Book Description
Unemployment is unquestionably one of life's most stressful and difficult experiences, and it happens to virtually everyone at least once during the course of their working lives. It is a time of uncertainty and transition-but it can also be a time to learn, grow, and seriously examine the direction of one's life. Break Time: Nourishing Yourself Through Unemployment provides practical solutions for the roller coaster of experiences that people have from the day a job is lost to the day a promising new one is found. Authors Jim Stringham and David R. Workman show you how to take advantage of newly found "free" time and learn important new skills, like how to accomplish the following: · Escape video game overdose · Face Black Monday (and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc.) · Have fun for little or no money · Keep loved ones sane while you are jobless · Rid yourself of resentment · Explain job loss to children · Set a financial plan Break Time provides helpful information on how to take care of you while unemployed, and offers suggestions on dealing with feelings of isolation, keeping a sense of humor, maintaining self-esteem, and feeling more comfortable with a temporarily lower standard of living. Break Time will be the most important book you read while out of work. James Stringham, Ph.D., holds a master's degree in social work and a doctorate in psychology. He has been a mental health practitioner for more than a decade. In addition to managing a full-time practice, he founded the Wealth and Wellness Consulting Group that assists financial institutions, law firms, and owner-managed businesses with client and asset retention programs. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. David Workman holds a master's degree in public administration. After working for more than seven years at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality in their Office of Planning and Public Affairs, he joined the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 as the Environment Programs Manager. He lives in Petaluma, California.


From the Inside Flap
Break Time: Nourishing Yourself through Unemployment teaches how to handle one of life's most stressful situations by focusing on how to take care of you until finding another job. With millions of people unemployed each year-this book couldn't have come along at a better time. Included are tips for a healthy approach to being out of work, and how to keep unemployment from affecting family and friends. Authors Jim Stringham and David R. Workman illustrate that newfound freedoms discovered through unemployment should be embraced and celebrated. Working to find joy, moving forward, and improving yourself and the life you're living are just a few of the profound messages provided throughout this practical, creative resource. The guide also includes helpful information on bad habits to avoid, finding supportive people, explaining job loss to children, planning ahead, getting through holidays, improving surroundings, new family roles, and making transitions. For anyone that has quit their job, been fired, or laid-off-this book has a thoughtful approach on how to keep it together and survive.


From the Back Cover
Take advantage of your free time and learn how to · Handle unemployment without flipping your lid · Escape video game overdose · Face Black Monday (and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc.) · Have fun for little or no money · Gain new perspectives · Keep loved ones sane while you are jobless · Rid yourself of resentment · Feel confident with a lower standard of living · Explain job loss to children · Set a financial plan


Excerpted from The Unemployment Survival Guide by Jim Stringham, David R. Workman. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction This book will help make life more bearable while searching for employment. It won't teach you how to find a job, but it will teach you how to keep from going crazy if you're between jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, worrying about losing your job, or if you have recently retired. This information has been tested and proven beneficial for a wide variety of people-from laid-off, highly paid executives to individuals just entering or reentering the workforce. Certainly, part of finding a new job is preparing and sending résumés, perusing classified ads, searching for employment on the Internet, networking, and interviewing. But until you find work-and you will find work-your biggest, most important job is taking care of you. Hopefully, you'll never have the need to read this book, but in case you do-and most likely you or someone you love will-it should serve as a guide to improving your daily life while you're unemployed. For the purposes of this discussion, unemployed means you're jobless, looking for a job, and available for work. At some point in your life you, your partner, a parent, a friend, or a neighbor will find yourselves between jobs or out of work. Keep in mind that over 95% of the population seeking employment was terminated from their previous positions for reasons other than job performance. Over the past ten years, the unemployment rate in the United States has ranged between 3.9 and 7.8 percent. If we placed a population value on this number, consider this: At the printing of this book, a 6.4 percent rate equates approximately 9.4 million people. This statistic, while grim, does not include the estimated 4.8 million people working part-time who want full-time jobs and another 1.4 million who have looked for work in the past year, but not the last month, who are no longer counted by the U.S. Department of Labor as being unemployed. If unemployment were a disease, it would be deemed an epidemic. Looking for a job or seeking more successful employment isn't uncommon, nor is it embarrassing. Most importantly, you're not alone. Finding a job is something we usually do alone and, in fact, can be socially difficult. It's often hard to find social support, unlike other challenges for which support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight Watchers exist. Unemployment may be a bit less intriguing or mysterious to discuss in social circles since talk of one's emotional well-being while job hunting isn't usually of concern-unless you yourself are unemployed. There is an abundance of resources available on how to get a job, write a resume, and even how to interview more effectively, but there isn't nearly enough information available on how to take care of you while unemployed. Don't be shocked to find that you may face many pressures and fears during your difficult-even discouraging-search for employment, but do know that you are not alone and resources do exist to help you get through the next few weeks, months, or even longer if necessary. This sounds cheesy, but it's important: No matter how dreary a day you're having, remember that every rainbow is made from the proper balance of rain and sunshine. This book will help you in nurturing yourself while you discover what the next step is for you.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Since the average worker stays at a job less than 3 1/2 years, everyone is bound to face the throes of unemployment. So what can you do about it? Get out of the soup line and start stirring your way to sanity. The Unemployment Survival Guide is for anyone who has quit a job, been canned, laid-off, or just plain pink-slipped. With ideas for creative entertainment, solutions to breaking Internet addiction, finding supportive compadres, and surviving the holidays on the cheap, this book is a staple for anyone's cupboard. Soup up your future and take stock in what you want to find and what you have to offer. Get moving -- grab this book, tell your friends you're working full time on finding your next job, and start cooking up opportunities.

SYNOPSIS

Unemployment is unquestionably one of life's most stressful and difficult experiences, and it happens to virtually everyone at least once during the course of their working lives. It is a time of uncertainty and transition-but it can also be a time to learn, grow, and seriously examine the direction of one's life. The Unemployment Survival Guide provides practical solutions for the roller coaster of experiences that people have from the day a job is lost to the day a promising new one is found. Authors Jim Stringham and David R. Workman show you how to take advantage of newly found "free" time and learn important new skills, like how to accomplish the following: Escape video game overdose; Face Black Monday (and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc.); Have fun for little or no money; Keep loved ones sane while you are jobless; Rid yourself of resentment; Explain job loss to children; Set a financial plan.

The Unemployment Survival Guide provides helpful information on how to take care of you while unemployed, and offers suggestions on dealing with feelings of isolation, keeping a sense of humor, maintaining self-esteem, and feeling more comfortable with a temporarily lower standard of living. The Unemployment Survival Guide will be the most important book you read while out of work.

Author Bio:James Stringham, Ph.D., holds a master's degree in social work and a doctorate in psychology. He has been a mental health practitioner for more than a decade. In addition to managing a full-time practice, he founded the Wealth and Wellness Consulting Group that assists financial institutions, law firms, and owner-managed businesses with client and asset retention programs. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.