While reading the morning newspaper is not a prescription for calming the mind, there are some bits of good news.
In this morning's Sunday New York Times where the lead story suggests U.S. unemployment could surge to levels not seen since the 1980s (200,000 layoffs are expected by early November causing a spike in the unemployment rate from the U.S. 6.1 per cent to 8 per cent or more) there are some bits and pieces of hope.
For example, on page two of the business section comes the feel-good story of Jenny Houridan Bailin who was fired (the writer says she "lost" her job as if one day she couldn't find it and alternatively says she was "restructured" which sounds painful) from her Wall Street job as a senior investment banker .
After the obligatory quick and humiliating escort out the door, Jenny says she headed over to a friend's place to collapse on the sofa before heading home to comfort her children (and likely her husband too).
Her first big decision was to fully involve herself in a program offered by an outplacement firm of resume writing, interview techniques and upgrading her computer skills (sounds a lot like the ongoing workshops offered at HAPPEN).
So after a summer on the beach ((no doubt recovering from the shock of the dismissal) Jenny started interviewing for an investment bank job but found no takers.(Interviewers felt she really didn't want to return to the investing.)
So now, after 26 years in banking, she's decided to switch her focus to the nonprofit world.
Her outplacement councillor has told her, getting a new job is a numbers game and that it will take time but Jenny says she feels energized and open to new possibilities.
