Lessons Learnt during Unemployment

The most important lesson learnt during my bout with unemployment is that you should always have savings on hand for at least six months ( and in this economy at least one year) and it should include your mortgage payments, your car payments (if any) and your living expenses like groceries, utilities etc. Apart from this you should have at least six months of family health insurance expense at the market rate so that you don’t have to spend too much of your savings. Second thing I have learned is that does not just live on your paycheck but do something beside it to supplement your income. That you can do it by selling stuff on auction sites or some other consulting work during the weekends or after your regular day job so that you are not caught surprised if and when you get laid off.

This supplemental income can make you save the above mentioned emergency fund while your current salary can pay for your ongoing expenses. It is really imperative that you should not rely on your day job alone to meet your expenses (unless you are really making well into six figures). These two lessons are the most important one I have learnt. Besides these the next important one is that you should not rely on anyone for your job search since they are in the same boat as you when it comes to job searches. Do your own search and create your own network and do something rather than just sending out résumés alone since it is just a waste of your time and it just creates more disappointment and resentment against your fellow employed people.