Gigging is all about creativity and hustle. Whether you remain employed or decide to gig those two traits will be the dominant themes in the months to come.

How, where and for whom we work is going through a dramatic shift. The economy will stabilize but our work culture will not return to business as usual. With many organizations employing a distributed or completely remote work force, being able to self-manage becomes an essential skill. The gigger and remote worker must be able to manage time, productivity and remain interested and connected.

The instability of the economy has also inspired people to create a hybrid model of gigging and traditional employment. While employed, people create side gigs to supplement or secure their income in the event that they are laid off.

In order to survive and thrive in the evolving work force, we must hold ourselves accountable for our income. You may receive a steady paycheck but it is likely that you too will have to gig your way to success on the job. With shrinking budgets and staffs, the survivors will be required to pick up the pieces. Those who are willing and able to innovate within an organization will rise to the top.

Wherever you are on the gig spectrum, your career and income is in your hands. In this economy the passive and/or negative will get trampled by those who take control and hustle to keep things going. Which route will you choose?

Are you seeing this trend in your work life? Are you prepared for the shift and if not what help do you need to gain control?

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Susan stared at the notice in disbelief.  Her hands shook and the words began to blur as tears formed in her eyes.  She felt as though someone had punched her in the belly.  A rush of emotions flooded through her as she tried to compose herself to speak. Her boss sat silently across from her stoic and detached. The HR Director tried in vain to look compassionate but unemotional.

Her boss clearly uncomfortable, cleared his throat in an effort to fill the silence. Susan looked up with a hard cold stare, “I worked hard for you for more than 20 years. With every change I was the first to put a positive spin on it. When there was a task or project that needed leadership, I jumped in, no questions asked. I have been a model employee and I thought if I worked hard you would take care of me!”

Being laid off from a job is an emotional process.  In fact any change in your working conditions  – from an office move to a change in responsibilities has the potential to ignite an emotional response.

Susan uttered what many people feel when they are reorganized, downsized, or otherwise informed that their services are no longer needed.  Susan’s anger while understandable was misplaced.

The reality is (and has been for quite some time) it is not your employer’s job to secure your income, manage your career or make you happy. It is YOUR job.

Somewhere along the way, many of us erroneously outsourced our work life to our employer. Career management was reduced to completing our annual  360 review and we even complained about that. We took our laptop on vacation, worked from home nights and weekends and then grumbled about our stressful jobs.

It’s a new decade and it’s time to wake up and take charge. Your work life does not happen to you. You make things happen. If things are less than satisfactory on your job, change them.

Begin by writing down clear and measurable 1 year, 5 year and 10 year goals. What do you want from your career? What do you want to learn? What steps do you need to take each and every day to make sure you are moving toward your goals?Are you working with purpose on your current job?

Your goals should embrace your whole work life, including time spent at work, learning goals, mentors and your work environment. If there are things about your current work life that you want to improve, do it.  How is your dissatisfaction affecting your work and more importantly the company’s bottom line? Propose changes, but remember to focus on how they benefit the company not you.

When you take an active role in your career you will become a better employee, which is a bonus for you and your employer.

Have you fallen prey to the victim syndrome at work? What things can you change this year to ensure your work happiness?

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At various points in the year I have felt like a medic on a battlefield. As I went from stretcher to stretcher there seemed to be no end of newly wounded bodies. Some carried bankers boxes filled with decades of memories, and others had simply grabbed whatever they could. There were the brave, the defiant and terrified all in need of assistance.

Being enlisted to the ranks of unemployment is not something to which many aspire. Yet, in this latest war, there is no age limit or neutral zone. Among the wounded are veterans who gave 20 and 30 years of service to a company and those who barely graduated basic training.

The data and statistics suggest that while progress has been made, this war is not over. Yet, there is hope.

From my position on the front lines, I have seen the good, bad and ugly. I have watched the most critical cases rise up and create a brand new future. I have celebrated as many have gone from bewildered to action oriented overcomers. It has validated what I have known for years, in the employment battle, you alone decide your fate. There is no wound from which you cannot heal.

Whether you have been fired, laid off, reorganized or retired, you can work again.  I am not at all devaluing the impact of our current economic crisis nor ignoring the effect of unemployment on you, your family or your finances. However, you have the choice to focus on the problem or work toward a solution. The choice is and always has been yours to make.

