The jobless rate in the United States climbed over 5 percent last month with the nation’s employers cutting 80,000 jobs, the biggest cut in five years.
This grim news from the Department of Labor Friday spells trouble for many of you job seekers and job holders out there. The recession, yes we’re in a recession say many economists, is doing a number on job growth and job availability.
And even as companies cut workforces, sometimes it’s like an avalanche that feeds on itself. Dell, the computer marker, had announced nearly 9000 job cuts recently but today a story in the Wall Street Journal says they plan to cut even more. So even after the initial wave of job reductions, your job may still not be safe.
It’s like a drug for these companies. They start cutting and see their profits rise as a result, so they keep cutting to get their next profit fix. It seems like a dumb short-term strategy for sure. How will they grow the firm if they don’t have employees to come up with new innovations, or sell their products? But hey, this is the reality of today’s job market.
So let’s get ready folks with a plan of action.
If you see the handwriting on the wall and it looks like your job may be in jeopardy start updating your resume now.
Look out into the marketplace and see where there is job growth and opportunities, advises Deborah Brown-Volkman, career expert and president of Surpass Your Dreams, Inc. and author of Don’t Blow It: The Right Words for the Right Job.
“It’s all about planning,” she says. “A lot of times it takes until “oh my God my job is going away” for people to act.”
Act now people. Take a class, read a book, start reaching out to your network, she stresses. Figure out what skills you need to move into a different industry, different job.
Recently, she helped advise a woman with a passion for art to move from doing corporate communications to working for a non-profit organization in the art world.
Think outside the box, and think about things you’ve always wanted to do.
If you’ve already gotten a pink slip, don’t let it paralyze you, she adds. You can go ahead and pamper yourself and lick your wounds for a week or so. Go out for dinner with friends. (OK, maybe throw a potluck. Champagne and caviar might not be a good call right now.)
But then get right up on the job-hunting horse.
“What happens is people are hard on themselves. They lose self confidence, and wait until they feel better. But that’s not how you feel better.”
“The way out is through action,” she exclaims.
I love that. Act! Don’t crumble folks!
April 6th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
These days the resume is basically under-valued. I recommend a more active approach, one that allows the jobseeker to be more in control (at What Would Day Say).
Also, our new site www.linkup.com provides job seekers with access to company career sections, directly from their websites. Most of these jobs are un-advertised.
best, GL HOFFMAN
April 6th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Perhaps some of your readers would enjoy these lesssons:
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2008/02/12/100-attributes-of-successful-entrepreneurs-now-an-e-book/
April 13th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I agree that it is time for people to…as you say…think outside the box. I recommend that people begin to think about themselves as free agents. Stop being dependent on a single company to control your destiny. Start being your own boss. My company, EPOCHworkforce, is helping people in financial services do just that. If you have a valuable and marketable skill, start thinking about how you can package and market yourself to multiple companies so you are no longer dependent on a single source of income.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
it’s a bit easier said than done linda.
can you offer some practical ways people can start thinking of themselves as free agents? how do you identify a “valuable and marketable skill”?
do you have examples of how this happened with one of the people you’ve helped?
April 15th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Admittedly, it may be a bit easier said than done today but…I think it’s an idea who’s time has come and the workforce gap that it beginning to be felt in the marketplaceplace, is going to make it a bit easier. In the interim, there are companies like mine, that act as brokers to facilitate the process.
I consider someone with at least 20-25 years experience as having put in the time to accumulate a “valuable and marketable skill”. Here are a few examples of the kinds of projects that some of our executives have done:
*Opening up an office in China
*Consolidating a global HR function
*Being a business mentor to transfer business competencies to high potentials in an organization
*Revamping workflow processes globally in light of new and more stringent risk and compliance requirements
*Evaluating a retirement product and making a recomendation as to the market opportunity for a cetain comapany. And, if it is deemed to be a good opportunity, what are the gaps in people, process and technology that this organization would need to address
These are all things that companies need, but they are projects with a beginning a middle and an end. Hiring a full time person for things like this doesn’t make good business sense. If they can engage someone who has done it successfully before in a similar organization, they get the knowledge they need to expedite it, all for a variable cost and…it is with someone that has no political agenda other than to get the project successfully completed….it’s a very compelling business proposition. Companies like mine are tryng to educate the workforce that this new talent pool exists to support accomplished professionals and executives that want to work independently.