Despite the numbing loss of over millions of jobs – and the worst job market since WWII— young professionals, job-seekers and career changers can and do get jobs today. They are accomplishing this by adapting to a morphing workplace, determining how they can add value to the industries and jobs that matter now, and swiftly repurposing their skills.
The first step towards this success is a network – but one that goes far beyond an electronic Rolodex of contacts. We at The Guru Nation have seen greater results when job seekers can plug into a knowledge network of experts who can provide critical advice on career choices. This kind of network first eliminates the feeling of isolation that can accompany a job search or being downsized; and second, it can provide essential advice on identifying leads, preparing for and landing a job. Pulling from some of our experts’ advice, here are five ways to succeed in the new changing paradigm:
1. Identify your Value Proposition. Define the core strengths and characteristics that pervade your career and reflect your personality. It is tremendously empowering to know who you are and what foundational skills you bring to the table. An independent-minded, optimistic team builder can start 10 businesses in 10 different industries and still succeed.
The challenge is to accurately identify the core value of your personal brand in the market so you can make strategic choices about where to channel your energy and expertise in an innovative way. According to Rosemary Davies-Janes, president of Miboso and a personal branding expert at The Guru Nation, the place to start is to determine what brings you joy and comfort over time? Here are the five questions to begin the discovery process:
- What do you love to do? (and what do you really dislike?)
- What do find yourself consistently attracted to over time?
- What do people remember you for?
- What sorts of people do you enjoy interacting with?
- What kind of impact do you want to make in your lifetime?
It’s not about abandoning a job that gives you pain – it’s about moving towards one that gives your ongoing satisfaction.
2) Score your Adaptability Quotient. Once you hone in on your value proposition, you can analyze how it can be applied to a variety of industries. What parts of your skill set can be adapted to the new economic order and what parts cannot? This eliminates months of fruitless job searches and channels the individual’s efforts toward an attainable position.
Generally speaking, the customized and consultative skills that drive innovation, strategy, branding, and revenues, will be most valued. Salesmanship keeps the lights on; and creativity fuels the future. Expertise in tactical implementation, such as project management, will be less prized.
Adaptability itself will be essential to the new order. Lanny Goodman, industrial psychologist and president of Management Technologies, Inc., points out that we are experiencing a seismic shift in our workplace. Today our systems are no longer part of the industrial revolution that spawned them, he says. Instead they are moving towards more fluid models and humane environments where people who care about each other want to work with each other to create value.
Knowing how to “dial in” to such an organization, and understand its eco-system of power players and reward systems, is a key “soft” skill that will determine success
3) Zero in on Innovation. Robo-scan the horizon for creativity and you will find the next source of jobs. Health care, renewable energy and infrastructure are growth areas targeted by the next Administration. By 2030, as many as one out of four U.S. workers could be employed in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries.
Downsized financial services sales people and analysts can redirect their talents towards these areas. Even highly specialized traders can learn to trade carbon credits – which is a new and high-growth market.
Futurist Edie Weiner, president of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc., points to an example in the healthcare field where a skin-imbedded sensor can detect illness or disease and trigger the release of appropriate medication. Scientists are working on ways to respond to memory loss and create solutions that make the loss a problem of the past. And, installing white-colored roofs or roads may be the new discovery that has significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
4) Re-cultivate your Network. Now that you’ve sighted your path, it’s time to recalibrate your network to help get you there. Identify everyone you know who can help you get a foot in the door towards the new growth areas – and offer some kind of help in return. Chances are they need redirecting as well and you can support each other. A ready-made community of experts who can jump-start this process and keep a job-seeker’s network growing strategically.
To be successful the process must take on a life of its own. Once you tap those who you know, the challenge is to get to those with whom you’ve never met or spoken. Your ideal networking plan should include meeting two new people a week. Set up a scheduled networking program, and ditch the notion that you’re leaving your next contact to chance. Start with your attorney, coach (or mentor), business school professor, neighbor and/or parent. Ask each to introduce you to someone unfamiliar to you. Be clear and open about your objectives. Your goal is to learn, not to immediately land a job.
For every person you meet, lunch or dine with, create a card file and ask for them to introduce you to one other. Commit to follow-up with each new contact every month, or more often if a good dialogue has begun. If you want to insure that your connections stay relevant and you stay on plan, set up a review date with another colleague so you embark on the exploration together.
5) Bring a new Leadership Mindset to your new job. Hoarding power and knowledge is out – collaborating towards a shared purpose is in. While individual creativity will always be a source of innovation, the escalated demands of the new global economy – like providing broad access to medicine, literacy or energy – will increasingly be met by high-functioning team. This will require a new kind of leader who can implement solutions across cultures and societies, and therefore the ability to reframe the thinking about leadership characteristics.
At the same time, viable companies with a guardian mindset will offer the best long term opportunities. Our convulsive economy will require a shift from a “quality” model to an “integrity” model, says Weiner, which advocates candid, transparent, unbiased negotiation with all of one’s stakeholders, and in particular, one’s own people.
This is the silver lining of today’s tumultuous workplace: the opportunity for us to see the integrity model take hold. If integrity underpins the organization, and people’s concerns really do take center stage, then employees will be motivated and the customer ultimately will be well-served.
Amy Dorn Kopelan is co-author of I Didn’t See It Coming and co-founder of TheGuruNation.com, a knowledge network of over 100 “business gurus” or seasoned experts on careers, leadership, presentation skills, and a broad range of industries.
