Okay, so I know it’s Labor Day weekend in the U.S.A., and everybody wants to take a break from thinking about work. I know I do. 😉 Unfortunately, things have gotten extremely … “eventful” at work, lately, so a whole lot of work stuff has been on my mind, despite my best attempts to keep it at bay.
Oh, well. At least I have two more days after today, to practice my not-thinking-about-work skills.
And I can. Because somewhere in the back of my filing-cabinet mind, I know that no matter how rough things get at work, it’s not the end of the road for me. Things change. There could be a re-org. I could get moved to a different team. I could be promoted… even demoted (heaven forbid). Things change. And then we go on.
Even if things went south and I parted ways with my employer (not my first choice, for the record), it wouldn’t completely derail me. Of course, that big of a change would unsettle me, as it would most people. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Because there’s always another path to follow, another way to take. And if you have the right supports in place, you can design your own resilience and ensure that your career (and the associated paychecks) stay on a course that works for you.
Now, a lot of people talk about using professional and personal networks for finding new jobs. Supposedly, that’s the best way to find work. For myself, in the past 31 years, I’ve only once have I turned my personal network to find another job — and they reached out to me. Other people may be able to pick up the phone and call a friend who can get them into a company, but my network is less personal. It consists of recruiters. And while it hasn’t worked out every single time with every single headhunter, I’ve regularly managed to find work when I needed it through placement professionals.
- When I had left college and was desperately in need of a steady paycheck.
- When I moved across the country to California.
- When the company I worked for went into Chapter 11, and a bunch of us got turned loose with severance checks and a letter for the unemployment office.
- When I moved back to Boston and had no connections, no context, and still needed to get working.
- When I had my own business and needed to pick up some part-time contract work to help pay the bills.
- And more.
Recruiters have always been there for me — even at times when I didn’t 100% need them.
So, this Labor Day weekend, as some people in horrible jobs are dreading the worst, I can relax.
Whatever happens, I’m good.