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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I’ve always let the story and words of my Granny motivate me. She was born in the middle of the Great Depression and was so poor, she and her siblings couldn’t even afford penny candy. She not only went on to raise five kids and work decades in the retail industry (beginning her career during a very discriminatory time in the South), but was known as a woman who could make something out of nothing.
She would always tell me: You can’t sit and cry about your circumstances. You have to overcome them. There’s no excuse when you’re living and breathing and have a brain. Go out there and excel, despite it all. If there is even ONE PERSON out there doing it, I don’t want to hear any excuse from you.
I was once told by a friend that not everyone has a Granny to motivate
them or to be an example. My response to that is: Neither did my Granny. It’s not like she had someone to tell her, “Do this this way… Do this that way,” or “I’ll hook you up.” A very proud woman, she was never a fan of hand-outs anyway, and to this day likes to do things on her own. (At 81, she still mows her own lawn and manages her own house though she has many family members and friends who would do it for her or pay someone else to).I love helping anybody I can and providing opportunities for people, but let’s face it: I believe that one should keep it moving whether someone (government, friend, peer, teacher, supervisor, etc.) helps or not.
In today’s environment, one must go above and beyond to find the success they want to achieve. It’s sad when I see people who aren’t willing to do that, yet they still sit in the barbershop or beauty salon whining, with that entitlement attitude, like someone should just hand them an opportunity because of [insert challenge here].”
Though there are millions out of work, there are also those who decided to regroup, reinvent and rethink their strategy. There are those who said, “Hey, since you won’t open the door, I’ll go through the back door. If that’s locked, I’ll kick it in.” There are those who, though aware of the inequities in access to job resources, services, and information for minorities, will find and utilize those that are available to their benefit or create their own.
Please, move beyond what’s hindering you, and become motivated by the do-or-die mentality that says “I will triumph over this. My ancestors did and so can I.”
Enough with the excuses. They don’t and never will change reality.
For more specific resources on how you can find job seeking success and opportunities, check out BlackEnerprise.com/career.