On November 2, 2017, I conducted a free webinar called “Land the Job You Want!” In it, I share some key ingredients that will prove valuable to anyone who is between jobs or careers. The full webinar is embedded below.
If you’re one of the many people who are currently unemployed or unhappy in their current job, you owe it to yourself to take 30 minutes and watch this presentation. And be sure to share it with anyone else who might benefit from it!
If you’d like some additional help after viewing this webinar, I’d love to offer you a free 30-minute session one-on-one to talk about your career goals. Just fill out and submit the form to the right on this page, and I’ll get back to you to schedule your time!
It happens to the best of us. If you get laid off, it can make you feel helpless and stressed. Here are 9 things you can do immediately to start regaining control.
1. Take a full breath in, hold it for four counts, and let it out for four counts, for a total of eight times.
Deep breathing reduces your heart rate and makes you feel calmer. It allows your brain to think clearly, making you feel more confident. It brings you into the present, which prevents you from dwelling on the past or fretting about the future. It opens you up to new possibilities and opportunities. For best results, make this a daily habit.
2. Ask yourself these questions:
Did you like your last position?
Do you want another one just like it, or was it just a job with a salary?
Now that you have a break, what else might you like to do to make money?
3. Start researching companies you’d like to work for and see what jobs they have posted.
4. Make a list of all your skills.
List all the job responsibilities you’d like to have, then all the responsibilities you dislike. Your new job should have an 80:20 ratio for it to be a good fit.
5. Update your resume.
Go to the Internet or YouTube and research all the different resume styles out there and ways to create a compelling resume, or find a professional resume writer to work with.
6. Create a contact list of all your friends, colleagues and business acquaintances.
Collect their contact information on an Excel spreadsheet and start making “coffee appointments.” Tell your contacts what you’re looking for and what steps you’re taking, and ask them if they have any advice on conducting an effective job search. Updating them periodically on your progress is a good practice. Consider these contacts as members of your networking team.
7. Volunteer with an organization whose mission is your passion.
You will meet new people to network with, give back to the community or the world, and use your “free time” effectively, time you may not have had when you were working.
8. Hold a 3-minute “complaining session” and create a “happy routine” to counteract it.
Using an egg timer, indulge yourself in three minutes of complaining, whining, and feeling like a victim, expressing any and all negative thoughts or feelings you’re having. Do this exercise just once a day. Then, think of a phrase or image that makes you feel happy and positive. Invoke your special phrase anytime throughout the day when you sense yourself drifting into negative thinking. Negative thinking zaps your energy and limits your ability to move forward.
9. Plan something fun to do – and do it!
Plan and follow through on things you enjoy doing but haven’t had the time to do.
For more information or for help with your job search, call or send me a text at 646-320-1126, email me at terrylynn@giraffesconsulting.com, or visit my website at giraffesconsulting.com.
“Yes, being laid off is a major life change. If you embrace the change and treat it as an opportunity, you can turn the change into a gift. It only takes courage and a plan.” – Terrylynn Smith, Career Coach
Change is often a gift—but that doesn’t make it easy. Maybe you’re between jobs right now. Perhaps you were recently laid off from work, or maybe you said “good riddance” and quit. Maybe you’re getting ready to launch a new business, embark on a new, exciting career. It doesn’t matter if initiated the change or if it was thrust upon you—stress is just a part of it, because it almost always accompanies change.
Stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Stress means “pressure,” and pressure is often the catalyst that brings us to a needed change. However, when stress levels get too high, it can affect your performance, your attitude and even your health. You need to take care of yourself, including finding creative ways to manage the stress during this transition time between jobs. Here are four things you can begin doing right now to keep the stress at bay.
1. Exercise
Stress releases cortisol and adrenaline into your body. These are the “fight-or-flight” hormones that have been programmed into our DNA as a way of giving us extra energy in times of crisis. However, these days, we rarely actually “fight” or “flee,” so those hormones just sit in our bodies and wreak havoc. Exercise can help you metabolize those hormones so they don’t keep you up at night (or turn to belly fat, in the case of cortisol). Try to find an exercise routine you can do comfortably several times a week. Trust me, you’ll feel better.
