CareerZine

Mid Year Review

Last year ended with the worse credit/liquidity crisis and stock market crash since the Great Depression.   The grim reality of our economy’s dire straits set in when the bubble burst and economy began to deleverage and unravel.  We learned new terms and revisited old ones: collateralized debt obligations, credit default Swaps, tranches, foreclosure, unemployment. The winds of change were blowing since late 2007 but they turned into a fire storm by the end the end of 2008.

How many years we will be feeling the effects of the consumer bubble bursting nobody is sure, but it isn’t going to be over by the end of this year.  Some are predicting inflation to follow while others say that if the stimulus package re-inflates the economy, it is expected to flatten out again for an extended period of time with low GDP growth.

It is hard to know with certainty who to believe any more but more importantly it is even more difficult to plan and prepare for contingencies and do adequate career management. My approach is to hope for the best but prepare for the absolute worse. Be ready to hang on as if you had to tough it out for 5+ years while you look for your dream job. 

Silicon Valley vs. the US Economy

The difference between Silicon Valley and the rest of the US economy, aside from a state budget run amok, is that the tech bubble bursting and the massive blood-letting of companies and jobs between 2000-2003 seems to have mitigated the damage this time around. It simply is not as bad as other regions. Companies are hiring and laying off people. Green jobs are growing here as is bio-tech/bio-pharma. I have heard that the salaries of local MBA grads of our top schools are higher this year than last.  On the other hand, people are more precarious than during the tech bust as there is less to nothing to fall back on. Many have seen their 401k plans lose 40% or more in value and the home equity was already used up in refinancing to get through the last crash.

A Consultant and Consumer Recession

Since many of the largest Bay Area companies already consolidated and downsized and never ramped back up fully from the last recession but rather sent jobs off shore instead, the ranks of consultants have swelled in the past 8 years. Granted young and fresh on the scene companies such as Google hired like crazy for the past few years and the real estate, mortgage brokerages, title companies and banks had a heyday.  The likes of Chevron, Cost Plus, Hewlett Packard, the Gap, Intel, and Apple didn’t go on hiring binges. In fact, some continued to downsize. 

Many consultants have been hit hard with increased competition from the laid off joining their ranks and companies keeping projects in-house instead of outsourcing. Furthermore, retailers such as Mervyns, Circuit City and Linens & Things have crashed and burned removing many low level sales jobs. So it is the best of times and the worst of times. Facebook is hiring but not likely anyone from Mervyns.

What’s Next?

Now that’s the $64 question and if the dollar devalues, it will be the $100 question.  Advice I have been giving my clients is to be prepared to last it out for however long it takes. With increasing fierce competition (think about how many life and career coaches you know) on a global scale, you must commit your resolve and effort to “career differentiation”. Yes, I know that’s a mouthful, but personal branding is so overworked. And do you really know how to brand yourself? Or what you would look like if you were?

Being able to answer to “what makes you different?” is really how you can articulate your unique value proposition to the world.  And knowing what makes you different takes reflection, effort and the long view. You have to look forward down the road to see where you are headed because recognizing your distinct path in part makes you different. You have heard the hackneyed saying that we are all on different paths. Well it is true.

Social Media Save Us

It’s really too late for me. I have been completely enchanted with anything Social Media since Linkedin launched in 2003. I just hope Twitter et al figure out how to make money and be viable businesses while they change the world.  It makes me want to rewrite John Lennon’s song, “Imagine”.  Imagine immediately accessible knowledge about anyone; imagine no more resumes; imagine interviewing for a job in 140 characters or less; imagine a world so small that everyone is connected; just imagine then look because it is already here.

The tools are there: social sites, blogs, video, podcasts, and wikis.  To not understand them, and make the most of them is to your detriment as they give you the edge to show the world how, why and in what way you are different as visibly as possible. And that in itself can determine your success.
So, spruce up your Linkedin profile, get on Facebook, Twitter and then explore the more esoteric vertical social sites to find more ways to be connected and visible to everyone.

Career Security

Yes, career security does exist in these tough times. It is in the power of the collective and the collaborative. I am not referring to Socialism. It stands to reason that if consultants are competing for every project then they are better off collaborating on all projects. If we are all striving to be different then helping everyone be their personal best will only help you stand out too. If you can take the long view and look down the road, you can change the future.
 

