Job-Hunting? You Know You’ve Been Unemployed For Too Long When…

Unemployment is a tough thing to deal with and unfortunately, due to the current economic climate in Ireland, it’s a reality thousands of people are living through.

The worst thing about being unemployed? Well, aside from the obvious financial difficulties, one of the hardest things about being job-less is the way in which it effects your self-confidence and your own personal happiness.

If you’re currently enduring unemployment then you’ll know how frustrating it can be, how exhausting it can be and how upsetting it can be.

When you’re going through something like this it’s always important to keep your sense of humour and to keep your spirits up. With that in mind, we offer you this tongue-in-cheek look at the signs that tell you you’ve been out of work for way too long.

Are you fed up of staring at the ‘Job Fairy’ hash tag on Twitter? Take a break, read this, have a giggle and feel free to send us in your own thoughts on long-term unemployment. Sure we’re all ears: [email protected].

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You Know You’ve Been Unemployed For Too Long When...

You spend everyday job-hunting online

1. You can quote every episode of Friends and The Big Bang Theory off by heart: Mainly because they’re the only shows that are on telly between the hours of 9am and 5pm.

2. Automated job emails make you happy: You smile every time you get an email listing the latest jobs on offer, mainly because one of them could contain your dream job (you hope).

3. To-do lists are your friends: You make countless to-do lists in order to help you feel more motivated and productive when it comes to life.

4. You’ve started thinking up elaborate ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes: From inventing something that the human race can’t live without to digging up your garden in the hopes of finding the dinosaur bones – you’ve thought of them all.

5. Your memory is starting to go: You’ve applied for so many jobs at this stage that you genuinely can’t remember how many companies you’ve applied to or how many CVs you’ve sent out.

To-do lists have become your friends

6. You have issues with your refresh button: All you do is hit refresh on your email inbox in the hopes that an email about a job interview will appear...

7. Recruitment agencies now know you by name: This is because you ring them every single day without fail. Hey, at least it shows that you have dedication.

8. You use LinkedIn more than you use Facebook: You secretly hope that one of your connections will offer you the amazing job you’re dreaming of. You hope your witty job-related status updates will help in this regard.

9. Sleeping in has lost its shine: At first it’s fun. After a couple of months? Not so fun...

10. You know your cover letter off by heart: You’ve rewritten it so many times that you can recite that sucker off, word for word.

11. Ditto your CV: You never know when memorising your CV will come in handy...

12. Every conversation ends with you asking, ‘D’ya know of any jobs going?’: Friends, family, random strangers on the street – no one is safe!

We know that job hunting is hard, we've been there, but keep your spirits up and keep on trying. Your dream job could be just around the corner...