Think As Inc

Taking A Chance In A Down Market

A reader asks:  I’ve been planning a career move, but the market I’m targeting is slow.  Should I wait till the market picks up before making the transition?

Making a move in a down market is tougher than in a robust market.  In the heady days of the last labor market boom, employers were so strapped that they considered a wider range of candidates – candidates with less experience, different industry expertise, or different functional specialty.  Now, employers can be selective and demand exactly the profile they prefer.

That said, there are many aspects to consider in a career move, and the state of the market is but one.  Other factors include professional preparation and emotional readiness. 

Have you thoroughly researched your target field?  Do you know the top firms?  Do you know the major trends? 

Have you conducted informational interviews to gain firsthand knowledge of your target field?  Do you know what personalities and backgrounds are most successful?  Do you know what it means day-to-day to work in this field?

Have you considered the impact of this transition on your life outside of career?  Are there significant lifestyle changes (e.g., longer hours, less money) associated with this transition?  Are you ready to work harder as you always do when you embark on something new?

If you have done your homework and are professionally and emotionally ready for a transition, then this supercedes the market circumstances of the time.  Yes, you could wait for another market upswing.  But then you never know when this might happen, and in the meantime, your knowledge goes stale and your courage starts waning.  In a down market, people still get jobs.  If you feel you’re ready, go for it.

The Importance of Heart

Early in my career, I was told, “You will be phenomenal in whatever it is you put your heart in.”  I have been a pianist, actor, consultant, banker, recruiter, and career coach.  Can you guess who said that?  A musician seeking to inspire?  A coach seeking to encourage?  Actually, I heard this and similar quotes at every stage in my career.  This particular one came from a partner at an investment bank.

Heart is probably not the first thing you think of when you think investment banking.  Yet, this successful person in this quantitative, business-minded industry recognized the importance of desire.  When we discussed the elements of career success, grades, degree, experience, and other tangible qualifications were not mentioned.  We talked exclusively about heart, passion, and wanting to do what you do.

We all hit career plateaus.  It might be an outright setback, like a layoff, or something subtler, like remaining at a position that no longer challenges you.  How do you know if your career is still the one for you?  There are many techniques to jumpstart your progress.  You can find mentors to inspire you, read trade journals to get new ideas, and research industry trends to plan ahead.  You can also just ask yourself:  How badly do I want this?  If your career still gets you excited — lights the fire behind your eyes, pulls at your heart – then focus on that and allow yourself to get excited again.  And you will be phenomenal.

Minding The Bottom Line

Successful businesses mind their bottom line.  Your career is your business, and your personal bottom line matters.  People with strong balance sheets are better positioned to ride out tight labor markets.  People with profitable bottom lines have a cash cushion to rely on during that career change or entrepreneurial venture.  People who mind their personal bottom line have money to fund their career and life dreams.  (If you still don’t believe this, maybe it’s a blind spot; see above!)

However, budgets and to do lists often don’t work.  Wishful thinking about how you could/ should/ would spend your money or your time is often not as illuminating as seeing how you actually spend these resources.  Sometimes, you don’t need to plan.  You just need to see what is actually happening.  Then, you have your wake-up call:  a point-in-time audit of how you’re doing.  For helpful hints on accounting for your time, see the August 2002 newsletter for the Time Diary exercise.  To account for your money, simply check your account balance at the beginning of the year versus the end of the year.  If you use multiple accounts, total your findings for each account:

How much money did you spend? 

How much cash did you withdraw?  Are you bleeding cash? 

How much did you pay your credit card companies?  Are you overextended? 

How much in checks did you write?  Checks leave a paper trail, so you know where this money goes.  Are you happy with where your money is going?

What expenses are fixed versus variable? 

Are you spending your money on your dreams?

The Challenge of Parallel Careers

Many of us have parallel careers – the “money job” we do from 9 to 5; and the dream we harbor on the sidelines.  Even those of us who make the leap to turn dream into dream career may not earn a sufficient or stable income solely from this dream  – hence the prototype of the waiter/ actor.  Thus, we have parallel careers:  the one that fulfills our life; and the other that makes our livelihood.  Here are some tips to meet the challenge of parallel careers:

Clarify your motivations for each career.  What is your ultimate goal for your dream?  Do you want your dream to be your source of income, or do you want to keep both careers?  How much money do you need to make from your money job?  How much scheduling flexibility do you need?  Depending on your requirements, your money job may mean temping, a traditional career track job, or an entrepreneurial venture.

