Your brother, your cousin, your college roommate or coworker may show up among 6.1 million Americans jobless for six months or longer. Or worse, they may be stuck among an estimated 1.5 million  “99ers” – out of work for 99 weeks.

Many are losing hope, abandoning their dreams, or losing their homes. So what can we as individuals do to help a family member or friend who is stuck without a job?

First we must put aside any questions about mistakes they made or missteps that led to their problems. They need to move forward, not look back.

Instead focus on their needs – including emotional and financial support. More than half of jobless Americans have borrowed money from family or friends, and one in five moved in with someone close to them to save money, a Rutgers poll found. The trick is to discover what they really need since they may be depressed, they may have missed signs of health issues or a notice of eviction. Help them to see their current situation and then start down the load road to a better place.

Here’s five ways anyone can help a jobless friend or family member:

1. Buy them a ticket. It could be a ticket to the theater or a concert or a sporting event. Entrance to a professional meeting, networking event. A ticket to travel to see family for the holidays.The ticket will give them something to look forward to – something good in their life. And yes, you could give them one useful ticket focused on career and job search and another to encourage them or feed their creative spirit.
2. Give them your network. Proudly introduce them to your boss or the owner of a fast growing business. Take them to your company’s or professional organization’s holiday party. Introduce them to recruiters or HR managers. Recommend them for jobs or on LinkedIn. Tweet about them on Fridays with the #HireFriday hashtag.
3. Give them a hand. Loan them money, or if you can afford it, give them a cash gift. Help them sell things on eBay or at a flea market. Introduce them to some of the many freelancing websites. Help them start micro-business doing snow removal, errands or cooking for busy professionals.
4. Give them a room. They may need a place to live or just a place to work and get out of their sad, unheated apartment for a few hours. They may appreciate your cable television, full fridge or your fully decked out home office.
5. Give them job hunt coaching and confidence. Help build up their confidence by reminding them of previous successes, their heroic save the day moves or incredible solutions. Help them practice tough interview questions. Review their resume and give their online profiles careful scrutiny and some ideas for improvement. If you feel you haven’t got the expertise or time, buy them a career book or one or two hours with a career / job search coach.

Of course the best assistance could open doors to a job. That would be wonderful. But if your gesture gives an evening of comfort and joy, it will bring light to a dark time and hope to those who thirst for it. Interesting in more ways you can help family and friends facing unemployment, try these.

How To Help Jobless Friends & Family is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. How Important Are Your Friends In Finding Your Next Job?
2. The Ups & Downs Of Working With The Family Firm
3. Between Friends: 5 Networking No-No’s

The job that got my career going was a referral from my roommate who didn’t get hired at Frito-Lay and told the recruiter in the debrief call (where he got dinged) that I was the type of person that she should call for the job.  That ended up being a ten-year run for me. I would guess that there are many of you who have similar stories of where you either have been referred by a friend and got the job, or you helped a friend get a job.  Friends may be the most important connection you have to your next dream job.  That would mean that we all should be much more thoughtful and deliberate about how we help our friends help us and vice versa.  Consider these thoughts:

• Do your friends really know what is your dream job? It seems like they should, but do they really?  Have you told them that if they get a call for any one of the 10 dream companies, doing “this”, in XYZ location, that you would like them to send the recruiter your way?  If you stop and think about it, you know a lot of people who get great headhunter calls that would help you out if only you asked.

• Do you know your friend’s dream job? If you want help from others, help them first. It doesn’t take too many calls or emails before your friends will be helping you out, because they keep getting great referrals from you.  Consider that you can spark the fire by doing good for others.

• Do you keep track of your friends and what they are doing now? I recently got a note on Facebook from a childhood friend who asked if we could spend a few minutes talking on the phone about an idea he had.  We hadn’t talked in at least 25 years, but it was so easy on the phone when we connected.  A few minutes after reminiscing and catching up on the health of our parents, etc., he told me about the company that he and his brother founded, which he now runs as CEO.  I listened in amazement about his $100 million dollar plus revenue company that is poised with their new contracts to grow ten-fold in the next five years.  He asked me if I could come speak to his team and provide some consulting time to them.  I never would have guessed that he was doing so well and that I could help him out.  Doing a little cross-matching of your old friends on LinkedIn could yield some productive contacts for you.

I would love to hear, as I am sure others would, your stories of how you have been helped by friends or you have helped them find their next job!

How Important Are Your Friends In Finding Your Next Job? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Your Boss Wants To Be Facebook Friends. Now What?!
2. Between Friends: 5 Networking No-No’s
3. The Most Important Rule In Interviewing; Always Interview With More Than One Company