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Have You Prepared Your Career for the Next Recession?

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Prepared for the Next Recession?

recession
Copyright: alphaspirit / 123RF Stock Photo

The next recession is coming! It is not if but when. Are you ready?

Many of us have lived through 2 horrible recessions in the last 20 years. The dot-com bust hit us when many of us thought we had it made. Our retirement accounts were fat and we figured we would have 10% annual returns for years to come.

The great recession wiped out whatever many of us had left.

We are approaching 10 years since the beginning of the last recession. The latest economic expansion has been one of the longest ever recorded. Admittedly it has been a slow expansion but it has continued. We all know this will come to an end.

Have you prepared your career for the next recession?

4 Tips to Recession-Proof Your Career

The idea for this post comes from my good friend, Thom Singer. He published his latest podcast called 4 Tips to Recession Proof Your Career.

I do not believe you can actually recession-proof your career but there are things you can do today to prepare for the next recession and Thom gives some great tips.

For those of us in the 2nd half of life, our next job will come from a relationship. It will either be an existing relationship, a resurrected relationship or a new relationship. Another way to state this it will come from someone you know, like and trust.

You need to work on these relationships NOW!

Here are Thom’s 4 tips to recession-proof your career.

Tip #1 – Do not assume a “like,” “link,” “share,” or “follow” is equal to a relationship.

Social media is a great place to interact with people but do not assume that being connected on LinkedIn or friends on Facebook or to follow someone on Twitter is equivalent to a real relationship. I use LinkedIn to manage and track my network.

How many relationships can you maintain? You may have 10K followers on Twitter or 5K connections on LinkedIn, but how many do you really know?

The number of relationships you can maintain is also known as the Dunbar Number. Evolutionary psychologist, Robin Dunbar, began a study of the Christmas-card-sending habits of the English and found that they sent on average 153.5 cards each year. The number of 150 has come up over and over in society. The Amish break up communities when they reach 150. Chimpanzee families reach a maximum of 150.

I have over 5,000 LinkedIn connections and over 38,000 Twitter followers. Are all of those real relationships? NO!

For More: Strategic Networking Playbook – Who, How and When!

Tip #2 – Start participating in your industry trade association (and other networking groups) now. Do not wait until the economy falters.

Thom talks about the importance of attending industry conferences and being involved in your trade association. I claim this important for another reason. Creative destruction has accelerated. You MUST stay on top of industry trends if you want to be competitive and your employer will no longer take responsibility for you staying current.

Thom is an active member of the National Speakers Association(NSA) and he became involved BEFORE he became a full-time keynote speaker and master of ceremonies.

I make sure I attend at least one industry conference a year. This year it was Podcast Movement which is the premier conference for podcasters.

For More: How to Protect Your Career from Future Extinction, Now [Video]

Tip #3  – Find ways to help others. Networking has to be about give and get.

When I network, I follow the philosophy that I am there to help others and expect NOTHING in return. What I am creating is good karma.

Thom talks about being a connector. He relates a story about how he helped a fellow speaker by referring her to his PowerPoint developer years ago. This proved invaluable and improved her business remarkably. She still expresses her gratitude to Thom everytime they are together.

Thom also tells a story where he acted as a  referral for a substantial speaking gig to a colleague. His colleague landed the business and spent much of the next year actively promoting Thom’s business. Did Thom make the referral expecting something in return? NO. He was just acting as a connector.

Who should you be connecting with and acting as a connector? How about recruiters at the companies on your target list?

For More: Target the Company and Quit Chasing the Job (Updated)

Tips #4 – Work to position yourself as an expert in your industry.

Promote your talents and skills to demonstrate you are an expert. You can do this by:

  • Create a personal website and publish blog posts
  • Offer to write for an industry website or magazine
  • Publish blog posts on LinkedIn Publisher
  • Upload work product to your LinkedIn profile
  • Actively comment on social media
  • Offer to present or teach at MeetUps or other events

There are lots of ways to position yourself as an industry expert.

For More: Determination, Education, and Presentation Gets the Job After 60+ [Podcast]

Take Action

The next recession is coming. It may be next month, next year or the year after but it is coming. We all remember what it was like in the depth of the great recession in 2009 when just about everyone I knew was touched by unemployment.

