Unemployed? Try Blogging!

You’re unemployed. Suddenly, your 40-hour week is a vast void of uncertainty and minus your daily home routine, you are left with plenty of idle time on your hands. Like the aftermath of a breakup, passing the time becomes horribly uncomfortable when you’ve got nothing much to do.

So why don’t you try blogging?

Whether you’re still seeking a job or have been handed the dreaded pink slip, one of the ways you can survive the current economic crisis is by blogging.

Back in 2004 I had to leave my copywriting job to take care of my child. While my unemployment was borne out of choice, it still proved financially and psychologically taxing for me and my family. My hands were full with domesticity, and there was no readily available creative outlet for me: I had not discovered blogging yet.

When I finally returned to the workforce in 2007, my lack of work-related pursuits during my hiatus left a gaping hole where three years of my professional history could have been. Until hands-on, full-time parenting becomes widely recognized as an economically viable skill, that gap will remain unfilled.

But I digress. Given the current economic status, many are now suffering its backlash on several levels. If I had been able to find an online outlet back then, it’s likely that I would have been able to build a considerably more substantial work portfolio and even land a few sources of online income while raising a toddler.

Here are a few good reasons why blogging can help you through a financial crisis:

• You can build your brand.
• You can augment your professional portfolio.
• You can find ways to earn money online.
• Blogging can keep you occupied with a productive and single-minded goal.
• Blogging can help keep you focused on your professional direction.
• It can help stave off depression from unemployment.
• It can help you build a professional network by establishing your expertise to interested readers in the same field.
• It can help entertain and destress you.
• It can serve as a site for creative expression.
• You can discuss your own personal experiences with unemployment, and in the process, gain insights from your own and other recession bloggers’ experiences.
• Your blog can be a valuable addition to your resume or professional portfolio.
• Blogging can help maximize your social media usage to your advantage.

What can you blog about?

Your profession. Basically you can discuss anything in your line of interest, depending on your blogging goals. One thing to keep in mind though, is that it’s advisable to primarily discuss topics that are relevant to your professional field or career of choice, to help increase your chances of landing a related job later. Should you aim for entrepreneurship or earning additional income online instead, your blog can serve as your personal advertisement by which you can assert your expertise, and eventually build a professional network from.

Your experiences and opinions. There are also some who put up ‘recession blogs’ which tackle the author’s experiences with unemployment, or speculations about the national economy and political landscape. They are generally created either to be in touch with friends, relatives, and former work colleagues, or to touch base with potential employers, business partners, and fellow recession sufferers. Most of these blogs serve as beacons of hope for their authors, being a venue where they can express their thoughts and sentiments to a sympathetic audience.

Your personal interests. Lastly, you can blog about well-loved pursuits, you can join a blogging community, or you can simply regale your readers with a daily compendium of your activities and thoughts, and be entertained likewise. After all, blogging is also good for the weary soul.

One caveat, however. Before you decide to disclose details of your former professional life and opinions on controversial issues, make sure that what you say won’t backfire against you. Venting out about how you felt when you lost your job is fine; denigrating your former employers, colleagues, and clients is not.

No matter how hard times may be, no matter how harsh your former work environment was on you, anything you put on your blog now will say more about you than it will about your professional past or extraneous conditions. Choose your content carefully.

The best way you can make your blog work for you is to treat it as if it were part of your resume, or as if it were a message of support, authority, and information to your audience. Even if your blog is mostly meant for creative catharsis, you can always get those ill feelings off your chest in an inoffensive, neutral, objective, and even humorous manner. The point is to make your blog your ally through these trying times.

Photo credits: www.confirmbiosciences.com, www.republicmedia.tv