Digging Out of the White Collar Depression

[Wednesday, February 17, 2010 | View Comments ]

In my last post, I provided details of how job tenures are declining rapidly and how wages have dropped to their lowest point since the government began monitoring it. The new work environment is full of job change, lower salary and elimination of the safe passage to high pay from the obtainment of a college degree. There are ways to alleviate the challenges this new employment culture poses. In this post, I’ll present a method that does just that.

While the government tracks the decline in job tenure, they don’t know exactly why people are staying in their jobs for shorter durations. Maybe it’s the individual or the company. In this economy, one might think that the individual would be cautious about changing jobs, since so few seem to be available. But, this isn’t the case. In working with high performers, I find that they consider other employment options when they aren’t happy, regardless of the health of the economy. What makes this so interesting is how they go about planning this change. It’s a great way to build a career.

Peer Networks. Many of us have friends that we share our ideas about our career. Most of the time these friends are just people we like to be around. I’m not talking about your best friends at work. Our friends are usually at the same level we are and share in the same concerns we have. They resonate with our situation. These aren’t the people real go-getters seek out. High performers reach out to those they don’t necessarily know. They find people who have become successful by the same standards of success they seek; that is they make a lot of money, have moved up high in an organization or have successfully built their own company. Maybe they have more years of experience or have traversed through a desirable career path. Many members of the network are in different companies, industries and occupations.

High performers discuss their situation and ask for advice and support from this network. Asking just your closest friend isn’t likely to reveal anything terribly enlightening. You need a broader base of experience and a lot of perspectives. These members not only provide you with advice, they provide you with a bigger network that can help you find a job when you need one.

Professional Services. Working on the next step of your career while you are working on the current one is a useful tip that the most successful people take seriously. They think about the next activities that need to occur and hire others to perform them, if they don’t have time. Unfortunately, many of us don’t plan the next step until we are unemployed and have to make it. If the unemployment lasts long enough, we trade off all of the progress we had made prior to such a derailment.

High performers follow the first law of rock climbing, “you don’t let go until you have somewhere to go.” This means that they continuously plan these next steps. Remember, job tenures are shorter than ever. If you’re not planning then you’re not in charge of your future. You’re a victim to it.

Many of us spend $30,000 to $40,000 and four years of our life to get an undergraduate degree, yet we wouldn’t consider hiring someone to help us plan and execute activities that will take us to the next level. Then, we get frustrated when we don’t have time or the expertise to get there ourselves. High performers realize that a career is a life-long investment that must be sustained, just like an automobile. Try driving around until you run out of gas. Don’t fill it back up. Where are you now? That’s right, you are right where you stopped.

Determination. Okay. Here’s the tough part. Cover your kid’s eyes and don’t let them read this. Most of us don’t pay any attention to what the markets are doing in terms of employment, advancement, etc. That’s bad and the reason why we fail to achieve our goals. The statistics are very revealing. The global economy is shifting. Forget what your parents went through because this isn’t what you will experience.

Your career will be more difficult than your parents. You’ll have many jobs. Your pay will fluctuate up AND down. You will become unemployed at some point. So what! You won’t experience something no one else will. There are two choices you can make: 1.) be a victim or 2.) be a performer.

The most successful people are those determined to make their mark, regardless of whether they know how to do it, have the resources to do it, are afraid or suffer from a million other limiting mindsets. I’m not saying you won’t hit ceilings because you will (and most likely a lot of them). But you don’t need to let these things stop you. Accept it. Plan for it. Move on.

So, quit reading this post and go contact a bunch of people and tell them you need a network. Ask them for help. Tell them what you need. Get busy. Put yourself and plans in motion. Don’t come back here with interest in reading a fascinating article (I’m not so sure how to write those). Instead, do something good for your career and bring me stories of success to share with others.

Author:

Todd Rhoad, MSEE, MBA is Director at BT Consulting, a career consulting firm in Altanta, and author of the book, Blitz The Ladder. He can be reached at todd.rhoad@blitzteamconsulting.com.

