Making Decisions About Unemployment

According to Shockley-Zalabak problem solving is a process involving many stages through which a situation moves from an undesirable state to a more desirable condition. An individual or group chooses from various alternative solutions pertaining to the issue and decides on the best option (318). The first stage in any problem solving process is to identify the problem. This article is based on my personal career decisions which stemmed from my unemployment problem.

I was unemployed in my home town in Trinidad, West Indies for over six months after college graduation. I had already made several applications for jobs in my field of study but had no success. I needed to work for I was out of money and was not using my skills. I was uncomfortable with my mother having to bear the burden of child care, for she was a single mom since my dad died six years ago.

Lunenburg and Ornstein in their discussion of the Behavioral Decision Making Model suggest that after problem identification the next step should be generation of alternatives. This model assumes the decision maker has limited rationality and does not have all the information on alternatives and outcomes to make a decision (184). In my case I was practically the sole decision maker for I was single with no commitments. I examined three major alternatives such as applying for jobs overseas, entering into partnership to operate a small business and returning to further my studies. I choose these alternatives although I knew there may have been other choices that I had less information about. With such limited rationality I was operating under the Behavioral Model. I embarked on a search of information on all three alternatives sending out overseas job applications, attending business interviews, seeking loan proposal and approval for a business and looking for post graduate schools and finances for studies.

Making Decisions About Unemployment

I waited a while to observe the feedback from my alternatives and once loan proposal and approval were rejected I knew I had only two alternatives. According to the Behavioral Model of

Decision Making I was now in the evaluation of Alternatives Stage (Lunenburg and Ornstein 185) and was already conscious of the fact that post-graduate studies were too expensive for my current budget. With no collateral I had a slim chance of being approved for funding from any reputable financial institution.

Fortunately, I was called for interview for the job in the British Virgin Islands (B.V.I.). The interview was really promising. A few days after this, I got the news that I was invited for another interview, this time it was for a job in the Cayman Islands. I attended the second interview and felt that it was a well done interview.

With the first and only job offer I was flying to the British Virgin Islands (B.V.I.) three weeks after that interview to take up a job as Agricultural Officer. I was relieved and was excited to start my new job and was all to ready to sign my contact with the BVI Government 2 weeks after my arrival. But, before I put pen to paper, a call came from the Cayman Islands Government saying that I was offered the job in the Cayman Islands as Cooperative Business Manager.

I found myself now in the Selection Phase, having offers of two really desirable and challenging jobs! Well, it may have been then that my intuition and the advice of loved ones and capable professionals started to dominate in my decision making process. In any case I did not have all the outcomes and consequences of my decision at my disposal so I started to depend more on intuition as I continued in this Behavioral Model. I examined and scrutinized the term of both the BVI and Cayman Islands contracts knowing that money was not all I needed. I

Making Decisions About Unemployment

compared salaries, benefits, job descriptions, my knowledge and awareness of the islands. I consulted with knowledgeable friends and acquaintances about the legal implications of each contract and the expenses involved in the choices. I had visited the BVI before but never set foot in the Cayman Islands so Cayman Islands would be an entirely new challenge for me.

I had now arrived at the point of implementation of a decision and both governments were waiting for a final answer. According to the suggestions of Vroom and Yetton in Leadership and Decision Making, I was utilizing the consultative style of leadership when I eventually made my decision using the information I had gathered and the advice of others (13).

I did not sign my contract of the British Virgin Islands. I had much peace in choosing to go to the Cayman Islands to take up my new venture. Cayman islands offered me a new challenge, more money and a better career path. On hindsight, in evaluating my decision, this position opened up opportunities for me far greater than I ever dreamed of. Not only was I professionally and financially blessed but on a more personal note, I met my American husband there and my marriage and family were born in the Cayman Islands.

In the midst of unemployment, opportunities may exist that we may consider in times of plenty. Perhaps with the economic downturn that is presently plaguing the United States and the global economy, our concerns of being unemployed will force us to stretch ourselves beyond the boundaries we have constructed and to create unheard of alternatives.

Necessity is the mother of invention.