Hope and Depair

Although I work in the entertainment industry, there was a time when I briefly unemployed and I was out of work for almost two years before I found the position that I'm in now.   I found this article as I was search for topics to discuss in my current coursework for my Masters Degree program. It struck a chord with me as I read it and the two words caught my eye:  Hope and Despair. The significance of the article “Hope and Despair at a job fair”( Banks, S. 2011) is that throughout the article, hope and despair was intertwined with the blight of people looking for gainful employment at L.A.’s Crenshaw Christian Center – Faith Dome.  There was a job fair in which there were more than 4,000 people looking for jobs.  The words that caught my attention, from a marketing standpoint, Hope and Despair were synonymous with unemployment in this day and age as I continued to read the Time s article. Hope was the word that caught my attention the first time.  From a marketing standpoint, that word is so simple to bring up, but powerful at the same time.   Throughout the article the job seekers themselves were lining up in the hopes of finding gainful employment to help them deal with their plight.   Despair was also prevalent from the descriptions of people who have lost hope in finding a job after being unemployed for so long.  Did the article do its job in catching my attention, it sure did.  In more ways than I care to write about because a year ago, I was one of the “unemployed” looking for a job for almost two years before I wound up with the position that I’m in now.  I am very grateful to be working.  There were times I was very hopeful in finding something, and then there were other days that I was in despair for the fact that I was unemployed.  The marketing for the article definitely did do its job, on so many different levels that I can relate to. For a little while I was one of the ones looking for a job in the hopes of finding one, and was in despair when I didn't.  I hated that it was like a roller coaster sitting by the phone everyday, while sending out hundreds and hundreds of resumes, waiting for a callback for an interview. Up and down, not knowing what the day would bring. Link to the article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0901-banks-20110901,0,1893364.column?page=2&track=rss