Job Search or Career Recalibration Opportunity?
California just confirmed 12% of its residents are STILL officially out of work. STILL Highest in the nation. STILL Troubling.
It’s worse than that if you include people who are not collecting unemployment or registering in such a way that the state’s spreadsheet can count them,… “you know it, I know it and the American people know it.”
That’s Even More Troubling.
For those affected, this can be treated as an opportunity to make the career change that they have desired but couldn’t or wouldn’t. In more abundant times, if you quit your job to embark on a new direction, friends and family would milk-spit in shock and chastise you for taking an unreasonable risk.
The status quo can be soooooooo comforting.
Today, however, if you make the same proclamation, friends and family offer encouragement and support. That level of community and encouragement is vital. Although, part of that may be to get some of you off the couch in their family room. You know who you are.
So what is the desire of your heart? What career change have you secretly, or not-so-secretly wanted to make? Ahem, leave “helping people” or “saving the dolphins” to super models or over-medicated actresses. Excuse the absurdity of that last comment – you get the point.
Where is your heart? Do you have a plan sitting in a drawer? A book, or a folder full of yellowed newspaper clippings and articles torn from magazines? Whatever it is, get it out, spread it out and check it out. Those are the raw materials from which you need to architect a plan.
Start with your current job and think about everything. What do you like or dislike about your function? What about the industry? Boring, exciting or going bankrupt and you are forced to find a new pasture? How about the company itself? Mom-n-pop, start-up, medium size or corporate goliath? Which of the above do you find satisfying – or even just comfortable?
In The Rat, The Race and the Cage, I help you with part of this. Give it a read and add it to what should be a backpack full of supplies for the journey.
A Special Deal for Your Job Search
If you are in the midst of a job search, hopefully you enjoyed a little break over the holidays and 2012 has started off with optimism.
If you were lucky enough to get a shiny new eReader, an iPad2 or an Android Tablet this Holiday season… then I have something to help you with the job search. I have decided to offer The Rat, The Race and the Cage in eBook format for only $1.99.
Yep, for less than a cup of Starbucks house coffee, you can get a book to help you build your own “Personal Career Compass” as you embark on your job search.
Here are the Links:
Kindle
Nook
All the best to you in 2012 – and good luck finding a job you love!
Attention K-Mart Shoppers…
When things feel like they are shifting, do you wait for announcements or do you look around and pay attention to circumstances?
Now more than ever people need to be paying attention to the world around them. As I am fond of saying, gold watch makers are going out of business because gold is at record prices AND nobody is going to be with a company 25 years to get the proverbial watch.
Today Sears, a pillar of the American business community if there ever was one, broke up the spreading of holiday cheer to announce 120 store closings. The 125 year old retailer (that spans 6 generations of Americans, if you are counting) said 79 stores will be closed very quickly and 40 to 80 employees will be laid off at each one.
Sears Holding Corp still operates 3,560 stores, but that’s not the point. Slowly but surely Target, Costco, Walmart and its kid brother Sam’s Club are kicking Sears and K-Mart’s tail ends in the war for middle and lower class consumers. It is plain to anyone who is paying attention.
Do you wait for the announcement “Attention K-Mart employees” or do you start to take action now and have career options? Go get a pad of paper and a folder and start making your plan now. If you were told today that you had 60 days to find a job, what would you do? Who would you call? Where would you look? Maybe start now.
Enough said.
Happy Holidays – Are You Working?
The political pundits and talking heads in the media are saying the unemployment rate just dropped. No Kidding?!?!?
The seasonal workers are being hired to ensure stores are staffed for Black Friday. Do the pundits think we are so dull as to overlook that fact? Are we supposed to feel better? The drivel is unbelievable.
This holiday I wish you luck in starting a search or finishing one that finds you fully employed in the new year in a full time job in the function and industry of your choosing. Get a copy of The Rat, The Race and The Cage and start working on your plan now.
Eisler – The Tipping Point… Just Like Radiohead
James Scott Bell asked on his blog (see it here): “So does the Eisler Sanction feel like a “tipping point”? What do you think it means industry wide? What does it mean to you?”
First, what do I think it means for the industry:
The simple truth is the publishing industry is undergoing the same digital evolution as seen in music, with the same disruptive, cataclysmic effects upon the incumbent gate-keepers. The proxy in music occurred in 2007 as EMI, one of the big-4 music labels, saw Radiohead go direct.
