The Three Cs

By Caroline Mcdonagh

Courage

When someone becomes unemployed we often think of this as losing a job. However losing a job means also losing your income, your daily structure, confidence and self esteem. Quite often you will end up spending the majority of the week home alone or home with immediate family and ultimately losing a huge part of your business and social networks.

As you search for a new job your confidence decreases and so does your courage and motivation to go out and maintain existing friendships and acquaintances and develop new networks. Over time you will also lose confidence in your own skills and abilities and find your job search becoming more of a chore. This is the time where you need to rebuild your confidence and summon up your courage and push ahead with putting yourself in front of potential employers and new people and making contacts.

Community

In your search for a new job you need to build links with communities around you. This can be through your local social clubs, sports clubs and business networks and associations. It is important to develop links with a network related to you particular skills as you will have the opportunity to maintain and learn new skills. Also with the support from a group, this will help you develop your confidence and self esteem which is diminished when you were made redundant. This improvement in self worth and self sufficiency will have a positive impact on your job search, plan to set up a business and also your relationships with family and friends. Engaging with your community can help break that cycle of social isolation and give you a focus and sense of purpose.

Compelling

Everyone has a different story to tell. And so do you. You need to discover what is unique about you and sell your story to potential employers. You may have a unique combination of skills or experience from a wide range of industries. Do you have experience from a particular industry that can bring something new to a potential employer in terms of ideas, or new ways to do things? It is not enough to just talk about who you are, but what is different about you and what story you have to tell through your compelling life story and experiences.