Follow the business protocol for each career.  Take the example of an actor who supplements with temp work.  Acting resumes differ from corporate resumes.  Audition clothes differ from interview clothes.  Interviews vary at a casting office versus a corporate office.  You need to understand the required marketing materials, dress code, and work environments of each career.

Maintain perspective about the benefits of both careers.  The benefits of pursuing your dream as a career include doing what you love every day.  However, resist the trap of begrudging your money job.  Your money job is an investment in your dream.  It sustains your dream and gives it a chance to succeed.  Both careers contribute to your ultimate life goals.

CHANGE YOUR LIFE

The phrase, “life-changing experience,” conjures up images of extreme joy or of undue hardship.  Therefore, the act of changing your life implies momentous decisions involving career transition, financial risk, and emotional upheaval.  Actually, changing your life can be a series of small actions that together lead to big change.  These small actions require no resignation letter, no lien on the house, and no melodrama.  However, changing your life even in small steps does require an open mind and a willingness to start today.

You need an open mind to put yourself first and to not feel selfish about doing so.  Your boss, partner, kids and friends will be thrilled because you will be so much more fun to be around.  Small actions that put yourself first: 

book that doctor’s appointment for whatever has been ailing you and, if nothing ails you, get a physical;

finally book that eye checkup;

see a live show or sporting event and savor the rush of the crowd around you;

rent that movie, read that book, or visit that museum on your I’ve-always-wanted-to list;

eat your favorite food slowly;

put an object of beauty (e.g., flowers, painting) in your workspace;

reserve a three-day weekend with no plans;

take care of a nuisance on your I-must-attend-to-that list (e.g., tailor those pants, frame that photo);

open a retirement account or stick an extra $50 in your existing one;

write a thank you letter to your partner/kid/best friend (yes, even this one’s for you b/c it will remind you how lucky you are);

enter appointments in next year’s planner for next year’s dates with yourself.

You need to start today because change feeds on momentum.  Lack of change feeds on inertia.  If you get moving now, whatever baby step you choose, you put the process in place.  Plan one small action each day.  In a week, you’ll feel energized.  In a month, you’ll be renewed.  In a year, you will have 365 rich experiences that you made happen, and you will recognize your power to change your life in the direction you choose.

CHANGE YOUR MIND

The phrase, “I’ve changed my mind”, is so common that it sounds easy to do.  In fact, our opinions and beliefs are so deeply embedded that changing our minds is rather difficult.  That’s not necessarily bad, since you might not want to be fickle about big choices in life — your significant other, your career, your life goals.  Or do you?  When you review the big choices you’ve made, do they still make sense?

What are your life goals right now?  Goals change.  In college, these might be self-exploration and intellectual challenge.  Later, these might be work/ family balance and financial security.  Motivations change.  In college, the environment is goal-oriented – towards graduation, towards that first job.  Later, there is less external motivation.  You may be so involved in day-to-day living that longer-term goals are ignored.  Motivation must come internally.

What is your career plan right now?  A career is not a random series of jobs, but rather a planned series of professional achievements.  If you have a job right now, what is your current job contributing to your career?  If it’s x, then focus on x.  If it’s nothing, then change your job or change jobs.  If you don’t have a job right now, how do you plan to forward your career?  The focus is not the next job, but rather the next stage in your career, whether that be a job, an entrepreneurial venture, or some time off.

Who shares your joy with you?  Whether it is family or friends, life is not just about achieving goals and career progress, but also about sharing joy.  Write a love letter to your spouse.  See those old friends.  Out of habit, your mind might take your loved ones for granted.  So, change your mind, and actively express your affection.

THE SIX-STEP JOB SEARCH

There are six steps to the effective job search:

Define what you want; 

Create your marketing campaign;

Research your targets;

Network your way into your targets;

Keep motivated and organized; and

Close the offer.

These steps are sequential but also concurrent, and this is not a contradiction.

If you don’t know what you want, you can’t create relevant materials (i.e., resume, cover letter, and other business communication).  If you don’t have your materials ready, you risk researching and networking your way into someone actually showing interest in you, only to have no materials to present.  If you don’t research your targets, you can’t effectively network into them.  If you don’t network (i.e., get out there among potential employers), you won’t need to stay motivated and organized.  If you don’t stay motivated and organized, you risk blowing the offer.

However, the job search is not a linear process.  Opportunities arise unexpectedly, or circumstances change.  You may get to the offer stage, only to realize that you don’t want this particular job (maybe the competitive office environment made you realize you’d prefer a friendlier place).  Therefore, closing the offer (step six) actually helps you define what you want (step one).  Similarly, in the course of research and networking, you might realize that your resume is not as targeted as it can be.  Steps three and four help you refine step two. 

