Who are you? Change the intonation a little and ask, again: Who are you? Now, again: Who are you?
Who do we each want to be in our lives? And in the lives of our loved ones, and others? What sort of impact do you want to make in the world? These are big questions, I know. And they might make you squirm a little. Or you might find them so familiar because, like so many of my clients, you may be struggling with that nagging tug of trying to figure out what your work and life is all about, at this new time in our history.
I hear my 20-something clients saying with surprise, “I thought I was on a track, but I found out that I’m not.” Or the 40- or 50 -somethings realizing that, “Everything has changed so much, and I want a new kind of stability, or a new way to use my skills – and I don’t think the experience I have will translate to anything else.” Scary stuff, this identity shift -work. (Or, is it an identity awakening?) But as always, we have ways to break down these scary places into simple things to think about, and to take into action.
STILL NERVOUS: Americans remain nervous about their job security and the strength of the economy, according to a survey by jobs website SnagAJob.com.
Worries about jobs are pervasive: 35 percent of those polled this summer said they felt their jobs were less secure than in 2009. That’s an improvement from how respondents felt a year ago, though, when 52 percent said job instability was worse than in 2008.
Part of the reason for worry may have been the experience of being laid off. The survey showed that 34 percent of people who said they had changed jobs in the past year did so after losing their previous position, up from 25 percent who said they had changed jobs because of a layoff in summer 2009.
The number of people polled whose top fear for the future is losing their job has tripled since the 2007 survey to 9 percent, this summer’s survey showed. Saving for retirement and college education remained the biggest worry throughout the four years that the survey has been conducted.
Adolescents to Adulthood — The Economy and Mis-Career Education Contribute a Longer Road to the Markers of Adulthood I’ve been reading about and talking to my clients about these issues for years. What do you think?
Daisy
By ROBIN MARANTZ HENIG
This question pops up everywhere, underlying concerns about “failure to launch” and “boomerang kids.” Two new sitcoms feature grown children moving back in with their parents — “$#*! My Dad Says,” starring William Shatner as a divorced curmudgeon whose 20-something son can’t make it on his own as a blogger, and “Big Lake,” in which a financial whiz kid loses his Wall Street job and moves back home to rural Pennsylvania. A cover of The New Yorker last spring picked up on the zeitgeist: a young man hangs up his new Ph.D. in his boyhood bedroom, the cardboard box at his feet signaling his plans to move back home now that he’s officially overqualified for a job. In the doorway stand his parents, their expressions a mix of resignation, worry, annoyance and perplexity: how exactly did this happen? Read the rest of this entry »
Most everyone I meet with tells me they want to be more creative in their work. While long-term unemployment can take your spirit and energy down, it can also be a time to stretch your creativity and step into a new role altogether…entrepreneur.
Start-Ups on a Shoestring
By COLLEEN DEBAISE, SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN and EMILY MALTBY
You don’t have to break the bank to start a business.
For many would-be entrepreneurs, money is the insurmountable hurdle. They hunger to strike out on their own, but don’t have a big pile of cash to invest in a start-up that might not churn a profit for years to come. And they’re reluctant to stake what cash they do have while the economy is still shaky.
Hear Small Business Editor Colleen DeBaise discuss some entrepreneurs who were able to start their venture for around $100 dollars and what you should keep in mind if you want to take on your own endeavor.
We decided to see if you could launch a venture for less than people think. A lot less. We set out to find bootstrapping business owners who started companies in recent years—without shelling out more than a couple of hundred dollars.
You may be surprised by how many people I’ve coached to leave their job. Leaving can be just as hard as staying sometimes, but the payoff can be huge.
Should You Resign To Job Hunt?
Quitting a high-powered job at a time when the unemployment rate hangs at 9.5% sounds crazy.
Yet some C-level executives are leaving these days before they line up another plum management spot. Most resign specifically so they’ll have time to job hunt. But exiting without another position in the waiting likely will succeed only if you’re a well-connected, “A” player.