• Evaluate your skills, those obtained through work and life experience. This will help you as you develop your marketing proposition and in your research of potential opportunities. Don’t keep it in your head and trust that you’ll know, write it down.
• Assess how you can leverage your unique offering in the market. Remember that no other person on earth has exactly what you have to offer.
• Don’t struggle alone. Join (or form) a job club, or find a career professional. Having trusted mentors or advisors can benefit you with information, resources and a sounding board for your search strategy.
• You are not a victim. Get over the notion that this was “done to you.” Review the experience and learn from it. Mourn the loss of and then by all means move on.
• Hire yourself.  Assuming that you were a responsible employee, you got up every day and did your job, often when you really did not feel like it. You were accountable for your actions, and you managed your workload. Put that same drive, commitment and action to use to find your next opportunity.

No one likes involuntary unemployment but it is certainly not the final word on your career or life. This is not the first economic downturn and it will not be the last but you can survive, even thrive with the right arsenal and attitude.

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When you are searching for a job, the sheer number of resources available can be overwhelming. You may find yourself confused and not sure where to begin. One question that routinely comes up is regarding job boards. While I do not advocate relying solely on job boards for your search, they can be a tool. JobConcierge surveyed 3000 executives on LinkedIn to discover the best job boards by industry on the internet. I love the effort that went into developing the list and recommend adding it to your job search toolkit. Review the full post and list here.

Speaking of LinkedIn, I highly recommend it as a job search, and career networking tool. Whether you are a solo professional, CEO or just beginning your career, you will gain value from this professional social network. However, just joining LinkedIn is not enough. To maximize your presence on LinkedIn, I recommend, I’m on LinkedIn, Now What?

If you are considering a career in medical sales, How to Get Into Medical Sales is a great  resource.

Additional job search resources are listed below, and please if you need a resource and are not sure where to turn, let us know!

How to Successfully Choose the Right Career for Your Future

Learning about having a career is important for anyone who wants to have more than just a job. Many people aren’t sure how to get the career they want.

But now, GetCareerHelp.com is offering a new downloadable book that is aimed at educating people about career opportunities and how to seize them. Before you quit your job to follow your dream of joining the circus, it would be advisable to first get yourself a copy of ‘How to Successfully Choose the Right Career for Your Future’.

How to Successfully Choose the Right Career for Your Future contains all the useful information needed to further your career advancement and get out from under a less than desireable job. This way you will know what steps to take in order to find the career of your choice and pursue it.

You could work at a menial job; one that pays the bills. Many people live their lives like this. Never completely happy with where their life is at. But with this book you can learn about a better option. You can learn all you need to be able to have the career of your dreams.

This book will fill you in on making a career change. You will find out how to determine if it’s the best time for a change and how to go about making it happen. The best way to really see and accept that it might be time for a career change is to honestly look at how you feel about what you do.

Being successful and being happy with our careers is something everyone wants. For some people, finding the right job in an industry that excites you is an easy choice.  When we’re little, we always have an idea of what we want to be when we grow up.  More often than not, we don’t always get to realize that.  As we grow older, not only do our interests change, but our realities change as well.  The world can only have so many ballerinas, actresses, or professional ball players.

There is so much information that we can’t possibly list it all here. But if you’re ready and willing to make that leap in finding a new career, this book is guaranteed to be just the tool you need.

The book cannot be found in libraries and bookstores, and is exclusively distributed byGetCareerHelp.com It is a downloadable offering that can be secured from the Get Career Help Web site. It would only take 90 seconds of your precious time to get a copy of the book.

Furthermore, the book can be yours at a significant $20 discount, so instead of paying $57.77 for your copy, you just need to prepare $37.77. What’s more, there is a money-back guarantee, so if the book has not been effective or failed to meet your expectations, the company would refund your payment.

There are numerous tidbits on career changes available elsewhere, but you can not be assured that they would provide the info you need.

Download your copy now!

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How to Write Your Own Killer Resume E-book

You may be a great writer and an excellent communicator but resume writing is a specialized skill.

You can look at dozens of resume samples, and reference long lists of words to avoid and words to include but none of those tools will explain the strategy behind the tactics. Your resume is a marketing tool and your job search is a campaign. This realization will change the way you approach your search and the way you view your resume.

How to Write Your Own Killer Resume  deconstructs the resume writing process so that you not only understand the parts of a resume but their use. I walk you through each section and tell you “how” and “why” in easy to understand language.

