Rita Ashley, Career Coach. Field tested advice for executives.

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By admin, December 3, 2008 11:31 am

Lay offs hurt every one. No one benefits from them, not even the companies forced to take such a drastic action. PR issues aside, the internal climate of any company who has laid off staff is not the most productive.

For the person laid off, the rage and confusion are part of the package. It is not unusual to be frozen with fear or resentment. Many people plunge into a temporary depression. Feelings of powerlessness over one’s life are inevitable. And while these are neither unusual nor unexpected reactions, they must be overcome in order to proceed with the search for a new job.

What can you do to scale the hurdle of the potentially debilitating affects of a lay off? Take Action. Get control back in your life. Control what you can and acknowledge that control and every minor success that brings.

1. Gather all your job search essentials in one place and make it “Job Search Central.” Go to “work” each day with a clear focus on your objectives.
2. Create a to-do list each night before retiring. Make it manageable with achievable items. Make four phone calls and three emails to former employees is doable. Get six leads to jobs is not. That may be the outcome, but it is what you do to get those leads that belongs on the list.
3. Your new job is looking for a job. When your children or relatives say you are unemployed, make it clear your employment is intense and purposeful. Mention a goal achieved such as your research on prospective employers and who you might contact.
4. Suit up. Don’t give in to the temptation of lounging around in sweats and flip flops. Put on decent attire and you will be more professional in your search activities even if they are conducted from the privacy of your own home.
5. Don’t complain. Remind yourself of your significant accomplishments. Make your elevator pitch your mantra and use it to drown out the negative voices.
6. Don’t let others complain. When those around you want to discuss all the horrible layoffs, the poor job market or their other friends who have been out of work for six months, respond with comments about what you achieved. For example: “I connected with four people who have referred me to people who can help me.”
7. Be good to yourself. This is no time to engage in self punishment. Drink that favorite tea, soak in a foamy tub or take a hike in your favorite place.
8. Set some time aside each day for your favorite computer game, or call a friend and tell a joke. Do something completely different.
9. Create a job search budget. Include your new suit and all those coffee dates. If you chose to work with a well chosen professional your time for reemployment will be shorter than if you didn’t, so don’t be too frugal when making your budget. If you know what you have allotted it is easier to relax when you spend a few bucks to have the car washed.

At the end of each day, before you create your to-do list, brag. Call someone up, talk to your partner, brag. Talk about completing your to-do list or getting through to a difficult to connect with executive. Mention the best answer you gave during an interview. Keep a journal each day of all your accomplishments and brag about them before you retire. You will find it much easier to get up in the morning to start over again.

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By admin, November 19, 2008 8:38 pm

DON’T TRAP YOURSELF WITH NON-BELIEF

Reports indicate over 160,000 jobs lost nationally to date this year and a forecast by outplacement professionals, Challenger Gray and Christmas, declares a projected loss of over 180,000 tech jobs for 2009.  The question, “Will I be laid off?” is inevitable.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know one way or the other?  Unfortunately, this is one time in your life when you simply can’t get the information you need to see what your future holds.  You can only make a “best guess.”   It is to no company’s best interest to let people know about layoffs before they actually occur.  So instead, we engage in wishful thinking; arranging reality to prove the outcome we want.  Some examples:

I can ask: How can you know?  You can’t ask your boss; by definition, managers can’t reveal what is not yet made public.  It is a breach of ethics and a cause for firing.  If they say anything, it will be a flat out denial. The work you and the team are doing still needs to be done until other arrangements are made.

It’s just a rumor: If you heard a rumor, for instance, of a 10% cutback in force, where did the rumor originate?  Companies often “leak” this information to soften the blow with the press and investors when the hammer falls.  If you heard the rumor, it is probably true.

I am safe because I survived the layoff. The first wave of layoffs left your job in tact; does that mean your job is safe?  Probably not.  If your team has been reduced significantly, you can expect to be laid off in the next wave.  Layoffs usually come in threes.  Companies typically stage layoffs giving as much as 60 days notice or severance and the expense is huge.  Conducting layoffs in stages is one way to manage the bottom line consequences of massive layoffs.

The company has never had a layoff so I feel safe. Every company has had layoffs, they just don’t always call them that.  Projects are canceled, reorganizations occur and functions are sent off shore. Sure you are often given time to find a new job within the company, but that typically works only sometimes in the soundest of business climates.  When there are project cuts throughout the corporation, it is doubtful you will find a new spot internally.  You weren’t laid off but you are out of a job.