We all knew someone who was laid off. It may have been a parent, child, spouse, best friend or someone else close to you.

Now is the time to prepare.

What is your next step?

Marc Miller  

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Building your Target List – The Targeted Job Search (Updated)

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Your Target List

target list

Your target list should contain companies that could hire you. You should be looking for companies that are looking for your skill set. We are not looking for companies that are hiring, but those that are capable of hiring you at some point in the future.

This is step one of the Targeted Job Search.

Let’s cover six sources to find these companies.

1 – Your Friends

This might seem obvious, but you should talk to your friends about where they work and whether they know of companies that hire people like yourself.

This may seem obvious but you will be surprised at how few people actually approach their friends for their opinions. You should ask friends who have different kinds of jobs than you and/or are in different industries.

Your friends are also referred to as strong ties. 

2 – Weak Ties

The concept of weak ties comes from Johns Hopkins sociologist Mark Granovetter’s paper called, “The Strength of Weak Ties” which came to much of the world’s attention when it was referenced in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. The idea was that most of us have a network of people with whom we are weakly tied—we know each other, we are familiar with each other’s reputations, but we are not close. Granovetter’s point was that we might actually be more influenced by people with whom we have weak ties than by those with whom we have strong ties.

Your weak ties are more valuable to you than your strong ties. Why may you ask?

They know people you do not know. Your strong ties know the same people you know.

Here are some good examples:

  • People you worked with 5, 10 or 15 years ago
  • You service providers like chiropractors, hairdressers, accountants or repair people
  • You children’s friend’s parents – Think about this one

For more on weak ties read these posts:

Weak ties can be invaluable in building your target list.

3 – Business Journal

Just about every major metropolitan area has a business journal. Here is Austin, it is the Austin Business Journal. Each week, they have a new list of companies. At the end of the year, they publish the Book of Lists. You can usually get the Book of Lists in most public libraries. Look at the best places to work and fastest growing lists. Beware that, even if a company made the best places to work list last year, that does not mean it is a great place to work. Just like with investments, past performance does not necessarily predict future results!

You may find other resources similar to the Business Journal that lists companies.

4 – LinkedIn Advanced Search

Search using LinkedIn Advanced Search for people with similar titles and certifications. For example, if you are a project manager and have a PMP certification. You would perform a search where you place “PMP” in the last name field and enter your zip code in the Postal Code field.  The results would list people in your network who have PMP list in their last name field and are located near you. Make a list of companies where the people in your list work.

Perform searches using the title field. Enter variations of the title you currently have or would like to have in your next job.

Another way to look at this is to find people like you. Check out my post – Finding People Who Look, Taste and Smell Like You.

Add the companies that employ the people you find to your target list.

5 – LinkedIn Company Page

people also viewedLinkedIn company pages are a great place to find companies that are similar to your current employer.

In the LinkedIn browser interface, you will find the People also viewed section in the right-hand column near the bottom of the page. It will display logos of companies that users also looked at before or after they viewed the current company page.

The image to the right is the people also viewed section for the company, Spredfast, a social media company headquartered in Austin, TX.

You will probably want to follow the bread crumbs to find other companies. You could click on “Sprinklr” and view the people also viewed section on the “Sprinklr” company page.  Investigate those companies, and then select a company and keep moving along the chain. You never know what you might find.

With the exception of really large companies, you will likely find direct competitors or companies that are similar in adjacent industries.

You can learn more about finding companies using LinkedIn company pages in the post #3 Method to Find Companies – LinkedIn Company Pages

6 – Public Databases

I use a resource provided by the Austin Public Library called The A to Z Databases. This is a great resource for locating small and medium-size businesses. Check your library to see if it is available.

Another possibility is Dub and Bradstreet’s  Hoovers’ website. If you have access to an outplacement service, you will likely be able to access via the service provider. You might want to start a free trial.

Your list is a working list and should contain 15-25 companies. You will never stop working on this list. This list should be updated monthly, even when you are happily employed.

The next step in the Target the Company and Quit Chasing the Job or the Targeted Job Search will be to research the companies on your list. I will be discussing researching these companies next week!

Are you ready to start building your target list?

To read the rest of the Targeted Job Search series click here.

