The Job Search Curve

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened up for us” – Helen Keller

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a world-renowned psychiatrist, was born in Switzerland in 1926 and died in America in 2004. In her groundbreaking book entitled On Death and Dying, she first discussed what is now known as the Kubler-Ross model in which she proposed the “five stages of grief” as a pattern of adjustment. These five stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance have been adapted to many situations and are also represented in the job search curve below to help individuals understand their emotions whilst going through the career transition process.

What you will notice in looking at the curve is that there are two sides – from the reactive phase of “letting go” and dealing with a variety of negative emotions until, having made a choice, one will progress to a proactive phase, where one becomes more positive and focuses on establishing a “new beginning”.

During the process it is expected that there will be fluctuations, and you may well bounce back and forth a few times before arriving at your new beginning. What is important to notice is that the new beginning is on a higher level than “getting started”, an indication that you are likely to find yourself in a role more suited to your talents and abilities.


This is an extract from “Chapter 1 – Separation”, the first chapter of “A Bend in the Road – A Guide to Career Transition”, written to assist those faced with retrenchment in today’s  economic  environment.  Visit http://www.dmapeople.co.za/bendintheroad.html for further information.