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Confessions of an Unemployed Professional

Joseph Rios EdD
6 min readJul 20, 2020

Dealing with unemployment can be isolating and professional development opportunities can exacerbate feelings of being alone. Even when surrounded by your peers. Read more about what I learned about the power of being vulnerable and honest about myself.

Photo by Shalone Cason on Unsplash

I spent a great deal of my time during 2018 and 2019 trying to find a new job since my last college closed. Since that time, I documented some of the ways I prepared myself for interviews, where I improved my skills in managing tough, personal questions and how I examined my personal values in relationship to the work did in the past and will do in the future.

I tried to prepare myself for a life that would segue from that immediate past into a future that allowed me to put my skills back into the working world. Honestly, I believed I was in a good headspace to navigate the professional development conference I attended in 2019.

I quickly learned that was not exactly the case.

At the closing session of the annual conference, I began to feel very panicked. Not from what was being said on the stage, or by the friends as they prepared themselves for flights home. I panicked because during the short time during the conference, I felt like my old self.

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Joseph Rios EdD
Joseph Rios EdD

Written by Joseph Rios EdD

I believe leadership is the expression of values. Career Coach | Educator | Writer | Social Justice Advocate | Trainer. leadershipandvaluesinaction.com

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