2. Avoid Stimulants
When stress makes you anxious, caffeine and nicotine make it worse. These are stimulants that can amplify the effects of the stress hormones we just discussed. You might think those cigarettes are helping you relax; actually, they’re doing the opposite. Try reducing your coffee intake to limit your caffeine. Quitting smoking cold turkey might add to your stress right now, but perhaps now is a good time to start trying to wean off them gradually.
3. Practice Relaxation Techniques
When stress becomes the temporary norm—like when you are between jobs—you may have to do certain things on purpose to counteract it. You can accomplish this using a variety of relaxation techniques, according to what’s comfortable for you. The practice of breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness exercises can be very helpful here. Take a look at popular apps like Headspace or Calm to see if these can help. Practicing these techniques at night before bed can help you sleep better, which will also reduce stress. (A soothing hot bath before bed couldn’t hurt, either.
4. Talk to Someone
It sounds trite, but it helps to talk about it. You don’t have to see a professional therapist (unless the emotions are crippling, or unless you just want to); even a trusted friend with a listening ear can be a great help at this time. Also, if your stress is coming from a place of uncertainty about your future, a life or career coach can be a key to your success, not only as a listening ear but as someone who can help you craft a strategy to move you into the next chapter of your life.
If you’re between jobs and need help dealing with the stress, Giraffes Consulting can help! In fact, we offer a free 30-minute consultation to learn more about what you’re going through and help you decide whether personal career coaching is right for you. Simply submit the form on the right side of this page to learn more.
So some exciting things are happening around here at GiraffesConsulting. If you’re currently looking for a job or are thinking about switching jobs/careers, here’s something you won’t want to miss. On Thursday, November 2 at 1pm, I’ll be hosting a webinar called “Land the Job You Want”—and the best part of it is, it’s absolutely free to attend!
As a life/career coach, I specialize in helping people make the transition into a new job or career, and I offer a one-on-one coaching program specifically dedicated to this goal. But in this webinar, I’m going to be giving away some of the highlights of this program—important information you can use RIGHT NOW to position yourself to land the job that’s just right for you. And you won’t have to pay a dime for the information—just register for the online webinar and log in on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 1pm!
What to Expect
Here’s just a taster of what we’ll be covering in the webinar:
Developing a mindset for success—Techniques to improve confidence and self-esteem
Marketing and networking tools—How to use these tools to take control of your job search
Interview preparation—How to make it nearly impossible not to hire you
…and more!
And That’s Not All I’m Giving Away…
I won’t just be covering these basics in the webinar itself: I’m also giving everyone who attends the webinar the opportunity to schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me one-on-one! We’ll discuss where you’re at in life and your personal goals for a career, and I’ll offer some helpful suggestions you can take with you. We can also talk together about whether further career coaching would be right for you. However, there’s no obligation, and the 30-minute consultation is free regardless!
Free tips for landing the job you want—PLUS a free 30-minute session? All just for registering? What can I say…I’m in the mood to give stuff away right now. 🙂
Needless to say, this is a pretty unique opportunity, so if you are on the hunt for a new job/career, don’t miss this webinar. Perhaps you’re happy in your current job, but if you know anyone who might be between jobs or thinking of switching careers, please share this information with them and invite them to join me!
How to Register for the Free Webinar
Registration is easy: just fill out and submit the form on this page. I’ll get back to you ASAP with instructions on how to log in for the webinar online.
It’s time to Land the Job You Want! Join me Thursday, November 2 and let’s get started.
In our previous post, we began talking about the fear that so many people deal with when going through a change in their professional life and career. Whether you leave a job by choice or by coercion, the uncertainty is real. However, as we mentioned earlier—you are still the same person, with the same talents and skills you had before you left that position. If you so desire, the same talents and skills that served you well in that job can serve you just as well in a different setting—perhaps even better. You just need to open your mind a bit and reimagine your talents and passions in a new way.
This process will look different for every person, of course, but here are a few options you might look at as starting points for retooling your skills for a new career.
