It has been a long, hard road: layoff, unemployment, fear, depression, and occasionally panic or despair. Beyond trauma of losing your job stretches uncomfortable, stress filled nightmare of looking for work. Emotionally reeling from blows of joblessness, you picked yourself up and cast yourself out into mind-numbing, ego-destructive, judgmental world of job seeker.

Now nightmare is over. The offer has been made and accepted: you are going back to work.

Do you feel elated? At times, probably so. Do you also feel deflated? Again, probably so. When we are actively involved in looking for work, we tend to feel that once we are offered a position, all will be right with world, long-borne burden will be off our shoulders, and our mental outlook will be bright and positive.

Don't be surprised or upset if you don't experience an unalloyed sense of joy and optimism. It is not unusual to encounter feelings of disappointment and apathy, Your family and friends are totally delighted for you, so you develop feelings of guilt for not being as happy and relieved as everyone else appears.

Be kind to yourself. Become aware of what you are experiencing so you can accept it for what it is and become your own primary source of support. Consider these events:

1. You have just been through a harrowing ordeal that required you to marshal all your resources to focus on one goal: finding employment. You harnessed your anxiety by pouring out adrenaline to keep yourself active and fighting fit. You buried your concerns about other aspects of your life in order to concentrate on one single priority. Now that you have attained your goal, there is no more focus for your emotional and physiological energies, they simply swirl around in disarray. When such an all-encompassing goal is accomplished, there is suddenly a temporary vacuum. For moment, you don't know what to do with yourself, a predicament that leads to mood swings, a sense of loss, a vague but powerful restlessness that is as unpleasant as it is unexpected.

Portland, OR: Hollander Consultants’ most productive consultant for first quarter of 2005 is Dave McKevitt. Hollander Consultants has a very extensive management program for its clients that aids them in implementing numerous systems and office specific programs as well as providing training for employees. McKevitt’s diligence and dedication to ensuring his clients succeed has caused him to break numerous production records this quarter.

Eric Korb, Vice President for Consulting, said, “Dave McKevitt’s work this quarter has been phenomenal. He has guided and directed more clients through Hollander Consultants program than ever before and his results have been fantastic. Dave’s clients love him.”