Your Career – is it Possible to Thrive in Spite of a Poor Economy?
Absolutely.
There’s always growth if you know where to look for it. Sometimes the biggest opportunities arise when things on the surface appear fairly bleak.
Here’s the hard truth: the market is going to be weak for quite a while. This won’t be a short, shallow recession. Even when the economy improves, the employment outlook will continue to deteriorate for up to a year and a half. Employment is a lagging indicator.
If your strategy is to put your head down and wait until this passes, prepare for a long wait. Instead, maybe it’s time to figure out how to capitalize in spite of – or perhaps even because of – the economy.
Businesses have done it – you can do it, too.
Don’t believe me? Do a little sleuthing and you’ll find quite a few successful and enduring companies that were launched during downturns – or worse. Take Hewlett-Packard, which was founded in 1939 – during the Great Depression and on the brink of a World War.
Or how about Microsoft? The 1974-1975 recession was considered at the time to be the worst downturn since the 1930s, yet Microsoft was founded in the midst of it.
Then there are the companies who opt to continue advertising during downturns (sometimes increasing ad spending) and end up significantly improving their market share as a result.
There’s something to the contrarian approach. While other people hunker down and are paralyzed with fear, you can make strides by doing the opposite. Doing nothing is not the winning strategy.
You may need to change tactics, yes. You’ll need to get creative, you must have a good understanding of industry trends, and you’ll definitely need persistence.
Sometimes what you need more than anything else, though, is a little dose of courage.
I suspect you’ve heard this quote from Mark Twain before, but it’s worth repeating:
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear.
The economy is lousy; nobody knows what’s coming next. Uncertainty breeds fear. It’s normal to be fearful. Just don’t let it paralyze you. Turn it into something constructive; use it as a catalyst.
Make sure your fundamentals are solid. Are you as marketable as you possibly can be? What might you do to improve that? How can you adapt yourself so you can migrate into more robust sectors? How’s your network? Are you paying attention to it and actively seeking to widen your circle of contacts? What are you doing to contribute to your company’s bottom line? What’s your strategy in terms of your career management? What do you need to do to get from point A to point B?
Take a look at the lay of the land. Who is still hiring? Pay attention to the employment report each month. Read the trades. Some sectors (like health services and education) continue to grow. Specific job categories within other industries are growing – do you know which ones? Then there are cases where you’ll find opportunity in unlikely places. Take the financial sector. Many who were laid off in the recent meltdown are finding new jobs – overseas – in places like Shanghai and Dubai. Yes, it’s a global recession. But there are pockets of growth, just as there are in the States.
If you’ve been laying the groundwork for a foray into entrepreneurship, don’t assume that you now must wait until the economy improves to move forward. This might be a fortuitous time to continue to execute your plan.
Lost your job? Worried about your job? Feel like the chances are good you’ll make it through unscathed? Whatever your circumstance, you should have a plan. Immediate future, 5 years out, and so on. Know what course you want to plot and how you’re going to get there.
Change is inevitable. This recession is a reminder.
Rebecca Metschke
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/your-career-is-it-possible-to-thrive-in-spite-of-a-poor-economy-740562.html