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In the mood for a treat, I strolled through the store looking for something that would fulfill my craving. My eye landed upon a box that pictured two thick graham crackers surrounding a fluffy marshmallow and a layer of chocolate. The label indicated they were gluten free so I turned it over to read the ingredients and calorie count. Much to my delight, they were low in calories and trans fat free. I popped the smore flavored treats in my cart and made my way to the checkout.

Later in the day, I went to the cupboard to enjoy a treat. I opened the box and pulled out the container within. Within the package were broken pieces of thin graham crackers that did not even partially resemble the picture on the box. I tasted one of the treats and my disappointment grew when my mouth confirmed my mind’s fears – they were plain old graham crackers.

So much for truth in advertising. The packaging established expectations that the product failed to meet. Job seekers often make the same mistake with their resume. Many believe the resume is an opportunity to embellish with creative wordsmithing to gain the attention of hiring managers. The packaging may win you an interview but your product must live up to the label!

Your resume should be an accurate representation of your brand and benefit to potential employers. You want to deliver on the promises that are made in your advertising. If you have a passing familiarity with a computer program do not imply that it is a core expertise.

Lying on your resume is never acceptable. It is a waste of your time and disrespectful to potential employers. While your resume does allow you to sell your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, you still need to remain truthful. Hiring managers are the consumer in the job buying process. They are counting on you to present what your product will deliver.

My experience with the graham crackers led me to mistrust the company. The graham crackers on their own were good but not the good I expected. The inaccurate presentation gained them a first look with me but they failed to convert me into a customer.

You want the interview but more importantly, you want to win the job and establish a foundation for your new employer relationship. “John’s resume was great, but during the interview he was unable to defend a single thing written on the page. It was a waste of my time and made me angry,” commented Ann, a hiring manager for a large firm.

Joe came to me for assistance with his resume and I spotted some inconsistencies in his paperwork. “Everybody lies on their resume, right?” asked Joe with a laugh.  My answer of course was “No.” Lies will only lead to a trail of regret in your job search. If you have concerns about your job history or skills, work with a professional. A professional can offer guidance on how to maximize your offering TRUTHFULLY.

Be creative in your layout and presentation but do not confuse creativity with misrepresenting the truth.

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Executive Director of Execunet, Lauryn Franzoni published an article, Incorporating Technology into Your Networking, in a recent edition of myResumeAgent’s e-newsletter, Career Tips and Tactics that shared online networking strategies for executives.

Franzoni writes:

According to the 2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report, executives are more likely to have updated their profile on a public networking site (71%) than updated their resume in the last three months (60%). However, when asked to identify the most effective activities for creating and identifying career opportunities, posting a resume in an online database and maintaining an online profile trailed networking by a wide margin.

Top Five Tactics For Finding Career Options

1. Networking (70%)

2. Responding to online job postings (14%)

3. Posting resume in online database (5%)

4. Maintaining an online profile (4%)

5. Researching target companies/cold calling (3%)

Networking is an effective search strategy for anyone in the job market. Use the following tips to network your way to a new job.

1. In person networking still works! Find industry events and mixers in trade journals or in the business section of your local paper. Seek events where you will be able to connect with people from your list of targeted companies.
2. Reach out to LinkedIn connections who are connected to people in your target industry or company.
3. Be a net-giver. Answer questions and provide resources/information to your online networks. Networking is a two-way relationship, so help others in the same way you want to be helped.
4. Participate in strategic discussion groups on LinkedIn, Ning platforms, Facebook or Twitter (such as tweetchats, or Executive Tweets).
5. Seek out opportunities to strengthen online relationships. Arrange a phone call, skype chat or face-to-face meeting to learn more about your contacts and seek ways that you can be of value to them.

Technology should not replace humanity but be used as  tool to do what we do best, build relationships that work!

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Being laid off can feel like the end of the story but in fact it is simply the ending of one chapter. The movie trailer below demonstrates how many professionals made lemonade out of their layoff. The trailer below is for a new documentary, Lemonade. Watch and be inspired to write your next chapter.

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Don Huse wrote an excellent post on the need for self-assessment as you begin your job search.  In an excerpt from his Job Search Strategy Guide, Don writes:

“Essential to job search success is honest self-assessment, a process that will enhance your ability to articulate your strengths. Start by listing all of the jobs you’ve had since you began your professional career. Then identify the component skills used in each job – don’t dismiss seemingly insignificant skills! Just because something seems to come easily to you doesn’t mean that it is not of great value to a potential employer. Next, thoughtfully identify one or two significant achievements you had in each job, focusing on the results you delivered.”