As I sat in the darkened, fully populated movie theater last night, watching Julia Roberts be Liz in Eat Pray Love I wondered how many of us in our seats were nursing broken hearts seeking a salve for our soul. I was. I was sitting there looking and hoping for a message that would bring me hope and peace and at the very least, distraction from the ache I’ve felt that comes from a sad and tired heart; the bittersweet experience of choice which breaks hearts.
How many of us, I wondered, are yearning to pick up, pack our bags and flee to find ourselves anew – heart break or not. Speaking with more than one client about this very thing, so many people are wishing for a break. A break from the fear of THE ECONOMY. A break from the fear of TREACHERY and another devastating SCANDAL that robs us all of our sense that we do have people leading; leading us with integrity and our good interest at heart. There’s little of that sentiment going around these days. So to go in to a crowded movie theater and at last, in stead of watching high tech explosives or humanlike animated characters (no matter how adorable they might be) and watch real people on the screen who are making friends out of strangers, and making meaningful connection in new lands (doesn’t the world feel like a new land sometimes but we aren’t quite so willing to make friends of these local strangers) well – it just makes you kind of want to stay in your seat and go in for another round of that movie. Open your heart. Forgive yourself. Travel light and find pleasure. Escape the burdens and fears of our complex and civically confused world. Ahhh. Sounds like peace.
The mediocre growth in the jobs market remains one of the biggest concerns about the recovery, but there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
The latest signal for concern was a report from payroll giant ADP and forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers that showed the private sector added only 42,000 jobs last month. While the number was slightly better than expectations, the level is still relatively anemic in an economy that needs to create more than 100,000 jobs a month just to make up for population growth.
The report also doesn’t include government employment, which is expected to show a significant drag in the official Labor Department numbers to be reported Friday. State and local governments have continued to be stressed by tight budgets, with a recent analysis showing that more than 500,000 job cuts may be coming over the next two years. Meanwhile, the 2010 Census is winding down and following a huge surge earlier this year, those workers will be falling off government payrolls for the rest of the summer. About 140,000 workers were dropped from Census payrolls from the June to July period.
When was the last time you did an informational interview? Contacting someone you may not already know to learn about what they do, and how their company works, can be an eye-opening opportunity. You can gain important information about the work you want to do, and learn about the culture of the place you hope to work at. Many of you have already done this kind of interview – from either side of the table – interviewer or interviewee. Some people, like me, love doing these interviews, and others, while they know it could be very valuable for them, are uncomfortable reaching out to talk with a stranger. While I really love doing these, I haven’t done one in a while so I decided to reach out and talk to a variety of people in hiring positions to learn more about what’s happening in hiring, and to be able to share this information with clients and other readers.
I had the opportunity to talk with someone who does a lot of hiring at an advertising agency with offices in Southern California. She graciously talked with me for about 20 minutes, the usual amount of time that we’ll be able to get from a busy professional who’s willing to help out. I was ready with my questions and she with answers. Below, read some of the most pressing questions my clients and I wonder about.
Despite Competitive Labor Market, One-in-Five Workers Plan to Change Jobs in 2010, New CareerBuilder Survey Reveals
– Twenty Percent of Workers Plan to Switch Careers/Fields in the Next Two Years –
CHICAGO, Jan. 7 (via PRNewswire) — Recent improvements in the economy may have some workers preparing to move to a new job in the new year, with nearly one-in-five workers (19 percent) reporting they plan to leave their current job in 2010 to find a new one. Nine percent said they plan to leave in 2011. This is according to CareerBuilder’s latest survey conducted between November 5 and November 23, 2009, among more than 5,200 workers.
Many employers were forced to make some tough business decisions in 2009, and may be pushing workers to make some difficult decisions as well. One-in-ten workers (12 percent) whose companies cut benefits or perks said they would stay at their current jobs for six months or less, while 27 percent of workers who did not receive a raise or promotion in 2009 said they would leave their current positions in less than a year if they did not receive either. Nearly one-in-five (18 percent) workers who experienced pay cuts said they are willing to stay at their current jobs for only six months or less.
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Who are you? Change the intonation a little and ask, again: Who are you? Now, again: Who are you?
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