Whether you’ve left your job, been told you’re redundant or have gotten the “feeling” that things are hinky at your place of work, it’s time to take a minute and plan your next step and your next role.
There is plenty of advice telling you what to do when you are out of work, or getting ready for a layoff.
Brilliant folks are on LinkedIn and in the job coaching community. If you’re not on LinkedIn, and you want a job, I encourage you to get yourself an account.
For the moment at least, it’s a platform with less fake news and mudslinging than all the other platforms purported to bring us together socially. Ahem.
The advice you’ll get ranges from taking time to grieve (highly recommend, just don’t wallow) to updating your LinkedIn profile, to my favorite although hard to do the time travel to make it happen - building your network before you need it.
You don’t need me to reiterate their well written and often discussed points.
Instead, I can offer you this - spend more time focusing on WHO you are, fully and completely. Dive into a journal, a few sessions with a coach and/or a therapist (different modalities can help you unearth important information) and keep asking yourself what you stand for and why.
Find out what motivates you to work -
besides the money. Most of us don’t live in a world where we have to run across the Plains to catch our dinner, skin it and cook it over an open fire (thank goodness). We don’t have to forage for sustenance and figure out how to move more quickly from one spot to another. Our ancestors didn’t have time to do much (if any) soul searching. (And yet, we find evidence of poets and philosophers across time).
We have the luxury of connecting with our true selves and so few of us are willing to seek those answer.
I’m not sure why - although I have, as you may guessed, some theories.
It’s hard to look ourselves in the eyes and see the 3 year old that lives in there. There’s been a thing making the rounds on Instagram - “meet your younger self for a coffee” type of thing. The ones I’ve seen have all been written by women and all have revolved around the younger self asking about their love interest and their career. And while the older self reflected, often poetically, about roads not taken and learning the hard way - as a reader it seemed that one out of the 7 I read had done some real, deep dives, into who they are as a person and who they want to be moving forward.
Unscientific data for sure, this seems to be the case for many of us. Better to get the cute story out there, rather than find the answers we really craved at 19. And that may be because at 19 we weren’t asking ourselves, deeply, what we wanted (it’s okay, our pre-frontal cortex wasn’t fully formed yet). We (me) were busy looking around us for outside markers of what it means to be a successful human - cars, houses, lovers, prestigious jobs, and more and more, applause and appreciation (in the form of likes) from strangers and friends alike.
All this to say, listen to the advice of the job hunting gurus, stop hitting easy apply 10 times a day, and start reflecting on why you work and what your legacy is meant to be.
Not to be too dramatic, but your (meaningful) life depends upon it.
Big hugs,
Peggie
P.S. If you enjoyed this (or any of the things I share) please hit the heart button, share with your peeps, and think about buying me a coffee using the subscription button.
P.P.S. This is a MICRO business - me, myself and I. I earn money doing things I love, including writing, coaching, creating beautiful things with yarn and string. Every paid subscription helps me pay my bills and find a way to offer sliding scale fees to people who have been out of work for a long time and truly can benefit from encouragement and specific job hunting coaching.
P.P.P.S. The March meet-up of job seekers will be posted soon.