By Bethany North
Unemployment has been an unpleasant reality for so many Americans, and most of their time has been spent searching and hoping for the right job to appear. Getting a job after having been unemployed is a time for celebration, yet the there is real anxiety about reentry to the workforce.
For many Americans, a new job will require a period of adjustment after months or even years of unemployment. Many people have had to give up their homes, luxuries, and have fallen behind on their bills, so a new job is exactly what they have been looking for. Yet when this new job arises, they may often be faced with anxiety about adapting to a new company, keeping the job that they have been offered, and performing well enough to create a secure a future for their families.
Call it pre-performance anxiety. When their old positions were eliminated entirely many workers started to question their identity and capability as an employee. This fear and anxiety can cause them to lose sleep or obsess over the situation. Employees that have returned to jobs after months of unemployment still feel constantly on edge about the security of their current job. The first performance review may be cause for extreme worry since they know the reality and potential risk of losing a job at any time. » Read more: Career Transition: How to Reenter the Workforce after Unemployment
The bottom line is that there is nothing fun about losing your job, but it doesn’t have to derail your life. With the current state of the economy in the past several years, job loss has become more common than ever, so it may be comforting to know that you are not alone.
