The recession has affected people in many ways. Many have lost jobs. And in some cases certain types of jobs are no longer as relevant.
In talking with people it’s interesting to note that after being laid off some people say they didn’t have the job satisfaction anyway. So maybe that’s the upside of the recession? It’s forcing people to reinvent themselves.
In other cases employers are using the recession as a reason to reduce their workforce & restructure for efficiency. My question on this is what criteria is being used? Are they reducing staff based on performance? or seniority?
This past week found me talking with individuals who are in the process of reinventing themselves. My philosophy is that you can ‘Create your own Opportunities’. Rachel shared her story on how she used resources on my blog to help her find a job. (It’s a must read if you haven’t done so).
As much as I love talking with individuals I was trying to put my finger on how to scale that one on one time. How could I impart how I help people find their path & impart optimism?
Here’s the general path we follow when someone asks for advice:
- Provide your objectives: I ask people to send their questions in advance. I think that this is a good exercise in identifying what it is that you specifically want to ask.
- What are you seeking? ask yourself that & put it in the form of questions
- Find your advisors: When I talk with people I generally share that others have helped me identify what my focus should be. My suggestion is to ask people who know you well – what do you think I’m good at? and explore possibilities with them. Things that aren’t apparent to you will be to them. You just need to ask them to be frank.
- What unique value propositions do I offer an employer?
- What should you be doing? consulting, long term contracting or seeking a job? Please be doing all three. And take it a step further by connecting with people and offering your services. Maybe you can provide 10 hours per week? If you do an outstanding job then it may grow. Maybe it means volunteering your time to prove your willingness & abilities. No matter what it is, you need to be doing something! No one is going to do it for you.
- Make yourself indispensable. That’s important in any job.
- Put yourself out there. There are many seeking jobs. You need to TELL potential employers that you’re interested & how you can contribute to their business objectives. How do you know who the potential employers are? Look around because they’re everwhere. Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn make it easier than ever to connect with everyone at a company no matter their position. (Tip for LinkedIn – if you don’t know someone’s email address, use Groups & select one that you belong to. Add a note as to why you want to connect.)
- This is the time to stand out from the crowd. Make your success happen.
- I established my mantra of ‘create you own opportunities’ long before the recession. And I believe that life is what you make of it. If you were a statistic change it around and use it as a reason to put your knowledge of social media tools to work. You offer employers something that they may not even realize they need. But it will be up to you to sell your skills. The final question is:
- Why should they hire you?
What are your thoughts? If you’ve shifted into working in the social media space what worked for you?
Is the recession forcing people to reinvent themselves or coming to terms with reality? I recall a 15-year-old statistic that may remain valid today; namely, that the average worker hates his or her job because it’s viewed as a JOB.
As long as one is working a stereotypical 9 to 5 shift and does the work to get money, of course it’s a job.
No offense toward laid off employees, but I think it’s awesome folks are smelling the coffee and if you insist, “reinventing” their realities to work somewhere doing something they love doing, that it’s not merely a JOB but a PASSION.