Finding a Job and Keeping a Job Require Mastery of 5 Skills

Whether you've been out of work for quite some time, long-term in a position, or looking for a career change you will need to master some business and life skills to progress in your career.

The philosopher and poet, Dante writes in the 12th Century: The secret of getting things done is to act! This is the same lesson carried forward by Stephen R. Covey in many of his books - what he coins as proactivity. You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for your career. To leave something this important in the control of a manager, with many other interests and employees, a company, a union, school or to only react to circumstances that befall you can be a mistake of a life time. The best advice in the world won't do you any good unless you take the information and proactively do something with it.

In my book, "5 Necessary Skills to Keep Your Career on Track," I outlined the critical skills to survive and to get ahead in the toughest of employment markets. You must develop the ability to be cognizant of your surroundings - of your co-workers next door and your boss in the corner office - but also your company, industry, products, competitors, and the health of the local and national economy. This will make you a more knowledgeable and useful employee and give you the insight to better position yourself and company in the marketplace. If you are looking for a job or wanting to make a career change, you need to research what occupations are growing and what companies are positioned to prosper. No use becoming a deckhand on a sinking ship or venturing into a shrinking, dead-end industry.

Being proactive will assist in all of your business and career endeavors; whether its getting that report out on time, contemplating your customers needs, or implementing a beneficial, new procedure before your boss mandates it. It's recognizing changes in your industry or organization that aren't positive for you personally or your company - and to start the process to make a change, on your timetable and terms. It is to be continually educated and re-educated in your chosen profession and the economic outlook in general. If you are not gaining knowledge on new and changing processes you are actually slipping backward and losing your competitive edge to contemporaries.

Learning to deal with many management styles and degrees of professionalism (or lack thereof) will give you an edge over your co-workers. You need to develop honest and straightforward dialog with bosses, so you know their expectations for you. Getting along with other employees in your workplace is going to be a challenge at times. Recognizing cultural differences and unique work styles and keeping communications open and positive will only help. Complex jobs, especially in the era of downsizing where new tasks have been handed to the survivors, have made it critical to work well with others to get projects completed. If a boss becomes unbearable to deal with, only you will know when its time to move on to another company. But if you are still gaining valuable knowledge and moving ahead in the company, you might want to hold on a little longer until timing is right for a change - when you have another position lined up.

A mentor can be very beneficial in advancing your career. Mentors aren't just people in more senior levels within your company, but can be life coaches, ministers, family friends, or colleagues from a professional association. They may be able to assist you to navigate the corporate "land mines" and position you to move ahead in your organization or help in a quest for a new job. The more information you have at your disposal, and the ability to bounce things off another and get a second opinion, the better equipped you are to handle challenges that arise. Many companies now have formal mentoring programs, but even without one many more tenured employees are willing to take you under there wings if asked.

Networking with industry colleagues, old college friends, professional associations, church groups, or any potential employers will increase your knowledge of the job market and improve your marketability. Social networks are mediums to connect with others but still must be used effectively to develop into good networking relationships. LindedIn is, in my opinion, the best professional site. But remember the cardinal rule of networking - you have to give before you receive. You are taking care of yourself, your career, and building your self-esteem all at the same time by maintaining contact with friends and colleagues. Networking is the most efficient way of finding a new job or to get promoted in your existing company.

Many people are only reactive, and sit back expecting someone else to look after their interests, when a monkey wrench gets tossed into their career. Often the damage is done and its too late to repair the situation. The people who have the best careers are the ones who are proactive and stay ahead of the game - the go-to people in their organizations - who know how to get projects completed 100% of the time. The key is to acquire all of the knowledge you can about an organization, its management, and its products/services then act on the information. If you are currently working for that organization and prospects don't look good long-term start making a plan to move on. Conversely, only apply for positions in companies which are well-managed and in growth industries. Do your homework - then act on it!

Richard S. Pearson is the Author of 5 Necessary Skills to Keep Your Career on Track. He has held vice-president positions with four multibillion dollar travel industry companies and three Internet early stage companies. He has a BA degree from Regis University in Organizational Development. His experience has given him a unique perspective on how to navigate the organizational structures of both large and small companies. He has hired and trained hundreds of employees from frontline salespeople to vice presidents, and coached many through their careers. He is currently working on facilitating the large increase of travel between the US and China, which is taking place. http://www.5necessaryskills.com

Employment As We Knew it Has Changed - Accelerated by the Recession

The nature of employment in this country will never be the same again. Yes, businesses will still need workers but how they go about recruiting, screening, and hiring is new - and even if they will add workers at all or outsource the particular task or project to another company.

