Ps & Qs: your unemployed friends

This week: your unemployed friends

Things may be (almost) a boomin’ again but some of us are still looking for a job.

Whether you’re just out of college, long-term unemployed or just back from finding your inner hippy in South America, the rigmaroles to get back on the ladder can be tough. For those of you highfliers with a 9-5, here’s a few things not to say to those on the hunt.

Parents – asking if a job in a coffee shop would be “just a stopgap thing” sounds great in theory. But these days you need a PhD in Barista-ing just to wipe down tables.

Prospective employers – while telling us we sound “great” is comforting, offering us an unpaid internship is not. Paying back the loans for a master’s doesn’t afford us the luxury of working for free (I know, we’re as shocked as you!) but thanks all the same.

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Roommates – having a viable schedule when you are unemployed is almost impossible. We may look like we sleep till noon and eat ice cream all day, but the reality is we’ve been turning in applications until 6am. It may not be the way you’d do things, but that’s no reason to ask us to run your errands.

Besides, CSI is on in 10 minutes and we've only seen this episode like four times.

Lastly, don’t ask how the search is going. Let’s flip the old saying and surmise that no news is bad news. We won’t be playing coy. When something happens, it will be all over Twitter and probably tattooed on our foreheads, so you’ll hear about it.