In my last post, I provided details of how job tenures are declining rapidly and how wages have dropped to their lowest point since the government began monitoring it. The new work environment is full of job change, lower salary and elimination of the safe passage to high pay from the obtainment of a college degree. There are ways to alleviate the challenges this new employment culture poses. In this post, I’ll present a method that does just that.

While the government tracks the decline in job tenure, they don’t know exactly why people are staying in their jobs for shorter durations. Maybe it’s the individual or the company. In this economy, one might think that the individual would be cautious about changing jobs, since so few seem to be available. But, this isn’t the case. In working with high performers, I find that they consider other employment options when they aren’t happy, regardless of the health of the economy. What makes this so interesting is how they go about planning this change. It’s a great way to build a career.

Peer Networks. Many of us have friends that we share our ideas about our career. Most of the time these friends are just people we like to be around. I’m not talking about your best friends at work. Our friends are usually at the same level we are and share in the same concerns we have. They resonate with our situation. These aren’t the people real go-getters seek out. High performers reach out to those they don’t necessarily know. They find people who have become successful by the same standards of success they seek; that is they make a lot of money, have moved up high in an organization or have successfully built their own company. Maybe they have more years of experience or have traversed through a desirable career path. Many members of the network are in different companies, industries and occupations.

High performers discuss their situation and ask for advice and support from this network. Asking just your closest friend isn’t likely to reveal anything terribly enlightening. You need a broader base of experience and a lot of perspectives. These members not only provide you with advice, they provide you with a bigger network that can help you find a job when you need one.

Professional Services. Working on the next step of your career while you are working on the current one is a useful tip that the most successful people take seriously. They think about the next activities that need to occur and hire others to perform them, if they don’t have time. Unfortunately, many of us don’t plan the next step until we are unemployed and have to make it. If the unemployment lasts long enough, we trade off all of the progress we had made prior to such a derailment.

High performers follow the first law of rock climbing, “you don’t let go until you have somewhere to go.” This means that they continuously plan these next steps. Remember, job tenures are shorter than ever. If you’re not planning then you’re not in charge of your future. You’re a victim to it.

Many of us spend $30,000 to $40,000 and four years of our life to get an undergraduate degree, yet we wouldn’t consider hiring someone to help us plan and execute activities that will take us to the next level. Then, we get frustrated when we don’t have time or the expertise to get there ourselves. High performers realize that a career is a life-long investment that must be sustained, just like an automobile. Try driving around until you run out of gas. Don’t fill it back up. Where are you now? That’s right, you are right where you stopped.

Determination. Okay. Here’s the tough part. Cover your kid’s eyes and don’t let them read this. Most of us don’t pay any attention to what the markets are doing in terms of employment, advancement, etc. That’s bad and the reason why we fail to achieve our goals. The statistics are very revealing. The global economy is shifting. Forget what your parents went through because this isn’t what you will experience.

Your career will be more difficult than your parents. You’ll have many jobs. Your pay will fluctuate up AND down. You will become unemployed at some point. So what! You won’t experience something no one else will. There are two choices you can make: 1.) be a victim or 2.) be a performer.

The most successful people are those determined to make their mark, regardless of whether they know how to do it, have the resources to do it, are afraid or suffer from a million other limiting mindsets. I’m not saying you won’t hit ceilings because you will (and most likely a lot of them). But you don’t need to let these things stop you. Accept it. Plan for it. Move on.

So, quit reading this post and go contact a bunch of people and tell them you need a network. Ask them for help. Tell them what you need. Get busy. Put yourself and plans in motion. Don’t come back here with interest in reading a fascinating article (I’m not so sure how to write those). Instead, do something good for your career and bring me stories of success to share with others.

Author:

Todd Rhoad, MSEE, MBA is Director at BT Consulting, a career consulting firm in Altanta, and author of the book, Blitz The Ladder. He can be reached at todd.rhoad@blitzteamconsulting.com.

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