WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CAREER DOESN’T GO AS PLANNED

Many people who have put an incredible amount of time and energy into their careers find themselves frustrated when they are confronted with career setbacks. It could be that your career is stalled. You find yourself unable to move any further up the corporate ladder. Or your career may temporarily be in neutral. You may have been laid off or downsized, and you are now involuntarily unemployed.

What’s the best way to handle these career setbacks? Here are some tips to get you back in gear:

Stalled Careers

People who do not get promoted in the time that they thought they would usually either react with anger or with self blame. Those who react with anger often refuse to give their best to the organization after being met with this type of disappointment. They look at those who have been promoted, and if they sense that the process has been unfair and that their hard work has gone unrewarded while others who, in their opinion, have not worked as hard have moved on to higher positions, they usually either start looking for other positions or stay and refuse to do any more than they have to.

Those who blame themselves may work even harder and try to assess what other people did right that they did wrong. They are not as likely to look outside of their current situation for another job.

You should look both internally and externally for reasons to explain why you did not get the promotions that you were seeking. Particularly in a bad economy, it is often the case that employees were not promoted because there was nowhere for them to go. Many people are delaying retirement, and that leaves fewer positions up the ladder to aspire to. But at the same time you should be objective about your own job performance to make sure that you are not sabotaging your own career and derailing your own promotions.

Objectively weigh your options at your current place of employment. It could be that simply moving to another department may provide you with more career mobility. Maybe a mentor could help you navigate the landscape and help you continue to move up. If you realize after your objective assessment that there simply aren’t any more opportunities for you at your current company, decide whether or not you want to find an opportunity elsewhere or if you prefer to make the best of it. If you decide to make the best of it, you might think of ways that you can increase your job satisfaction where you are, such as mentoring someone junior to you in the firm, participating on organization-wide committees, or volunteering in a company-sponsored community service program.

Being Laid Off, Downsized, or Reassigned

People who find themselves laid off, downsized, or reassigned run the gamut of emotions--fear, anger, shame, revenge, disappointment, relief, and even joy. The people who bounce back from such situations are successful because they have a network of supportive people that they can vent to and rely on for practical assistance in their job searches.

If you have lost your job, you should make the best use of any resources available to help you find new employment. If your employer offers outplacement, as a newly laid off worker, you should definitely take advantage of it. If this is not available, you should take advantage of state resources through the Office of Employment Services. In the case of employer-sponsored or state-sponsored resources, you can obtain assistance with your resumes as well as access to online resources to find jobs.

It is also critical that you keep a positive attitude even when the job search drags on. Many people give up and stop looking for a job. And some who do continue looking having a defeatist attitude which comes across during the interview process. Those who eventually land good jobs are realistic about the job market, but they also are able to convey an upbeat attitude to employers.

The bottom line is that you do not have to let a career setback stop your career. Use it as a steppingstone instead of a stumblingblock.