February 16, 2010

GET OUT OF THERE!

Posted by Brian Kurth under Career, Career Coach, Career Coaching, Career change, Find a job, Job, Job Loss, Job Opportunities, Job Search, Jobs, Lay-off, LinkedIn, Unemployed, Vacation, change, life change, life reinvention, travel, work
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You know, these days, some folks are forgetting to have fun in their work or job search (yes, job search can and SHOULD be fun at times).  I feel there is a pervasive “heaviness” in the air due to the economic conditions in the US, the constant partisanship in DC, overall “worry” about world affairs and terrorism….and an increasing burn-out from those employed making up the hours for their laid-off colleagues who are equally burning out in their job search.  Hence, people are simply tired.  Let’s rid ourselves of this heaviness as best we can.

What is my advice to all of you burned-out folks – regardless of whether you are employed or unemployed – to reduce your feeling of “heaviness”?

GET OUT OF THERE!

Get out of your office or home office for a day or two and work remotely from a new and different locale.

“I’m too busy with work,” you say?  Take the work with you.  Have laptop & mobile phone, will travel.  This is the Internet/iPhone/Blackberry age for crying out loud!  Work can be done just about anywhere.   Any reasonable boss can be convinced of such (if your boss isn’t reasonable or rational, then you have another matter to address). You can take the work with you.  No excuses!

“I am unemployed and can’t afford to take a work vacation and leave town.”  Fair enough.  Then hop in the car, on the bus or subway and change your environment.  Head to a coffee shop with WiFi in a completely different neighborhood, town or city within, say one hour, than you’re accustomed.  No excuses!

Why is it so important to spend time working out of your office or home office from time to time?  How do you, your employer and/or job search benefit?   Here are a few reasons:

1.  Increased productivity and creativity – It is proven that when people shake things up a bit, they can actually increase the quality and quantity of their output by “clearing the mind”.  No excuses!

2.  Law of Diminishing Returns – as you burn the candle at both ends, the return on investment for your time decreases along with your productivity.  By “getting out of there” and shaking things up, you will actually mitigate and maybe even eliminate the diminishing returns you’re creating for yourself.  No excuses!

3.  Fresh air – mind, body and soul.  Now, I’m not a psychologist but it’s not rocket science to understand that seeing grass, snow, flowers, squirrels, trees, the blue sky and the sun is beneficial to your well-being.  Get out of your cubicle for a day or two.  Get out of your home office for a day or two.  If you’re job searching, you can make phone calls from just about anyplace as long as it’s quiet…..and you can email resumes and network  online via LinkedIn, et al from anywhere.  No excuses!

Do I practice what I preach?  Absolutely.  Here is a photo of my MacBook with a view of the Pacific coast in Lincoln City, Oregon just two weeks ago.  Only two hours from Portland.  Did I break the bank by getting away?  Absolutely not.  Getting away on a Monday and Tuesday during off-season is dirt cheap.  Especially in this economy.  And, again, if you can’t afford to actually get out of town for an overnight stay, then AT LEAST get out of your neighborhood, town and city and spend the day in a different neighborhood, town or city.  Just for a day.  No excuses!

I promise you’ll see an increase in your productivity and creativity while feeling less burned out.  And you’ll PHYSICALLY feel better.

So, grab your iPhone, Blackberry, laptop, writing journal and whatever else you need to get the job or job search done and GET OUT OF THERE!  No excuses.

Cheers!
Brian

Brian Kurth

Career Reinvention & Transition Expert, Speaker, Author, TV Contributor and Founder of VocationVacations

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January 10, 2010

Freeing Up The Roadblocks to Career Mentorship

Posted by Brian Kurth under Career Tips, Career Transition, Career change, Job Loss, Jobs, Mentor, Mentorship, Work-life balance, career mentorship
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I am still sometimes surprised when people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s are reluctant to get a career mentor. They think getting a mentor is just for the 20-year old college intern or the fresh-out-of-grad school young corporate exec.

Of course that’s not the case…but it takes some convincing for some folks. The biggest obstacles for most people seem to be their apprehension to research and recruit a mentor (“Where do I begin?”) and their impression that people simply don’t want to help them in their career development.  I have found that a good 40% of qualified, well-researched, prospective mentors will become a mentor if/when they are asked. Making the ask is the key!  So it is a numbers game.  People DO want to help out their fellow man!  The impression that finding a good mentor is a needle in the haystack is a falsehood.

