Changing Fast

Many people have avoided being proactive in the development and branding concerning their careers. As I pointed out in my last post, we all have many excuses as to why we never get around to pulling together our brand! There is no wiggle room anymore folks to searching out the answers somewhere down the road. This economy has pushed us all to stretch, and if you are not stretching, you are feeling the effects of it. If it makes you feel better to call a friend about your frustration in finding a job, then go for it, but this will not pay your bills! Anyone that is on a pity trip concerning their careers, whether you are out of job or waiting for the hatchet to fall, is practicing a form of insanity! If you are living with fear and stress, this is a litmus that you are not being proactive to your solutions. 

When you are proactive and searching out the answers to your problems, you always feel better. Right? Don’t get me wrong - I think everyone needs to let out their feelings and frustrations, including myself, but there comes a point when your spouse or friends start to tire about your career problems and situation. If you have a circle of unemployed friends, and all you discuss is how frustrated you are - run, don’t walk away from this circle. You only want to communicate with people that are proactive, so you can help each other out in a positive way. 

I have said in prior posts that no one wants to hear about your horrible situation. The reality is, people will distance themselves from you if this is what you bring to the table every time you talk to them. Just a fact folks.

So the way to remove the stress and fear is to start feeling like there is a light at the end of the tunnel by looking for the answers to how to move forward. Below, I have a couple of scenarios that I think can give you insight to what I am talking about.

Example: When a candidate calls me and starts complaining about their job, telling me how frustrated they are, I tell them:  The way you are going to feel better about going into work tomorrow is knowing you have an action plan for leaving and finding a better job. Instead of going to your miserable job every day, focusing on how you are going deal with another painful day, start putting together a career action plan of how you are going to leave. You develop an end game to the negative situation you are in.

Another example: You are unemployed, have not worked for 4 months, and get up every day doing the same thing as yesterday with no real results. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."  If you are not getting traction in finding a consulting gig, or finding another place to work, you are doing something wrong! 

Important:You need to identify where trends are going in your industry! This is critical.

I know I am irritating some of you in this post. That’s OK, because part of my role is to rattle you! I am saying this because I care. We all have something to offer; we all have value and unique gifts that only we posses. The trick is to put together a system that allows you to find out how to move forward in your career, so you can start to prosper! It is also imperative to package yourself to where things are going in the job market, versus pushing a resume of skill sets that no one wants.

As painful as it is folks, we all have to face the fact that we all need to think like an entrepreneur!  I had such an overwhelmingly positive response to my last post. I feel I hit a cord that everyone needed to hear. The feedback reinforced to me was, people know this is a new reality/mindset of how future opportunity will work concerning our careers. In some way, I felt like the "thinking like an entrepreneur" concept I presented was a reality everyone knew, but did not want to face. 

LOL. People that know me were not shocked with my direct tone, and this post is no different. I would rather get a rise out of my readers, and motivate them to get out of their comfort zone so that they reach their highest potential, than to write politically correct posts that are safe. That is not me. I hope the information I impart to you is more factual than emotional. If I cannot back up my advice with fact, then you will blow holes right through it.

There are all kinds of opportunity out there. If you have an interest in knowing more about how to put your career strategy together, please contact me.

Start being proactive, not reactive.

Note: Quote in title by Albert Einstein