Job Layoffs - Become Your Own Career Builder

Have you lost your job? Do you know someone who has?

Statistics back in October 2007 showed more than 146 Million people working in the U.S. During the first five months of 2008 the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded more than 4,000 mass layoff events in the United States, affecting more than 670,000 people and their families.

Chances are good you either know a family who has been affected by work layoffs or are one who was laid off yourself.

It used to be that people looked for careers where they could stay with the same big company until retirement and leave with a pension. For a number of reasons, that is not necessarily an option anymore. If you’re looking to restructure your career, let me give you the best starting point for finding work that matches your personality.

You may not have many connections left to go back into your same industry. In that case, let’s take a quick look at where you can begin again.

Your soul was born into your body with an amazing array of talents, skills, interests and values. These are your God-given gifts and they will help you find a career that is perfectly suited to your soul’s desire and your own personality.

Here’s how to begin:
• List the top 3 skills that you enjoy. I may be a very good cook, but I really don’t like the whole process. So cooking would not be one of my top 3 skills.
• List your top 3 values. I love helping people, I love knowing more about God and I love sharing useful, practical information. That’s why I am a career counselor.
• List your top 3 interests. Have you worked in fields that include your interests? If not, start joining interest groups so you can begin networking.
• Once you have identified your top 9 God-given gifts, contact a career counselor, unemployment office or head hunter to begin helping you find a career which matches you personality.

Chances are your new job will be in a different field, but it’s your skills, talents, values and interests which you will now bring to your new career field.

Elise Brownell, Ph.D. was a high-ranking manager in a major biotech firm in the San Francisco area. She worked hard to climb the ladder of her profession and was excellent at her work, one of the best, as a matter of fact. During 2008 she faced a layoff and was forced to re-evaluate her career direction.

She looked at her skills and found so many that she could not narrow them down to 3. Her choices included:
• Planning, Organizing, Focus, Resourcefulness, Able to see things in a new way, Able to develop healthy & supportive relationships
As you can see, she was (and is) a very capable woman.

She then looked at her top 3 values and found she was excellent at:
• Intellectual challenge, Financially sustaining and becoming the best at whatever interested her.

When asked what her top 3 interests/hobbies have always been she answered,
• Reading
• Playing piano and listening to music
• Swimming and going to the beach

So what did she do with all this valuable information once she was laid off? She and a business partner built their own biotech management staffing business!

Elise has always incorporated a love of reading widely in her Biotech career and is as up-to-date in new industry trends and directions as anyone can be. She loves her work and it shows. Today she makes a point of listening to music playing in the background while she works. During her days off, few and far between, she goes to the beach to unwind. Is this not the best of all worlds for her? She is PERFECTLY suited to her professional life based on her Soul’s desires and her God-given gifts. All she had to do was define them and make a plan.

After thinking outside the box, she and her partner now have a company which provides project/executive consulting services in the biotech industry, specifically in the area of drug development. Because Elise had always worked in biological sciences as a R&D professional, she had enough background, determination and vision to start over.

So can you.

For updates on how to find your best career/personality match go to Life’s Work Career

For further information on the Spiritual application of this subject go to Applying Spiritual Principles

© 2008