Reflections on unemployment 3: Coffee is awesome.

 

One of my favourite coffee spots down by the river. Honest.

I never even used to drink coffee. 

It was only really when I had kids it became medicinal.

It was only really when covid hit I got a proper coffee machine at home. 

It was only really when a colleague introduced me to James Hoffmann that I started becoming a weird coffee person. 

And here I am, before I know it, James Ashwin - a guy that lists "coffee" as a hobby. 

So, what does coffee have to do with unemployment? Keep reading, dear reader, and find out.

Coffee is always awesome. 

Maybe we should take that as a given, Just because you're unemployed, coffee doesn't stop being delicious or stop perking you up. 

Coffee anchors you in normality. 

When the world seems all at sea, taking time out to go and make yourself a cup of coffee and following through your little rituals, whatever they may be, just gives you a little normalcy. Keeps you grounded, all that good stuff.

Coffee helps you connect, and stay connected. 

OK, you could probably achieve this with tea if you wanted to. But "let's grab a coffee" is a great thing for the unemployed. At worst, it gets you out of the house. At best, you get to connect with folks and may even get free coffee out of it. 

During my time out of work, I did coffee with an old colleague I'd not met in best part of a decade. I did coffee with friendly recruiters who hooked me up with opportunities. I did coffee with an old uni friend I'd not seen in 20 years. And I did coffee with the MD of the company I'm now contracting for. 

Coffee goes with chat like carrots go with peas. And recruitment processes could use more chatting. In the first blog in this series I made it clear that I'm not a huge fan of contrived interview processes. A proper chat with real human connection feels like the antidote to all that madness.

Coffee is a nice gift. 

I received a couple of bags of coffee as pick-me-ups when I was out of work. It really lifted my spirits and I looked forward to trying out my new beans and experiencing something new. 

So, thanks, coffee. 

I know I can be a little glib on occasion. And maybe writing a blog post about how much coffee helped me during unemployment seems a bit daft. But, really, a lot of the good things that happened to me during that period of time were related to coffee, so I feel really pleased to have coffee in my life. Even moreso than usual!