Before he found an assignment, his Arkansas-based mother was diagnosed with a serious chronic illness, and he was called into duty as a son. Mr. Rappaport was able to help his mother get her affairs in order not to interrupt his search by using a San Francisco mail drop and cellphone. “I continued to look for work in California while I was in Fayetteville, Ark., helping my mother through this crisis.”
He took his mother to medical appointments, made repairs on her house, bought her a better car, and straightened out her legal and financial affairs. “I even got to go through my father’s effects, which in the five years since he had died were simply piled in boxes in his office,” he says.
Mr. Rappaport’s stay in Arkansas lasted six months. “It’s amazing that at this stage I had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time with my mother and improve her life and get a lot of things done for her. Most people never have that opportunity. I’m very thankful that I had the chance. It was absolutely worth it,” he says.
One of the unexpected benefits was the huge boost in confidence he gained from his role as caregiver. He’d been feeling depressed and defeated when he left California, but after returning, he felt renewed. He landed a job with a former employer after returning to San Francisco and remains a part-time faculty member.
Discovery and Exploration
Instead of spending time off lamenting your unemployed status, ask yourself: “Is there something I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t because of the demands of my job?”
Felice Fisk, a 29yearold in Seattle, recently left an account-manager position at a contract-furniture company. During seven months of unemployment, she took an interest in fine-art painting and completed 18 pieces before returning to work. “I found the art work, or some kind of creative outlet, to be really beneficial,” she says. She’s now an interior designer for an interior-design firm.
Michael Ross, 42, a former IT administrator in El Cerrito, Calif., recently spent his 10 months of unemployment playing guitar and exploring his lifelong interest in scriptwriting and the movie business. “After 18 years at my former employer and how hard I had worked, I knew I had to recover, to get restored,” he says. “I looked at this as an opportunity, rather than a penalty. This was very much about clearing space for me.”
At the executive level, even a very efficient and successful job search may be quite lengthy. It makes sense to spend that time in an enriching and productive manner. These job seekers pursued service, continuing education and shoring up family bonds. How you’ll look back on a period of unemployment depends on what you do with it.
1. This passage mainly tells that being unemployed is not all bad.
2. Lisa Perez found a new interest in homemaking during the period of unemployment.
3. Lisa Perez was always optimistic during the period of her unemployment.