Over one-half of all workers in the US are not in "traditional" jobs; under an employer - employee defined relationship. Decades ago, corporations found that many "specialty" functions could be outsourced more cost-effectively than performed on their own. Things like advertising, accounting, legal, public relations, shipping, and even design and product production have been contracted out to other firms for half a century. But the idea of the virtual corporation has really taken hold and accelerated, as companies cut costs to the bare bone to survive this tough recession. Organizations like UPS have become complete logistics companies, not just shippers. Many companies no longer conceive, design, product test, quality control, produce, market, warehouse, package, distribute, or even handle customer service calls after the fact. And the trend is to more outsourcing. Companies won't even consider managing their own information technology, communications systems, logistics, production, finance/investment, and not just advertising but frequently all marketing and sales functions any longer. This is one of the main reasons for the growth of small businesses and why they have created almost three quarters of all new jobs in the past couple of decades. The big challenge this has created for job seekers is find companies willing to retain business functions they are qualified to handle, or go find the organization it has been outsourced to and apply there.

The good news is that with the Internet and all of the electronic jobs' sites, it is easier to locate those jobs by inputting information on your skills and matching up to job openings. The bad news is that thousands of others are doing the same thing - and from all over the country, not just your local area. So this is a double edge sword. Now, instead of having your resume sit on a stack on someone's desk, it sits in a database, most likely many times larger than the paper stack. It then becomes the age old problem of getting noticed in the crowd (a problem in the paper and electronic world). Worse yet, the recession and subsequent shrinking of companies have them so focused on hiring the person with the "exact" set of skills that they electronically scan resumes for key words and don't even look at those which are not absolute perfect matches. Combine that with the fact that over half of senior level positions are not even posted outside of companies and rely on recruiters to find candidates - and this becomes a daunting challenge.

The real dichotomy for job seekers is that during the recession the first ones to be laid off were the workers so specialized that they couldn't take on additional tasks or projects outside of their area or expertise. So the generalist - who could perform multiple job functions - were retained. But if you position yourself on your resume or in interviews as anything more than the "exact fit" you may not even get to first base. Surely, companies will wake up and realize that you are the better candidate if you can perform the exact work they desire but have many more skills? Probably not - until you get beyond all of the initial resume scans and screening interviews and get in front of the hiring manager(s). What you have to do is research the posted and not published job requirements of the position you are applying for and make your cover letter and resume match those specifications to a tee. Once you get beyond the screeners - that is where you let those doing the hiring know what else you bring to the party.

What is critical in today's job market to "get noticed," find the management jobs not posted, and to uncover the precise requirements a company is looking for. The most effective method to accomplish all of this is through networking. Networking has become the critical skill to master in the new job market. I don't mean getting a thousand followers on Twitter - that is not networking - it's just tweeting. Effective networking is best described by the famous author Napoleon Hill, "you have to give before you receive." You have to have a relationship established with colleagues in your field, former classmates, trade association members, former co-workers -- whomever you come in contact with, and be willing to assist them in any way possible before you can call on them for help. Once you have your network established then by all means connect on LinkedIn, or another social network, and ask your network if they know someone with knowledge of the company or position you are trying to get information about. LinkedIn has a great feature that lists where people used to work, and you are typically only a degree or two away from someone who can get you information about a position or even get your resume to the the top of the stack, in front of the hiring manager.

Employment and how we go about finding jobs won't go back to the way it was. Who you know will be critical. The new jobs will mainly be generated by small businesses, as that trend will continue. So the era of the corporate position, with all the perks, will still be there albeit in much fewer numbers as more and more corporations downsize and become mere shells of their former entities. This will be especially pronounced with the manufacturers as the US becomes even more of a "service" economy. Job seekers will need to be prepared to be contractors selling their own services, paying their own payroll taxes, paying for their healthcare costs, and socking way funds for retirement. Of the 25 million firms in the US, 19 million are sole proprietorships with no payrolls, and only 17,000 have more than 500 employees (the Dept. of Labor cut-off size for small business classification). The job market has changed and we have to adapt and most likely create our own job security going forward - without dependence on a company.

Richard S. Pearson is the Author of 5 Necessary Skills to Keep Your Career on Track. He has held vice-president positions with four multibillion dollar travel industry companies and three Internet early stage companies. He has a BA degree from Regis University in Organizational Development. His experience has given him a unique perspective on how to navigate the organizational structures of both large and small companies. He has hired and trained hundreds of employees from frontline salespeople to vice presidents, and coached many through their careers. He is currently working on facilitating the large increase of travel between the US and China, which is taking place. http://www.5necessaryskills.com