BAN "unemployment"

Those of you who have been to Ireland will know that the “F” bomb is part of our vernacular. It is used as a verb, an adjective and a noun – often in the same sentence! So I’m not easily offended. There is one word though that drives me absolutely crazy and to me is akin to a swear word. The word “unemployed” or “unemployment.”
I spend a lot of time speaking to people in job search and job transition. If you’re in that situation right now, you know how painful and dispiriting it can be. About the only thing that gets me rankled when speaking to jobseekers is when someone says “I’m unemployed.” NO, YOU ARE NOT!
I’m not playing with semantics here. The person in job search is doing THE most important job they will probably ever do in their life, searching for and securing a well paid job. The results of the work the job seeker is doing now will determine the pay level, benefits, vacation, colleges the kids go to and indeed maybe even preventing the family home going into foreclosure. If that is the work that is being done, do not tell me you are “unemployed.”
I harp on this because vocabulary is hugely important. Words matter. Words can define you. Words can define how you are perceived.
Let’s be honest. Today we have as President a man who achieved very little prior to gaining the White House. (I voted for him and am glad I did.) Barack Obama gained the White House because of the vocabulary he used and how he made people feel. Indeed the last President to secure the Presidency with such an insipid senatorial record was JFK. It was words and oratory that were his key weapons in achieving the White House. It was words and oratory that helped America feel young and vibrant after the relatively sedate Eisenhower presidency. The same can be said of Ronald Reagan who made Americans and USA feel good simply because of what he said at a time when American self pride was at a low ebb.
When the job seeker uses the word “unemployment,” it says nothing positive. It is a self-knocking, self defeating word that skewers self confidence; and the job seeker desperately needs self confidence and to believe in themselves. If you are in the job search, use words that make a difference to you. Use words that say something positive – “I am in job search,” “I am between successes,” “I am in transition,” “I am in unpaid employment, the pay isn’t good but the ultimate benefits will be.”
Go on BAN unemployment (I refuse to capitalize the word) from your vocabulary. It will ultimately help you to ban the concept from your life, because when you believe in yourself, when you believe you are doing something positive in unpaid employment, you will then walk into that interview 12 feet tall and bulletproof!
Go on: BEAT the living daylights out of the recession. I know you can.

There is NO unemployment

Alcoa’s announcement yesterday that it is to cut its global workforce by 13% or 13,500 jobs is just one more gloomy story on the job front. This morning, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said December’s job cuts - 166,348 - were the most for the last month of the year since the company began compiling data in 1993.

Those are the bald numbers, but if you are one of those who have been affected by this economy and have been laid off, you are NOT unemployed. As a job seeker, you must work on the basis that there is NO unemployment in your life. You may not have a salary or wages coming in right now, but all this means is that you are in unpaid employment. Huh!

If you are in job search, you are likely involved in THE most important job you will ever do in your life. Right!

The results of this job will determine what your income will be, whether you can afford vacation, send the kids to college and retire at some reasonable age. Right!

If you are doing this job, you are NOT unemployed.

I hate the word ‘Unemployed’ with a vengeance. Those of you who have visited my wonderful homeland Ireland will be well aware that the Irish are not averse to profanities and swearing.

One swear word I work really hard to get out of my vocabulary is ‘Unemployed.’ It is a word which does nothing for the self consciousness of the job seeker and should NOT be a description of the work pattern of the job seeker.

Call it what you will – Job Search, In Transition, Between Successes, Seeking the Future but do not use that ugly ‘U’ word.

If you are in job search, change your vocabulary. It will help you to find that well paying job.

It will help you stay energized and focused during what is undoubtedly a tough time, emotionally and financially. If you believe you are in Unpaid Employment, If you believe you are a NIGEP (that’s Non-Income Generating Employed Person), you will be more motivated, you will be more structured in your job search and when the day arrives that you get that first check from your next company, make sure that the energy level you bring to that new job is the same energy level you brought to your current unpaid employment. Get rid of the ‘U’ word today. A true NIGEP does not use it.

As a keynote speaker and business presenter, when I present SHEIFGAB the World, Eight Building Blocks to Successful Transition, I hit this concept early and often. I have challenged outplacement people, commentators and others on the use of it. Even the government should not be using it as more than anyone, they should hope the people on the register ARE in job search – ergo not **employed.

Remember and say it proudly, "I am a NIGEP, a Non-Income Generating EMPLOYED Person."