A job is a statistic when you're the one looking for work. And looking is what millions of people are doing in 2003.

On January 24 this year, BBC News World Edition reported that "unemployment around the world has reached a record figure of 180 million [6.5 percent of the total labor force] and is likely to continue rising, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). "Hardest hit," the report continued, "are the industrialized countries of Latin America, where economic crisis has driven the average unemployment rate up to 10 percent. "In Argentina, whose economy is the worst affected, the number of jobless now stands at 22 percent. In Africa and the Middle East, those looking for their first jobs are finding it especially hard."

In the United States, unemployment moved up to 5.8 percent in February. European unemployment averaged 7.6 percent in and has reached 11.3 percent in Germany. The organization Statistics Canada reports nationwide unemployment of 7.4 percent in February, but joblessness varies from severe on the coasts (11–17 percent in the Eastern Maritimes) to 5.1 percent in Alberta's robust economy.

It's not an easy moment to be in the job hunt. Highly variable local economic situations and many other factors—among them, declines in tourism over the past 18 months, the dramatic slide of dotcoms and some high-tech industries, stock market qualms, the ebb and flow of immigration—combine to make this an especially challenging time to be a job seeker. But it's also a time when the "God factor" can make all the difference.

This week, a woman whose family emigrated to Canada from India, and a recent Canadian university graduate in computer science who found work in the United States, offer their spiritual perspectives on the search for meaningful employment.

A job search in a new country

By Neeru Dhingra

For eight years I was manager of software systems for a government financial institution in India that grants development loans to small businesses and industries. I left that job when my second child was born and my mother-in-law (who helped with child care) immigrated to Canada. My working hours were very long, and I was reluctant to leave my kids in the hands of a housekeeper. One year later, we, too, immigrated to Canada and settled in Edmonton, Alberta.

It was very difficult and confusing to settle in a new country. I applied for work in my field and interviewed at a big company. Everything went well, but to my surprise I never got a call. At that time I was confused over whether I should seek work in software development, as this field is quite demanding and requires continual study to keep up with changes and program updates. That could be very hard to do with two small kids to care for.

I found work in a convenience store at the sales counter. The job required less working hours than a full-time position would, but I could not adjust to the work of brooming, mopping, and cleaning the windows. I was not using my skills or education. In my heart I would cry the whole day, and then shed tears every night.

Edmonton's severe winter was approaching, and I did not want to depend on my husband or sister-in-law for picking me up and dropping me off at the store. There is a shopping mall across the road from where we live, so I applied for work in most of the stores.

At this point, I asked my sister in India to pray for me. She is a Christian Scientist. Knowing well that my family had been resistant toward Christian Science, and especially to the Bible reading involved in the study of Christian Science she told me to study the book Science and Health, which she had given to me, and to start praying to God myself. She also told me to claim the rights God had endowed me with as His daughter.

I got a call from a grocery store about a post as a cashier. This time I was calm during the interview, and thankful to God for giving me strength and poise. I completed a long training and a test, and my sister was continually in touch and praying for me during this time. I got the job and was happy to find that I was just supposed to handle the cash, and not do odd jobs such as brooming the floors. I loved that job and enjoyed it throughout the winters, even when the temperature was 34 degrees below zero (F), as I once saw on a thermometer across the road.

A desire grew in me to work in a bank. The phrase, "Desire is prayer," from the book Science and Health (p. 1), encouraged me. I was regularly reading the book now, and I shared with a Christian Science practitioner the inspiration I was gaining. She would send me relevant articles from the website spirituality.com, which I read very carefully. By this time I had read only three chapters in Science and Health.

One day I saw in an advertisement that experience as a cashier was a prerequisite for the job of teller in a local bank. Since I now had this experience, I interviewed but was not selected. I was able to overcome disappointment easily by praying regularly with the practitioner. She told me that our appointment to various positions in life really does not come from persons or companies—rather that it comes directly from God. We thought together about the following lines from the Bible: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

This practitioner frequently told me, "You are God's daughter." And as my sister had done before, the practitioner also encouraged me to claim my right to progress and proper straight from Him.

One day a friend who was working at the Bank of Montreal called up to say that they had a vacancy. I went for a series of interviews, and this time I was very calm. I got the job of my choice, and because of being assigned to a certain branch bank, I also sought and gained added freedom by pursuing a needed driver's license. I cleared the driving test and am planning to buy a car. During the three-week training period I was judged "best performer" one week, and since then I've received other performance awards.