Start Your Own Business in the Same Profession
One of the most common and effective solutions for rebooting a career is not to change professions, but just to stop working as an employee and start working for yourself. If you are a lawyer leaving an established firm, for example, you might have the option of starting your own practice. If you are a sales professional for a large company, find a new product you’re passionate about and set up a company to start selling that product. If you love what you do and want to keep doing exactly that thing, perhaps it’s time to take the helm of your own business. Doing so not only makes you the boss (virtually guaranteeing your job security!), but it may also take the limits off how much money you can make.
Work in a Related Profession
Sometimes retooling your skills simply means working in the same field but from a different angle. For instance, if you’ve had a desk job in publishing but always wanted to write your own novel, you’ve probably already got the connections you need in order to make that happen. Or, going back to the lawyer example, maybe you’re burned out with corporate law and a few classes are all you need to make the leap to criminal justice, personal injury or some other type of practice. Hitting the reset button may be as simple as making a small adjustment in how you approach your own profession.
Dig Deeper—Explore Your Core Talents
So maybe you want to take an entirely new direction with your professional life. That’s not uncommon, nor is it unattainable. In fact, chances are you’re already equipped for a wide range of careers you hadn’t even considered based on your personality type and what I call your “core talents.” A bit of self-exploration is helpful here—don’t just focus on what you’re trained to do, but on the deeper traits that make you good at what you do. For example, if being a “people person” made you a good marketing rep, it might make you an even better motivational speaker or public relations executive. If you were a great project manager based on your problem-solving skills, those skills might work quite well in event planning or consulting. (For me, I’m an encourager and a cheerleader of sorts; these skills that once served me in human resources now serve me as a life coach and career coach.)
The better you understand your core talents—the things you’re good at because of the type of person you are—the more career possibilities will open up to you, and the more far-sighted you’ll become. That’s the whole idea behind the Giraffes Theory. If I can help you reimagine your career, I’d love the opportunity. Give me a call at 646-320-1126.
Sometimes we choose change; other times, change is thrust upon us. No one understands this truth better than people who have switched careers at some point in their lives. Whether you submit your resignation letter or get handed a pink slip, the idea of staring over in a new career can be just plain scary.
Interestingly enough, the fear factor doesn’t seem to be much different whether we choose to leave a comfortable position at a company, or whether the company terminates our position for some reason. In one case, we have the ability to anticipate the change; in the other, it feels more sudden. But the truth is, both prospects feel equally frightening. This fear can be enhanced even further when we’ve worked in a certain profession long enough that we have started to draw our identity from it. “I’ve been a ______ for my whole life; what do I do now??”
What You Do Is Not Who You Are
If any of this describes you, let’s start with some good news that may start alleviating some of that fear: Your identity does not hinge on your career. What you do is not who you are. You are exactly the same person the first day off the job as you were the last day on it. You have the same qualities, the same characteristics, the same nature that defines you as a person. All that’s changed is your circumstance.
Same Talents, New Setting
Here’s another bit of good news: Your talents and skills haven’t gone away, either. The things that made you good at your job are still very much in play. To discover a new career, you simply need to reimagine those talents in a new setting. This can happen in one of three ways:
You can try to get a similar job with another company; or
You can reimagine your skills for another kind of job; or
You can completely change the setting and find new ways to exploit your talents—perhaps even go into business for yourself.
This is a situation with which I am personally familiar. If you know my story at all, you know that I worked for two decades as a human resources executive before a company merger made my job position redundant. Thankfully, I saw the writing on the wall and started planning for this before it happened; other people aren’t so fortunate to get the same kind of warning. But as I said, it was no less frightening. Perhaps with my experience I could have landed a new HR position at a new company, but another factor was my age. I was already in my 60s when this happened.
My solution? I discovered that becoming a life and career coach enlisted most of the same skills and talents I had used when working in human resources. In fact, my HR experience makes me very good at what I do! I simply had to open my mind and heart and see how my talents could be used in a new setting.
In the next post on this topic, I’ll offer a few more examples of what retooling your skills for a new career might look like, so you can begin to see your options are greater than you might have imagined. As always, I’m available to answer any immediate questions. Give me a call at 646-320-1126.
