Feelings, Part Deux

So, I know that I can trust God to take care of us; He's proven it over and over....why do I have this fist-sized knot in my stomach?

The easy answer is that I'm human, that I'm not fully trusting God, and I'm sure those are partly to blame.  More than that, I think it is unexpressed frustration and anger.   I know life isn't fair, but as I look at what is going on in my company ahead of the layoff, I am both saddened and angry that I have not had any input to the "big plans."

I watched as a VP touted the new plans as innovative and "course changing," and how excited HE is,  as HR will be taking care of everything that specialists (training, org development, recruiting, talent management--whatever that is) have spent considerable time developing expertise through study and practice.   My comment to my coworkers as we left the meeting was, "I hope if he ever gets a heart attack, that he'll have a GP (general practitioner) to care for him instead of a cardiac care specialist."   Maybe then he'll feel differently.

This is the logic that is currently being spouted from our corporate leadership--that HR people (they include us professional training and org development people in with them!) have to be able to be a jack of all trades.   They are entitled to that opinion, but my guess is that within 5 years, that "logic" will fall apart.   Of course the entire HRBP (HR Business Partner) is the concept du jour of the HR world, but I wonder how many business leaders look at this and snicker.

I've spent about 20 years in training and development, and personally, I consider it an insult to say that an HR Business Partner (should there have ever been an HR person who wasn't aligning their efforts to the business?) can take on training/OD as well as recruiting, compensation, benefits, etc. and perform well.   I know the years I've spent dedicated to training and OD and how much I am still learning.  I think it amusing to assume that because it is pronounced, HR employees will suddenly become expert in fields they've spent little time learning about and practicing in.

Well, I thought I'd feel better getting this off my chest, but it's just sunk down into my gut again.  This is going to be a fun Fall!

"Survivor" for the Class of 2010

The Wall St. Journal has an superb article on the reality of the job market today specifically directed at the new college graduates...more information below.

I can still remember "way back when" I was newly starting out, believing what I referred to as "the lie" --- "if you go to college, you'll get a good job."  Of course, when you graduate and encounter reality, you're incensed!  It isn't really a "lie" that you can get a good job with a college education, it's just that reality wasn't explained more clearly to you.  As my father explained to me once, education provides you with an OPPORTUNITY for success, not a guarantee.  I can guarantee that if you don't have a college education in 2010, your opportunities will be very limited.

An illustration of the harshness of reality may be helpful here.  I knew a young man who in 1990 who was about to graduate and confidently stated, "I think my degree will be worth about $30,000 a year."  I was listening to him along with another man who had worked hard to build his roofing company, and at this announcement, me and the roofer instinctively turned to look at each other and just started laughing out loud.  The soon-to-be college graduate was somewhat insulted.   I told him that, in effect, the world didn't care about his education and surely wouldn't pay him for having gone to school.   Now, I didn't want to hurt his confidence, but I did want to convey what I had learned (the hard way)---that most young college graduates have what Robert Ringer (Looking Out for Number One) calls "The World Owes Me a Living Disease."  No one owes anyone anything (Someone should let our current government leaders know this.).   The fact that you were disciplined enough to finish a college degree says a lot of positive things about you as a person, and in some fields, there is a body of knowledge with which you have become familiar in getting your degree, but in reality, rather than shake your hand, the world is more likely to kick you in the butt, punting you to the curb.   Now is the time for you to kick your parents in the butt if they ever told you life is fair.  They lied.

Another sad truth is that most young college graduates have no training in job searching in 2010, which is a full-body contact sport with a lot of veteran players on the field.   A relative recently graduated from college, and he seemed somewhat aware of the tough road ahead.  Of course, having spent his last 7 years in college (!), he has no real idea of the tsunami of reality about to hit him. 

Perhaps this Wall St. Journal article can be the kick in the pants for you or a young college grad you know.  It's part of life's body of knowledge that you most likely never learned in college, but is every bit as critical as the subjects you studied to earn your degree.  Your toughness and tenacity is what you will need to survive in the workforce....and I would add your faith, your patience, and your persistence.  "Wax on; wax off."


 ------------------------------EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE:

"Over the next few weeks, hundreds of thousands of Millennials will graduate from institutions of higher learning. They will celebrate for several days, perhaps several weeks. Then they will enter a labor force that neither wants nor needs them. They will enter an economy where roughly 17% of people aged 20 through 24 do not have a job, and where two million college graduates are unemployed. They will enter a world where they will compete tooth and nail for jobs as waitresses, pizza delivery men, file clerks, bouncers, trainee busboys, assistant baristas, interns at bodegas."

