school. All my close high school and college friends included. It might help that I don’t count many people as ‘close’ friends so it’s easier to keep track of a relatively small number. I’m not sure, but I’ve been lucky in that way.