Being unemployed can land a painful blow to your self-esteem, but you don’t have to let it happen. Let your unemployment work for you as a tool for growth that can allow you to find more from life. The following blog posts will help guide you through it all with ideas on staying positive, resources for surviving a recession, help with finding a job, interview tips, information just for women, unemployment humor, and even plenty of inspiration.

Staying Positive

Staying positive while unemployed is important for your health as well as to help you focus on the next phase of your career.

• 10 Valuable Tips to keep Spirits High during Recession. Follow these tips to ensure you keep a good frame of mind while making it through these times.
• Lookin’ on the Bright Side. This short reminder to look for opportunities to stay positive is a beautiful one.
• How to Think Positively. Learn how stay positive no matter what life throws your way.
• Ten ways to stay positive while unemployed. This advice will help you find a positive attitude while getting your feet back on the ground.
• Unemployed? What You Can Do to Maintain a Positive Attitude. Learn how to stay both positive and proactive when you find yourself without a job.

Survival Resources

These blog posts will help you survive unemployment.

• Seven Tips for the Newly Unemployed. If you just lost your job, then check out this blog post for some smart ideas.
• 100 tips,tools, and resources-to help you survive without a job. This listing offers articles and guides, useful sites, and things to read before looking for your next job.
• Mi casa, su casa. Want to rent a room (so I can keep my house)?. Read about this creative way one woman is saving her house.
• #110 Contemplating Going Back to School to Put off Working. While written in a humorous tone, this article offers some valid points to consider if you are thinking about going back to school after being laid off.
• Stress and Financial Crisis – Dealing With The Stress of a Financial Crisis. Learn how to deal with the stress that comes with financial concerns.
• A survival guide for the unemployed. From the emotional to the financial, find out what you can do to survive being unemployed.
• I Just-Got-Laid-Off Survival Kit (including how to find $100k+ job opportunities ). These five tips will help you feel empowered as you make changes to adjust to your lay-off.
• What To Do When You are Suddenly Laid-Off. Here are some sensible ways to manage your unexpected unemployment.

Just for Women

From family to fashion, these blog posts are especially for unemployed women.

• Diaries of a Temp, Chapter 24: Underemployed Dating for Dummies. Here’s a list of men you really don’t want to date.
• Losing my job was a gift to my kids. This mom has older kids and her job loss helped her recognize how it was a gift to her children as they watched her handle it.
• Need Free Fashion Advice? All You Need is a Little TLC. Read how this TV show can help you improve your fashion image, which may help you land a job.
• A recruiter’s job hunting tips. This article offers advice to women on dressing for a job fair or interview.
• When Both Of You Are Laid Off. Find a link and a brief description of a Wall Street Journal report on households where couples are both losing their jobs.
• What Laid-Off Women Need To Consider Before Starting Their Own Businesses. Read these four important considerations before starting your own business to help ensure its success.
• Pregnant and Laid Off. Find out what the Evil HR Lady has to say about laying off a woman who is about to go on maternity leave.

Humor

Find the funny side of unemployment with these blog posts.

• Living with Less. Learn about this new online cartoon strip that features Les, a laid-off Wall Street exec who moves back in with his parents.
• Sex and Unemployment: Boom or Bust. This former executive producer from NPR takes a very informal look at whether the recession is affecting sex practices negatively or positively.
• My Moral Compass is Broken. Here’s a post relating what it’s like when the job you’ve taken to make it through the lay-off begins to change your life.
• Merchandising the recession. Part 2. Find some pretty funny recession t-shirts here.
• The Queens unemployment workout. See what happens when your last excuse to stay away from the gym is eliminated.
• Interviewed for Job. Check out this fun combination of haiku and cartoon, then browse through the rest of this blog for more unemployed funniness.

Business Success Stories

Whether striking out on their own after a layoff or businesses finding the secret to survive during tough times, these blog posts share stories of business success.

• Raising Money in Recession. Read how this woman raised the money for her business despite the recession.
• The Global Economic Crisis� Effects on Business. This article looks at ways that businesses can stay afloat during tough times.
• Faces of the Recession: Epic Systems. Learn about this medical software company that is facing the recession head-on.
• Inspiration: Go from Unemployed to Entrepreneur. Follow the link here to read about a man who is considering taking the leap to start his own business.
• 10 Inspirational Online Business Stories. These folks did it, so why can’t you?
• A Reality Check for the Self Employment Dream. Give yourself a reality check by going through these points of consideration before embarking on your own business venture.
• When (Not) in Doubt, Hire Yourself. This post offers a realistic look at the ups and downs of starting your own business.
• Entrepreneurs: Set Sail, Watch Out For Dragons. Read about these entrepreneurs who made the best of their situations to create better ones.

Finding a Job

Use the information in these blog posts to find your next job.

