Laid off, I was standing on a little tiny platform waaaay up in the sky.
Looking ahead, I saw this wide, beautiful expanse of opportunity. East, west, north — all blue sky and cloudy landscape. Idyllic.
But unlike in past job searches, I didn’t feel like I had the momentum that I once had. When I turned around on that platform, the space behind me was just as empty.
And let’s not mention looking down. Because gee, that’s a flipping long way to fall.
So when I ran across this fantastic video, I saw myself. If you’ve been laid off, you may see you too. And if you do, the picture can be surprisingly good.
In the film, one of the participants shares a piece of advice that she learned about job search:
Don’t be the person looking for the job, be the person who’s out there doing something interesting.
If you’re looking for work, and you haven’t tried that yet, go do it. Find something you love, something you want to learn more about. Learn tai chi. Take a cooking class. Plan a trip to hike through the jungle. Whatever gets you charged up.
What’s your interesting? I’d love to hear about it.
Alexandra Levit started her career as so many new grads do with a pretty simple decision: she chose PR because she liked the communications classes she took in school, and for its lifestyle — good salary, big city location. But she didn’t stay there.
New Job, New You tackles the thorny issue of transitioning to a new career from all sides, and is a comprehensive guide to the entire process, from examining why a career change is in order to figuring out how to get there effectively. New Job, New You bases its insight in actual case studies of some truly remarkable career transitions, like Jon who went from a Ribs Maker, to a Commodities Trader, to a Psychology Professor, or Kami who started as a Naval Officer and ended up an Inventor. By outlining the improbable, Levit helps you see that truly anything is possible, with the right planning and motivation.
Throughout the book, Levit examines the seven critical factors that often lead to the decision to change careers, and shares tools for evaluating how these factors fit into your career goals. And each chapter wraps up with in-depth discussion of how to actually put a career change plan into action, with invaluable insights and resources to get you started or help you settle on your perfect next step.
I speak to people almost every day who are considering a career change for one reason or another, and over and over people want to know where to start. If you’re looking for a guide to get you thinking about what you want and how to get it in a much more thorough, structured way, then my advice is: start here.
Alexandra is a talented writer who really knows what she’s talking about, and a super-cool person for sharing her book with me! As always, I write about the book because I think it’s valuable — not because anyone’s expecting me to.
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Laid off, I was standing on a little tiny platform waaaay up in the sky.
photo credit: chantrybee
Alexandra Levit started her career as so many new grads do with a pretty simple decision: she chose PR because she liked the communications classes she took in school, and for its lifestyle — good salary, big city location. But she didn’t stay there.