It’s great advice and you can find the post here and download the free Job Search Strategy Guide here.

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My phone rang early Monday morning. It was a woman referred by a former client. She had been laid off from her job of 10 years and had been searching for a few months with no job in sight.

She introduced herself and I could hear the desperation in her voice, as she blurted out that she needed a “general resume.” I don’t do general resumes so probed gently to understand her needs. Her answer mirrored what many laid off workers are feeling – she had been out of work, was running out of money and just wanted a job, any job.

When you have been in the market for a period of time, it is easy to become discouraged and lose focus. Doing so, however, will further sabotage your efforts at finding a job. Successful job seekers are focused in their search. Their search strategy and resume align with a very focused goal.

An unfocused search is a bit like digging around in a bargain bin hoping to find a deal.

Your job search is a marketing effort and you need to have a clear target(s) in order to execute an effective strategy. Here are a few tips to help you stay the course and execute on a clear vision.

1. Write down your goals. List the types of companies you would want to work for – size, culture, industry. Do you want to work independently or as part of a team? A list will help you seek out companies that match your goals.
2. Do your research. Research companies, industry, hiring trends. Information will help you to more effectively target and conduct your search.
3. Do you want to transition to a different industry? In a soft economy, transitioning is a little more difficult.  List your transferable skills. Do you have contacts in your desired industry? Are there specialized skills that you can leverage to make the transition? Have a Plan B that is not your ideal but positions you for your desired move.
4. Stabilize your finances. Meet with a financial planner to develop a budget. Seek out temporary assignments if needed. Money worries can cloud your judgment and your attitude. Take care of this first so that you can conduct your search without the extra added pressure.
5. Target your resume to a specific position. If you are conducting a dual search, a professional can help you with a resume or do two versions, one for each career goal.
6. Be specific with your network. Your network can be a valuable source of information but are much more effective when giving specifics. Rather than asking if they know of anyone who is hiring, ask if they have any contacts at ABC Company. Specific information triggers much better recall in most people.
7. Surround yourself with a support network. You need people that will keep you on track and encourage you. Join a job club, networking group, or mastermind group.
8. Get out of the house. The worse thing you can do is sit in front of your computer all day uploading resumes to job boards. Look for professional events where you can network with people from  your targeted list of companies. Set up information interviews with people who can introduce you to hiring managers in your niche. You can still use your computer but use it to make smart connections not blindly send resumes to job boards.
9. Volunteer. Donate your time and talents to organizations that  you support. You can even use volunteering to acquire new skills or make contacts in a new industry. Taking the focus from yourself and helping others is a sure fire way to beat the blues.
10. Ask for help if you’re not getting results. I often get calls from job seekers who are not getting interviews. They always assume it is their resume. However, it may be the strategy used to search for jobs. If you’re getting interviews but no offers, your positioning may be hurting you or it could be your interviewing style. A professional can help you to find and correct the problem. If you do not have money to hire a professional, seek out free resources from community centers, local colleges or unemployment centers.

With the right strategy and tools you can get a job!

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“The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.”   – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

It may seem counterintuitive to volunteer when you have just lost your own job. You may reason that you need to devote all of your time and energy into securing a new position. However, volunteering can help you during your period of transition personally and professionally.

Losing a job is a very real and serious loss. It is not at all uncommon to go through the same stages of grief that occur after a death. In many ways a job loss is a death, so don’t be surprised if you need to set aside some time to mourn and heal.

Volunteering does not have to be a full time job but spending an hour or two a week focused outward can nourish your soul and help you to feel purposeful. In helping others, you are reminded of your value and gifts. It is also a cure for the isolation and loneliness that can be a very real side effect of losing a job.

Setting aside time to volunteer can also help your search. Your time spent helping others can be an opportunity to leverage your expertise as well as gain valuable new skills that you can use to move your career forward. It can be especially beneficial if a career transition is in your plans.

Lastly, as a volunteer you will expand your network with people you may not have otherwise met. Since networking is key to your search, you may just meet the person who can connect you to your next position.

Resources:

• Idealist- Find volunteer opportunities
• Virtual Volunteering – Information on virtual volunteering
• Job Loss and Depression
• The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness

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