Productivity Now! vs Frantic Job Searching

What has America lost besides jobs?

Thousands of Americans are out of work. Have we lost something else besides our jobs?

How many, and what kinds of, worthwhile projects are not getting done these days due to unemployment and underemployment? Have our all-consuming job searches or job-retention efforts kept us focused so tightly on the lowest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – physical and material survival – that we’re sacrificing the soul-survival, self-nurturing activities of volunteer work, research in areas of personal interest, self improvement, and the like? Across the nation communities are poorer because the time and energy that could be channeled into charity, activism and artistry is going toward the full-time job search.

In May, United Professionals carried Barbara Ehrenreich’s Los Angeles Times article on Unemployment as a New Form of Work. In it, she says:

“In most parts of the world, from Paris to Beijing, mass unemployment brings the specter of mass social unrest. Not here, though, where 13 million people have accepted joblessness with nary a peep of protest. Many reasons — from Prozac to Pentecostalism — have been cited to explain American passivity in the face of economic violence. But the truth may be far simpler: In America, being unemployed doesn’t mean you have nothing to do but run around burning police cars. Unemployment has been reconfigured as a new form of work. Nowhere is this clearer than in the white-collar world, where the laid-off are constantly advised to see job searching as a full-time job. As business self-help guru Harvey Mackay advises: “Once you’re fired, you already have a job. The job you have is tougher than the last one. It’s more demanding.” How demanding? He says you need to “plan on 12 to 16 hours a day.” Picture it: People across America rising at the usual time, suiting up in full corporate regalia and setting themselves down at their laptops to fiddle with resumes, peruse Monster.com and pester everyone on their address lists for leads. Some people have no doubt found jobs in this manner, but there have been no scientific comparisons of the technique with, say, printing a resume on a sandwich board and parading around Times Square.” You can read the entire article here.

So the UP Board of Directors is asking you …

In a society with so much of our identity locked up in job titles, how does the new reality (freelance work, underemployment and full-time job search) interfere with personal development, artistry and work for the greater good?

Self-help and business gurus are pushing you to do more “developmental” things.  But they’re professional development tasks that you would likely have done anyway  (only with your employer reimbursing you for them). Activities like taking classes to maintain your professional skills and attending professional association meetings may or may not help you land the next position, but they most assuredly will use your time and energy.

What activities or projects would feed the inner you? Are there free or inexpensive “whole person” nourishing projects you could undertake … to strengthen your psychological health and physical health, as well as your professional health?

Please comment on this blog to help UP get a sense of how the recession is hurting U.S. productivity and community in ways other than the obvious decrease in job productivity and the downturn in consumer spending caused by continuing joblessness. Please tell us what you’re NOT doing because your time is consumed by job-searching. For example:

• Are you NOT able to afford charitable donations?
• Are you NOT able to afford the time/money to support your children’s extracurricular activities — sports, music, scouting?
• Are you NOT able to mentor newcomers to your profession through the professional organizations whose membership dues you can’t afford?

We want your story that demonstrates what America is losing out on because people can’t give time and attention to causes due to our constant focus on survival. We hope that your responses will provide some suggestions for the kinds of “job stimulus” the federal government is considering putting into place.

While you’re telling us what you’re not doing, we hope you also consider this: Any type of projects that you do, you can put on your resume for the time period you’re un- or under-employed. You never know what that next employer will be looking for. It may be some skills you learned or project-management ability you demonstrated in one of your personal projects. So, please don’t let feelings of guilt stop you from spending some energy on yourself. After all, whatever your next job is, YOU are your first job.

Tags: Barbara-Ehrenreich, self-development, unemployment as a new form of work

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Directors Blog, blog, home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.