"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Polonius in Hamlet and he was a gloomy one as well.

It's not the first two weeks of unemployment that bring home the reality of what has happened and the mountain that must be climbed, it's week three when it gets difficult. After that sombre opening - some gratuitous positive statements and then a cup of tea. Well, I am British and, as we know, a cup of tea solves everything from being a little down after a busy day to dealing with the after effects of a nuclear war. I love those asides you hear when someone says "there's nothing worse than a [fill in blank here] stain on shirt/spilling a drop of coffee/running out of milk in the evening/seeds not germinating." Oh yes there is - try a tsunami for starters, though living in central England as I do, that comes under the "possible but not likely heading".

The first two weeks comprise quite a bit of denial and a fair amount of busy, busy, work, work. Got to knock the CV into shape, tell friends and acquaintances of your new situation, tell your Mum and Dad (three times), email all those networking contacts, find the business cards for those networking contacts so you can actually email them, sign on at the Job Centre, answer all those personal questions about your life, fill in more forms than you normally see in 6 months (10 pages + 12 additional photocopies for mortgage protection insurance alone and now they want 6 more), log on to and upload CV to Monster/totaljobs/fish-for-jobs/trawl-desperately-for-jobs/
exec-jobs/lowly-paid-mac-job/
you-know-I'll-do-any-thingatall-jobs-including cleaning-Raglan-sewers-again-jobs
(although that would be a sort of job job on reflection). There's also the tasks around the house that you now have the odd hour for and can now complete and, gosh, the garden hasn't looked that good for years has it?

I met a man the other day. Early 50's, been unemployed for seven weeks now, first time in his life, 18 years with the same company and then "let go". Hurl. Hadn't done a thing to look for a job so far. Walks the dog twice a day, wife asks to him to go out because it's upset her routine, thinks he ought to start looking for a new job soon. At this point I feel like a grizzled veteran from a Second World War movie, like John Wayne or Audie Murphy, watching the fresh troops move up to the front line with their shiny rifles and wearing their newly pressed combat clothes. You know the sort of thing, Big John spits out his disreputable cheroot, wipes his filthy brow with the back of his hand and snarls "most'll be dead in two days". These men, Big John and Audie, are combat vets, they've seen all the action and can smell a fresh recruit from a mile away. Yep, it's just like that at the Job Centre.

What happens now is that it goes deathly quiet. You may have submitted several CVs for likely looking jobs, perhaps talked to some recruitment consultants and attracted their attention for all of two minutes, maybe even had your first rejection. But now all that early work is complete. This is the time when it gets very hard indeed to keep motivated until you find the new routine of job searching to replace the old routine of actually having a job. But you will find that new routine because you have to. You have to adapt. When someone asks how you are, they do not really want to know that you are totally brassed off and could cheerfully roast a member of staff from the Job Centre over an open fire. What you really need to be is positive, not elaborate on the circumstances, and just make sure that they know you are still looking and maybe they can refer you to someone who might be able to help (that's a newly learned tip, see even the vets need new ammunition). Oh, and ask them do they have any matches?

I have discovered that you are very unlikely to find an old oil lamp that you can rub and then find a genie popping out telling you that you have three wishes. Actually I did find one once but wasted two wishes asking for two KitKats when I realised that I could have just used one wish to ask for a four-finger bar. It is a very true and pithy aphorism that states "finding a new job is a job in itself." I'm spending a minimum of two hours a day, starting at 0700, working on the job hunt. Some days I spend all day and then worry it is not enough. I have to share this valuable point: don't apply for jobs (not yet anyway) that you are not qualified for and wouldn't want in any event. It's bad enough being rejected so why increase the number of rejections to make yourself feel even more worthless and unwanted? Q. Why do people get low paid jobs? A. They apply for them.

I've had some terrific advice from some great people across the world e.g. get out of the bathroom someone else is waiting. No, some truly great advice from people who I didn't know before (and haven't met and may never meet) but are willing to try and help. There are some who have helped shaped my CV and given me interview tips, others that have suggested adapting my networking skills and suggested books to read. Having this community of empathetic people is a great morale booster. What isn't a great morale booster are people bemoaning the fact to me that their bonus is only paying out 95% and they may have to drop that fifth holiday later this year. I have a word, indeed several, for those sort of occasions. I won't share those with you. Others have commented on this blog about the Job Seekers' Allowance (a non sequitur, as there isn't one if you have more than 5p in life savings) and undertaking part-time work - although I may have solved this out by finding some part-time work that more than compensates for the JSA that I'm not getting in the first place.

The score after three weeks unemployment.
2 interviews - 1 rejection, one offer of part time work for three months. To be confirmed next week.
1 vague possibility of a few weeks work far, far away in another galaxy - and if this comes off I'll eat my Job Seekers' Allowance.
2 further jobs applied for, no feedback
2 further jobs, work in progress
50 networking emails sent - some limited feedback with a sort of job offer in a city 150 miles away for 60% lower salary than I had been earning. Bit of a mismatch I feel.
278 versions of my CV produced (OK, some exaggeration perhaps)

"The best of times the worst of times." If you knew that this would last seven months and then a wonderful job would come along wouldn't that be great? Except that you don't know how long it's going to take so...as Polonius said, sort of, good or bad, only thinking makes it so. No genie, no wishes so you might as well be positive.