Job Transitions

Most people – myself included – have very short memories. When the weather is nice outside, they can hardly remember the cold, heat or rain they suffered from quite recently.

Job change and job transition are as unavoidable as changes in the weather. This is true even if you have been working for many years in the same organization. Even the most stable jobs are subject to sudden, unexpected change. This is not a reason to panic, but to stay alert.

Here are just a few of the many reasons you could suddenly lose your job:

• Sales are going down for you company
• Your company isn’t making enough profit
• The management of your company decides to go in a new direction
• Your plant or division of the company is not staying competitive
• A financial crisis occurs outside of your company
• Your company is sold or merged
• You get a new boss
• You are in conflict with co-workers
• You are getting older
• You gradually lose interest in your job

I am not writing this to scare you, but to prepare you for what most people face, sooner or later, at your job. No job is secure for life.

There is little advantage to worry about your job, but giving it careful attention and thought occasionally is helpful. It helps to anticipate job changes before they come and to prepare in advance for likely job transitions. In particular, that means saving money, living frugally, and avoiding too much debt; that way, you can survive times of unemployment.

It is also useful to note what is going on around you. Is your area at work being reorganized? Is it growing or shrinking? Are sales increasing or decreasing. Are there plenty of orders? Often, you can sense when changes are coming to your employment, whether good or bad.

But other times, change comes quite unexpectedly, like a swift storm. Suddenly, everything you thought was permanent gets blown away. Being prepared helps you survive, but it may not be easy.

During difficult times keep your mind calm and think carefully. Spend time with friends and advisors. Get outside and walk around. Don’t just crawl into a hole and hope it will all go away. How well you can manage job transitions will significantly influence your future life.

Finding new jobs is easy at times – if you are young and the economy is booming. But as you grow older, jobs become harder to find. If you have worked in a very good job you may need to accept a lower position for a time and build your career back up gradually as you become known and accepted in a new organization. It is difficult to be graceful under such circumstances, but necessary.

Above all, accept full responsibility for managing your own career and your own future. Bad bosses and bad employers are all over the place; finding good ones is very hard. Most employers are half-good at best. But you can survive in that environment if you are determined and don’t spend your energies on complaining.

I suggest 3 things:

1. Build up enough savings that you can survive for 6 – 12 months of unemployment. That is hard to do, but necessary. No matter how well you work or how stable your company seems, you can never be sure to keep your job. Getting out of debt and building up savings is hugely important.
   
   
   
2. Always think about what other jobs you could find if this one ends. You need to be ready to find a new job all throughout your working life. You next job might be much better, or much worse than your current job. You might need to move, or to work in a new field with job retraining.
   
   
   
3. Don’t ever take your job for granted; you need to prove your value each day and each year.

Most of us do better than the worst that we fear in bleak moments, but not as good as we may hope at optimistic times. My mantra is “keep your expectations low, but also keep your hopes high”. In the short run, things often go worse than we expect, but when we work diligently to improve our situation, things can gradually change for the better. Staying cheerful and determined helps us to weather any storm.