When I tell people the name of my life coaching practice—Giraffes Consulting—quite often the next question is something along the lines of “Why giraffes?” Understandable reaction. There are actually four reasons why I developed the Giraffes Theory as the basis for guiding people through times of change—a full explanation can be found here. But today, I want to hone in on just one reason why I chose the giraffe as an inspiration: Giraffes are far-sighted.
While on a trip to South Africa, I had an opportunity to observe giraffes up close, and one thing that struck me about them is that due to their height, they are able to see further than the other animals. In other words, they have a broader horizon. That’s such an important trait for us humans to have in times of change and transition. The more we can expand our own horizons, the more possibilities we can see for ourselves, and the more options we’ll have. That’s why I encourage my clients to develop a “far vision” for their lives—to see past the immediate moment of changing circumstances and to plan for life beyond it. In my experience, it’s the best way to maintain a sense of empowerment and control in times of change.
So…how do we become far-sighted? Let me offer 5 ways you can start expanding your own horizons.
1. Make a wish list.
What do you want to do in your life that you haven’t already done? What do you want to learn? What dreams have you had that perhaps got pushed to the back burner? Some people think of this type of thing as a “bucket list,” but I’m not talking about a list of things you want to see and do before you die—I’m talking about things you want for your life. Feel free to include the immediate needs of the moment, but also think beyond this moment to what you might want to accomplish in the years ahead. Write down as much as you can think of. You’re not committing to anything at this time—just brainstorming for now. But it will get you thinking of the future, and that’s what being far-sighted means.
2. Listen to forward thinkers and thought leaders.
Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Nelson Mandela. Heck…Albert Einstein. Think about people you know, both past and present, who thought ahead of their time and whose ideas have helped change the world. Who are the current thought leaders of your industry? Who are the forward thinkers you know and respect? Pay attention to what they’re saying; read their books, listen to their podcasts, follow them on social media. Listening to the words of far-sighted people will take you a long way toward thinking the same way.
3. Learn a new skill.
What have you always wanted to do that you never learned to do? Think it might be time to try it? Don’t buy into the old-dogs-new-tricks myth; we’re more capable of learning than we give ourselves credit for. Picking up a new skill opens up for you a whole new world of opportunity. Talk about expanding horizons.
4. Envision your current skills in a new context.
I worked in human resources for 20 years. Today, I have a whole new career as a life coach. Guess what? The skills for human resources and life coaching are essentially the same skills. I just put my H.R. skills into a new context. The point is that whatever you are good at, chances are you can apply that skill in a different way. Stop limiting how and where you apply that skill and think how you might use it in another context. You’ll be amazed at how this can open your world.
5. Let go of the past.
This one’s pretty simple: You can’t see the horizon in front of you if you’re constantly looking backward. This also ties into the last point: You can’t reimagine your skills in a new context if you’re wasting time wishing the old context would come back. Don’t be the person who grumbles about the way things used to be. Change happens. It just does. Leaving the past in the past is one of the best ways I can think of to start noticing a wider horizon in front of you.
Here’s something to think about: How many careers have you had so far during the course of your life? How many do you think you’ll have before you retire?
If you answered “one,” surprisingly, you’re in the minority. Hard to believe, right?
It’s true. Our version of the American Dream basically suggests that we go to college to major in the one career we’ll have our entire life—but the statistics say that’s actually quite rare. In fact, according to Careers-Advice-Online, the average American is expected to change careers a whopping five to seven times over the course of his/her working years!
If you have been swapping careers every few years and feeling bad about it…don’t. Obviously, you’re normal.
Mid-Life Is Prime Time
In spite of all this data, it seems like for many of us, mid-life is “prime time” to make a major career shift. Between the ages of 40 and 60, thousands of us find ourselves doing something completely different than what we were doing before. (I made my latest career shift at age 70!) Ever wonder why this is? Here are some common reasons:
We get bored and unfulfilled. No matter how much you love doing something, sometimes you just burn out doing it day after day for years. When we’re no longer happy in what we do, eventually we get so uncomfortable that we have to force a change.
We weren’t in the right career to begin with. A lot of us get locked into jobs we hate early on, simply because we didn’t know better. When we hit our 40s and that dreaded “mid-life crisis,” we start realizing the clock is ticking, and if we want to get into something better, we’d better get to it.