You need to observe the sequence of an effective job search because you need to be as prepared as you can be.  However, you also may need to do the steps concurrently or even out of sequence because you want to be flexible and opportunistic and in tune to how your individual search progresses.  In any case, by minding the above steps, you will be well-positioned for any job search.

REMEMBER MISS TEXAS

Now that the economy is improving, we might be more confident in our career prospects.  Confidence is always good up to a point:

I saw a Junior Miss pageant, where there was a clear frontrunner in Miss Texas.  She had the highest scores from the preliminaries, the semifinals, and most of the finals.  But in the last competition, the evening gowns, she slipped down the stairs, and ended up fourth runner-up.  Miss Texas exemplifies what happens to a lot of candidates, who master the job search basics, but forget how beauty pageants, I mean jobs, are actually won.  You need to pass the preliminaries (the resume screen) to get to the semifinals (the general interviews) to get to the finals (the subsequent interviews).  And, you need to win each round on its merits.  A superior resume won’t compensate for blowing the interview.  High initial scores won’t compensate for careening down the stairs.  As in beauty pageants, your scores get wiped out with each subsequent round.

Thus, nailing the job means that you must always be at your best.  The proper steps to a job search are sequential because one prepares you for the next.  But each has its unique significance and challenges, and you must master them all.  You must have good strategy, powerful marketing, thorough research, polished interviewing skills, organized follow-up, and the ability to close the deal.  You must have all these skills all the time because you will frequently be at different stages with each target company in your job search.  Effective job search basics rely on effective juggling basics:  focus, concentration, and discipline.  You cannot get sloppy.

You might overhear from the CEO’s assistant that you’re the one!  You might be wined and dined at company-paid meals.  You might be negotiating salary.  Until you are through the door on the first day of your new job, you are Miss Texas.  Watch your step.

PLAYING A COMPLETE GAME

Great offense still needs defense.  Defense keeps the offense in the game.  Likewise, great defense needs offense to win.  Thus, career and life planning requires attention to the complete game.  In both spheres, the complete game means maintaining what you have while striving for more. 

Maintain an inventory of what you have that is meaningful to you, and protect these things.  In your career, identify what skills and work situations interest you.  Keep these in your current job by honing these skills and putting yourself in the optimal situations (e.g., volunteering for suitable projects).  In your life, check your balance.  Are there areas that you have been neglecting (career, family, friends, community, your health)?  What can you do now when there is no crisis on hand to build a stronger foundation?

However, you can’t just focus on keeping what you have.  Not only does this prevent you from taking advantage of good opportunities, but it doesn’t prevent bad things from happening.  You might be doing a fine job in your current position, but your position might still go away.  Therefore, you need to take the offensive and strive for more.  This includes networking, keeping abreast of industry trends, and adding to your skill set, even when you aren’t actively looking for a job.  This includes making life improvements before crisis hits.  Is there a relationship that needs tending?  Is there a problem in the community where you can help?

A complete game is balanced.  Too much offense might mean uncalculated risks that can knock you out of your game (think the entrepreneur going after every idea who burns out of capital before the winner pays off).  Too much defense might mean too little risk (think the indifferent employee clinging to the status quo who is unexpectedly downsized).  Taking no risk is not the same as having no risk.  There is always risk, so think defense and play offense to reach your goals.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A DOWN MARKET

This difficult labor market gave ample opportunity to learn how to manage your career more effectively.  The lessons so obvious in a down market also apply as times improve: 

Network, network, network.  In a down market, everyone knows networking is key.  Because fewer positions are advertised, those with inside connections learn of opportunities faster, respond faster and thus have better chances.  As the market improves, remember to maintain and expand your network.  The best time to network is when you don’t need to.

Everyone is self-employed.  In a down market, everyone knows there is no job security.  If you don’t contribute to your firm in a meaningful way, your job is in jeopardy.  In this way, people are really self-employed, and their “employer” is merely their client.  As the market improves, remember that you are self-employed.  Your boss is merely one client.  Keep your client happy, and keep yourself marketable for new “clients” as well.

Experience and work ethic count.  This down market followed an incredibly generous up market where relatively inexperienced people were thrown lots of money and lots of responsibility quickly.  Now, companies are again interested in people with real experience and demonstrated diligence and follow-through.  As the market improves, remember to manage your career for the long haul and not just for the next big title or raise.  A well-planned and well executed career path is attractive in any economy.