Marc Miller  

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Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

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Target the Company and Quit Chasing the Job (Updated)

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Target the Company?

target the companyYes, you heard me correctly…target the company and quit chasing the job.

This is the philosophy behind the Targeted Job Search.

As a baby boomer, I was raised to be loyal to my employer. When the right opportunity came about, it would typically be offered to me. If I wanted to change jobs, I would go to the newspaper, trade publications and, later, job websites for job ads.

The employer was in control and used various marketing tools to attract prospective job seekers.

Well, the traditional job search is dead and may it rest in peace.

Now companies source perspective employees, notice I did not say job seekers, via LinkedIn, Google and other social and career platforms. They no longer care that you are not looking for a job. If you want to play this game you need to be a good passive candidate or someone who is easily found.

Gone are the days where you could apply for the job and hope to get an interview.

Job Listings

When you go to Monster.com, Indeed.com or any company website with positions listed, how many of those positions are real? What percentage of jobs are actually listed?

You have to understand why companies post jobs:

  • They are legally obligated. If the position is funded by your tax dollars then the position will be listed. This includes federal, state and local governments, higher education, NGOs, and K-12 education.
  • It is the only path into the HR systems. I have seen multiple instances where a job was posted after a final candidate was selected. They posted it so that the candidate could formally apply and once that was completed they took the posting down.
  • The company wants to collect resumes for the future. A number of large companies have the same jobs posted permanently. This is so they can collect resumes so that when they are ready to fill a position, they have a large database of candidates available.

Many jobs simply do not get posted. Outside of government and higher education, it is difficult to determine but only 20-50% private sector positions actually get posted to find candidates.

The higher the skill level of the position the less likely it will get posted.

Quit chasing the job!

Depending who you listen to but a large percentage of positions are filled through referrals. This is all about risk mitigation in the hiring process. The safest hire is an internal candidate. The next safest hire is an external candidate with an employee referral.

Therefore, build a target list of companies that you want to work for and build a referral network.

The Targeted Job Search

I teach my clients to target the company they want to work for and then network their way in. When a position opens up or is created, you want either your contact to refer you to the hiring manager or have the hiring manager to think of you! You want them to already know who you are,  your skills and values.

There are 4 steps to the process:

1 – Build the Target List

You need to build a target list of companies that can hire you. Who hires people like yourself in your geography? You may want to read the post – Finding People Who Look, Taste and Smell Like You.

In a later post, I will write about how to build this list, but it can be as simple as asking your friends where they work and are they happy.

2 – Research Your Target List

Once you have a list of 15-25 companies, investigate each company to see if you want to work there. You will do this by contacting employees who currently work there and former employees. Current employees can be referral sources and former employees can tell you why you left!!

3 – Connect on LinkedIn with Recruiters and other HR professionals

In the world of recruiting, hiring recruiters and other HR professionals are the mesh that holds things together. They are usually connected to everyone in their company.  When you are connected to an internal recruiter all of their connections become 2nd-degree connections for you. Also, recruiters move from company to company and carry their connections with them.

Recruiters can be firewalls or roadblocks in your job search but being connected to them on LinkedIn is invaluable.

4 – Build Your Referral Network

Reach out and connect with employees in your target companies. Specifically, reach out to employees in the functional area where you want to work. Connect with them on LinkedIn and then approach them to meet in person. Ask for AIR—Advise, Insights, and Recommendations. The magic word is “advice”. When you ask for advice it is a compliment and people will rarely turn your down.

In building your referral network, you will want to meet as many people who have either direct hiring responsibilities or are key influencers in the hiring process.

Next Steps

If you methodically target the company and not the job, you will have a steady stream of employment leads.

This process never ends! Whether you get the job or are rejected you will continue through this process over and over again. Even once you have the job you will restart the process 6 months after your start date. If you do not get the job, you will use LinkedIn to find who did get the position and adjust accordingly.

In today’s world, you need to always be working the process.

To read the rest of the Targeted Job Search series click here.

Marc Miller  

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

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Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

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3 Examples of Professional/Personal Make Stuff Up Disorder

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Make Stuff Up Disorder

make stuff upI have written about Make Stuff Disorder multiple times including a whole chapter in my latest book Repurpose Your Career – A Practical Guide to the 2nd Half of Life. is dedicated to this topic.