My function is too critical to the company to drop me: No such thing.  While you are thinking logically, you don’t have all the information.  Layoffs are often instigated by the Board of Directors.  Their agenda and that of the CEO are very different from the rank and file.  They are concerned with shareholder value and equity.

Most “C” level executives and certainly the Board, focus on the bottom line AND the stock price.  The triage they do is simple; what is absolutely necessary to shore up and/or maintain the stock price.  Each project/department and product is vetted against rule one; will keeping this team in tact generate revenue and contribute to the bottom line right now?  If there is any doubt about the necessity of your project/product in that vein, you are vulnerable for a layoff.

If yours is a long range or research project, you are vulnerable.  If you are an evangelist or if you are working on projects that keep the company in the public’s eye but do not actively generate attributable revenue, your job is at risk.

I am friends with my boss, he won’t fire me:  Marching orders are marching orders.  While many executives have discretion over who will get a pink slip, business trumps friendship every time.  Do you honestly believe your boss will put her job on the line to save yours?

And the real error in this thinking is that just because your boss is friendly, doesn’t mean he is your friend.  An efficient work environment is lubricated with friendly behaviors.  The best managers know a convivial work culture tends to be a productive one.

Don’t mistake that trip to your boss’s cabin with BFF.  In fact, if you really are friends, it is likely yours will be the first position to be cut so he won’t be accused of favoritism.  And don’t think for one minute that your boss whom you believe to be your friend will warn you if you are at risk.  She will only say what she is allowed to say; which is no one is in jeopardy of a layoff, or I haven’t heard one way or the other.

For advice on protecting your self from a layoff:  Can you protect yourself from unemployment?

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By admin, November 19, 2008 8:14 pm

Steps you can take to Avoid being laid off.

Layoffs and cuts back are forecast through out every US industry.  If one believes this view of the employment future, how should you prepare?  If you feel you are at risk, what can you do to manage the threat?

Middle Managers and Top Sales Executives are typically the first to go.  Their jobs are easily spread among others or disappeared completely.  And their job titles represent the most common in corporate America.  How do you protect yourself from being one of the many?  How do you make certain you can find another job?

How do you protect your job?

If decisions are made to cut the product or team, you have little recourse.  But there are steps to take to remove the bulls eye from your back:Your first defense against a layoff is to make absolutely certain you are doing your job to the best of your ability and you are exceeding corporate expectations.  Ask your manager what you can do better.  Then do it.

• Look for ways to save money in your department.  Demonstrate fiscal responsibility and help your employees do the same.  Let management know what you are doing and offer to help other departments do the same.
• Look around the company to discover vital tasks that need doing and which will contribute to the bottom line in either savings or new customer acquisition.
• Keep in mind your customers are having similar problems.  Propose ways to partner with them to prevent a crisis.
• Suggest ideas which are vital to improving the products or services the company sells at little or no cost.
• Work hard to demonstrate your concern for customer retention.  Sell your ideas on how better to service the customer base without spending more money.
• Communicate your efforts to other departments and become known within the corporation as the go-to person for mentoring and solutions critical to keeping the company on track.
• Take credit when you do any of the above and let management know you are vital to the corporate mission.
• Last, but not least, now is the time to network, network, network.  When the time comes, you will already have a leg up on the competiton.

It happened: Often you have no way to protect yourself from a layoff.  Here’s what you can do to make yourself employable even in a down market filled with many others after the same spot you hope to land.

• Ascertain what distinguishes you from all the other candidates who do what you do.  Lead with it as you approach opportunities.
• Determine the single highest priority hiring companies look for in a new hire in your position.  Define yourself as the embodiment of that priority.
• Line up your references to taut your abilities and experience in that area.
• Target companies smaller than the one you left and represent yourself as an expert who can not only do the job, but as someone who can train and cross train the department to weather the downturn in business.

Above all else, always appear confident. Remind yourself daily of your successes and remember it is the economy, not your abilities that caused your unemployment.  Self assured people always get top consideration for new opportunities regardless of the employment market.

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By admin, October 8, 2008 2:53 pm

eBay just laid off a covey of employees and HP laid off about 15,000 world wide. More companies will add bodies to the pile over the next several months.

Do what you can to get the jump on jobs opportunities? Your first step should be to join every alumni group for which you qualify. Get exposure to your cohorts.

1. Jobs are listed
2. Colleagues are more apt to help with leads and introductions
3. Enhance your research using the Q/A sections
4. Recruiters and hiring authorities target alumni groups for candidates

Use all the social networking site’s alumni groups as well. As an example, linekedin has an HP Alumni section.

Now create the best resume and elevator pitch you can. Need help with that? Use the search box to the right.

Want more substantive help? Click on the buttons on the left.

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