I learned so many new things during my job searches. The turning point in my outlook came when I realized that I do not have to run after employment, but that God is my Father and my only real employer. I am fully employed every moment in reflecting Godlike qualities, including peace, joy, health, and abundance.

I understand now that when all my expectations are the ones God gives, when my desires are pure, and when my aim is to work with commitment to do good for the community and my family, God does not fail me. The gifts, the talents, that He gives each of us are purely spiritual and always employable. Even while I was without a job, I was working—to get rid of negative thinking, restlessness, and the feeling of worthlessness.

My gratitude is boundless—to the Father-Mother, God, for His love; to the author of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy; and to my sister for showing me the way to reach out for peace and healing.

Neeru Dhingra and her family are originally from New Delhi.

The search is always for more than a job

By Nigel Daley

News reports today are depicting the job market as one of the worst in decades. A recent frontpage headline in The New York Times said, "Hiring in Nation Hits Worst Slump in Nearly 20 Years." Contributing to this gloomy situation is the daily news of employee layoffs. A sense of hopelessness appears to be setting in as many who are unemployed stop looking for work altogether.

For me, the move from unemployment into a rewarding career was a lesson in listening to God and not to the job market news reports.

I was nearing completion of my university degree and was looking to enter the workforce.

My wife had completed her teaching degree three years earlier and was already launched in her career. Friends were telling me that now was the time to pound the pavement, surf the career websites, and attend the job fairs—not just to find a job, but to search for a fulfilling career.

All of those are reasonable steps to take. But I decided to do something first that had always guided me in the past. I prayed. Prayer had guided and protected me in all kinds of situations, from mountain climbs to university final examinations. When praying is listening for what God knows about me and my needs—instead of recounting a list of wants—prayer lifts me mentally and allows me to approach problems in ways that aren't always evident when I'm "in" the problems themselves.

I liken this process to chess players playing "above the chessboard," not down among the chess pieces. When we're among the pieces, we can't see the whole picture. So in my job search, I knew I needed to think above the game pieces—those multiple options, the willful potential moves—and that's exactly where prayer would take me.

From what my friends were experiencing, I knew that an employment search could become overwhelming. The options a person considers in job hunting can send his or her life in very different directions, both in terms of work experience and geographical location.

I found that weighing the pros and cons of each potential opportunity led to circular thinking that didn't get me anywhere. So I asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. And that's what the first month of my search was about—searching within. The better way for me proved to be to reason about my employment from a completely spiritual perspective, rather than to scour the help-wanted columns. This line from Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy became my foundational premise—my mission statement: "For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence" (p. 492).

I started answering for myself the "where," "what," "when," "why," and "who" questions of my job search—but still, I was seeking answers solely from the perspective of "spiritual existence." That meant beginning with seeing my identity as spiritual rather than material.

For example, I reasoned that the location (the "where") of my employment was really more a matter of consciousness than geography. My worksite was always going to be in the presence of God, not just in a geographical location either far away from or near family and friends. My employer (the "who") would always be God. And my employment (the "what") would be my continuous expression of God's nature—of goodness, kindness, intelligence, and so on. As the very likeness of God, I could never be underemployed or overworked.

Without much effort on my part, I soon had a good job offer for a position that sounded like interesting work. At first I thought, "Well, I've been offered the job, so this must be what God wants me to do." But I continued to pray because I still needed to evict a lingering, heavy feeling that accepting or rejecting this job offer was a big, life-altering decision.

One idea I prayed with was that God is the infinite Mind that never needs to make a decision. This divine Mind always knows the purpose and rightful activity of every element of its creation. So the ideas that God gives me today are all I need to know—they are my employment for today. That concept also freed me from worrying about the future. My supply of ideas would be as constant as God is.

As the deadline grew closer for me to accept or reject the job offer, I acted on my prayer and followed up on another small lead—which quickly opened up into a very exciting employment opportunity, one that I quickly knew would be fulfilling. Within a couple of days I had traveled 5,000 miles roundtrip for an interview on the other side of the continent.

A few days later I accepted this second job offer, and my wife and I relocated to the East Coast of the United States.

I've now been with that company for several years, working with bright, friendly, and motivated colleagues. I can say what everyone wants to say about his or her job—I really love going to work!

Originally from Canada's West Coast, Nigel Daley is now a software engineer with Sun Microsystems in Burlington, Massachusetts.