How being unemployed is like having a disease - part 4 - Better than a cassarole

When people have a serious illness their friends really want to help. They bring meals, they pray, they help run kids to activities and help reduce the stress of day to day activities. Friends and loved ones do this because they care and want to help the family focus on getting better and because they want to be able to do something.

When people are unemployed their friends often want to help them but often don't know how. Meals,  money and babysitting are helpful but they seem to much like charity to be helpful.  Since most people don't have a spare job lying around that they can give a friend, they often feel helpless.  This often makes people frustrated as they want to help but are afraid to ask how, because they are worried about hurting the person who is unemployed and confuse friendly assistance with charity.

So what can friends do to help.  As I mentioned in the last post i this series,  just be a friend and care.  Ask how we are doing and not just on the job front.  Ask about our kids and spouses just like we had a job. This is a temporary situation. We are not contagious.

Second help your friends network.  This is hard for a lot of people especially those who haven't looked for a job in many years.  The rules have changed and learning them on the fly can be a challenge.  While you can't do their work for them, be willing to offer connections and honest feedback when asked for help. We know our employed friends are feeling stress from the economy and are afraid they may join us in the job search.Reaching out to your network for someone else is a great, no pressure way for you  to reconnect with people you many need help from if you do get laid off.

Finally, connect with and keep current your social networking profiles and connections. This is big tool for most job searchers and the better connected you are the more you can help your friends. Sharing a personal connection is probably the best thing you can do for someone who is looking. Tools like LinkedIn help your friends know who you know that could be of assistance or may even be the person they are interviewing with.

While none of these taste as good as a casserole, this is what you can do to help your friends and help you feel like you have some control in your own life which may be crazy with job stress. Just like helping a sick friend, helping a friend get a job will make you feel good too.