Saturday, October 2, 2010

Starting Over

So many people in this job market have come to career crossroads. Is your job gone forever? Do you grit your teeth when you walk into the office each morning; you just can't take it? Do you now believe that education holds the key to your advancement? You have to start over.

I'll have more to say about deciding what you want to do, about the education or training or internships or volunteer work that land you the new job; but this is about getting that first new job; about starting over in the new career, when you bring all your knowledge and skills to a place that dismisses you as "the new guy."

The worst part about starting over is starting over. You are at the beginning in terms of experience HERE, but you're not necessarily young. People don't treat you with the respect you deserve. Your ideas don't get heard. You went through all that hassle for THIS? If you've had internships or done part-time work in the field while you were being trained, this "apprentice" time can be shortened.

The best suggestion: Get over it and get going. There's nothing to be done except get through it. Put your ego aside and look around. This new-guy treatment of you isn't mean-spirited. You simply have no credibility here. You may have had decades in science or theatre or financial advising, but that's not what we do here, honey. These folks have no reference point for your previous expertise and they don't value it. There are two good lessons here: (1) You will go through this anytime you change a job. You will always have to figure out a way to become a member of the new pack. The group always muscles you around before saying "C'mon in!" (2) The only thing that matters to an organization is that you provide value to the people, the task, the goals. What you are, intrinsically, is of little interest to the organization. Its essential question is: "What can YOU do for ME?"

Be patient and cheerful. Give the organization what it values.

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