I’ll bet I know exactly why you have job search blues.

You’ve spent a lot of time writing and rewriting your resume till you have it fine-tuned and ready for the job market. Then you distributed it to several job sites like Monster and HotJobs. You answered a bunch of job opening ads and mailed or emailed your resume directly some companies. You even contacted some agencies and recruiters. Maybe you went to a job fair.

The reason for the job search blues is that, after all the…

To lose a job, for any reason, is to lose something of value. Even work we didn’t particularly like meant something to us. It gave us some type of identity, money, sometimes prestige and power. Loss of work leads to a general emotional loss. While it doesn’t jolt our world as much as losing a spouse or a child, or even going through a divorce, it is similar to having a long-standing relationship break up or the death of a favorite family pet. We need to give ourselves time…

When we are under stress, we start to experience wide swings in mood. In a new relationship, for example, we are ecstatic when the telephone rings, depressed and tearful when we don’t hear anything for two or three days. When we are ill, we are elated when tests come back negative, fearful and exhausted when a problem is identified. Working under a demanding tyrant, we are upbeat with any hint of praise and despondent when the inevitable criticism splashes in our faces.

The pervasiveness of being out of work…

In addition to the anger and fear generated by job loss, there is the total emotional devastation of being figuratively thrown on a pile of human debris. Regardless of the reason you are no longer working – company losses, relocation, outsourcing – the process hurts!

You are being given notice that you are not as important as you thought; that your employer and, by extension the world, can get along very nicely without you. More than being respected or being loved, we all desperately want to be needed. Having…

Unemployment is depressing: financial pressures stress you out, looking for work is humiliating, and your fragile self-confidence reels under the blows of indifference and rejection.

It becomes harder to get up in the morning, to take care of yourself, to be supportive and loving to those around you, to swing energetically into job search activities.

Here are 7 tips on beating those I-want-to-get-a-job-but-nobody-wants-me blues.

1. Create a schedule for your week: 5 hours per day (maximum) of looking for work, 2 hours per day (minimum) of relaxing, having fun…

If we are unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, we experience a personal tsunami – a misfortune of devastating proportions that sweeps away our routine lifestyle and forever changes the world we know.

Yet despite the frequency of such events – the tidal waves of Asia, the hurricanes of the Gulf Coast, the loss of life in the Middle East, the wildfires and mudslides of California – most of us are only indirectly affected. We bleed for those who have lost everything, give…

The unemployment checks are running out and there is no potential job in sight. The wolf is knocking at the door and you need to survive.

Here are five tips to keep you afloat.

1. Ignore your ego and get everyone on board. You hate letting your children see you as less than competent and completely in charge but now is the time to share your predicament and let them help. By talking with your family, you allow even small children to better appreciate the realities of the world…

Looking for work is a roller-coaster ride: high with elation when you think you’ve found a great position, low with discouragement when you realize that someone else was offered a job you wanted.

Most of the time, you fall somewhere in between, your mood cycling from cautious optimism to keen disappointment. You try to conceal the inner turmoil, turning a brave face to the world, trying to convince everyone that you are “just fine.”

For the sake of your health and your sanity, try these approaches:

1. Identify someone…

Although the job market has improved over the past year, many employers are still reluctant to make a long term commitment to growing their employee rolls until it is clear that a solid economic expansion is underway. They need new staff to handle the increase in orders and customer demands but are loath to hire permanent workers who may have to be cut in a few months if business stagnates. Any reduction in force carries major headaches for a company: employee morale falls, lawsuits arise, precious time is eaten…

Looking for work can be difficult, frustrating, anxiety-provoking, and demeaning.

There are few situations we encounter in life where we feel so powerless. Not only do we have a sense that we have little control over the outcome, but we also feel judged. We become objectified, presented like a colt at a yearling auction or a slave on the bidding block. We walk, we talk, we run around in circles, while the “buyers” look us over, discuss our finer points and weaknesses, and make their decision to buy…