A valley in life.

Oh what a wonderful respite I had from the career search (and dog walking – LOL)! Saturday Bill and I traveled to Lake Geneva to spend the weekend with his friends, now mine, from high school days. We’ve seen each other very irregularly over the last 11 years and somehow it always seems like we just saw them the other day. Bruno got to spend time at Tailwaggers Doggy Daycare in Menasha. To say he loves it there is an understatement. We pulled into the parking lot and the howling begins. By the time we get Bruno into the front lobby, he’s pulling at the leash to get on with the playtime. It’s so funny!

Our weekend included a two hour walk around just over three miles of Geneva Lake – a Northern section of the famed “Walk, Talk, and Gawk” self-guided tour. The homes along this stretch of the lake are as magnificent as the rest of the lake but the walking path is much smoother and easier to traverse. We ended the walk in Williams Bay and our friends Ed and Julie had chartered one of the private yachts to take us back to Lake Geneva. Quick lesson: the city is called Lake Geneva, the lake is called Geneva Lake. Go figure. It was a chilly boat ride at sunset but so much fun. That night we had a wonderful dinner at Ed and Julie’s with several others who were also on the walk and boat ride, and we were lucky enough to spend the night at Ed and Julie’s. Sunday was highlighted with Champagne Brunch at The Abbey Resort. Goodness! What a spectacular get-away!

Now it’s back to the search. I’ve had several phone interviews this week and one scheduled for tomorrow morning. Some of the completed interviews have already screened me out but that’s OK as long as I have opportunities in the pipeline. One opening that Judy sent yesterday is really a dream job for me at the Kohler Company in Kohler – Creative Brand Strategist. Oh my goodness it just speaks to my professional soul. My cover letter needs to overcome my lack of home interior product design experience but I’ve designed classrooms and I think I can make a solid case. They’re looking for international experience and I have that. They want experience integrating brand and communications – got it, and they want a big-picture thinker – that’s me! I’m so very appreciative of Judy emailing the posting to me. I would have missed it because of how they have it posted.

But I’m concerned about Judy and now Sue (I haven’t formally met Sue yet but I know her parents). Both of these women are unemployed as I am. Sue is 60 and lost her job earlier this year. She’s not ready for retirement but at 60 I can imagine the uphill battle she is facing. She had to move in with her parents a few weeks ago in order to survive. Her father, Rich, was telling me Monday night how she spends so much time on the Internet searching for openings and how hard it is to watch one of his children struggle so. I asked Rich if Sue was involved with Career Changers Network, CCN, (love you guys!) and he didn’t think so. I also asked if she knew about other support networks and Web sites that are truly helpful. He didn’t know so I offered to help. I have a great deal of experience searching for a job (hahaha) and feel like an expert who should share. I also offered to get her connected with CCN and Workforce Development.

Judy, though, knows about these avenues and leverages them. She attended the same Lean training I did (it’s how we met) but it was her email yesterday that hit me. She described her situation as a valley in her life and even though there weren’t any specific words about it, I could feel the pain she is experiencing at this moment. She’s been unemployed for five months and she doesn’t want to chase after just any job at just any company. Accepting that you can be unemployed for a longer period of time than you really want is so hard. One of the worst things you can do is get yourself employed in a job you hate or with a company that isn’t a reasonably good fit. The temptation is to put an end to the current misery and loss of income but what you could end up doing is making yourself, and your family, even more miserable.

If you know someone who has been in this valley of life more than a couple of months, reach out to them on a regular basis. Ask how they are. Ask if there is anything you can do for them, anything. You can’t imagine how the littlest of gestures make the biggest impression. And, don’t ignore our plight. It doesn’t go away if you don’t talk about it. Yes, it can be uncomfortable to hear us complain or be sad but it’s equally uncomfortable for us to hear about your bad day that earned you a paycheck. I promise, on behalf of my unemployed colleagues, that we’ll listen to you if you listen to us.