Friday, 12 June 2009

Job Search Sound Byte Number 2

The key to applying for jobs is balancing the need to appear outstanding whilst adhering to the accepted conventions of the application process.

Job Search Sound Byte Number 1

Intention is the arbiter of success!

The Bereavement of job loss Number 2

As a result of the whirring churn of the labour market since the good old days of a ‘job for life’, most Western cultures are vocationally barren. What do I mean by that phrase? My absolute belief is that each of us has a skill, an innate ability, a talent, a gift, and / or a competency, within us which we must exercise. We got to channel our individual abilities out! Fewer and fewer Western governments invest in effective systems that help their citizens exercise their inner capabilities. Therefore, as Jamie Oliver the famous chef talks about our schools providing "nutritionally barren" food, our education systems produce vocationally barren citizens devoid of career aspiration.

Homo Sapiens relies on work to experience self-worth. Our self image is dependent upon the ‘Invisible Transaction of Work’; which I have written about extensively elsewhere. We are referred to as Human Beings, and I really love the Being bit. It means that to be a being, we’ve got to doing. Beings do.

Whereas, philosophers such as Descartes would have it that ‘I think, therefore I am’, I would argue that the point of living is more along the lines of ‘I do, therefore I am’. The human body is designed to work. We are engines. We put calories in in the form of fuel and we burn them. We build societies, structures and systems.

The obesity epidemic of the 21st Century is purely a metaphor for the fact that we are not doing anymore! The Welfare State coined in the United Kingdom in the 20th Century was a laudable movement to prevent poverty. However, we have generations of citizens who have never worked. As a result we have generations of people who maybe never experienced positive self regard, self esteem, dignity and independence.

In the same way, job loss can generate a sense of low self worth because we feel we have lost our self image. Somehow our view of ourselves becomes tarnished. This is to be expected. But this does not mean it has to be accepted.

The Bereavement Curve is like a dark valley that we must pass through to come out of the other side. After years of delivering redundancy counselling I have learned that the antidote to this hardship is generating stories that describe our achievements. This is often where working with a Career Coach can be invaluable because the irony is that when we have just lost our job, the last task we feel equipped to deliver is talking about our successes!

I’ll talk about Success Stories in another entry….

The double bereavement of job loss Part 1

In the early 1970s Elizabeth Kubler-Ross translated the findings of her extensive research into bereavement into what became known as the ‘Bereavement Curve’. As is so often the case, this diagrammatic representation of her thesis left a powerful impression on one’s mind; in parallel with the old adage that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’. Kubler-Ross summed up that those losing loved ones appeared to pass through seven stages of grief: shock, anger, denial, stress (either in the form of anxiety, or for some full-blown depression), apathy, acceptance and action.

Having worked as a freelance consultant in the field of redundancy counselling and performance coaching for 12 years, I am well versed in bastardising the ‘Bereavement Curve’ into what has also become known as the Change Curve. The fact of the matter is that human beings, in the main, are change averse. Often our security depends upon stability and routine combining to build up a sense of dependability and faith in the structures we surround ourselves. Often we subscribe to conventions to instil within us a sense of rhythm and repetition. Call it a ‘life beat’.

Job loss hits us hard primarily due to this breach of our life’s rhythm. Conventions lapse and the anchors with which we secure our routines are lost. For some, momentarily, and depending on how well we are prepared for change, for protracted and painful periods. Paradoxically, the more we wed ourselves to convention, the harder the flail of redundancy hits us. Let’s put it this way, the more indelibly etched the habits, the greater the turmoil.

The traditional psychological contract between employee and employer has shifted through 1800 from pre 1970 where employees were loyal to employing firms for providing jobs for life. To post 1990 where ‘The War for Talent’ (by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod, Harvard Business Press), seeing companies battling for flexible workforces and the freedom to deliver ‘just-in-time’ products and services, meant that more and more companies struggled to instil any sense of loyalty in their workforce. And why should employees develop any sense of loyalty when the average number of jobs in career had shot up from one or two jobs in a lifetime to as many as 18 career transitions from job to job.

So if that is Bereavement Number 1, what is Bereavement Number 2……..?

How meaningful work always wins through

90% of the people I meet are in the wrong job. Outspoken words indeed. However, they are true. The reason? 90% of the people I meet don’t love themselves unconditionally.

