The Times Are Changing ... Are you?

By Alicia Pozsony As we set our clocks ahead and await warmer, sun-filled days, it’s time to recognize the season of spring. New life and bright colors of nature—it’s as if Earth is taking new breaths. Take this opportunity, as nature flourishes, to start anew in your job search journey. Whether you’re new to being unemployed or you’ve been unemployed for a longer while, I hope you will find my story uplifting. Can you think of another time in your life when you were down on your luck? Maybe it was when you were younger in age and less informed about the ways of the world, as was true for me. I recall the very first time I was asked to walk to the corner store to get milk and bread for my mother. This was a challenge I gladly welcomed and proudly accepted. It came with age and she felt I was ready. “Come right home and bring me all the change” I heard my mother call as I walked away from our front door. It was a warm, sunny day, and I had the confidence of ten thousand men. Repeating ...

By Alicia Pozsony Recently, I found an old classifieds section of a local newspaper lying around in an outdated job-search folder. Instead of just tossing it, I revisited it to try to figure out why I’d kept it. I looked it over but noticed nothing exceptionally special about the date. Plus, no jobs were highlighted or circled. And there were no articles of use. So I continued scanning it this first time for companies that had been hiring for information technology positions that August of 2008 and found none. I scanned it again, this time for other positions I might now settle for, and I even circled a few that were advertising part-time work back then, hoping they might be solid leads to some work for me now. How funny that a newspaper would make me think about all the time that had passed since then, and how quickly the time had gone by. I reflected on who I’ve become, ways I’ve changed, things I’ve done—all of it to try to see how much more accomplished I’ve become or perhaps h...

By Alicia Pozsony If you followed my January advice, by now you should be feeling fresh, alert and on track. You should have made yourself once again acquainted with more people through your holiday greetings, feeling good about your timetable and goals and feeling stronger than ever in the self-worth department. If so, good for you! If not, it’s not the end of the world. No time like the present. This month, I challenge you to stand up and speak up! Start talking on Blogs popular within your profession; start your own blog if you have not yet done it. Use Twitter actively to make the most of your connections online. Go the extra mile to assert yourself. Start conversations on Linkedin. Start conversations in the office supply store. Comment people positively at happy hour. Exchange business cards. Get out there! Your efforts must be as far reaching as possible so Don’t hold back! When I am on a path with an ending in mind, I start with zero, so I can accurately measure my stand...

By Alicia Pozsony If you want to know if the economy is picking up for 2010, turn on any news channel. If you want to know recent labor statistics, go to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm. On the other hand, if you don’t want to read the numbers, because you are one of the unemployed, then perhaps think for a moment of all those of us still hanging in there trying to find a position, wait it out, or even deciding to move on. A friend recently told me of her weighing the options she had, and she was right in finally deciding to get out and try all over again in a different place. It’s not always as simple of just a choice for those of us, with family and friends nearby, kids in school, lack of money to get out, stuck in a mortgage (or two or three) that we can’t pay off. So what then? I’ve written in past months about the importance of updating your resume, focusing your time and energy on staying motivated, not giving up, and considering your back-up careers and back u...

By Alicia Pozsony According to Amy Lundgren of Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minnesota, “December is perhaps the most challenging and the oddest of all months for job seekers. Not only do you deal with the distractions in your own life, including holiday preparations on an ever-shrinking budget, but you have to deal with the distractions in the lives of employers as well. “You really shouldn’t drop your job search just because you think it won’t be fruitful. You can’t afford to lose that much time. In a search that lasts four or five months, skipping December is like adding 20 percent to your period of unemployment.” Therefore, remember the motivation strategies Lundgren offers: “People still need to get hired in December. Some companies would like to start the new year with their new employees in place, while others can’t wait until after the holidays to hire; and yet other companies are always hiring. “To keep your momentum going and stick to...

This month I found myself asking myself “What do jobseekers need?” Allright ... A job. Okay, okay, we all know that all too well! So what kind of things can you do to stand out? Use a landline, make sure your resume matches the job description, make sure you are using the right keywords, demonstrate how you can make them more profitable, follow up without a typo, all the usual things that can be found on any google search, bing result, or career coach list. Well, maybe, just maybe, instead you need to fit in to land a job. But don’t take it personal. How many of us are professionals who have a good bit of experience under our belts? We have degrees, certificates, recent education, and experience in a specialized skill set, or two. We have 10 years, 20 years, 30 years experience. We are dependable professional and dedicated. We made our last employer more profitable. We added productivity. We did all that. Stand out if you must, but I am thinking another approach might work. If s...

By Alicia Pozsony, Editor in Chief, Mercer County PSG Monthly Newsletter I recently picked up a printout of The Seven Phases of Job Loss, which I found in the PSG room. I recall liking that chart ever since I first entered the room and thought about becoming a member. When I first saw the chart, I thought I’d experience all of the phases once and eventually get hired. I never imagined I’d be out of work as long as I have been. As some of you may know, I’m still unemployed. I seem to be taking a different course from the one I originally planned--five years married and 20 years as a professional; it shouldn't be too hard to take the usual A-to-B route of landing a job. And for someone who’s been a professional for 20 years, it wasn’t easy to change my course of action. Maybe this is something you can relate to. Shock. Denial. Anger. Depression. Acceptance. Explore options. Develop plans. I never thought I’d be going through these phases multiple times during my unemployment period. ...