Job Seeking in a Down Economy
Image of Karla Porter
Is Now the Time to Change Jobs?
Another stellar guest post coming your way today from Karla Porter. I asked Karla to write something about her recent experience of changing positions during our current turbulent economy.
She shares a really interesting personal perspective. Thanks for sharing with us, Karla, and thanks for all that you do for JobAngels as well!
All of a sudden companies that typically experience high turnover due to inherent occupational stressors or poor management are rejoicing. People are thinking not twice but several times before even considering looking for a new job. Jobs these days are “capital”.
But, what if you are not happy with your current professional lot in life? Should you hunker down and ride the high unemployment rate storm or try to move on?
Kennedy, Rothschild and Rockefeller families and Howard Hughes all made huge fortunes during the Great Depression - and they were just the famous ones! Many other "little people" also accumulated big money in those troubled times. More recently, in the early 1990s as the communist economy of the
The US Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate for March was 8.5%. You think there isn’t opportunity? Of course there is. The competition might be a bit stiffer but that is just a challenge to make you be even more on top of your game. It’s a challenge to show you are the top candidate. The reward for a job seeker who sacks a job in this economy is a trip to cloud 9. Oh what a feeling…
I held a series of conversations with my mother over the past 8 months or so that went like this, “I’m not very happy, I’m not challenged, I need a change but in this economy I better just be grateful I have a good job and deal with it.” And so it went. I was complacent, passive, and I didn’t even look though I was actively recruiting for other positions.
Then recently, an opportunity came to my attention and I weighed the pros and cons. Stay in a comfortable job I had for many years and could rely on with job security or take a risk to leave, stretch and grow? That internal conversation lasted about 3 minutes. Then I put my all into a strategic plan to successfully tackle the mission at hand to land the job.
In the end, I got the position. I had some slight anxiety leaving the comfort of the job and those I had built terrific working relationships with and hoped the change would be the right one. But, I was willing to take the risk and look it straight in the eyes. I couldn’t have made a better decision. I realized there is no less a gamble with a new venture regardless of the economic situation.
You want it? Go and get it. You’ll be glad you did!
Karla Porter
http://www.twitter.com/karla_porter
I dare you to come and find me on major social networking sites!
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