Job search is serious, but take time to laugh

Are you taking your job search too seriously?

The inspiration for this question comes from a radio show I appeared on recently with Gary Eichten, host of “Midday” for Minnesota Public Radio. As longtime host of this daily program, Eichten tackles the toughest issues of the day, from politics and business to, well, job search in an economic recession.

So that’s what we were doing last Friday, but instead of talking in serious radio tones, we were yukking it up like the “Car Talk” guys. It’s my fault, I’ll admit. Directly after the show I was hopping a bus for the airport, for a get-outta-Dodge weekend with friends. Not even the previous hour spent by the side of the road pouring oil into my 15-year-old van could dampen my spirits.

AMY LINDGREN

WORKING STRATEGIES

(True story: Forty minutes before I was due at the radio station, I was coasting down the highway watching my oil light with one eye, seeking off-ramps with gas stations with the other, the whole time wondering what had possessed me to leave my cellphone at home in my luggage.)

 So maybe my lightheartedness in the studio was just relief at having gotten there. Or … maybe I just don’t find job search that serious of a topic.

There. I said it. And I meant it, too. And I said it on the radio when we were chided by a listener who called to say that our laughter offended her. What about people’s savings, she said, and all the blue collar workers who might be at rock bottom? And then she rapped my knuckles directly when she said, “I can’t believe you’re laughing about this, Amy.”

Ouch. Remember that feeling when one of your parents didn’t yell but said instead, “I’m disappointed in you?” I found myself transported back to my childhood, scuffing my toes in the dirt and drooping my shoulders.

 She did have a point. That is, job search and unemployment are ridiculously serious subjects. The thing is, I don’t know that we benefit from taking them too seriously. As I said in my response, job search isn’t cancer or a terminal diagnosis. It’s just job search, and jobs are just jobs.

 How do I know? Well, first, because I’ve been fired and laid off so often. I didn’t do a lot of laughing at the time, but, thank goodness, a sense of perspective allowed me to move on with a minimum of teeth-gnashing.

 Now I spend every day and many of my weekends with job seekers in various states of distress. I help my clients with budgets, letters to creditors and relocation plans after evictions. I help business owners grieve the loss of their dreams and investments while making their first-ever résumé. And I keep a constant supply of tissue for people who need a good cry. For sure, I get that this is serious. And yet, I still think that taking it too seriously is a mistake.

 If you think you’re in danger of taking your job search too seriously, maybe the following tips will help.

 1. Plan for the future, but solve the short-term problems first. For example, if you’re broke, don’t spend down your savings or live on credit. Instead, work part-time or cash jobs while continuing your search. You’ll gain peace of mind and be able to focus better.

 2. Remember: Success attracts success, and people hire people they like. If you seem less worried and more confident, people will want to spend time with you. Networking is more productive when you don’t look as if your life depended on it.

 3. Develop both perspective and gratitude. You’ve had more difficult challenges — how did you manage? Others have gotten jobs in impossible situations — how? Do you still have friends? Family? Health? Whatever you have, focus your gratitude there and stop mourning what’s gone.

 4. Nurture your sense of humor. Come on — isn’t there some irony you can enjoy, or even a bit of gallows humor? If you emerge from this with a better sense of humor, you will have won a victory, no  matter what new job you hold.

 Can your lightheartedness go too far? Common sense says yes, although it’s hard to picture. For myself, I think I’ll ask MPR for a laugh track from the last show — maybe I can play it in my office lobby or restroom and start cheering people up subliminally.

If you want to hear the show yourself, you can find it on MPR’s Web site.

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecaree rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.