After redundancy: What do you REALLY want?

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I said in the previous post (Redundancy figures up) that one of the crucial issues at the moment is that government initiatives and most folk’s focus are solely around finding people jobs.


The big all round problem/ challenge/ hurdle/ whatever you want to call it with this is: What if no company is hiring employees with your skills for any decent length of time, let alone on a supposedly ‘permanent’ basis in your area or where you can get to and from or relocate to?

Just a few things

If the old ways of business aren’t working (and they don’t seem to be doing too well in many ways right now) then maybe now presents an opportunity to consider being in business for yourself without a whole load of upfront investment being needed. The old monetary barrier to entry and isn’t really an issue any more.

The Internet is the great leveler and the fact you’re reading this means you have access to it :-) . Apparently if the Internet were a country it would be the third biggest country in the world – and we’re all its inhabitants!

There has never been such on demand armchair access to so much free information from experts around the world – in the form of articles, white papers, forums, free newsletters and ezines. Nor has it ever been easier to engage and interact with potential customers, also from around the world if that’s your target market, and discover real needs that they’ll pay to be met.

Experience, knowledge, ability to execute: Where is your expertise?
Did you enjoy your last job? Let’s rephrase that: How much did you enjoy it? Grade it all the way from dream job to “I had to drag myself into it every day”. What was good and what was bad about it? What would you want more of in your working day? What would you want less of?

What would your ideal day, week, month or year look like? Who would you be with and what would you be doing? If your answer is lying on a beach… fair enough, even if, in reality that might get a bit boring once the novelty has worn off – what are you going to do to earn the money to finance that lifestyle?

What service could you offer at and excel at that recipients would be happy to pay your price for? How could you serve people; create that value that people want, need and will pay for: how could you channel your unique talents?

We’re entering a couple of weeks of festivities that signal a slow down for many industries, especially in the western world. There will be odd times when you can concentrate on you and how you want your future to be.

If you’ve been made redundant and are considering your options, our book ‘Redundancy – Survive and Thrive!’ could be one of the best ever Christmas presents! Why not treat yourself?

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Job hunting right now? Inspiration starts right HERE

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It’s Friday afternoon again (the weeks are zooming by)!

How’s the jobhunt/ setting up your new venture going?

If it’s a replacement job you’re looking for and some of the suggestions here are already pushing at the boundaries of your comfort zone here’s something that’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. But, boy, what pzazz and what results!

You’ll get the most by going to Susan hires a BOSS (the title’s a BIT of a giveaway…) and investing time reading the posts there.

She’s taken what we’ve said here and expand on in our book (you’ll see it to the right on this page) about uncovering hidden jobs/ creating your own role and added her own unique spin – and it’s worked for her within two months!

  • No more 300-applicants-chasing-the-same-job (whilst knowing that the best jobs AREN’T ADVERTISED)
  • No sending out résumés

She knew what she had to offer, the type of people and the kind of company she wanted to work with.

And she went for it.

She found a way to be creative that ‘fits’ her personality and met her needs: To get the best job she could, doing what she loves with people she likes.

Will you?

 

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Unemployment Not Just Hitting Employees

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2½ million unemployed across the UK is maybe too big for many of us to get our heads round, so let’s zoom in closer. I read this morning about unemployment in Barking, east London.

3.6% in August 2008 to 5.8% in August 2009 might not seem a lot at first glance yet it represents an increase over the last twelve months of 5,966 people out of work in one London borough alone.

According to a report on BBC News they include an estate agent who this January had to close the business he’d run for eight years – he effectively had to make his own role redundant! He says:

“It’s changed over the course of the year, because before you would get two or three people ready to take on a role, but now that’s more like 10 or 20.”

He, the truck driver, the student, the sound assistant and the building supervisor, ranging in age from 19 to 60, all want to work. The 39 year old forklift truck driver tells the tale we’ve heard many times from people who’ve been made redundant:

“You apply for jobs but none of them get back to you. I don’t know if it’s the recession but I am finding it a lot harder”

They’re not being picky or choosy. They each go regularly to the Job Centre, approach agencies direct and visit the library to search the local papers and the Internet for work. The 20 year old sound assistant has almost sussed it:

“I’ll take anything until I can find another sound job. When I’m working on a job I’m making contacts with other people in the industry, so I’ll contact the people I’ve met.”

Now, if he would just take this one step further, like the guy referred to here, he’d multiply his chances of getting a job that nobody else knows exists!

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