Reflecting on one's core values after losing a job helps to find a new employment

What is it about?

Job loss carries a heavy psychological burden, one that can trap individuals in a vicious cycle of unemployment. The current research investigates whether a brief psychological intervention can break this cycle. For people who lost their job or who were already unemployed, a 15-min values-based reflection exercise boosted their chances of reemployment, reduced the time it took to find a new job, and increased the number of job offers received. Despite additional barriers that can confront job seekers above the age of 50 years, the benefits of the intervention were equivalent across age groups. The current research shows how a brief psychological intervention contributes to solving the pressing societal problem of unemployment.

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Photo by RetroSupply on Unsplash

Photo by RetroSupply on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our reported findings have direct policy implications as they offer an easily administered intervention. We find that reminding people of their core values when facing unemployment by asking them to do this reflection exercise offers an effective, scalable, and low-cost intervention for job seekers that can complement existing training- or workshop-based approaches. By investing just 15 min to reflect on one's core values, the probability of finding reemployment across two studies almost tripled within 4 weeks. The current findings demonstrate that reflecting on one’s personal values produces economic value for job seekers in the labor market.