QUESTION: I have been looking for a job for months, searching on Careerbuilder and networking with people from college. How can I find work? I keep applying, and don't get any serious offers -- only nibbles and interviews that lead nowhere. I'm starting to lose hope.
MY TAKE: What you really want, in most cases, is not a "job" or "work" but rather a reliable source of income -- so you can pay the bills without worry, enjoy your life, and maybe even have some left over to invest or save. Am I correct here?
A job, after all, is not so great: playing by someone else's rules, living your life on the clock, chained to a desk in some god awful cubicle all day -- or worse, dealing with lame customers in a retail or sales position. So "when will I get a job?" is the wrong question to ask the genie.
Seriously... get over the idea that you want a job! As the old saying goes, be very careful what you wish for... you just might get it. And by it, I mean a mediocre, dead-end job with health insurance and little chance of advancing beyond a certain point... and never becoming truly financially free.
You want an income stream. I always hear freelancers complaining about how they hate their lives, wishing they had a regular 9 to 5 career. As someone who has been in both worlds, I personally prefer freelancing AS LONG AS I have plenty of clients and work to choose from.
I like to be my own boss. So start taking on side jobs, start sniffing out freelance work, do literally anything and everything that you are qualified for -- as long as it pays. No work is "beneath" you. We are in the midst of the greatest economic downsizing since the Depression.
Do whatever you gotta do to make ends meet, and to produce enough income to comfortably save at least 15% of all you earn.
It's not easy, but you've already made a great first step by visiting this site. Read some of the other articles here at Credit Card Outlaw so you don't make the mistakes that many others have... for example, it is very easy to fall victim to credit card debt when you are unemployed or underemployed.
Instead, learn to slash your living expenses. Live within your means. Treat personal finance as a game, rather than a life or death situation, and you will come to enjoy it more. Saving money and staying above water is a fun challenge, not an awful crisis.
And if a job is what you truly want, I have no doubt you will eventually get one. There are still jobs out there. There is still work to be done. The unemployment rate is actually falling, finally, which is good news for job seekers.
But don't forget what you really want: financial freedom. That means a stable income, not necessarily a "job."
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