We get shoved out. It’s an unfortunate part of our culture, but occasionally we are forced into a career change due to business dynamics beyond our control. A merger might make your job position redundant (which is what happened to me after 20 years working in H.R.). Sometimes a young upstart is willing to do your job for less money than the company pays you, and unscrupulous heads at the top find a way to muscle you out. And sometimes the company you work for just runs out of money. It happens.
We experience a major life change. A spouse passes away. You get divorced. The kids leave home and you find yourself looking for a fresh sense of purpose.
Whatever the reason, if you’re facing a possible mid-life career change right now—whether it was your idea or not—the important takeaway is that you’re not abnormal. Something isn’t necessarily wrong with you, and the fates aren’t working against you. Change happens to everyone at some time or another; it’s just your time. What you do about it—well, that’s up to you.
The good news is that change doesn’t have to be frightening or overwhelming, and change doesn’t have to be change for the worse. In fact, if you take control of the situation, change could become your greatest gift as you find that new career you were meant for. If I can be of help in helping you through the time of change, it would be my privilege. Give GiraffesConsulting a call at 646-320-1126, and let’s talk about how you can set up a “Plan G” to help you move forward powerfully.
If you look around, you can see it in almost all aspects of human existence. We see it in the stock market. In politics. In religion. In almost every corporation and workplace. I’m talking, of course, about the fear of change.
People with new ideas bump up against this fear constantly, being perceived and labeled as pot-stirrers and troublemakers. We don’t like it when people rock the boat or challenge our preconceived notions. We don’t like it when our comfort zones are taken from us. We especially don’t like it when change comes suddenly, like a thief in the night.
Do you happen to know anyone who complains constantly about their life? (I’ve known a few.) What I find most remarkable is so often people like that could make things infinitely better for themselves by making a few simple changes to their behavior or situation. But nope. Instead, they just continue grumbling and griping. They’re miserable, but their misery also happens to be their comfort zone. The pain of their misery does not outweigh their fear of change.
It gets worse. In his book Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life, author Alan Deutschman cites studies that show that only one in nine people willingly make changes to their lifestyle even when confronted with the prospect of death due to illness or heart attack. Think about that: Despite our alleged survival instincts, nearly 90 percent of us are choosing death over life on a regular basis. Talk about resistance to change!
But…Why?
How did we get this way? How did we as humans become so set in our ways? Why do we fear change?
There are plenty of scientific studies, books and papers written on this subject, but for now, let’s explore just a few common-sense guesses.
We like well-trodden paths.
“Path of least resistance.” “The easy road.” “Low-hanging fruit.” Pick your favorite metaphor—they all mean basically the same thing. We gravitate to things that require the least amount of force. Change naturally involves some type of resistance, something we naturally avoid.
We like predictability.
We like things that run on autopilot because we don’t have to think about them. When something works the same way 100 times, we assume it will continue to work that way for infinity and beyond. When suddenly it doesn’t, life suddenly becomes unpredictable, which sometimes makes us feel helpless or fearful.
We fear failure (and/or success).
In the status quo, we know what to expect, and we know what’s expected of us. A change of situation loads us up with a different set of expectations. How will it look if we fail? Or if we succeed, how will it change the stakes? How will success change what’s expected of us going forward? These are questions we often prefer to leave unanswered.
Change Is Inevitable
For all our fear of change, here’s the paradox of the world in which we live: Change is going to happen. We live in a universe in constant motion, which means everything is always in a state of flux, even when we temporarily feel otherwise. Even we are changing, whether we like it or not. The billions of cells in our bodies die and are completely replaced once every few years. The day we stop changing is the day we die.
The sooner we begin to realize this truth, the sooner we can stop resisting change and learn to adapt to it, to embrace it, even to see it as a gift. After all, change is not necessarily for the worse; in fact, when we lean into it, our lives usually become better as a result.
One thing I’ve learned in my own experience is that one way to lean into change is to anticipate it and plan for it, which is what GiraffesConsulting is all about. When we plan for change, we no longer feel out of control, and we can face the future with confidence. This is why we always say: Change happens—take control!