So few people I meet are cool about who they are. It is a dreadfully sad state of affairs that somewhere along the line we brought Victorian attitudes with us into the 21st Century and we so often spurn a healthy self-image. In fact, if you think about it, our tabloid culture specialises in destroying anyone lucky enough to have a healthy self regard.

What does this mean? Because I understand this needs to be put simply. Let’s start with a sporting metaphor. Successful sports stars would achieve very little if they did not believe deep down inside that were good at what they do. And that they can win! Inner belief is essential. Yet in the workplace there seems to be some kind of expectation that everyone has to be conventional and spend their days conforming to accepted standards regurgitating mundane tasks.

Most companies specialise in hiring conventional people with mediocre skills to deliver unexceptional tasks. Yet business managers and HR managers talk about talent management; managing talented people so that they can perform highly and fulfil their potential and, as a result, help the organisation deliver upon its strategic objectives; thereby growing value.

As I state in ‘How CVs are killing the corporation’, the reality is that if we are outstanding, we are often outside of the building staring in. Instilling and cultivating meaning in our work is critical if we are to survive in an economic downturn. You will be found out if you don’t do your work with a sense of intention. I recommend that you appreciate what you are doing for work is recognisably valuable. If it is not in your work today, what have you got to do to find it?!

I often talk about the ‘Invisible Transaction of Work’; which has nothing to do with money. The ‘Invisible Transaction of Work’ means that we receive a payment for doing something we recognise as being fulfilling. We can see the results of our labour and it makes us feel good. Our work instils within us a sense of purpose and we learn to appreciate who we have become.

What are you going to do to instil meaning in your work life?

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Making Modern Careers Sustainable

As of writing, I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone times are really tough if you are out of work right now. In fact, times are really tough for many people IN work right now. The world seems to have a gone a little bit crazy with the global economic crisis and so many firms struggling to make their numbers add up. How did we get so complacent that we allowed ourselves to get into such a mess? Probably because when times are great it is easy not to worry. Many of us have had about ten years of growth and good times. After such a long time we forget to make the usual self-preservation checks and before we know it....Caboooom....we've been made redundant and we have no means of servicing the debts we ran up during the good times.

In the 21st Century, a healthy world depends upon workers working and making our careers sustainable is all about doing the necessary detective work to discover the real meaning in our work. The hard part is tailoring this meaning to actual labour market demand. I watched a BBC programme the other day on how Brazil has switched its focus to bio-ethanol fuel sourced from sugar cane as they have little access to crude oil. The tough reality is that if you live in North East Brazil there are virtually no other options than cutting cane in the fields as this industry is just about the only employment in that region. Doing something else would mean leaving the community to explore other kinds of employment options; which if the worker has a family and strong sense of community., is a tough call. The economic reality can be harsh and history is filled with migrant workers being forced to move to earn a livelihood. So talking about 'fulfilling careers' can be a luxury some workers feel they cannot afford.

My heartfelt belief is that each one of us has a talent within. If we can discover this talent work ceases to be such a terrible chore. Even for those labouring hard in the fields in the hot sun, there will be some who find the work rewarding. They might not grow rich financially but they have the life they prefer. To make a career sustainable is about understanding the invisible transaction that only happens when we identify meaning in our work. Meaningful work will almost certainly involve making a contribution that benefits society around us. This fact is possibly the secret many only learn when it is too late. The banking systems have collapsed as a result of greed when a tiny minority gained disproportionate rewards from unsustainable transactions ignoring time-served wisdom. As long as nurses, care workers, teachers, fire crews and people serving their communities gain such lowly recognition compared to the obscene salaries of professional sportsmen, catwalk models, film stars and celebrities of questionable contribution to their fellow beings, then there will be imbalance and immorality in the economy.

Beware of working transactions driven by self gain alone with such little consideration given to how our work enriches the wider community. The reward of a sustainable career enjoyed over the long haul of a worker's life relies upon a holistic, interactive, vocational system of meaning, contribution and lasting value!! Or, in simple terms, workers channelling their innate talents to better the lives of those around them.




















Maverick / Pioneer
Black sheep / Guru
Heretic / Innovator
Rebel / Activist
Misfit / Prophet
Loner / Entrepreneur
Malcontent / Visionary
Outcast / Genius




· first, developing our workers’ career management skills;









