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.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
On Being Jobless
With unemployment at a record high, many are finding themselves jobless, and they are wondering what to do with this unexpected gift of time.
Here are some suggestions for using this time wisely:
Assess your marketability. Have your skills fallen behind? Are you on the cutting edge as far as your chosen profession is concerned? If you find that you are not as marketable as you would like to be, this period of joblessness can be put to good use to sharpen your skills so that you are attractive to a potential employer. Attending professional association meetings can bring you up to speed with what's new and what's hot in your field. If you don't know the latest software packages, now is a good time to take a short course.
Use the time that you are unemployed to explore a new field or industry. Having worked in outplacement for a number of years, I know that often people who would have never considered doing anything different feel a certain sense of freedom to pursue other options once they lose their jobs. In many cases people find something that is much more fulfilling than they were doing before. For those job seekers who are fortunate enough to have severance packages that will tide them over for several months, this is an opportune time to do some exploration.
Expand your network. Most people find themselves too busy with work and family to devote much time to networking. But unemployed job seekers have time on their hands, and it is up to them to use it wisely. As a career coach I suggest to my clients that they join professional associations and get involved on LinkedIn to expand their network beyond the people they knew on the job.
Enjoy your family. Use this gift of time to participate in activities with your family that you didn't have time to do when you were working. It's a worthwhile investment.
Here are some suggestions for using this time wisely:
Assess your marketability. Have your skills fallen behind? Are you on the cutting edge as far as your chosen profession is concerned? If you find that you are not as marketable as you would like to be, this period of joblessness can be put to good use to sharpen your skills so that you are attractive to a potential employer. Attending professional association meetings can bring you up to speed with what's new and what's hot in your field. If you don't know the latest software packages, now is a good time to take a short course.
Use the time that you are unemployed to explore a new field or industry. Having worked in outplacement for a number of years, I know that often people who would have never considered doing anything different feel a certain sense of freedom to pursue other options once they lose their jobs. In many cases people find something that is much more fulfilling than they were doing before. For those job seekers who are fortunate enough to have severance packages that will tide them over for several months, this is an opportune time to do some exploration.
Expand your network. Most people find themselves too busy with work and family to devote much time to networking. But unemployed job seekers have time on their hands, and it is up to them to use it wisely. As a career coach I suggest to my clients that they join professional associations and get involved on LinkedIn to expand their network beyond the people they knew on the job.
Enjoy your family. Use this gift of time to participate in activities with your family that you didn't have time to do when you were working. It's a worthwhile investment.
Monday, April 6, 2009
WHY EXECUTIVE JOB SEEKERS NEED TO JOIN THE SOCIAL NETWORKING CRAZE
It seems everyone is talking about social networking. Articles abound on how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook for your job search.
Is this just a phase, or is social networking here to stay? Can executives actually find these tools useful or are they just for new college grads?
Here are some compelling reasons for executives to incorporate these tools into their job searches:
The number of job postings has declined. According to Scripps News, “Despite the boom in traffic, many recruitment sites are taking a financial hit. Many charge employers to post openings, a far less frequent activity in these days of hiring freezes and layoffs.
Indeed.com, a major job board, found that there were 119,171 postings for the accounting industry in January, down 53 percent from a year earlier. Postings in technology were down 43 percent to 395,629. The sectors that held up the best were health care, which was down 8 percent to 581,625 postings, and education, in which postings fell 9 percent to 62,933.” (“Traffic on Job Websites Jumps,” Scripps News, March 13, 2009)
The amount of traffic to job boards has jumped. “With the unemployment rate rising to 8.1 percent nationwide, career sites are booming in popularity as users desperately look for work. Traffic to job search sites, for instance, grew 51 percent in January from the same month a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.” (“Traffic on Job Websites Jumps,” Scripps News, March 13, 2009)
A large number of recruiters maintain a presence on social networking sites like LinkedIn. “LinkedIn has recently been adding a million new members every two weeks, and officials say more than 829,000 HR professionals and 521,000 corporate recruiters now use the network.” (“LinkedIn Beefing Up Recruiting Tools,” Workforce Management, January 9, 2009) With hundreds of thousands of recruiters on LinkedIn alone, executive candidates cannot afford not to use this tool to connect to people who are seeking to fill positions.