If it seems similar to the Eisler decision, well, it should. In my opinion, guided by experience in two previous digital shifts, the “tipping point” comments are correct. It has happened. For better and for worse you (the authors) and the publishers, respectively, are now on the other side of the tip. The rate of change that is being referenced in the comments is in fact “mainstream market momentum.” This momentum is not being driven by the ability to self-publish to digital. Technically, that has been here for over 10 years. It is being driven by device penetration (consumer purchase of Kindles, Nooks, iPads and Android tablets) and access to a large library of CONTENT created by YOU the AUTHORS. The same market momentum was seen with color phones in 2002 as mobile games and ringtones became a $2B+ industry almost overnight as a large content library was made available. It was also seen in the DVD market when DVD player prices hit sub $99 (December 2003) and the massive library of old movies on DVDs became available at $14.99 and $19.99 vs. $29.99? Goodbye tipping point, hello mainstream market.
Today, musicians and writers have been empowered. Yes, the door is open to self-publish and many are walking though it (Eisler, Konrath, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, etc). While many artists can self-edit, convert digital files, and submit to digital stores such as iTunes and Kindle, many artists simply desire to create their art in word or song. Some are capable or staffed to self-publish, while others are seeking partners to help with the process.
Second, what does it mean to me?
We have built Premier Digital Publishing, PDP, to help established authors successfully navigate the digital waters and garner their fair share of the pie. Our opinion and the mission of PDP is for the creators of IP (Intellectual Property, not Internet Protocol, ha, ha) to be deservedly rewarded for producing the art forms THEY created. Sure, the ebook storefronts (new retailers) do deserve a share of the pie, but the old publishing model and its revenue splits is fatally encumbered by the weight of legacy systems, overhead, bloated staffs and prevarications a.k.a. royalty reports (wicked wink).
As the story goes, I can go to Lowes and buy $500 worth of equipment to mow my lawn each weekend, but why not pay a “group of guys” to do it for a reasonable cost? (If you live in California – don’t translate “group of guys” into its politically incorrect term). You get the point.
“Readers need writers” – true that. Writers also need self-publishing expertise and weapons to wage war in the new era of digital distribution and reach their readers. This is not limited to clicking a mouse and converting a file. PDP is here to help those who want assistance in merchandising, marketing, etc. and don’t want to “mow their own lawn.”
Welcome to the other side of the tipping point. Radiohead and Eisler are now perpetually famous.
Or is it Infamous?
Glimmers of Hope
Well,… things are not better, but there are glimmers of hope.
The the AP reported today [Article Here] that economic data from the Labor Department contained some promising signs:
“In a sharp improvement, the largest U.S. metropolitan areas were evenly split in July between those where unemployment rates rose from June and those where rates fell.
In June, by contrast, 90 percent of the 380 metro areas had seen their jobless rates rise from the previous month.”
What is happening: the rate of unemployment growth is slowing in many areas.
What is NOT happening: but for seasonal jobs in agriculture and other niche segments, the number of new jobs is not growing fast enough to counter-act job losses.
What is means: The US economy continues to cling to a very flat growth curve. In previous decades, even those experiencing recessions, new and revitalized sectors drove job growth. For example, in the late 1980′s technology drove growth; the dot-com / telecom boom and bust drove the 1990′s and financial services drove the first 5 years of the new millennium. Uh,.. maybe forget about that last one.
The point is history proves that without a job growth machine fueled by an emerging or jump-started sector, unemployed workers are left to make their own luck.
Are you ready or just waiting? Do you have a plan? If not, you need to follow the 1st rule of white-water rafting: When you fall out of the boat, YOU are the most important member of your rescue team.
Get it?
EASTWARD HO!
Today’s L.A. Times reported mortgage delinquencies in the California will hit 14% in very short order. [Link Here] This on the heels of news that unemployment in California is at a post-WWII high… that’s over 60 years… two-and-a-half generations!
What does this mean for the job market?
First , it means there are a lot of unemployed people looking for jobs (assumably) and not paying their mortgages.
Second, it means housing values will likely be stable for awhile before growing again (as those who continue to pay their mortgages hope).
Third, it means if you are planning to stay in California, I suggest you do some souls-searching as to why. Particularly if you are in an industry suffering a long-term slump (real estate, construction, etc.).
