Abundance or Scarcity – What is Yours?
According to a recent interview of the CEO of Jobvite, Dan Finnigan (Dan was previously top dog over at Yahoo! Hotjobs) now is the time for companies and individuals to attack the market by making oneself better. He is quoted saying,
“People’s natural instinct [during tough times] is to retreat. I think that’s the biggest mistake a company can make right now. Now is the time for companies to invest in their products and the time for people to invest in their careers, so that when we do come out of this you increase the value of yourself.”
Reading that quote spurred thoughts from a couple of noteworthy blogs that I follow, Jason Alba’s JibberJobber Blog and Scott Love’s recruiter training series. In Jason’s most recent post he mentioned “I believe there are many people who are anxious to get their next steady paycheck, but will eventually see opportunities to do things they never had time to do before. Companies will be born, millionaires will be created, products and services will surface.” Scott Love mentioned that to a successful recruiter in a down economy is to simply get better, improve your skills, your ability to network, communicate and sell. A millionaire friend of mine told me once, “You are 100% responsible for everything that happens in your life, 100%”
So, what does all this mean?
In a slow economy where the unspoken layoff-turmoil monster looms around the corner of 95% of American’s minds we have a doom and gloom attitude. What if? What if you were the one that stepped up to the plate to lead and make a difference. One of the best economy centric books I have recently read was “The Next Millionaires” by Paul Zane Pilzer, Economist to President Bill Clinton. In his book, Paul mentioned that we need to adopt an abundance mentality as opposed to a scarcity mentality. We as Americans have always adapted to find the new resources, create the new ideas or medical breakthroughs. Tough times bring opportunities.
If you are unemployed (or underemployed) take time to grow and develop your skills. Focus on what you can do to best leverage your strengths and get them in front of the right people. Tough times breeds creativity too. We will adapt. Come late 2010, early 2011, there are going to be some incredible new ideas and some incredibly wealthy individuals who can figure out how to make the most of our new “opportunity”.
Facebook comments:
November 25th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
It’s tough to look at times like these and say, “Aha! Opportunity!” but I do agree with Dan and Jason – now is precisely the time to do that, both for job seekers and employers.
For employers one of the worst things to do is put your head in the sand and hide. Your competitors are likely flailing and even with more job seekers in the market due to layoffs, people want stability, and they care about culture and fit. So now is the time to get out there as an employer and market, brand and promote your company. Think about strategic hiring vs. quick, shotgun hiring and build up the talent pool for when things pick up.