"Young people can be forgiven for thinking that the portrayal of the working world in comedies like "The Office" and "Office Space" is completely over the top. Now they're going to find out otherwise. Reality is a mean trick that grown-ups play on the young."

"It's brutal out there, all right. Blogs and instant messaging and social networking systems don't help much because everyone is using the same cutting-edge tools to compete for the same low-tech jobs. The easiest way to get a job is still the oldest way: To know somebody who can get you a job or give you a job."


Read this article in it's entirety!  It'll be worth every minute.   The full article is at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704250104575238692439240552.html.  It's a must read for everyone, not just college students.

Reasons to Invest in Your Career NOW

Found a new job hunting site that appears to be targeted at new college grads and 20-somethings http://www.careerealism.com.

This site looks like a 2 x 4 across the forehead for a generation that grew up on the relative affluence of the late 1980's and 1990's, but I know that those of us who are out of our 20s need to hear the same message...don't sit around and just answer Internet job openings all day.  According to CNN, there are 6 people seeking work for every job opening.  While I would challenge that 6:1 is true of every career field, it surely is in some, and as those of us actively hunting for a new job, we know it's tough right now; but then again, so is sitting around doing nothing and whining.  Don't let these numbers bum you out; let it be a challenge to meet head on.  Like I was once told, "You're looking for a job and not many openings. Thing is, you only need 1 job."

15 Reasons Professionals (Ages 18-25) MUST Invest in Their Careers NOW

December 10, 2009 by sparktalk   By CAREEREALISM Founder, J.T. O’Donnell

I saw this video on CNNMoney.com of college seniors being interviewed about their future plans after graduation this spring: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/12/04/n_cmr_class_2010-jobs.cnnmoney/.
YIKES!


Students are on their own when it comes to finding a job – and it’s not pretty. I think the worst part is to see most of them believe the answer is to just stay in school and spend even more money on an advanced degree. I wish they could talk with all the unemployed MBAs out there right now who are knee-deep in loan debt.

Reality-check for College Students & Recent Grads
How you look for work, as well as how you find work you love has changed deeply in the last 20 years. And yet, college teaches you everything EXCEPT how to get the job. That being said, there are two ways you can attempt to learn what you need to in order to take control of your future.
1)   You can try figuring it out for yourself. Unfortunately, most students opt for this, get too busy at school, and end up putting it off until they graduate. They return home, unemployed and hundreds of miles from their campus career center.
2)   You can invest in a program that can help you get organized and focus on the right things to do to identify a career path and land a job. [Note:  This is the site's sales pitch.]

Let’s face it, the latter option is going to help you more and is much faster.

And still, if that doesn’t convince you…
Here are 15 reasons why you should invest in your career early:

• 23%. How much a college education has gone up in the last 10 years.
• 11%. How much the starting salaries of college grads have gone down in the last 10 years. (FYI – In 1985, the average starting salary for a college grad was $40,300. In 2008, the average starting salary was only $39,000 and it continues to drop in this recession.)
• Less than 50%. The number of students who ever see the financial return on their investment in an advanced degree (i.e. Masters, MBA).
• 70M+. The number of Baby Boomers (people in their 50s-60’s) in America who are ‘retirement-ready, but under-funded’ and thus will stay in the job market, holding back the entry of new grads to the workplace.
• 90%+. The number of young people today who plan to go to college because they feel they have to in order to get a job. Most DON’T know why they should go or what they should study!
• $100K+. The minimum you can plan to spend on a college education from top private or state university.
• Less than 30%. The number of students who actually work in a professional setting while they are in high school or college in order to gain professional skills they can use when they graduate.
• 25 years old. The average age before a college grad can finally afford to move out of their parent’s house and live on their own. (They are called Boomerang Kids and K.I.P.P.E.R.S – Kids In Parents Pockets Eating Retirement Savings.)
• 80%+. The percentage of jobs people get by networking. Most people don’t know A) how to create and leverage a network effectively, and B) feel uncomfortable doing it.
• Less than 20%. That’s how many 2009 college grads had jobs when they graduated last year.
• 6:1 ratio. There are 6 job seekers for every job out there right now.
• 18 months. The average time a young person spends in a job in America . The reality is EVERY job is temporary for young professionals.
• 9 careers with an average of 3 jobs in each one. That’s what today’s college grad can expect over the lifetime of their career. Can you imagine looking for a job 27 times!?
• 5 years. The amount of time it’s going to take for us to recoup the jobs we’ve lost from this recession. This does NOT include the additional number of jobs we need for all the college grads in that time.
• 10 years. That’s how long it’s going to take for us to fully recover from this recession: 

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/12/07/n_cmr_slow_recovery.cnnmoney/.

