Well, I haven't been in this situation for some years now, thankfully, but it's good to reflect on old writings, and this is still true today, as it was then ...

Probably the hardest part of being unemployed is not knowing when things are going to change for the better. That illusory hope for the future which encourages: "Only a little longer to go and I can get a raise, promotion or big commission deal - is simply not there.

So as the bills creep up, (because however you try to work it, you never have quite enough to go 'round), and as the things you can't have or just really don't need become an ever-increasing weight on that other list (things you are going to pay for, sort out and get, once you have a job), you find that little by little your life is becoming smaller and smaller, and that you're in quite a trap.

BENEFITS

You can't take just any job, because once you are back in work you lose whatever small relief you've been able to obtain from rates and other bills and once again these and the mortgage will be all yours to pay in full from your salary package.

If you were in a well-paid position before, the chances are that your outgoings are still potentially high, and that outweighs the merits of taking just any job. So you need a position with a salary similar to your previous earnings. Or more - because now you have those other unemployment benefits called debts.

"Getting a job is a job in itself", say the Employment Service. It is indeed. Probably the hardest job of all because there are no guarantees no bonuses for effort, no overtime, and certainly no pay cheque at the end of the month.

RESPONSES

You want to see my job search file. You really do. I went through it a few days ago and found that this year I have written over 90 letters, filled in 26 application forms, made over 95 telephone calls chasing up hopeful chances and attended 19 interviews.

To - date I have received an abundant supply of straight-off-the-floppy-disc form letters which in so many words say - "Thanks, but no thanks".

There's a word-processing programme which all personnel officers in the world use to reply to interviewees who didn't get the job. It reads: "Thank you very much ... unfortunately ... candidate quality very high ... difficult decision ... keep your details on file ..."

I have a suggestion for Personnel Officers: Why not have a form letter to send out to unsuccessful applicants which simply says - "Thanks, but no thanks!" I'd understand that far better than the patronising nonsense which spasmodically hits my postbox. (That is, where any response at all is forthcoming!)

OPTIONS

Options? Yes, there are options. Self - employment, working from home, winning the lottery, retrain ... That's a good one! Retrain! say the Employment Service, but it's not quite so simple. For instance, how do you gain enough income in a new starting-at-the-bottom career to pay all your bills for the time it will take you to become as proficient as you were in your last field? Working from home is another option, so is self-employment, but the same question applies.

FACTS

The facts as I see them are simple and they are threefold:

1: There are far more people than there are jobs.

2: The better you are at your job, the lower your chances of redundancy.

3: The age of full employment until retirement age is over.

4: If you spend all your benefits on scratch cards you'll be up the creek.

Unemployment can change your life, anyone without a job will second that, but I'd like mine changed a little more right now, in the direction of some good hard cash!

Sometimes I feel as if I'm on the wrong planet. This is Alpha Centauri, isn't it?