Crowd Sourcing and Personal Branding

Crowd Sourcing  is the appropriation and using of other people’s information that is either freely given or available typically from the Internet or a public program.  The entity that uses the information makes money off doing so while the provider of the information doesn’t.   This has worked to the benefit of many when times were good and prosperous, but now that the economy is on a downward trajectory, it can be a negative. Crowd Sourcing in a recession can become a formidable competitive tool. 

In an information, Internet economy, we are competing with our ideas, concepts and creations.  What do you do when professionals in your field, Crowd Source your models, information and ideas to use and market to a shared customer base or to help themselves get a job in your field?  It is constantly done in the workplace among teams and colleagues.  How many times have co-workers taken credit for your ideas?   Has a colleague ever borrowed your materials and ideas to their own benefit?

We are all knowledge-based business professionals. That's what we sell to companies when we interview for a job or to our clients to get their business.  They hire you for the bright ideas, innovation, fresh approaches, in-depth experience, and actionable insights that you bring to the table.   Yes, it can be frustrating when others, chasing the same business, Crowd Source your content to gain a competitive advantage.

But, that’s the nature of the game today as our economy circles the drain. Everyone is looking for that edge, that competitive advantage, that unique value proposition or business solution. There is no point in railing against the gods as we are all commodities now even if we are expert commodities.  The only way to defend against being Crowd Sourced, mob raped, or singly screwed is to do as follows:

• Build your brand as fast and as broadly as you can using all the Social Networking and Social Media tools at your disposal: blog and podcast, tweet on Twitter, link on Linkedin, friend on Facebook,  YouTube yourself

• Keep evolving your brand to stay unique and differentiated as the job market changes and as customer business needs change, not to mention as your competitors catch up with you

• Decide on and become known for a specific niche, twist or style of a service delivered otherwise you will be lumped in with the herd and that herd is starting to look more and more unemployed which in itself is commoditizing feature.

If you execute well on all of the above, then others Crowd Sourcing from you are simply paying homage. May the best brand win!

Speaking of Expertise:
Since 2002 I have been immersed in Social Networking and Social Media.  In 2003, I  consulted to the CEO of Linkedin on how to make it a job seeker friendly tool.  I have expert level understanding about how to apply Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media to job searching, career changing, and professional advancement inside and outside your company.  
 
What does that mean for you?
Well I can help you promote your talents, qualities and expertise using online branding and networking better than any other career coach around,  for now.

For a free consult email: admin@careercompany.com

The Top Job Search Panic Pitfalls

     Recessions and market crashes can play upon the nerves of any executive making decisions and actions in a panic mode.  Career management  becomes a route instead of an informed, well modulated, thorough and patient process that reaches the targeted goal.  
We can sabotage ourselves when seeking new employment without realizing it out of panic, fear and knee jerk reactions.

Here are some of the top panic, pitfalls to avoid: 

• To expedite our search, we pay several thousand dollars for a costly service that mass markets our resume or letter of credentials to tens of thousands of companies by mail and email yielding the same percentage of results as any direct marketing campaign while commoditizing your image.

• Mistakenly thinking that we have a better chance of being hired if a company doesn’t have to pay a search fee, we fail to develop valuable relationships with executive search consultants who often can provide key insights and perspective on the marketplace as well as an interview opportunity.

• Avoiding change, we update the same resume template that we have used for decades without regard to how bad it looks on-line or the dated image it projects.

• Concerned about omitting important career successes and achievements, we insist on including positions that go back 25 + years showing companies that no longer exist, obsolete products and technologies or we build an overdone list of key words and job functions at the top of our resume that leaves us truly undifferentiated.  

• At the first sign of a job search, we call up and burn through all our great contacts without a focused goal or we proceed to wear out our welcome with the best contacts by continually checking in with them to see if anything has come up.

• We do the minimum job on our linkedin profile and then we wonder why recruiters aren’t calling and nobody accepts our requests.

• Most of our time at networking events is spent at the buffet, the bar, finding a parking place or in a corner.

• We assiduously push our needs, wants, and desires onto any unsuspecting contact we meet without first building a viable  relationship with the person.

• Contact business cards become drawer lining as we forget to follow up with people we can’t remember meeting in the first place. 

Some lessons we learn the hard way, others can be simply checked off one at a time. Career coaching can steer you away from all of the above and towards ways to leverage your assets, talents and time to land the next great gig.

 Email us for a free career evaluation: admin@careercompany.com. Find out how we can help you avoid the list and move successfully to your next opportunity.

Regards,

Patti Wilson