RESEARCH_FILE
Connie R. Wanberg
Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
Known for:Research on the individual experience of unemployment and the daily dynamics of the job search
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“If I had tried harder, I'd still have a job”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“My hours were never the ledger that decided this.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Open your calendar from the two weeks before the layoff, count the real logged hours, and write that number in a private note next to what you'd assumed it was.
Key findings
- 2010
A three-week daily survey of job seekers showed affect and reemployment efficacy vacillate day to day with perceived search progress — and that lower perceived progress on one day predicted more search effort the next, moderated by financial hardship, employment commitment, and action-state orientation. The Job Search Grind: Perceived Progress, Self-Reactions, and Self-Regulation of Search Effort ↗
- 2012
In-depth qualitative work with unemployed professionals mapped the layers of the job-search context — including the experience of applications disappearing without response — and documented how seekers adapt their strategies and self-regulation to an opaque, often unresponsive process. Navigating the Black Hole: Explicating Layers of Job Search Context and Adaptational Responses ↗