What DO you do when you’re unemployed?
‘So, what do you do?’: the most dreaded question for anyone who is unemployed.
It’s a question that must regularly knock you off guard. Whenever you are introduced to someone new, it’s going to be one of the first things you’re asked.
But does what you do – or not do – for a living equal who you are?
It’s a dangerous game to define yourself by your career, because as so many people in property – and indeed, across most professions – have found out, as an employee you’re never truly in control. Essentially, you’re putting your identity in the hands of others.
But we all judge people by their career decisions. When you meet an architect, a lawyer, a fund manager, you make assumptions about who they are as individuals: their backgrounds, their intelligence, their motivations, the money they earn, their lifestyle…
In April last year, just as the redundancies started to happen, psychotherapist Phillip Hodson, head of media for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, was quoted in the Guardian saying that he thinks men in particular are likely to describe themselves according to their careers.
‘[…] I do think more often than not a man’s career is central to his identity,’ he said. ‘Men are more invested in work status – perks, cars, titles, privileges – so losing these things can be devastating.’ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/apr/19/redundancy.workandcareers).
It’s not just about status though, it’s about everyday things, such as, how do you know what you should do on Monday mornings if you’re not being paid to do it?
If redundancy is the card you are dealt, you surely have to separate yourself from your job title in order to gain the perspective needed to make decisions and move forward.
So, what exactly do you do? Well, that’s up to you to answer, but ‘Who are you?’ is a completely different question.
2 Responses to “What DO you do when you’re unemployed?”
By Kate on Jul 3, 2009 | Reply
I agree Lydia. I think it’s a very British obsession to ask what jobs people do, when actually most people are loads more interesting than their jobs makes them sound. Surveyors are a case in point!
By Juan on Jul 3, 2009 | Reply
I work for a really exciting NGO and I get to travel all over the world but when I tell people my job title ‘Knowledge Assurance Assistant’ people frown and look non-plussed and certainly assume that I am in a terribly boring data entry position. Luckly for me this couldn’t be further from the truth but it still affects people’s perception of me.
So for this reason, I agree with Lydia it can be stressful telling people what you do becuase if I ignore my job title and launch into a description of the actual work I do most people switch off, they don’t really want to know the details they just want the title and will cast their judgements from this. So yes Lydia, if I was made redundent I really wouldn’t know what I would do on a Monday morning and to be honest I wouldn’t want to make that decision as it would mean admitting defeat and losing my identity as the one who has always worked for a charity.
With regards to being made redundant, I would be devastated. I worked very hard after leaving University to get into the career I am in, and it was always my goal to work in the not for profit sector. If I was to made redundant now I would have to consider an alternate path which I have not had to do since I was 18!