Lousy Job Market Leaving You Feeling Isolated?

I posted this to my Examiner.com blog today and I wanted to share it with you. You don’t need me to tell you the job market is bad. All of my clients, and the clients of other career advisors I know, are having a very tough time. One of the by-products of having a job search drag on and on is a sense of isolation, even depression. One antidote to that feeling of being out of things is pretty straightforward: Take a class. Ideally it’s in a subject area related to your field or your prospective career. It’s up to you. It doesn’t have to be expensive and it doesn’t have to have an onerous schedule. It doesn’t have to be part of a degree program. It just has to be interesting, relevant and potentially fun. Why do I recommend this? Three reasons: a) Learning along with others who share your interests makes you feel more engaged with the world; b) You will acquire new information and/or a skill; and c) You will make contacts. At the very least, you might make a friend. You just never know where it will lead. We’re so lucky to live in NY and have access to so many world-class institutions. Here are a few places where you can take interesting, inexpensive classes or attend lectures: For all kinds of courses and lectures: The 92nd Street Y Community colleges are a great resource: BMCC, Hostos, CCNY For non-profit courses: Foundation Center and Support Center for Non-Profit Management Your professional association is a great resource too. And of course there are also excellent Continuing Ed programs at our venerable universities, like Columbia, NYU and Parsons/The New School. If you’ve taken a great course recently, I’d love to hear from you.