If you would like to listen to a narration of this chapter MSU Disorder – The Grave Temptation to Make Stuff Up on the Repurpose Your Career Podcast.

Make Stuff Up Disorder is when there is a gap in our knowledge and rather than fill that void with facts, we just make stuff up.

I want to revisit this topic and give you 2 professional and 1 personal

Professional Example #1

Marcus is a very seasoned marketing professional who is in a dead-end job. He is very vulnerable to be targeted for the next layoff at his company.

Marcus had applied online for a director level marketing role at a competing company. He appeared to be a very good fit but did not reach out to anyone at the company even though he had multiple good contacts.

2 weeks after applying, Marcus was furious that no one had responded to his application.  In his eyes, he was a perfect fit and they should have been thrilled that he applied.

My response was “you have no idea why they have not responded.”

I asked him, “Don’t you have a contact at the company?”

His response was “yes.”

I told him to contact this person and see if they could find out what had happened.

Whenever you do not know why something has occurred, rather than make stuff up and cause yourself stress, take action over things you do have control. I previously wrote about this topic in the post When Uncertainty Strikes, Focus on What You Can Control.

Marcus contacted his friend at the target company and asked if he knew the hiring manager. He did.

Marcus’s friend asked the hiring manager why he had not contacted Marcus about the position.

He responded — “He had never seen his resume.”

It was all due to a crappy applicant tracking system (ATS).

Marcus then was able to directly send his resume to the hiring manager where he was quickly granted an interview. He was a finalist for the position but lost to an internal candidate.

Lessons learned:

  • Use your contacts before you apply
  • Quit making stuff up when you do not know

For More: Do You Suffer from Make Stuff Up Disorder?

Professional Example #2

Sarah had a grueling interview with a major technology company. She sat in a room for about 8 hours and with the exception of lunch did not leave the room. She was probed, prodded, and interrogated by 7 people over the 8 hours. It was an exhausting process and after it was all done, the recruiter told her that they would be contacting her.

The first week passed and she heard nothing.

A second week passed and she heard nothing.

When I met with her late in the second week, Sarah was pretty down. She was convinced that she would not get the position.

I asked her “how do you know that?”

She responded, “they would have responded by now.”

I answered, “you have no idea why they have not responded.”

At the beginning of the third week, she heard from the hiring manager via an email. The hiring manager and the team leader both had been out of town and did not have a chance to talk since the interview. He apologized for not responding earlier but she should be hearing something in the next week.

As it turns out Sarah did not get the job but she thoroughly impressed everyone and the recruiter was able to give her valuable feedback about her performance during the interview.

During the interview process, you need to keep your emotions in check and do not make stuff up. I wrote about this in my post Emotions and the Job Search – Creating a Blank Slate.

For More: 3 Treatments for Make Stuff Up Disorder

Personal Example

Make Stuff Up Disorder shows up everywhere in our lives. Last week, my wife had a major Make Stuff Up event.

My wife has had an on-and-off relationship with her parents. When she changed her first name about 10 years ago her parents did not talk to her for several years. They are back on good terms.

For a variety of reasons including being ill when out of the country, my wife was late in sending her mother a birthday present. Birthdays are a big deal in my wife’s family.

When my wife’s birthday was approaching, she kept a lookout for a card or a gift from her mother.

Nothing came.

On my wife’s birthday, she worried that her mother was miffed at her for being late sending her mother’s birthday gift.

Her mother called late afternoon to wish her a happy birthday and told her that her gift was delayed due to Hurricane Harvey. Her parents live in rural east Texas and all of their snail mail goes through Houston, which has now been diverted to route through Dallas. All of the mail was delayed.

My wife later told me that she was acutely aware of how she just made stuff up and caused herself all kinds of stress.

Do You Have an Example?

I bet you do. We have all done this in our professional and personal lives.

If you tell me you have never done this … well … I do not believe you.

How about telling us your Make Stuff Up story in the comment section below.

Marc Miller  

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

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Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

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Labor Market and Robotics. What Awaits Us? [Guest Post]

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Labor Market and Robotics

automation
Copyright: nmcandre / 123RF Stock Photo

A rapid development of technology brings us lots of advantages. High-tech devices have become so smart that now they’re able to aid us in many ways. Lost your phone? No worries because now you can easily track it. Need to write something down, but don’t have a notebook and a pen? Your phone is here for you! And you even don’t have to tap on the screen, just say what you need and your phone will write it down.

