How to effectively compete in a tough job market; getting in gear for career success - Career Strategies

Black Enterprise, Feb, 2004 by Sonia Alleyne, Laura Egodigwe, Tamara E. Holmes

You Can Always Find Work

The best people don't get laid off. If you're good, there's work out there for you. Those were the overall opinions of experts gathered recently at BLACK ENTERPRISE'S Career Roundtable. That's a hard pill to swallow if you have been laid off and unemployed for a year or longer. Since the economic downturn in 2001, more than two million jobs were lost. There was little recovery in 2003, with projections for 2004 seeming optimistic. The downsizing and restructuring of the corporate landscape, however, has had residual effects that will continue to impact the work environment and employment. It's still a buyer's market, which brings and supports a high level of corporate arrogance.

"Companies are now leveraging their power in the marketplace," explains Sharon Hall, managing director fin executive search firm Spencer Stuart's Atlanta office. "During the war for talent, if you were a strong talent, you could get hired because they couldn't find anybody to change jobs. Now, there is so much excellent talent on the marketplace, corporations want to write ... the whole resume. They are that specific." So employees have to be smarter, more strategic, more visible, and more flexible. These changes in the market have imposed a variety of psychological pressures on those navigating in and out of corporate America on an old paradigm.

"[Companies] no longer hire on potential. They hire on results," offers Joe Watson, president and CEO of executive search firm StrategicHire in Boston, Virginia. "And when you're a person of color that tends to impact you because of the historical lack of access to the right schools, the right career opportunities, the ability to build a foundation that would allow you to excel. You can no longer rely on your potential. You can no longer rely on the interview, on being smart and insightful and intelligent and driven and passionate and all of these buzz words that [in the past meant] great things."

The experts, however, caution against allowing such new demands to deter you from working or advancing in your career. Success today will be determined by how well professionals compute these changes and how efficiently they react to them.

The pressure is being felt by everyone--white and black remarks--human resources consultant Ron Mason. Today, hiring managers are looking for tangible evidence that you can indeed perform the task and show results. Just being a great individual is not enough of a sell anymore. Job hunters as well as employees have to learn how to restructure their approach to interviewing, networking, and assessing their skills. And the packaging has to be airtight. "Put on your game face," says Mason. It's time to play hardball.

Participants of the roundtable include Hall; Mason; Watson: Katherine Giscombe, senior director of research at Catalyst, a nonprofit research and advisory organization working to advance women in corporate America; and Liz Riley, assistant dean and director of M.B.A. admissions at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. They offer specific guidelines to moving past the psychological blocks that prevent many from succeeding.

Know when to change gears. Learning how to be more flexible is probably the biggest challenge tot people of color, mainly because the connection between title and accomplishment is a tightly woven mindset, says Watson. The person who loses an executive position mentally often has a hard time settling for a job of lesser rank. As a result, he or she will have difficulty identifying opportunities outside of their sphere of familiarity,

"If I'm the VP of Tide, that's a big deal," he explains. "I worked 18 years to get there, and now you're saying I should think about going into manufacturing of auto parts." What becomes a bigger deal, however, is not realizing that it may become necessary to change gears, such as considering a new industry or accepting a less prestigious title--just to slay marketable.

As Hall states, professionals also often have a hard time assessing their capabilities beyond a title. A vice president of marketing has difficulty seeing how the skills that he or she developed could serve in another position or in another industry. Declining to interview for a job based on the title and not what the position requires will oftentimes result in lost job opportunities. Enough lost opportunities can keep a job seeker out of the market for an extended period of time. "I can't tell you how many people I have talked to now look back and [regret turning down offers] because they weren't right," says Hall.

But, as Maser points out being flexible extends into a number of areas that include relocating and accepting a pay cut. "You've get such a [high] concentration of people and a low concentration of availability in major cities." He suggests that candidates should consider places like Abington. Wisconsin, or St. Louis for work. "Headhunters them selves are feeling better about the talent, being able to draw mere to :nose places," Mason explains. "In the past yet couldn't get them to leave [the major cities.]"