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A common misconception about someone who is unemployed, especially over a longer period of time, is that this person is a lazy no-good dole bludger. It is assumed that this person is someone who doesn’t make enough effort to become employed — and that this person sits on his bum everyday doing nothing at all.

Where there is smoke, there will definitely be a fire. This unfortunate stereotype is of course not completely made-up. The only critique this stereotype deserves is that it is a label that most people who are unemployed will eventually get slapped on them after a while being unsuccessful in the job market; even if they spend all day looking for work.

The irony though is that before you are seen as a lazy bum, you are actually encouraged to treat your unemployment as an unexpected holiday. People tell you to sleep in and later on bask in the sun; or stay on the couch if it rains. You will also be told that you shouldn’t worry, as you will for sure get a job soon enough when you start looking, after you have enjoyed your surprise “holiday”.

Too bad the line between being on an “unemployment holiday” and turning into a lazy bum is very murky and uncertain. You will suddenly wakeup one day being chastised for being unemployed and that you are not making enough effort to find work — this is from the person who told you to go on this “holiday”.

It is true that you need to treat unemployment, or the task of looking for work, as a fulltime job; working Monday to Friday and doing some overtime on the weekends. But as your time “working” is very flexible you might feel inclined to help out a bit extra around the house as you are now most likely earning less money and feel that you need to compensate for not being able to help out with the rent.
So now you are busy with cleaning the house, the car, the dishes, the laundry and what ever that might need some attention in the home.

What some might not understand is that looking for work, doing chores, trying to cope with the fact that you are unemployed and having some time to yourself is not easy. My own experience as being unemployed made me realise that stay-at-home-moms don’t get enough credit for the work they do. There has been several days where I have been so busy doing chores and running errands only to have less than an hour to look for work, send out a few job applications and try to write an article, late at night, before I crash in bed.

I am actually more stressed and tired after a day of trying to be a good househusband than when I had a real fulltime job working in a busy office.

The majority of people who are unemployed do not wish to be in this situation. They want a job, they want an income and they want to be productive — they just want to be respected. Labeling someone who is unemployed as lazy is like saying that someone who works hard is a workaholic, both labels are negative, prejudice and not helpful at all.
Next time you meet someone who has been unemployed for a while, ask them about what they do during their day; you might actually be surprised on how structured and busy they might be, regardless that they are not earning any money for doing all that work.
Too bad it is not considered a skill, or you could add it to your resumé.