Surviving Turbulent Times

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just MapQwest directions to a new job? Let's say you'd enter the keywords of MBA + Director + 25 years + financial services + Dallas and voila -- in 14 seconds or less, you could discover your next gig. Download, print, read. Done and done! Until such time, however, you'll probably want to rely upon your brain + wit + savvy + perseverance + attitude to land your next job. Here are some old-fashioned ideas you might consider until such technology exists:  

1. Change what you can, not what you can't. If you have lost your job, instead of focusing upon what you had, focus on what you have. And what you have is talent, knowledge, skills, and abilities. No one can take these things from you. Someone "out there" needs you and your gifts; they just don't know it, yet! The trick is to figure out who, and how quickly you can hook-up with them.

2. Look at the good in your life, your community, your state, your country, your world. When you spend time intoxicating yourself with bad news, doom and gloom, and all the wrongs with this and that, you will undoubtedly get discouraged, disillusioned, and distressed. Squint, and you might catch a glimpse of sunshine and a ray of hope!

3. Expect and require professional excellence of yourself. Remember how hard you worked for your employer to earn your paycheck? Try applying that same drive, commitment, and tenacity to your newest project, which is to find a new job if you don't have one. It is not something to be taken lightly or half-heartedly. It is truly a full-time endeavor, not a 60-minutes per day hit-or-miss project.

4. Assemble the right resources to help you succeed. For starters, build a diverse and vibrant team to help you move forward. The job search game is a team sport, just like football, baseball, soccer, or basketball. It takes a team effort to win the job search game. From designing a powerful resume to putting your best foot forward in the interview to learning the nuances of social media, tap into all available tools and resources to propel you forward.

5. Upgrade thyself. My laptop makes me crazy some days with its announcements of new updates, check-ups, and installations. What, if anything, within your own internal operating system needs an upgrade, fix-up, clean-up or tune-up? There's no better time than now to invest in continuous self-improvement initiatives.

6. Focus, then focus some more. I love listening to my clients; not only do I learn from them, I also hear some interesting expressions. Take, for example, the two I heard recently:

* Pick a lane. My client went on to say that he needed to quit flip-flopping around in his job search and get some clarity about his goals, vision, and direction. As he stated, how can I get what I want if I don't know what that is?

* Be more than a one-trick pony. Another client went on to explain that he had much more to offer an employer than just one thing and that his skillset could add value in multiple areas of an organization. Are you more than a one-trick pony?

7. Don't dwell in stuck. Last week, I was helping a client and in our phone coaching sessions, he shared with me that he had hired the services of a "high-priced" (his words) career firm who, much to his chagrin, hadn't "helped him much." He continued to feel very stuck these many months later. In a follow-up email to him, I offered him some primitive advice: put chains on your tires and start spinning your way out of the ditch. The bottom line, give yourself permission to move beyond the state of stuck; you have dwelled there long enough.

8. Quit When You're Done. During college, my best friend and I hired on to a work crew to "walk beans." Our job was to pull cockle burrs, thistles, and other noxious weeds. As our field supervisor constantly reminded us -- "grunt job; good pay - keep working." Daily, we had x number of acres to walk and work, and no matter how hot or humid it was, or how tired we were, she'd constantly quip "we'll quit when we're done." While her words annoyed even the best-tempered among us, she had a point. Are you quitting when you're done, or are you done before you even get started in your job search?

posted by: billiesucher

Comments

[Paul]

Now this is what I call an article - fantastic piece of useful content you've written here. I think the points of number 6 are especially critical to a lot of people right now, as desperation seems to have a way of spreading people too thin in and in too many directions for their job search. Staying focused is going to be essential in this market and is going to be a primary determinant of what separates those from landing the jobs they want, from those who are just landing jobs. Take care out there

[billiesucher]

Hi Paul. Indeed, staying focused is a big deal in today's economy. Did you happen to catch CNBC's Town Hall Meeting last night about Where the Jobs Are -- it was a wonderful program. The site they mentioned is here:

www.jobs.cnbc.com
Thanks for your comment!
- Billie