For sure, our lives have become easier and comfy. There are lots of things we don’t have to worry about anymore. But what if such rapid development of technology will actually deprive us of one thing we cannot exist without – our job? What if robots will eventually replace us at the workplace?

While in some countries fast development of robotics has solved in labor market, people still wonder whether they eventually lose their job to robots or not. For sure, robots perform better and faster, they’re tireless, but still very expensive. But when money is not an issue anymore, which jobs robots will take over first? Here are 7 jobs which are likely to be taken by robots in the nearest future.

For More: Beware Automation and Robots Will Sabotage Your Career

Electricians and Plumbers

There’s no doubt that first jobs that robots will take over are connected with household support. There will be no need in hiring people to carry out electrical reticulation or fix pipes in your bathroom.

Nowadays there are many robotic supplies for people of these professions already. And when robots will replace human electricians and plumbers is only a matter of time.

For More: Will Technology Replace Your Job? Probably! [Infographic]

Surveying and Mapping Technicians

It may be any technician really. Surveying and mapping technicians already feel that they’re losing because robots determine the accuracy of their work.

For sure, people of these professions will lose their jobs someday, because robots will perform their duties better and more accurately. Besides, such aspects of this profession as mining and underground survey can definitely put human life in danger. So why not just replace these people with robots and stop risking their lives?

For More: Surviving Creative Destruction in the 2nd Half of Life

Construction Workers

This is yet another profession that will be taken over by robots. Construction works are very dangerous and sometimes may lead not only to physical health problems but also to some mental health issues.

Every year construction market develops and implements new high-tech aids in construction technology. Robotics helps constructors in any way possible to make their job less difficult and dangerous. But what if this good helping hand will eventually turn into a hand taking thousands of jobs away from builders and engineers? There’s no doubt about that.

For More: Living in a “Career Disaster Area” at the Age of 65

IT Developers and Office Machine Repairers

Yes, this is true. Jobs that are so highly paid today will be among those first ones to be taken by robots.

Recently people got in some sort of euphoria, thinking that work in software development will make them rich and secure them for life. But with rapid technological development, anything is possible, really. And it’s not so hard to program a robot to write a code.

Or take office machine repairers for instance. People desperately need their help nowadays, when it comes to a broken computer or fax machine. But like electricians and plumbers, people who come to our home or office to fix our computer will undoubtedly be eventually replaced by quick and smart robots that will fix our devices in no time.

For More: Repurpose Your Career – Next Up: The Second Half of Life [Podcast]

Financial Analysts

People have already started to understand the value of technology when it comes to financial issues. It all started with the invention of the calculator, and even those are not of a big help nowadays, because we all have our computers.

But where’s the evidence that people themselves won’t be replaced by robots? They’re already better accountants and financial analysts than we are. So we only have to accept the fact that this will happen sooner or later.

For More: How to Protect Your Career from Future Extinction, Now [Video]

Receptionists and Personal Assistants

If you’re tired of constant paperwork and a needy boss who calls you at night asking to solve some issues, then you’ll probably be happy for a robot to take your job.

No doubt that robots will eventually replace human assistants and receptionists. There are many companies that prefer robots to do this job, rather than humans. So if you’re a personal assistant or a receptionist, you’d better ask for a promotion or start looking for another job.

For More: How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You

Waiters and Waitresses

For people, who have faced bad service at the restaurants and cafes, this will be a major excitement. But for those, who earn their extra money while studying at the university or those, who’ve always worked in this sphere, this news will become the major disappointment.

It’s already happening in China, and who knows, maybe it will soon happen all over the world. It’s just a matter of time. But there’s no doubt that robot won’t spill soup all over your new shirt or dress.

As you can see, there’s a lot of evidence that eventually robots will replace us at our workplaces. But are we ready for this though? Now is the time when we need to start thinking about the future of the humankind and to assess risks of rapid technological development. For sure, now it seems like a fairy tale we live in. But what will it turn into in several decades? No one knows for sure.

Tom JagerThis post was written by Tom Jager. Tom is a professional blogger and works at Awriter. He has degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him at G+ or Facebook.

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

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