The Job Market Isn't Logical. It's Psychological. And My Dad Proved It.

I don't tell this story often because it brings me to tears. But I need to today.

When people ask me why I care so much about job search, why I fight so hard for people to get paid what they're worth, why I built a business around helping others find stability and meaning through work, it's not just because I was laid off once, though this did happen to me too.

It's because I watched my dad get laid off. And at the end of that story, he died.

My dad didn't become "my dad" in the way I remember him until after my mom left. Before that, he was always working, two jobs, most of my life. He was tired. Trying.

I never blamed him for it. He was doing what he thought he had to do to keep us afloat.

But once he became a single dad, everything changed. That's when I got to know him. That's when he became my best friend.

We lived off spaghetti and grilled cheese, his only specialties. He accidentally dyed all my socks light pink. He was figuring it out as he went, but he showed up. Fully. He loved us in the most everyday, imperfect, beautiful ways.

And I watched the world fail him.

After his wife left him, he got laid off from a job that he had for 25 years. He even had the gold watch to go with it.

Imagine the devastation he was handling. He lost his family and his occupation while being a single dad to an 8 and 10 year old.

He job searched for years. He tried everything he could think of to land something. I remember going with him to buy the perfect attaché case from a used office supply store, like maybe that would change things. It didn't.

We lost the house. And then, I lost him.

A headache took him to the ER. By the time we knew what was happening, it was already over. The tumor was non operable.

He was sick. He was fading. And no one ever told me it was the end, not until I had already kissed his cheek goodbye and left.

I was 12 years old when I lost him. And nothing about my life has ever been the same since.

So yeah, when I say I care about helping people land six-figure jobs, I mean it. Because I've seen what happens when someone brilliant and loyal and loving gets left behind by a system that doesn't care what you've given, only what you've lost.

I didn't build this business just to teach job search strategies that I perfected as a recruiter. I built it because I know what it's like to lose everything and have to keep going. I built it because I want to make sure no one else's kids have to grow up the way I did, piecing together safety in the aftermath.

You are not invisible. You are not a commodity. You are not alone.

Read the full article on LinkedIn: The Job Market Isn't Logical. It's Psychological. (And My Dad Proved It.).

For the full framework, read The Why Behind the Theory.

If this hits home, you're exactly who I built this for. Come get the whole framework at TheoryOfHireability.com.