Could There Be Even a Slight Improvement in the Job Market?

I tend to believe that we haven't seen the worst of the economic debacle, but I will say that I am seeing more activity in my ongoing job search, as I have been contacted by 3 companies in the past few weeks.  I will also tell you that all 3 came through networking contacts, including one of a person I have only met once or twice while interviewing at a company she worked for!

Whether or not there is good news regarding the economy, I do not know.   I do know that in once instance, the advent of the new year (read new BUDGET year) has created the opportunity.   For those of you who may be getting discouraged in your job hunt as the holidays draw closer, please do not "quit" for the holidays!   Many companies are finalizing budgets for 2010 and are making plans to bring new people on to start in January.  As some companies have had a decent 3rd quarter, they may be optimistic and making plans to try to expand in January.

Press on even harder in your job search now, making contact with your connections, letting them know that you are still in search mode, providing them with a fresh resume and description of your key "selling points."   This may sound like a dumb suggestion, but rename your resume....from "SStein Sept09.doc" to "SStein Nov2009.doc."   You may have some updates you've made, and second, your document will look current to someone who hasn't heard from you lately.  Either way, it might just keep your contacts from overlooking you.

Job Hunting Presentation in Second Life

Just finished a live presentation in Second Life on job hunting and the use of social media in a job hunt.   Was a very fast hour, and had about 16 avatars/people in attendance.  I got some very nice comments on the presentation, and I sincerely hope that everyone will use what they have learned. 

Job hunting is and isn't the same as in "the past."   I talked a lot about the use of electronic media and how to aggregate job listings to save time looking for openings, but as usual, I came back to something that has never changed in job searching since the beginning--- networking.

Despite all of the wonderful tools and electronic gizmos, finding a job comes down to getting in front of a human and selling yourself.  Bottom line.   Electronic networking tools, fancy resumes, hours spent searching job openings will NOT net you a job.   They can only get you in front of another human....and then, the fun begins.

If I were to list what I consider the second most important thing in job searching (behind networking), it would be to practice, practice, practice your 30-2 min commercials (elevator speeches) until you were mumbling them in your sleep.   This is part of being able to interview well, which is where you win or lose a job offer.  If you know who you are and what you have to offer, and you couch it in "sales" terms ("here's what I can do for you"), you'll have a tremendous advantage over 90% of the rest of the population.

Being prepared for an interview is a book in itself, but being emotional prepared will help you even more.   Frankly, if you go into an interview so worried about getting the job that you can't function, you will fulfill your own prophecy.   Now I have been in some tight spots in my time---had no job/income and was interviewing---and those are tough.   I am blessed with not having debt, and that relieves a lot of pressure.  Of course, picturing my family scraping by because I'm out of work adds a tad more pressure.   I have had to learn the hard way that if I really trust that God will take care of me, I will relax in an interview and my thoughts will flow much better.   It's a test, or should I say like a test that we've all had in school (remind your kids of the kinds of tests adults take and the stakes of performing poorly on THOSE tests).   If you are prepared for the test, your stress level is much lower than if you know you're winging it.  Of course there could be a test that asks questions poorly (bad test design) or something you totally forgot, but that's where part 2 of preparedness comes into play---trust God.

No test, no interview is life ending.  Though we don't believe that we'll ever find another job as our last good job, honestly, we will.   I have often counseled job seekers with two words:  patience and persistence.  You must be patient, and you must never give up.   Since I like Star Trek, the analogy I offer is that of the Borg.  For those unfamiliar with Star Trek:  The Next Generation, the Borg are a race of cyborgs who are notorious for taking over and assimilating other races in the galaxy, and they are incredibly persistent.  Nothing seems to phase them...they just keep coming and coming.   Like the Borg, we must all keep pressing on to find the next job, and most of us need to work on our patience while we do that.

Cyborgs and virtual worlds like Second Life aside, the reality is that job hunting will continue to be the bane of our existence, at least until we land that next job. : )

I Know I've Said This Before...

God is in control. Period. You will destroy yourself if you put the burden of return on your invested job-searching time on yourself. We have to be smart and work hard at job searching, but in the end, we do not control the process. My encouragement is to not let the process control YOU.

...and believe me, I know all too well how hard that is.

