The best advice I have for job seekers is to remember how it feels to be a job seeker when you finally go back to work.
And you will go back to work.
Think about what you’re going through right now. Feel it. Take a mental snapshot and store it away for safekeeping. Remember how sad you felt when you couldn’t get an interview? Remember what it was like to wake up in the morning and have nothing to do? Think about those calls from your creditors. The scary feeling that you might lose it all because you can’t find work? How will you treat coworkers? How will you treat people who want to work for your company? What happens when you have conflict at your new job?
So I guess I’m really asking—what’s important to you? What will you learn? What have you already learned about your job, the nature of employment, and what it means to work in America?
And what will you do differently the next time around?
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Unfortunately, one of the most important things I have learned, which my father so wisely told me, is that you’re never that important. No matter how special you THINK you are and how much you THINK you rock it, in the end someone else could fill your shoes. Never assume you’re safe.
The other thing? Stop listening to and getting involved in catty, pink collar gossiping bullshit. Didn’t do me any good when I was employed, and when it comes time for that all important networking, those said bitches can bite you in the ass.
Stop listening to and getting involved in catty, pink collar gossiping bullshit.
Amen.
Excellent advice Laurie and not very cynical. You aren’t mellowing on me are you (smile).
Same goes for newtworking. People do it frenetically when they are in job search mode, but cut back once they “land”.
There is no job security! You should be owning your life and your career every day!
I hate that there’s no security in life. Sad.
I will start stealing office supplies and equipment right away rather than waiting for my last day on the job.
Right behind you.
I’m sure I’ve seen this advice elsewhere (PRHR?), but: pack light. No need to personalize the workspace, because it’s not *your* space, after all — no matter how many vendor trinkets, potted plants and Dilbert clippings you festoon it with.
Nothing’s worse than having to pack up personal junk after you’ve been sh#t-canned (hey, it happens to the best of us). A couple of family photos are plenty, maybe some of your kids’ artwork. But whatever you have, it should fit neatly into a briefcase so that you can exit with your dignity intact.
Pack light is a good suggestion for life.
I’ve learned a lot. What I was making was apparently a crazy dream. Living well within those means doesn’t mean much now. And at work, they hired me because I have legitimate and extremely relevant experience, but they pay me 1/3 less than the old job. This makes sense, now, because they lied about what I’d be doing and how they did things. I spend at least 50% of every day changing margins and font sizes and photo crops in multiple Word documents (I’m used to Adobe Creative Suite for most things). There’s also this crazy division between corporate and operations. My operations boss put the fear of god in me about following protocol and standards, but no one can tell me what those standards are, and in the end Corporate will be developing them (you know for things they never put together). Since I hate this job, I figure why not try to make my life easier (I’m a common sensical person… If you’re recreating STANDARD documents every time you use them, this is silly, IMO) and politely call out the issue all while offering to tackle it myself. Anywho, I’m trying not to ramble, so I know this doesn’t read well, but basically, I’ve decided to push some buttons (while offering my very under-utilized skills) and call out the ridiculousness (in the most polite way, because really, I’m just trying to understand their logic and some really basic things are 10 million times harder than they should be but I get the impression that no one else has wanted to challenge the boss who is on a power trip, can’t blame them, but don’t care anymore). I’m doing this all while job hunting like a maniac… because I also forgot to mention I took a job out of state and now have the pleasure of an almost 1.5 hour drive to and from work that costs me an average of $300 a month in gas for my crappy little stratus. Factor in that, the insanely high cost of insurance the City taxes no one told me about and the whole no PTO for 7 months (and your Grandpa dying unexpectedly and having to take a week off for that)… I should have stayed on unemployment.
Gosh, that is awful. Sometimes no job is better than a job. And that’s tough for me to write because I believe that a job is a job is a job and adults are meant to work.
I always enjoyed the freedom of being unemployed and not having to stress someone elses greed enduced agendas.
But I don’t have a mortgage, or mouth’s to feed either.
I enjoy the freedom of unemployment but I’m always reminded (from my good friend cols) that freedom ain’t free, bitches.
I think that when you are in a position to hire, you should treat all candidates with respect. Get back to them when you say you are going to and don’t make candidates jump through hoops when it is totally unnecessary. Be honest about the hiring process and the position. Can we say common courtesy? I’ve seen some hiring managers treat candidates like crap because they just can. Keep your ego in check please – you too could soon be on the other side of the interview process!
focus and attitude…
Outside of faith, is the only two things that matter whether employed, or not…
What you keep in front of you is the direction you will go… Keeping looking into the rearview mirror of history and you will repeat your history — how many times have we all done that?
Fake it until you make it — but leave the credit cards home…
I think the best advice is to not get lazy with your own development. I’m working for a small company that has over the year or so laid off almost all their employees that have been with them for decades. Some of the folks who still work there and have been there a longer time than I are getting nervous. They had it pretty easy, low expectations were placed on them, there was no challenge to grow, and they liked that. So, they only know old technology and old methods – and they were quite alright with that as long as they were still there. Until a fresh batch of CEO’s and CFO’s came on the scene and realized we could be way more productive by laying off 6 and hiring 1 or 2 younger, more advanced people.
I am constantly trying to stay on top of my industry and remain relevant, even though many of my newfound skills are not in my job description, and I rarely have the chance to use them. I work in web design and our site is extremely old, and I know all new stuff. Which means I’ll be in a better position if I get laid off or decide to leave.