The recession and your job

I hear a Yogi Berra ism coming on…

“Deja vu all over again”

…only this time it’s different. Or is it?

In an effort to clear out the clutter, I was just going through a pile of magazines (ask me if I read any of them) and put most of them in the recycling bin. For some reason the July/August issue of CIO Insight stuck to my fingers like glue. Why? Probably because it was all about IT and the recession.

I had vowed to pull out the articles that interested me rather than keep each whole damn magazine. Somewhere in the middle of that process, I had to take a quick nap. Thank goodness this magazine’s issue was small, given my attention span for dry content!

Hang on a second, an email just came through on my blackberry that I need to check.  It was Plaxo customer care notifying me that someone wants to connect. I’m not sure who it was, so I needed to go to their site to see who they knew. I don’t want to hurt their feelings, so I won’t reject them, I’ll just wait. Now, where was I? No wonder I can’t get anything done? I’ve already had 3 cups of coffee and the caffeine hasn’t kicked in! I feel like a drug addict looking for the blast of that first hit! No amount of caffeine is giving me that rush of my first espresso, that I so miss and need right now.

Do you ever feel like you just can’t keep up with all of it? Well I’m here to tell you that you won’t ever be completely caught up and you shouldn’t feel bad about it!! If you don’t have three personal assistants or even one, it’s just not going to happen. Look at President Obama, as an example. Whatever your political leanings, you must admit that he has lots of help and he’s not caught up either. In this information age, if you are over 12 years old, you just don’t have what it takes to absorb it all by yourself. Last week I put the cap on 25 being the age of IT competency and absorption, but I really think it is younger.

In the Perspectives section of  CIO Insight’s July/Aug 2009 issue, Larry Bonfante wrote “Key Questions on Recruitment” and John Parkinson wrote “An Absence of Talent“. It was interesting to see CIO’s perspectives. In a nutshell, Parkinson writes of good people not staying around and the talent pool being too small. I can appreciate that.  Bonfante writes of the importance of taking care of employees so they don’t leave with such benefits as training to name one. Both articles have good points. As usual, I went for the emotional charge, so I read Parkinson’s article first, getting ready to put up my dukes. If more CIOs took Bonfante’s advice and trained people to keep up with the technology, then maybe the talent pool might have more good pickin’s. Getting up to speed on some of the technology takes time and depending on what it is, can cost a small fortune.  Whose responsibility is it to provide and/or pay for that training? The unemployed, job seeking professional may be smart enough, but might not be able to afford the training required to get that next job Parkinson is seeking to fill.

Again, I can appreciate the point that Parkinson is making, but it also raises many questions for me about the greed of corporate America:

1. How is it that we have so many people out of work and unable to get the training for all the jobs that are supposedly vacant?
2. So, the talent pool is dry? How can that be?
3. Rather than blaming it on all the people who aren’t up to speed with the technology, why not look at HR stats?
4. Why not review job reqs and get a clue that expecting one person to meet all the requirements on many of the jobs being posted is unrealistic?
5. Why not revise job descriptions to reflect one job, rather than 3 or 4 jobs in one? Making job descriptions based on the last person who had to suck up two other jobs during the previous layoff season is totally unrealistic.
6. Why not offer training in some of the things that are required, especially if the technology being used is a moving target?
7. Why not hire some HR professionals and recruiters who are in their 30s and 40s who have life experience as well as technical expertise? There are lots of skills that are transferable and many people ARE trainable. While databases with scanning abilities are useful and cost-saving, nothing can replace the eyes and ears of someone experienced with people.

Some of the best companies out there do, as Bonfante writes, recognize what it takes to retain an employee and are willing to invest in their employees. Loyalty is earned. If employees matter, then loyalty may follow.

Just what are the incentives for employees these days? As someone who has been in the workforce awhile and has survived a couple of recessions, I notice this trend of making 3-4 jobs in one. A recruiter told me awhile back that this trend is a cost-cutting measure. Fine, well good luck finding those people who use use both the left and right sides of their brains equally as well and in equal time.

So, what is the solution?

There is more than one, but for now, bone up on those skills you have and need or stand your ground and refuse to grow in an ever changing world! While it’s not my job to tell you what to do, I’m here to tell you what to do!

Always learn new skills!

It may not only save your job or find you a new one, but it will make you a more interesting person and could even save your relationship (or find you a new one).

Invest time in yourself!

Whether you are employed, under-employed or unemployed,  please invest time in yourself! You are your best resource. You know what you need and it’s up to you to make sure you get it. Whatever it is, make sure you take time to feed your soul as well as your belly!

• take a nap
• take a walk
• listen to music that YOU like
  
• dance
• go swimming
• go to a movie by yourself
• start your own blog
• look up your best friend from high school that you lost touch with
• take an art class
• teach a class
• start a Meetup group for whatever interests you, so you are not alone and in your head all the time
• make new friends

Whether it’s adding new friends to your network, or systematically weeding out the deadwood from it, take time to be social as well as hanging back to nurture yourself. Whatever the next thing is to come your way will come when you are clear and when you least expect it.

for  a full read on the CIO insight articles, click here.

Plaxo: another networking site brought to you by Napster. You can keep up with business and social connections, but as with any of these, have some discretion when posting photos, videos or comments. Some of those postings could cost you your jobs (and some friendships). While your chronological age may be over 30, your behavior on these sites doesn’t need to be under 20.

Meetup: a great resource! Looking for a group of people with similar interests? Either find or create a group that interests you.

Note to self: After writing this, I see that I’ll need to read (and write) about  citing references and how that has changed with online articles (or not).

© Copyright 2009, Janet Kyle

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