No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Lessons for Young Adults

CHAPTER TWENTY

SO YOU GOT FIRED

Relationships of all kinds are challenged whenever the economics of society decline, when hard times hit. Millions of worthy, hardworking people lose their jobs. We're in that mode today. The good news for you younger readers: from 25 to 45, if you lose a job, you're eminently employable if you follow some practical hints. The bad news for so many 55 and older is that you feel young. But the cruel world of employment can make you feel as if you're damaged goods. This is a horrible downside in American culture geared so much to the young. My last book, No One Ever Told Us That, has been published in foreign editions in China, Japan, and Korea. But not in Europe. Why? Because it's street-smart advice to graduates of college from a grandfather. Eternal thoughts, not geared to fads or passing popular obsessions. The Far East, with thousands of years of history, values experience and wisdom passed down from endless generations much more than the Western world does. We are a society obsessed with youth, social networking, and slimmer figures. It's what the mirror tells us much more than what we need to learn to grow and prosper.

My friend Andy Hunter is one of the best in the business known in common parlance as headhunting. I wanted his take on the subject he deals with daily.

“Let's be clear about a few things,” he said. “You spend maybe hours forging your resume. People gazing at your result take 10 to 15, 30 max, seconds to scan it.

“You have to grab ...