1. I've lost a job because the parent company merged with another company and started eliminating "redundant" positions. I've lost a job because of private equity shenanigans. I've been laid off a few times because of budget cuts when the economy was in the toilet. I've lost many jobs over the years and not once was it because of anything I could control.
2. Our culture is constantly telling you that if you can't find a job it's due to some kind of character defect. After a while you start to internalize that notion and it's super depressing. Being depressed and desperate for a job just makes the job hunt that much harder. Employers always want an explanation for the "gaps" in your employment history and "just trying to survive" is not an acceptable answer.
> Our culture is constantly telling you that if you can't find a job it's due to some kind of character defect.
You hit the nail on the head, its a combination of survivorship bias and just-world fallacy that cause people to hand-wave away the problems. Either out of "it doesn't happen to me" or "I've never seen it happen before" its really hard to reason with someone who doesn't see the thing you're complaining about to be a legitimate concern.
Compassion is the only answer. First self compassion, and then compassion for others in the world. Even the ones who do us dirty. Compassion and understanding can't replace burned bridges but it can build new ones. I'm still working on this.
2. Our culture is constantly telling you that if you can't find a job it's due to some kind of character defect. After a while you start to internalize that notion and it's super depressing. Being depressed and desperate for a job just makes the job hunt that much harder. Employers always want an explanation for the "gaps" in your employment history and "just trying to survive" is not an acceptable answer.
3. See #2