Last week I blogged that whether this is a technical recession or not, it sure feels like a recession. I knew WaMu was letting a bunch of people go at their Seattle HQ, but didn’t think about the people across the world that would be impacted by their downsizing.
Cheezhead, and HR and recruiter blogger, wrote desperate times = desperate measures, where he talks about the troubles job boards are going through.
Job board owners are talking about 25-40 percent decreases in postings. Stories of layoffs at boards big and small abound. And it’s only November. December should be worse. Wait, did I say should be? I meant will be.
Will be? I don’t follow things like he does, but I don’t doubt his prediction. But I love how he sums up his post, because this is something I’ve been thinking about for months:
The good news? Historical flipside says a downturn will once again give berth to a better species. Keep in mind, 2003 and beyond gave us Indeed.com, JobCentral and Simply Hired. It spawned LinkedIn and gave rise to Craig. I expect 2010 to do the same. It’ll just kinda suck till then.
Were do companies come from? Market opportunities, forward-thinkers, risk-takers, lucky people, right?
Yeah, sure, I agree with all of those.
I think companies, great companies, also come from times like this. If there are tens of thousands of finance professionals getting dumped on the streets, don’t you think some of them might have had brilliant ideas that they never had time to work on before? What about all of the IT professionals, programmers, business analysts, product managers, etc?
I believe there are many people who are anxious to get their next steady paycheck, but will eventually see opportunities to do things they never had time to do before. Companies will be born, millionaires will be created, products and services will surface.
I was scared to death to start my own thing, and didn’t think anything new could be invented. There was no better mousetrap… all the good ideas were already taken (like Amazon, Google, eBay, wordpress, youtube, etc.)
And then I found myself with time, and found some investment money, and a very cool job search tool was put into my brain, and my job search ended.
How many others will end their job search and take a plunge that was impossible before? I expect this recessionary time to catapult a bunch of businesses and entrepreneurs. Will you be one of them?
Jason – my man. This is a great post and I appreciate your unique thinking. Unfortunately your thoughts are unique for most people. I too do not follow the doom and gloom however I was told this AM that in Ohio things are getting uglier by the day.
Paul Zane Pilzer in his book, The Next Millionaires, said that as Americans we believe in the idea of scarcity but need to adopt the mentality of abundance. Like you eluded to above, you have an abundance approach to this situation, opportunity is born.
Not a huge fan of this but here is a link to a post that I highlighted Lee Iacoca. Great words, worth the time to read his thoughts. https://darringrella.blogspot.com/2008/10/give-this-to-ncb-pnc-leadership.html Sorry for the somewhat shameless plug but it is too applicable.
Thanks again.
Perception is a CRUCIAL part of the business decision making process and if your perception is that things are awful – well, then chances are better than good that things WILL be awful.
I once had a client who was all “doom and gloom” but when we looked at the previous years numbers and it turned out she was up 20% over last year. Suddenly, her perception changed, but there was no convincing her without looking at her own numbers!!!
Predicting that December WILL be bad is a great way to make it so. It’s such a slippery slope. You’re sure that December will be bad – so you stop doing the very things that have the potential to make December GREAT!
There is a difference between “doom and gloom” and reality. The reality is this is a very tough job market. The reality is that it will take a long time to find a job if you are laid off.
But thinking doom and gloom means you will miss opportunities. Even if you decide not to go out on your own, your opportunity is expanding the skills you have in the job your are doing right now. By expanding your job skills now and having excellent performance because you kept your focus, you will come out the other side of this much stronger and more marketable.
Cubicle Warriors work through the adversity. Build your skills, keep your performance up and you will be rewarded after the tough times.
Great post! I think you raise an interesting point in the world of Me, Inc. You have provided hope and a can-do spirit through your example. In today’s times, you have to create opportunities for yourself. Gone are the days when companies managed your careers for you as you climbed the corporate ladder. I have loved the term “ramp” that I have read in so many books–YOU have to propel yourself forward — it’s not an elevator or an escalator that will get you there anymore.