• 25 Well-Paying Jobs that Most People Overlook (and Why).This post mostly serves to highlight jobs that pay well, but are not very popular. It helps to open your mind to new perspectives, though.
• Using Your Blog as a Job Search Tool. Read this article to learn how to use your blog to find a job.
• Recession Job Search Tips for New Graduates. Use these tips to help you weather the storm if you are a new grad looking for a job.
• The Ten Keys to Success at Job and Career Fairs. Find out ten steps that will guarantee your success at a career or job fair.
• Plan Your Job Search Like a Wedding. This fresh perspective offers great advice for how to plan and execute your job search.
• Simplify, simplify, simplify. Learn why it might be smart to simplify when job searching.
• Construction Management Degrees. This blog contains a number of articles about cutting expenses and finding a job which are updated regularly.
• The Job Seeker’s Top 10 List. This awesome list offers a great perspective as well as sound advice for job seekers.

Interviewing

Once you’ve landed the interview, use this help to make sure you give the best impression possible.

• The Ten Worst Job Interview Questions Ever. Of course you can’t control what questions you’ll be asked when interviewed, but here are ten bad ones.
• #106 Sabotaging Their Only Interview in Months. This tongue-in-cheek post highlights some of the things you seriously don’t want to do in an interview.
• When Job Hunting: Dress for Success. Find out what to wear to an interview as well as other helpful information such as how to get donations if you can’t afford interview clothes.
• Fifty Standard Interview Questions. Practice answering the questions on this list to ensure you aren’t caught by surprise during the big interview.
• Candidate Interview Questions. Be prepared to ask a few questions yourself with these lists of interviewee questions.
• Phone Interviewing Success. Phone interviews are often the first chance you will have to secure a job and becoming a normal part of interviewing, so brush up on what to do here.
• Job Interview Videos. From the worst interview ever to helpful tips, watch these videos to improve your interviewing skills.
• Why Did You Leave (or are you planning to leave) Your Last Job?. No matter what your reason for leaving your last job, this article offers tips on how to answer this question during an interview.

Saving Money

Use these tips to learn how to save money while you are unemployed.

• 5 Tips for Saving Money While Unemployed. These tips are smart ways to save while your income is reduced or eliminated.
• Money Saving Tips from the Military. Follow these suggestions for things you can do around the house to save money.
• Three Homemade Natural Cleaning Products. Don’t waste your money on expensive and toxic cleaners when these three basics can clean almost anything–even better than the commercial products.
• 12 Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill. Everyone likes lower bills, so read this to find out what you can do.
• Groupon: A New Way to Find Discounts. Maybe you won’t have to stop pampering yourself with this new option.
• 101 Ways to Use Less Gas. Learn what you can do to save money on gas.
• Best sites online to watch movies for free. This post gives the low-down on all the best places to find free online movies.
• A free TV site that beats Hulu, Veoh. If you like old TV shows, then you must read this. Even if you prefer newer shows, still check this article out as it touches on Hulu and Veoh just a bit.
• Frugal Valentine’s Day Gifts. These ideas are great for gift giving way beyond Valentine’s day. Remember these ideas for inexpensive birthday, anniversary, and other holiday gifts.
• Unemployed Boomers: Stay Green and Save Money With These Tips. If you are over 50 and unemployed, find out what you can do to save money.

Simplifying

While you are unemployed is an excellent opportunity to learn how to simplify your life. Find out how and why with these blog posts.

• My Life, Downsized. Read about this family’s move to a smaller house and what they learned along the way.
• Xeriscape. Less is definitely more when it comes to your yard. Find out how it saves you money with this article.
• Save money with a home gym. Learn how you can let that expensive gym membership go and still stay in shape.
• Electric Traditions. This trick will not only save a dollar a day, but will teach you to appreciate what you have.
• How to Be A One Car Family. Read these families’ experiences of becoming a one-car family.
• Staycation. Take a holiday at home with these great staycation ideas.
• Recession Benefit � More Family Time and Better Health. Simplifying life during a recession has great benefits for the family.
• 6 Reasons to Simplify Your Life Now. This newly unemployed blogger looks at why now is a great time to start simplifying life.

Inspiration

These posts all focus on sharing inspiration with the unemployed.

• NPR Reports on Long Term Unemployment. Find a link to an NPR story that profiles some inspirational folks surviving unemployment.
• Faces of the Recession: John Dolza, 40. Learn how this man turned his unemployment into a benefit for his community.
• Measure of a Man: Unemployed Man Seeks Identity. Read an important reminder about not judging ourselves or others by what they do for a living.
• Ten things to do while you are waiting on God promises to manifest. If you are religious, these ten tips may offer comfort and inspiration while you are unemployed.
• Nurse Practitioner Program. This woman’s story of career success and entrepreneurship are an inspiration to others who have been displaced.
• Laid-off fashion writer chronicles journey in Vogue. Read how this woman made the best of her situation.
• 100 Things to Do If You’ve Been Laid Off: Laid off and in Need of Inspiration. This installment of the 100 things offers 14 suggestions if you are in need of inspiration.