It's Business As Usual

Many people mistakenly assume if a company is not actively looking for someone then a job isn't available. The experience of many job-hunters tell me otherwise. What do these successful job-hunters have in common? For one, they have identified their key strengths, related achievements, talent and competences and where and how to apply them. Too, they have learned to engage in conversation that start others thinking about why they should create a job for them. If you have something people want, THAT'S the bottom-line. It's business as usual: Someone recognizes a problem or opportunity and decided to do something about it.

What else do these people have in common? They do not rely on convention; the career paths that were winners for most of the last century are often not providing much success; they've gone the way of the "eight track" (some of you may get that).

These job-hunters also have certain rules in common. Some of them are

• Keep your eyes on globalization and also on the consequences of globalization (re: Agriculture, Medical, R&D, Environment; Marketplace Culture; etc.) over the past 10-15 years.
• Move towards small and entrepreneurial and away from big and bureaucratic.
• Look to help big business from the outside (i.e. opportunities selling services to downsized companies).
• Don't just manage, lead.
• Wheel and deal if you can.
• Increase competitive drive (your reach should always exceed your grasp).
• When life gets tough, you get tougher.
• Never stop trying to grow (new learning is increasingly necessary today)

What else can I say about these job-hunters and what they have in common? They recognize the need for objective input and feedback from someone or others they know and trust for the same reasons key decision-makers rely on staff or input from their Board. The easiest way to make smart decisions is to surround yourself the people "in the know". It's business as usual. Here's one scenario:

A colleague and close friend of mine phoned me last week and we met the other day. He is looklng for a new career position and after speaking to a mutual friend of ours who TOO is searching for a new position and he concluded "when I had my own company and had to make an important decision that would impact the company and me, I would gather up and consult with my Board as a President does his Cabinet." He asked to meet with me to see if I would accept a seat on his Cabinet, which I gladly did. Yes ... Secretary Rob Taub!

The experiences of many of these job-hunters also tells me they have learned how NOT to get caught up in the think of thin things. They recognize that things that matter most cannot be at the mercy of things that matter least. The current economic challenges individuals and companies face in this recession are daunting. Changes in the marketplace, culture, the lightening speed advancement in technologies... have made job-hunting more complicated now than it was just a few years ago. However, to let your doubts about the market and your success cause you to give up transcends foolishness. "You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them" (Michael Jordan) and successful job-hunters do! They believe life doesn't happen to them, it happens from them, and they keep moving on towards the "Gold", for to them, THAT IS business as usual.

YT,

RT