St. Louis Business Journal
What to do if the economy
goes bad

By Anna Navarro

February 2001 - "What do I do if the economy goes bad?" That's the question in many people's minds as stories of huge layoffs hit the news.

It's a smart question to ask. The most valuable resource for maintaining paycheck continuity is TIME. If you are going to have to cope with a layoff, the sooner you start preparing for it, the better your chances of a smooth landing.

If you are at risk, start by evaluating two aspects of your situation:

Do you LIKE the kind of work you do?

Is the kind of work you do needed by employers?

If the answer to either question is "NO", it means re-inventing yourself before you start a job hunt.

That's the problem Miriam and Keith faced, but for different reasons. Miriam was a salesperson for wound care products. For 20 years, she had been selling to physicians' offices and small hospitals. She liked her work but Internet purchasing meant her type of job was disappearing.

Keith, by contrast, really disliked the work he was doing as an accountant. When layoffs seemed likely, he knew he could probably find another accounting job. But looking for a new job doing the same kind of work that made him miserable was unimaginable.

So both of these individuals needed to start by figuring out a NEW job-hunting target.

Why? Because effective job hunting generally requires clarity about what kind of job you are seeking. That's what shapes how you write your resume, what you say about yourself, who you meet with during networking. Without a focus, job hunting can become an exercise in beating your head against a brick wall.

How did these two individuals re-invent themselves?

First, I helped each of them do a self-assessment in which they identified what they really wanted in an ideal work situation. We analyzed their preferred skills, working conditions, geographic preferences and financial needs, as well as their passions, life priorities and a number of other variables.

We then boiled this down to a short list of 15 items that represented what they most wanted in a career. This list became a template for the kind of work they would seek.

The next step was to brainstorm ideas about different types of work that might fit their needs, and then to research them. In time they each found work that met approximately 80% of the 15 items on their template.

Miriam became an adjuster in the insurance field. It allowed her to have a lot of people contact and to be of service to customers, which is what she valued most about her old job.

Keith reconnected with his passion for doing work that has a tangible outcome, and recalled the joy he experienced in summer jobs working on a construction crew. He is now working for a major construction firm as an estimator, and has a long term plan of either becoming a principal in a construction company or starting his own. He sold himself as an estimator based on his skill with numbers and spreadsheets, and his long ago experience in construction.

Miriam and Keith each had a longer road to attaining paycheck continuity than individuals who face layoffs, but at least LIKE the kind of work they are doing, and whose work is needed by employers.

People in the latter group start with the advantage of knowing what their job target is. They still have to face a job hunt, but the challenge is more straightforward.

Like Keith and Miriam, they need to write a resume that appeals to the needs of employers in the field they targeted. They need to practice how to talk about what they can do that is relevant to prospective employers in their targeted fields. They need to develop contacts in the fields in which they are seeking employment. And they need to persist in the search.

The key resource for anyone who is at risk for a layoff is TIME. Without enough time, it's difficult to lay the groundwork for an effective job hunt, let alone do the intense work of re-inventing yourself if that becomes necessary. With enough time (and hard work!), it's even possible to end up better off after a layoff, as was the case with Miriam and Keith.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.