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Pertinent TopicsMAY, 2010 LOOKING FOR A JOB? CREATE ONE! Although we hear every day that corporations aren't hiring and start-up businesses can't get the credit to start, we read amazing stories about people who put their minds to it, come up with a creative idea that solves a real problem, and sprint past the "no jobs" barrier. How do they do it? They start with the belief that they have something to offer -- education, training, experience, passion, creative energy. This can happen when any of us see a need and ask ourselves what we would most like to contribute to help solve the problem. Passion is the key word here. We pick up speed when we realize that the benefits we could offer spring from our deep concern about an issue. Passion plants the seed that leads to future job satisfaction. We're not looking to get another degree or certification. We're looking to solve a problem now and create a job for ourselves in the process. The next task is to connect the dots between the real problem (or the problem yet to be identified) and our vision, talents and passion. This is the time for real creativity and energy to kick in. Imagine how a solution to that particular problem could influence change for the good. Research takes center stage now. What kind of research can help with an unidentified problem? These days, the new technologies can tell us a lot about who is doing what in the area we are thinking about. It can give us names of others who are working on this and those names can become valuable contacts when we reach out to them. By adding these people to our networking calendar, we can share and learn from one another. These contacts help trigger new ways to fine-tune the solution we have in mind. Also, what about our personal network of past colleagues, bosses, customers, staff, etc.? Never mind how far back we reach. Everyone needs networking connections. Our "voice from the past" phone call might make someone's day. Why bother to call these "old" co-workers? Because everybody knows somebody. When we share our situation and our upbeat thinking about creating a job instead of looking through the "help wanted" ads, we get new ideas and might even help the long lost friend with a concern he/she is struggling with. Thomas Friedman wrote recently in the New York Times: "In America there's always somebody who doesn't get the word -- somebody who doesn't understand that in a Great Recession you're supposed to hunker down, downsize and just hold on for dear life." These are the folks who actually believe that a recession is a "dandy time to try to discover better and cheaper ways to do things." He described two people who are serial innovators who just didn't get the word. They went right ahead, dreaming the possible dream and making it a reality. One set out to fund energy start-ups. The other figured out a way to combine CO2 with any briny water to produce calcium carbonate while reducing CO2 emissions from coal- or gas-fired power plants. Most of us aren't serial innovators, but we can learn from them. We can give up the idea that things have gotten so impossible lately, that we stop dreaming. We can innovate on our own terms, in our own world by finding a way to contribute our talents and identifying someone who needs that help. What a great time to create the job you really want. |
Rhoda F. Green & Company, Inc.
The executive's executive resource.
Our phone number is: 212 222-3445
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