The best way to tell if you are ready to look for work is to look "inside" yourself. People can often tell spiritually whether they are physically ready to gain employment.

Some of the questions you can ask yourself are:

• Am I recovering from an illness, disability or injury? If so, have I recovered enough to go out and look for work?
• Do I have the confidence to approach employers? This is if you decide to go cold canvassing
• Am I coming out of depression or am I slipping into depression? This will often show no matter where you go to look for work
• Do I have the necessary skills and qualifications needed for jobs in today's market?
• Do I have an acceptable level of literacy and numeracy?
• Are you in the right frame of mind for a job search? Do you think that all employers are stupid and they don't want to hire you? Or, do you think that there is someone out there who is going to see your potential and hire you because you ARE the right person for the job?

There may be other questions you can ask yourself, but in general, you need to be mentally ready. If you think you are useless and nobody will want you, if you think that all employers 'suck' and don't know what they are missing, if you think that the world is generally against you, you are not ready to look for work.

Change your attitude, think positive, start each day with a smile and your chin up, and your job search will look much brighter.