Clearly, no one wants to consider the loss of their job. And I preach the merits of being in a mode of life-long learning and transformation, which is one of the best insurance policies you can have against getting fired. But as we all know, having an insurance policy doesn't mean that a fire will not occur.
In today's turbulent and uncertain economy, fires happen without warning. And so in the spirit of assisting those still working, here are some things to be cognizant of, should you be one of the ones that comes in to work, only to find a "pink slip"
Jobseekers are usually quite unprepared for this event, and at a loss as to how to even begin to begin to develop a new job search strategy.
I reached out to a colleague, Larry Labelle, owner of Training Tamer, who is an expert at helping jobseekers get back on their feet. He suggests that jobseekers need to quickly become aware of their "new landscape" which is quite a bit different than the environment which they last inhabited.
By "new landscape", new jobseekers need to assess:
How many jobs are
- currently open in your field (use www.indeed.com to check) in this area?
- How many people are you competing against you for those jobs (perhaps use Bureau of Labor Statistics)?
- What are you doing that sets you apart from the crowd?
Jobseekers, unfamiliar with the new jobsearch tools and strategies that are needed to find work in this strange new world may also find that methods that seemed to work in years past, produce few if any results today. They need to determine:
- Are you trying new approaches/methods to Win, especially ones you fear or have a tendency to avoid?
- If what you've been doing isn't working, what are the potential consequences? For example, could your job search go unfilled for much longer than you wanted/anticipated causing you to run out of unemployment/savings, chew up your retirement funds, lose your home, etc.
For the new jobseeker, they will need in many cases, to learn a very new and different set of skills than that which they used previously while employed – and they need to master these skills quickly. If you do not have personal finance, marketing, writing, time management, interpersonal or computer skills, you need to obtain these skills. You are now in the business of selling “ME Inc.” and you’ll need to start and operate this venture as aggressively and productively as possible.
Don’t consider yourself an entrepreneur? Lose your job, and you’ll become one, and your personal initiative, drive, attention to detail and creativity will be new essential “core competencies”.
Could these activities help you Win a Job Faster and Prevent your Worst Fears from Ever Happening?
Clearly, the Choice Is Yours!
