BellaOnline Forums Career Unemployment Positive or negative unemployment website poll

I was on the web today looking through a lot of websites by people that have started blogs or sites about being unemployed, help for the unemployed...etc...

I ran through quite a few where the posters did a LOT of venting because of their unemployment situation. I know that being unemployed is extremely difficult, but I was extremely depressed reading some of the sites, just because of the language alone.

So my question is...do you prefer to read positive sites offering advice or sites where everyone is (understandably) bitter about being unemployed? A lot of the people on some of these sites said that they didn't want to read any "feel good articles".

Do you prefer to read positive or negative unemployment sites single choice
	I, prefer to read positive articles
	I prefer people venting
Votes accepted starting: 08/28/09 08:54 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

As someone who is blogging about unemployment... I think there's actually some middle ground here. While my posts may address my frustrations, I really try to add some humor & levity to being unemployed. I hope I don't come across as horribly bitter and hateful towards my old employer (or anyone else for that matter). As they say, humor can be the best medicine! And, when you are unemployed, some days you really need a laugh! It's no secret that most people who are unemployed share some of the same struggles & challenges... in sharing these (or venting as it may be called) jobless people know they are not alone and that they are not "crazy" for having huge swings of emotions. And that, oftentimes, the things that bother you today are also bothering thousands of others. For someone who is not unemployed these vents may come across as nothing but depressing however, to those of us without jobs, sometimes it helps to know that there are others who struggle finding daily motivation, are sad, angry etc. Should you sit around being non-stop bitter and dwell on the negatives or bash your old company? No! But sharing and venting can be healthy. Many of us also read sites that offer career search suggestions, interviewing techniques etc. Hopefully my blog doesn't come across as nothing but negative.. I aim to make people smile and/or chuckle when they read my entries! I've even written an article about how blogging is helping me "survive unemployment". It's actually become therapeutic for me! www.associatedcontent.com/article/2105375/an_army_of_the_unemployed_.html?cat=31 My Blog: www.activeleisure.wordpress.com

Hi active leisure,
Thanks so much for the input. I agree 100% that people that who are employed often do not quite understand what an unemployed person is going through. Now if you're the spouse of an unemployed person, you can go through a sense of frustration too, because you're just as scared as your spouse, but you know that you need to be supportive - that's a fine line to walk too.

I often agree with the need to vent, sometimes it's necessary to get out your frustrations and that's healthy. I came across a few sites however that ALL they did was bash and vent...against family, against friends...I just don't know that 100% negativety is necessarily all that productive because it really does come across when they do job interviews even though they may not think so.
I ran across an interviewee one time that was super qualified for a position, but they were so bitter and negative about their situation, it made them seem like a really negative person in the interview and they did not get hired for a position that probably would have been in the bag had they changed a few of their responses.

One interviewee said..."well I'll be honest, the ONLY reason I'm here is because I got RIF'd" RIF is reduction in workforce, so they were essentially laid off. The tag line to every one of her answers was, "well WE did it this way, I don't know how YOU do it here...I guess I'd need to learn."
The tone was SO incredibly negative.

I think a healthy mix is great. I think the longer that people are unemployed the harder it is to be positive, but if we start bashing and criticizing and snapping at too many of our "well meaning" friends, we may lose out on a potential heads up on open positions or we may find ourselves alone well after we've found employment elsewhere. Just a thought to the critical level bashers. It's just so hard all the way around.

PS...I'm looking forward to checking out your site. I know it's great!!!

Thanks for your response Diane! For what it's worth, I completely agree with you regarding not letting the frustration consume you and most certainly not letting it show during your job hunt. As most people know, job hunting while you are employed is different than job hunting when you are unemployed. Not to mention, with a larger pool of candidates now all competing for fewer jobs, you really need to be "on your game", positive and forward thinking. Bringing bitterness & negativity with you into any situation (not just job hunting) gives people a bad impression and will almost always work against you! My poor husband is really the only one who gets to see me at my low points (thank God for him!)and even with him I'm careful to manage my stress & negativity. This way he can be positive & supportive when sometimes all I need is to have some listen! Once I've let it all out I can be more productive with moving forward!! Michelle