The Golden state is no longer golden. The lone star state (no state income tax) is looking better and better all the time. During the dust-bowl times of the last century, masses of people moved westward in search of jobs.
Today, a new migration is starting… under the call of “Eastward Ho.”
Job losses slow to 247,000… good but still bad
In desperation for good news, even bad news gets spun into rays of hope.
In an AP article this morning, it was reported that 247,000 people LOST their jobs last month [article link here]. They claim is that because job losses are slowing, the recession may be ending.
Excuse me, but consecutive months of job losses and quarter-over-quarter of negative GDP indicate recession. Companies continue trimming expenses and workforces. As a result, companies are more expense-efficient per dollar of revenue than they were two or three years ago – stabilizing their stock prices. Thus, those who hail the stock market recovery as a sign of economic recovery are, in large part, wrong. The net job loss number means jobs are still being lost – the ranks of unemployed workers were joined by 247,000 new friends in July.
Rather than dwell on this news, I am diving into the rare reports of job growth in specific sectors [see my recent post]. I am also encouraging friends to think about relocating and remain open to new frontiers.
This is a time to plan new courses, consider new horizons and prepare for future ahead of those who will be competitng with you for plumb jobs.
If you wait until the surf is up, you will be part of a crowd running down the beach to the waves. The smart surfer paddles out early and is ready when the first ripple crests.
“It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.” ~ Carlton Fisk
Time to teach?
I recently read an article in Career College Central magazine about professionals becoming teachers. Career College Central is a somewhat obscure but highly informed source of information on careers in education. Read article here
The article explored the near-term and long-range prospects for careers in teaching:
In many places, there are more converts to teaching than there are jobs, except in hard-to-fill posts in science, math and special education classes. But the wave of applicants might ease teacher shortages expected to develop as 1.7 million baby boomers retire from the public schools during the next decade.
That indicates that if you can team math or science, jobs are available today. Looking ahead, if you are considering retiring from your current job and going into teaching over the next 10 years, the retirement wave of current teachers will be breaking in your favor.
The article also pointed out the high interest in teacher preparation programs among displaced professionals:
Across the country, interest in teacher preparation programs geared toward job-changers is rising sharply. Applications to a national retraining program based in 20 cities rose 30 percent this year (2009). Enrollment in a career-switcher program for teachers at Virginia’s community colleges increased by 20 percent.
Teaching provides an excellent opportunity to stay close to something you enjoy – particularly in science, math or specialty courses at the community college level. It also may require you adjust your personal budget. Then again, with the federal government making education a priority, investment should continue – and job security usually comes with it.
It is time to trade the white-board for a chalk-board?
Forbes: America’s Big Cities Where Jobs Are Hot Now
I don’t often agree with articles in popular press, but I almost always agree with Forbes.
In a recent article, Tara Weiss and the Forbes research team correctly point out the areas where jobs in specific industries are growing. Here’s the article.
Looking through the 3-sided lens presented in my book, “The Rat, The Race and the Cage“, the industry where you work is the Race. I encourage people to pursue a career in an industry that they find intriguing. For example, if you are an advertising expert but soap and deodorant don’t excite you (insert your favorite joke about the French here), then the consumer products industry is probably not for you. Find an industry you enjoy and take it as far as you can. Sometimes that means moving to another city where the industry is thriving, or at least doing better than where you are located…
While green shoots are not coming up in the macro-economy when viewed in its entirety, Weiss correctly points out that select industry segments ARE seeing growth and those industries invariably have employment concentrations in specific metropolitan areas.
If you are seeking a job in one of the industries described in the Forbes article, it may be time to consider a relocation. While uprooting is typically the LAST thing people want to do, it is also an opportunity to experience a new part of our great country. When I press my case with folks, there is usually push-back: the job market is probably competitive because so many experienced professionals are already located in that city. I counter with the notion that there also may be a shortage of talent. Example: it was nearly impossible to find great engineers in San Jose from 1999 to 2002 and remains challenging today, albeit it’s easier than it was in 1999-2002. At that time, stories of lunch-hour job changes were accurate.
It may be time to take a long look at a new city. I can suggest a great closing line: “While I am currently located in Atlanta, I am planning to move myself at my own cost to Boston as it is a hotbed of activity in Education, an industry where I plan to spend the rest of my career.”
Be bold.
