Job Search Length and Happiness

By Kevin Enriquez, Campus Representative, Drexel University

It seems as if every day, there is a new article on unemployment data and how dire the hiring situation is in Corporate America, but not as many articles explain the attitudes from individuals who actually manage to find a replacement job.

Recently, the Economix Blog in the Wall Street Journal quotes a study that says, the faster you find a replacement job; the more "satisfied" you will be, and the longer it takes you to get a job the more bitter the individual becomes towards work.

The article reads: Over all, nearly three-quarters of the newly re-employed say things turned out O.K., with 44 percent saying their current job is better than their former job and another 30 percent saying it is about as good. Only 24 percent say it is worse.

It turns out those who spent more time jobless do indeed evaluate their new employment less favorably, though: Among those who had been out of work for less than six months, three times as many say their new job is better than their old job (54 percent to 16 percent).

But those out of work for longer than six months are much more likely to assess their new jobs unfavorably. Nearly a third (29 percent) say the new job is worse than the old one, while a little over a third (36 percent) say it is better. (There was no statistical significance between the portion of both groups — long-term unemployed and short-term unemployed — who said their new and old jobs are about the same in quality.)

The reason for the different assessments from the long-term and short-term unemployed isn’t clear.

If you think about it there can be a number of reasons why people are unsatisfied with their job the longer it took for them to find it. Certain individuals were probably denied acceptance from there "desired" jobs and had to resort to a less attractive position. Other people who found their jobs right away might have gotten their dream jobs in the first wave of hiring. You have to love your job to enjoy it; if you settle for anything lower expect unhappiness.