HOW I SURVIVED UNEMPLOYMENT

I said to myself that on this blog I would follow all the good things that life in Abu Dhabi offers, the travel, the dining, the lifestyle and overall frivolous stuff. I wouldn't turn it into a whining, rant driven blog. But then again I did call it Following Amy so therefore I am going to have a small rant so that you can really "follow" me.

For the last eight months I have been unemployed, not really by choice but rather just by a sequence of unfortunate, unexplainable and frustrating events.

In December I finished up some contract work with a company in Dubai working as Events Manager on some wonderful events. Taking time off afterwards for some great holidays, in February I was back in country and ready to start working again.

If only it were that easy right? Job hunting is tough, especially tough in the UAE, people don't reply to you, discrimination against age, nationality and gender is common law and in general it can be quite soul destroying.

In March it looked like my luck was changing, I was approached to interview at a premier company in Abu Dhabi. Oh joy - so close to home, no commuting to Dubai, a senior role - I was excited! The interview was great, my second interview was great and a month later my third interview was great too. I was offered the role and signed the same day, amazing...or so I thought.

It was April by this time and I had a list of paperwork to supply which is the norm here so I was prepared and submitted everything required within a week. All going well I should have started in May.

But alas it is now July and I have not started, I am left baffled as to how I have signed two approved work permits back in May but yet just last week they were rejected? I am baffled still because I honestly love this country I live in but sometimes I just don't understand how it operates and after five years of living here I am left feeling blind sided.

There are no firm answers as to how, what or why there is such a delay and for those who live in the UAE you will know exactly what I am talking about. I am hanging in there because this job on paper is great and so I want to believe in the end it will be worth it.  I am sure one day I will look back on this period of time and laugh but in the mean time I have tried to make use of this time and have a few hacks to get through the daily frustrations that is unemployment.

• Exercise

I know this is pretty obvious but it's so so true. I am lucky enough to have a fantastic gym located in our building, a Portuguese franchise, the Vivafit instructors are all Portuguese and so full of energy it's infectious. Four, Five or sometimes Six times a week this helps me get out all of my frustrations at the beginning of the day to start fresh!

• Routine

The only way I could have a productive day is to keep routine. Get up, walk the dogs, gym, housework and job hunt. This was on repeat daily with only a few variations, basically if I don't keep to this routine it's a slippery slide into losing a whole day binge watching TV.

• Research & planning

Job hunting is a science and it can be learned. Cracking website algorithms so you can beat the machine to get to an actual person and getting your profile noticed on linkedin can all be done if you put in the effort. I spent hours upon hours researching how to do the above and more before I seriously put myself out there on the job hunt, and it does pay off. Re-writing my profiles and making sure to hit all those key words is something that now comes second nature. I had most of my job calls from recruiters who were finding me online and those calls are still coming sporadically (which I may take up if this current job doesn't start soon).

• Get out of the house

Every few days I leave the house and find a coffee shop, generally a Starbucks as we have three within 500m of our house. I would take a book, read the papers and generally interact with other humans. It only needed to be for an hour or so but this was pretty important. Also, I would try to get out of leggings and wear proper clothes along with mascara and on a really good day I straighten my hair!

• Find an outlet

I have never been an overly creative person but I decided that I would start a blog to document life in the UAE (something I have talked about for years). I have no idea if anyone is interested but since I have time on my hands it seemed like the perfect time to start one. Focusing my mind on something other than my so called job and taking pictures of the good things in life has been a great source of distraction and enjoyment. 

The above is not rocket science I know but if you find yourself unemployed than you know it can be tough mentally to each day repeat the same process of writing cover letters which won't get read and endless hours spent searching online, so I figure any tips on surviving this process with sanity intact is helpful. 

I am also incredibly lucky, I have Warren by my side who constantly keeps a positive spin on things and financially we are stable enough because of his job. I know alot of people who can only dream to be in this position so I guess at the end of the day I can't complain (much). 

So for now I am left with "Inshallah", the famous or should that be infamous? Arabic saying used widely across the UAE for any and every situation. It simply means "God willing" or "If God wills". 

Inshallah, I will work very soon. 

Amy