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Know Thyself: Launch a Business Doing What You Love
June 18, 2010
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“Julie and Julia” and your career -Part One
June 17, 2010
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Know Thyself: and Then Forget What You Know
June 15, 2010
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Know Thyself: Feeling Gracious? Or is It Something Else?
June 11, 2010
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Know Thyself: Emotional Intelligence and Your Viability as a Job Candidate.
June 8, 2010
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Know Thyself: Put Your Best You Forward.
June 4, 2010
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Fear is a Career’s Worst Enemy, UpMo tells New York Times
February 22, 2009 | Author: Jessica Howard | Filed under: Layoffs
Hands up if you’ve ever made a bad career move - the kind that veers away from your goals or forces your talents to the bench. As layoff phobia takes hold and hiring budgets run dry, bad career moves start to seem like the only ones available. Give you a paycheck and you’re anybody’s.
In a piece she wrote for today’s New York Times, UpMo’s founder, Promise Phelon makes the case that today’s economic fears threaten to cripple careers: “When we make moves based on fear or desperation, we often become mired in jobs we never wanted. Sometimes our careers even go backward, undoing much of our hard work to lay a foundation for professional success.”
Looking back on her own worst career move, Promise writes that fear had a lot to do with it.
“I had a job I loved, running a customer-oriented group at a large technology firm. But whispers of layoffs and downsizing were in the air. And even though people I trusted warned me against it, I moved back to product marketing, the department at the company where I had worked previously, because I thought a job there would be more defensible.
“At the time, I thought job stability was more important than anything else. As a result, I spent nine months working myself to the bone with little to show for it. I had zero time to network or to cultivate long-term relationships. That stint turned out to be one of my worst professional experiences. I think that my career actually took two steps backward.”
So, in this economy, how do you keep moving forward? Here are three key takeaways from Promise’s article:
Don’t play the “wait and see” lottery: If layoffs are in the air at your workplace, identify where you want to land for the long term, then outline the steps that will take you there.
Treat contacts as people, not stepping stones: Once your plan is in place, start to approach people who can offer guidance. Take the initiative to offer them something of value. In a recent Forbes interview, Promise explains how she initiated a mutually beneficial relationship with a potential advisor: a woman who helped the founders of eBay. “I opened my conversation with her by saying, ‘I know you’re trying to write a book about international leadership. How can I help you?’” Phelon says. “I gave her some contacts and then followed up, trying to build currency with her. It never happens in the first meeting, but she eventually asked how she could help me.”
An introduction doesn’t mean you’re “in”: When someone in your network paves the way to a “big shot” (potential employer, client, investor, mentor), it’s still up to you to prove yourself. Thinking that the connection allows you to bypass the relationship-building stage is a mistake.
Speaking of building relationships with big shots, tomorrow’s post looks at the “care and feeding” of mentors. Pamela Skillings, author of Escape from Corporate America, will break down the process of identifying, approaching and keeping mentors.
Related Links
10 Signs Your Career is Heading Off Track
When Your Network Speaks, Does Opportunity Listen?
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