How Much Unemployment is Lack of Effort?

In San Francisco a homeless man passed out his resume on a highway and wound up receiving hundreds of offers. This got me wondering, how many people do you think are involuntarily unemployed because of a lack of effort? This man obviously took a great deal of initiative. However, he also got lucky that his story went viral; he did have a college degree in a useful major, work experience at GM, and he had a good reputation amongst former contacts from the college. Lots of unemployed people face challenges such as health problems (mental and physical), rough backgrounds, a lack of experience, and often these things snowball to make it even harder to find work. I wouldn't think a lack of effort is a major cause, but I wanted to know what WSO thought. Is a significant amount of involuntary unemployment due to a lack of effort?

3 Comments
 

I think unemployment traps a lot of people. You get fired unexpectedly and it can really impact you psychologically. Then, by the time you recover, you have a gap on your resume. And let’s be real, a lot of people who get canned don’t read the tea leaves and prepare beforehand.

My personal philosophy is always have a pipeline. Always have your resume updated, always be networking, always have some soft offers out there. You get canned, take a week to wallow and then hit it hard. You need to have a goal every day of x resumes, x coffees, x calls. Try and refresh skills, volunteer, etc.

They being said, this is the view of an educated, younger professional. You can’t necessarily apply that to everyone.

 
Most Helpful

I think unemployment traps a lot of people. You get fired unexpectedly and it can really impact you psychologically. Then, by the time you recover, you have a gap on your resume. And let’s be real, a lot of people who get canned don’t read the tea leaves and prepare beforehand.

My personal philosophy is always have a pipeline. Always have your resume updated, always be networking, always have some soft offers out there. You get canned, take a week to wallow and then hit it hard. You need to have a goal every day of x resumes, x coffees, x calls. Try and refresh skills, volunteer, etc.

They being said, this is the view of an educated, younger professional. You can’t necessarily apply that to everyone.

 

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