It would be rather difficult to exaggerate the catastrophic—and still lingering—effects of the economic tsunami which became known as The Great Recession. Financial markets, and by extension, labor markets, worldwide were very suddenly and quite adversely affected by the economic plummet. While overall conditions have improved, in many parts of the world, including in the United States, the struggle to fully recover from these adverse effects continues to this day.
To say that things changed, largely for the worse, as the result of The Great Recession is to put it mildly. And that’s particularly true where the job market is concerned. As a professional recruiter, a “headhunter,” once the recession really set in and its adverse effects were obvious throughout the job market, I concluded that the job market quite probably had changed FOREVER! Or, at the very least, it had changed for the foreseeable future. This conclusion resulted in the first job-hunting book in the “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets Series of Career Development/Management publications, “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!
I wish I could report that, in hindsight, I obviously somewhat overstated the case, that the recession actually caused only a slight “hiccup” in the job market, and that everything has once again returned to “normal.” That, however, and unfortunately, is not the case at all, in my professional opinion. Progress and improvement in the job market are being made, but be assured that the job market still remains very competitive and quite challenging for many.
In addition to the tens of millions of men and women worldwide who lost their jobs as a result of the recession, there were nearly an equal number who managed to hang on to their jobs but who nonetheless found themselves in often distressing—and stressful!—circumstances. This was the fate of many of these men and women:
- While they did end up keeping their own jobs, they also ended up doing the job of two, three or more of their fellow employees who had lost theirs!
- They were constantly reminded, either figuratively or literally, of how “lucky” they were to even still have a job!
- Pay increases were either non-existent or miniscule. Promotions? Forget about it. (Same with any show of gratitude on the part of their employer for their extra efforts.)
- Any sense of loyalty to their existing employer was quickly and thoroughly eroded because of the way they were treated during this period.
At least some of these millions of men and women found the ways and the means to move on to better, more fulfilling career opportunities once the job market began to recover. Most, however, continue to labor on in what I refer to as “stable misery” with those same employers who treated them with such disregard in recent years. Why? Are they just intrinsically fatalistic or masochistic? No! The primary reason I have found for their inertia is this: Most simply don’t have a clue HOW they can get their derailed, stalled careers back on the right track!
Recognition of this fact gave rise to the latest major publication in the “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets Series of Career Development/Management publications, Career Stalled? How to Get YOUR Career Back in HIGH Gear and Land the Job You Deserve—Your DREAM Job!
One of the basic premises in Career Stalled? is that a rather significant percentage of those tens of millions of men and women who continue to labor in “stable misery” with their current employer have a lot more to offer than they have perhaps come to believe. Also, for those who can demonstrate that they are positioned in the TOP 20% of ALL job candidates in the current job market—and many can easily do that—today can offer career opportunities unheard of and not even thought of just a few years ago. And that’s particularly true for key professions and industry segments such as engineering, sales, a wide range of medical specialties, to name just a few.
So, if you happen to be among those millions of men and women still laboring in “stable misery,” and thinking—or even worse, believing!—that your only option is to accept your career “fate,” you may want to think again!
In the coming months, from time to time, I will be posting key excerpts from Career Stalled? here and at other sites throughout the Internet. I would love to get feedback from you!
FREE SNEAK PEEK!
In addition, and for a limited time only, I am making this offer: If you would like to receive an Adobe PDF file of the first THREE chapters of Career Stalled?, absolutely FREE and with no obligation whatsoever, simply shoot an email to my editor, Michael Garee, at [email protected]. Include “FREE CS? CHAPTERS” in the subject line.
NOTE: This offer ends October 8, 2014.
Look forward to hearing from you!
