Prospects of finding work in the US

[ichinglover]

Hi, my fellow i ching fans

Here is the question:

What are my prospects of finding a job?

21.2.3 -> 14

is it good? Or is it bad? 14 sounds encouraging....

Any ideas?

[ginnie]

Perplexes me, tell you the truth. It seems to me you might already have a job.

Hexagram 21 concerns legal questions. If you are not a US citizen, the Yi's reply might have to do with that . . .

[ichinglover]

Ginnie,
I'm not a citizen, but a lawful resident...
So no problems here, hopefully :))

I'm puzzled as well though...

[willowfox]

Have you been looking for a job for a while now? Anyway, you need to put a lot of effort into the search because you will face rejection many times before you finally get a job.
Therefore expect to get angry now and again at your lack of apparent progress but persevere because you will certainly find a job, sooner or later.

There is nothing perplexing here at all, a quite straight forward answer.

[ginnie]

I could be you are involved with a person or with people who don't support your plans and are in fact thwarting or blocking your plans, ichinglover. This can delay your plans for a long time.

I agree with Willowfox, though. If you are determined, nobody can stop you. Your progress will be step-by-step, not all in one giant leap . . .

[rosada]

The reality of job search is..

21.2
Sometimes you get rejected.
21.3
Hell, sometimes you don't even get an interview.

But don't let it get you down cause..

14
You possess talent and there is work out there that needs to be done.

rosada

[ginnie]

Hexagram 21, like hexagram 27, shows the picture of a mouth, but in this case there is some obstruction that keeps the teeth from coming together. The obstruction is the solid line 4 in the middle of hexagram 21. You did not have 4th line moving, and so it's not clear whether or not the obstruction will be removed.

Translations of line 2 vary greatly. The Blofeld translation comments: "we may do a little harm to our own interests but we shall not deserve blame for what happens." That doesn't sound so positive, but there is no error involved.

With line 3, it is said you bite into something unpleasant and hit something poisonous, distasteful, injurious, and therefore disagreeable. However the auspice is not so bad. Legge says: "There will be occasion for some small regret, but no great error."

I have had experience with this line. I'll just say the possibility exists that in the process of looking for a job in the US, you'll discover or come to know something rather disagreeable. The experience will be like being poisoned, "but not severely enough to indispose you for long," says the Blofeld translation.

I would say that what happens after that would depend on how you react to the "poisoning" experience referred to in the third line moving.

It's impossible to know, as usual, whether the hexagram 14, Great Possessions, represents your wish for great abundance, or whether it is indicating a potential result of your job search. It could be said that anything we wish for strongly becomes more possible for us to attain.

[willowfox]

It's impossible to know, as usual, whether the hexagram 14, Great Possessions, represents your wish for great abundance, or whether it is indicating a potential result of your job search. It could be said that anything we wish for strongly becomes more possible for us to attain.

The question was about finding gainful employment, not about winning the national lottery, therefore it has to do with successfully getting a job and being paid for one's service.

When one has no or very little money then Hex 14 suggests that you will indeed be better of then you were previously.

So, it is possible to know the outcome, that she will get a job and she will make some money, it doesn't promise millions but it does promise that she will be financially better off. Being or feeling rich is relative.

[ginnie]

Identifying the nature of the obstacle is the first step here! That there is some obstacle is shown by the fact that you got H21! How can you overcome an obstacle if you don't know what it is?

Almost certainly, someone is or will be behaving badly towards you. Almost all the translations assume that when one gets this hexagram that someone specific is taking advantage of you, holding you back, or interfering with your plans in some significant way.

I got this line 3 moving several times when I had a business client who simply wouldn't answer her emails. I could send four emails and a letter through the post office, and she would never respond. This person obviously had a long-standing bad habit of not responding in a businesslike way, thus throwing a big monkey wrench into the usual back and forth of communications. I seem to remember that she accused me of failing to complete some project before she simply faded away as a paying client. I mean, some people are just impossible to deal with, and there was nothing I could do about it . . .

[ichinglover]

thanks guys for your ideas and sharing of your personal experiences!!!

This is quite helpful...

For now I can't think of any concrete and material obstacles ( like in Ginnie's case), other than my own extreme unwilligness to look for this particular type of work,
as I grew to hate it and hate myself for wastrng my life on it...

Will this qualify as an obstacle?

[rosada]

Absolutely! In fact I'm kicking myself for not mentioning earlier that I thought 21.3 might be saying you should be looking in another field as it appears you are sick of your current activity. 14 would suggest you have options in lots of areas.
r

[ginnie]

For now I can't think of any concrete and material obstacles ( like in Ginnie's case), other than my own extreme unwilligness to look for this particular type of work,
as I grew to hate it and hate myself for wastrng my life on it...

Will this qualify as an obstacle?

Yes, that's the worst kind of obstacle.

The essential fact you've got to face seems to be that you have grown to hate this kind of work. You can never be successful at something you hate.

You can't just ignore how you feel and think you'll be able to keep it hidden. As they say, "Attitude is everything."

[willowfox]

One obstacle that may crop up is your lack of qualifications that are needed for many types of work. So, if you look for work where special qualifications are not needed then there shouldn't be too many problems, and of course look for any type of work, as sticking with one idea is going to greatly reduce your chances of finding anything.

Hex 14 is also about expansion of interests which in turn lead to gains.

[ichinglover]

Thanks, it quite enligtening!