Increasingly recruiters are searching online for candidates instead of simply advertising jobs on job boards. According to MSNBC, “These days, small and midsize companies aren't even posting jobs, instead going to sites like LinkedIn in search of their ideal candidate. (“Using LinkedIn to Maximize Your Job Search,” MSNBC.com, March 12, 2009)
And an organization called Organic explains it this way in Advertising Age: “Why are we weaning ourselves from traditional job boards? Simple: We get results from social-networking tools -- with no expense. Every day we discover new and innovative ways to use social media for our recruiting efforts. While Twitter and other social-media sites may seem like the flavor of the month, the real proof is in the numbers. In terms of return on investment, there is no investment besides time. From a branding perspective, it's always a win. Retweeting is easy and more far-reaching than a static posting a job on a traditional job board. With a solid social-networking strategy, most companies can reduce job-board spending quickly, while pinpointing discipline- or industry-specific candidates. (“Why Tweeting Has Become Organic's Main Job-Posting Strategy,” Advertising Age, March 31, 2009)
Executive recruiters regularly search the Internet for additional information on executive candidates. “In a(n) . . . ExecuNet survey about reputation management and Internet presence, 86 percent of executive recruiters say they routinely scour online sources for information that goes beyond a candidate’s résumé. Nearly 7-in-10 search firm consultants say that executive job candidates’ prospects improve when positive information is found online.” (2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report from ExecuNet)
Networking is a lifelong career strategy. The New York Times calls social networking your career safety net (The Social Network as a Career Safety Net, The New York Times, August 13, 2008). The Financial Post states it this way: “Maintain your presence online. Some people believe Facebook is destroying America. But if you lose your job, you'll probably lose e-mail addresses for all of your colleagues, and you'll need some way to stay in touch. As Kay Luo, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn advises, "Build your network before you need it." (“How to find a job online,” Financial Post, March 20, 2009)
Is this just a phase, or is social networking here to stay? Can executives actually find these tools useful or are they just for new college grads?
Here are some compelling reasons for executives to incorporate these tools into their job searches:
The number of job postings has declined. According to Scripps News, “Despite the boom in traffic, many recruitment sites are taking a financial hit. Many charge employers to post openings, a far less frequent activity in these days of hiring freezes and layoffs.
Indeed.com, a major job board, found that there were 119,171 postings for the accounting industry in January, down 53 percent from a year earlier. Postings in technology were down 43 percent to 395,629. The sectors that held up the best were health care, which was down 8 percent to 581,625 postings, and education, in which postings fell 9 percent to 62,933.” (“Traffic on Job Websites Jumps,” Scripps News, March 13, 2009)
The amount of traffic to job boards has jumped. “With the unemployment rate rising to 8.1 percent nationwide, career sites are booming in popularity as users desperately look for work. Traffic to job search sites, for instance, grew 51 percent in January from the same month a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.” (“Traffic on Job Websites Jumps,” Scripps News, March 13, 2009)
A large number of recruiters maintain a presence on social networking sites like LinkedIn. “LinkedIn has recently been adding a million new members every two weeks, and officials say more than 829,000 HR professionals and 521,000 corporate recruiters now use the network.” (“LinkedIn Beefing Up Recruiting Tools,” Workforce Management, January 9, 2009) With hundreds of thousands of recruiters on LinkedIn alone, executive candidates cannot afford not to use this tool to connect to people who are seeking to fill positions.
Increasingly recruiters are searching online for candidates instead of simply advertising jobs on job boards. According to MSNBC, “These days, small and midsize companies aren't even posting jobs, instead going to sites like LinkedIn in search of their ideal candidate. (“Using LinkedIn to Maximize Your Job Search,” MSNBC.com, March 12, 2009)
And an organization called Organic explains it this way in Advertising Age: “Why are we weaning ourselves from traditional job boards? Simple: We get results from social-networking tools -- with no expense. Every day we discover new and innovative ways to use social media for our recruiting efforts. While Twitter and other social-media sites may seem like the flavor of the month, the real proof is in the numbers. In terms of return on investment, there is no investment besides time. From a branding perspective, it's always a win. Retweeting is easy and more far-reaching than a static posting a job on a traditional job board. With a solid social-networking strategy, most companies can reduce job-board spending quickly, while pinpointing discipline- or industry-specific candidates. (“Why Tweeting Has Become Organic's Main Job-Posting Strategy,” Advertising Age, March 31, 2009)
Executive recruiters regularly search the Internet for additional information on executive candidates. “In a(n) . . . ExecuNet survey about reputation management and Internet presence, 86 percent of executive recruiters say they routinely scour online sources for information that goes beyond a candidate’s résumé. Nearly 7-in-10 search firm consultants say that executive job candidates’ prospects improve when positive information is found online.” (2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report from ExecuNet)
Networking is a lifelong career strategy. The New York Times calls social networking your career safety net (The Social Network as a Career Safety Net, The New York Times, August 13, 2008). The Financial Post states it this way: “Maintain your presence online. Some people believe Facebook is destroying America. But if you lose your job, you'll probably lose e-mail addresses for all of your colleagues, and you'll need some way to stay in touch. As Kay Luo, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn advises, "Build your network before you need it." (“How to find a job online,” Financial Post, March 20, 2009)
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