Stop Shuckin’ and Jivin’: How Some of Us Are Letting Excuses Hinder Career Success

Stop Shuckin’ and Jivin’: How Some of Us Are Letting Excuses Hinder Career Success


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I was recently thinking about more ideas for Career content, which is part of what I handle here at BlackEnterprise.com, and I became frustrated. With all the resources available to the public on how to gain employment and make themselves more marketable to find job seeking success, the fact still remains that black unemployment stands at more than 16%.

SMH.

I thought to myself, “Lord, what more can I do to provide resources for people who are unemployed? How can I be of help in this national epidemic?

I know there are a plethora of factors that contribute to the current unemployment problem in this country. I also know that I can’t save the world.

But the one thing I can say is this: Though there are valid reasons many are out of work, some people are riding on the excuse train — young people in particular — crying about not being to get a job but doing nothing exceptional about it.

They’re using the same methods they used before the recession and expecting different results.

Some of us have heard the usual excuses:

The [White man/racism/sexism/classism] is holding me back.

The government needs to help me. Obama isn’t doing enough.

I’m too old to get back in the game.

It’s too expensive to invest in services that will maximize my job seeking success.

I’ve sent out so many resumes and got no call backs. I give up.

They want experience for the position, but nobody will hire me, so I can’t get the experience needed to be marketable.

True, it can be frustrating and challenging to be unemployed. I’ve experienced unemployment myself, and let’s just say it wasn’t the best time of my life. I was forced to put pride and anger to the side, take a job making less than the one I previously held, and strategically make moves that would position me for the job I ultimately wanted.

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