Well, it has been quite a week. I have been giving a lot of thought to the subject of "The Beginning". More about that later.
Regardless of what condition you find yourself in now, you should never consider yourself "unemployed". If you do not have a paying job currently, you should be employed full time in your search for your next paying job. Treating your search like a forty hour a week job will greatly shorten the length of time your search. The less effort you put in, the longer it will take you to land that job.
The beginning of the job search process, is planning. Part of the planning process, in fact the first step in planning is to determine your destination. As my last blog entry says you need to determine our destination in order to begin our search. If you don't know where you are headed, how can you know when you've arrived?
Now that may seem trite to some, but if you really think about it, the answer is not always clear. For the first time job seeker, it may be less complicated. However, for those with more experience in the work world this decision can become full of options.
Under ideal conditions you would have done all or most of this planning process while still gainfully employed. Studies show that it is easier to find a job while you are employed, rather than without a paying job. Even in the best of times being employed communicates to a prospective employer that fact that someone values your contribution enough to pay you for it. Most consider that a good thing.
Whether in a job and seeking one, the first thing to think about is "Do I want to keep doing what I have been doing?" Do I want to keep working for someone else in the XYZ Department? This could be accounting, production, assembly finance, marketing, or any number of other options. It also could involve the question of whether or not you want to keep on managing or being an individual contributor as well. If the answer is "no" then there is a whole other line of questions to ask yourself.
Don’t be afraid to take some time on this decision. You profit more from spending some time on this decision and know with confidence your choice is right, than to get a down the road and realize you are not headed to your destination after all. That means having to scrap all the time and effort you have spent on the wrong pursuit, and start the journey over again.
In the corporate world of process improvement, we define “do overs” as WASTE. Whether it is repairing or replacing defective product, or retracing your steps and starting your search over is it “waste.” Another maxim of process improvement is all waste is preventable, and correct advance planning is a powerful tool in doing that.
Perhaps that is a lesson our politicians can stand to learn. We have just elected a new Congress, and they have almost three months before they are sworn in as a legislative body. Just maybe if they would spend the time planning, and rediscovering a vision of we want to be as a nation, they could make better, more insightful, and effective decision. It’s just a thought-but it could help.
Copy Right 2010