U.S. Job Seekers Exceed Openings by Record Ratio

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/economy/27jobs.html?_r=1&em

"Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. "

The last lines of the article: “I’ve learned that I can’t look to tomorrow,” she said. “Every day, I try to do the best I can. I say to myself, ‘I don’t control this process.’ That’s the only way you can look at it. Otherwise, you’d have to go up on the roof and crack your head open.”

So, I'm NOT Imagining Things...

Rebecca is spot on, again .... I just thought it was my imagination, seriously.

Job Search Seem Like It’s Getting Tougher? You’re Not Imagining Things

from The Interview Edge by Rebecca Metschke http://blog.theinterviewedge.com/the_interview_edge/2009/09/job-search-seem-like-its-getting-tougher-youre-not-imagining-things.html

It’s challenging trying to land a job right now – and getting more difficult. If you’ve been feeling the pinch and wondering if “it’s just you” rest assured…the phenomenon is real.

Two things are happening concurrently to create a perfect storm of sorts on the employment front.

First, the Labor Department reported last week that the number of available jobs has fallen by a staggering 50 percent-plus over the past two years; in July there were six unemployed people for every job opening. To put that into context, consider that at the beginning of the recession (December 2007) the ratio was 1.72 to 1.

For further comparison, during the height of the last recession’s lengthy jobless recovery the ratio was roughly 3 to 1. Because that was a much narrower downturn, you may not have felt the impact; ask the folks in the telecom industry, though – which was ravaged – and they will tell you the ratio seemed much worse than that.)

Then we have the fact that we’re in the midst of a buyer’s market, which only exacerbates the competition. Many employers with jobs to fill opt to bypass the unemployed and instead choose to set their sights on those who are still working.

This concept isn’t something new. There's almost always a preference on the part of hiring managers for passive candidates – people who are employed and not currently searching. Those folks are considered more desirable.

Various reports, however, indicate that the penchant for hiring companies to target only those who are employed elsewhere is on the rise. The belief is that if a person has made it through this extended downturn unscathed, there’s a good chance he or she could be a top-notch candidate. When you can afford to be choosey, candidates who've been laid off may not even get a first look. (This preference is extending across the board, from line workers to senior managers.)

This means unemployed job seekers are in waters that are only getting choppier.

I point this out not to discourage you – actually, just the opposite. Sometimes when the obstacles appear overwhelming, you can begin to doubt yourself. You might wonder what you’re doing wrong, or figure that surely you are contributing to the situation…when that may not be true at all.

Of course you should step back and objectively review your search strategy periodically to see what you can do differently or how you can be more effective. But the fact that you’re not making headway at the moment may not have anything to do with you. Sometimes circumstances simply are what they are, and the competition is extremely challenging.

Keep at it. Search smart, be creative, roll up your sleeves, understand it’s probably going to some time – but don’t give up.

The Interview Edge - required reading for people who are serious about their careers.

Waiting in a McDonald's Society

One thing most Americans aren't very good at is waiting, and that's just when we want to check out at WalMart. When it comes to waiting for the economy to turn around so that you can pay your bills, the lack of patience is a little better understood, but that lack of patience will do you about as good as yelling at the WalMart cashier to "hurry it up."

I wish I could report good news on the job home front, but like so many, I've noticed that things have slowed down to the point that I'm not getting the calls I used to.....though I am in a contract position at the moment and am very thankful for that!

__________________________________________________
Rebecca's blog is top notch.

August 18, 2009

What Lies Ahead?

by Rebecca Metschke

Rebecca Metschke is the author of The Interview Edge, a comprehensive guide for those who are serious about their careers. Visit http://blog.TheInterviewEdge.com for free tips and strategies to gain a professional advantage.

10% unemployment through 2011 and the jobless rate still at 7% in 2016?

That's one scenario included in a report published by the Kansas City Fed last week. This isn't scare tactic, doom and gloom forecasting, either. It's actually quite plausible.

As the authors point out, the banking crisis has been a key contributing factor during this recession, and it'll continue to shape the recovery. First, tight credit forced firms to aggressively cut payrolls as they tried to control operating expenses and conserve capital. Now, because they can't rely on short-term financing to make payroll, they're very reluctant to rehire.

"Severe and persistent" unemployment increases. After the economy has pulled out of recession.

I don't point this out to put a damper on your day. Rather, it's all about being informed and planning accordingly.

I'm all about career preparation - you should be, too.

Chart your course. The Interview Edge can help you do that; you can get to the book from this page.