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| How to deal with unemployment-Don’t write a resume, write a business plan! |
Posted by antithesis Date 2009/7/16 16:30:00 We all know someone who has been affected by the recession. Job losses, pay cuts and furloughs are becoming commonplace. The most recent data show 5.4 unemployed workers competing for each available job. Even for those still working, It just doesn’t pay to be an employee these days. Over the last 20 years, employers have embraced just-in-time labor management. The number of part-time workers has climbed to 9 million. The national average workweek for hourly workers is 33.2 hours-the lowest average work hours in 30 years. According to research by Columbia University economist Till von Wachter, anyone who’s entering the workforce for the first time or has lost their job during a recession will suffer significant and persistent wage losses for years. When I lost my job over a year ago, I joined a few networking groups and attended job searching strategy workshops. I learned the science of resume writing and the art of interviewing. I’ve had casual conversations with MBA’s CPA’s PHD’s and PMP’s. Without exception, all the people I’ve met are highly educated and experienced professionals. I can’t imagine how the economy continues to operate without all of these talented individuals contributing to our collective economic engine. It has occurred to me that our nation’s talent can’t depend on big business to get our economy’s engine started again. They've been wasting billions in working capitol gambling in the financial markets for the last decade. The traditional means of earning a living as a “wage slave” has eroded our sense of independence. Workplace and management consultant Michelle DeAngelis believes Americans sense of self-reliance has “been sucked into the vortex of job insecurity, mergers, upheaval of people at work, reduced income, [and] lost 401(k)s. Where it needs to reside is within each of us internally. We must disconnect ourselves from the traditional ideas of work and wages. The process of disconnecting ourselves from the corporate environment is already underway. Business networking groups are springing up all over in the form of large and small gatherings of people who meet at restaurants, public buildings, and private residences. I counted over 50 of these groups in the DFW area. These groups connect small businesses, non-profits, sales representatives, managers, and even the British to exchange information, referrals and ideas. Social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are only tools for connecting people and opportunities. For a really optimistic scenario about how this will affect our future, read Jump Point: How Network Culture is Revolutionizing Business by Silicon Valley guru Tom Hayes. He theorizes that the new economy will arrive at a single jump point by 2011, creating a new economy that will “function outside the traditional laws of commerce, free from today's impediments to business growth, and in a world where every person is connected to each other”. It is up to us 6 million ex-employees to start up the economy from scratch. The first thing we need to do is be prepared to practice our skills by utilizing freelance or contract opportunities, volunteering, networking like crazy, and preparing our personal promotional plans. Join a business referral club even if you do not currently own a business. Just pretending to own a business is good training for the real thing. Create something real: Something to eat, wear, enjoy. Do something to help someone using your knowledge or compassion. Find a cause you believe in and you will find others to network with. We are at the beginning of yet another huge social and economic experiment. Let’s do the the best we can to make it work this time. |
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