Finding a good mentor is dependent upon establishing your criteria and effective research using key tools such as LinkedIn, Google search, your alumni association, trade associations as well as simple networking through your family, friends and colleagues.  Then, once you make one “ask” of a qualified prospective mentor, you will find it easier to make the second and third, etc.  It may be a numbers game.  You may need to ask ten people prior to finding your mentor.  But it is worth the time and energy.  Trust me.  I’ve seen thousands of people benefit from career mentorship in my work over the past 6 years.

Have you (or a loved one who’s “stuck” in a career rut?) acted on your motivation to get a mentor? If not, what obstacles are preventing YOU or your loved one from researching and recruiting a mentor in a current industry or a new, exciting career?

Cheers,
Brian
www.briankurth.com
www.vocationvacations.com

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Test-Drive Your Dream Job:  A Step-By-Step Guide To Finding And Creating The Work You Love

 

January 8, 2010

Post Lay-off: The Loss of Financial Security and The Loss of Identity

Posted by Brian Kurth under Career, Career change, Finance, Job, Job Loss, Laid-off, Lay-off, financial security, loss of identity
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I was asked by a member of the press yesterday what I thought was the largest issue looming for my clients. Great question. The two that stand out the most are:

1. Loss of financial security and the fear that builds around it;
and
2. The loss of identity after being laid off. A corporate attorney doesn’t feel like he/she can go into another field where they might be able to use their legal background. An IT Manager feels like he/she is “stuck” in because it’s all they know, etc.

These two are not at all the only issues out there, obviously. There’s also family issues related to the economy…and fear of failure, etc. But these are the two most prevalent that I’ve seen during this Great Recession.

I’m curious for those of you out who have been laid off recently or have been laid off in the past (like me back in 2001 – for me, financial insecurity loomed larger, fyi), which of these two issues/obstacles loomed larger for you?

And, MOST IMPORTANTLY, what are you doing/did you do to combat them and work around the roadblocks and obstacles of financial insecurity and/or loss of identity?

Best Regards,
Brian Kurth
www.briankurth.com
www.vocationvacations.com

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Test-Drive Your Dream Job:  A Step-By-Step Guide To Finding And Creating The Work You Love

 

January 6, 2010

Blah, Blah, Blah to the Traditional New Year’s Resolutions

Posted by Brian Kurth under Boston, Career, Career Author, Career Coach, Career Coaching, Career Tips, Career Transition, Career change, Chicago, Job, Job Loss, Job Opportunities, Job Search, Jobs, LA, Laid-off, Lay-off, Mentor, Mentorship, NYC, New Year's Resolution, Oregon, Work-life balance, foodie, lamb, life change, life reinvention, work
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Blah. Blah. Blah.

We all have our 2010 New Year’s Resolutions, right?  Get to the gym.  Lose weight.  Manage time better in work.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

All great goals.  And we should all go for them.

But I have yet to hear anyone say, “My New Year’s resolution is to have more fun and smile more in 2010”.

Well, let me be the first.  Let’s face it folks, 2009 simply sucked for so many people.  If the Great Recession didn’t impact you directly, you more than likely have loved ones who have been hit by it.  They’ve been laid off.  Their hours have been cut.  They’re losing their house.  They can’t afford daycare anymore.  The list goes on and on.  I certainly heard it all this past year through some of my career coaching clients.

That being said, I think we all need a bit of levity.  Yes, we need to laugh.  We need to have some fun DAMN IT.  At home…and even more so at work.

I’m not suggesting that you forego the goals of getting to the gym, losing weight and managing your time better.  But I am suggesting that you add “Have Some Fun and Laugh!” to your New Year’s Resolutions.  If you have to, even PLAN some time for creative fun.

Me?  Here are three, simple things that I’m doing for fun at the beginning of the New Year (and there will be a lot more as the year goes by):

1.  My partner Wade and I are organizing Friday Night MAX Dinners with a couple of good friends.  MAX is our ever-expanding light rail system here in Portland.  It runs to places that we rarely go to – places like Gresham, Hillsboro, Clackamas and the far north side of Portland.  There are great neighborhoods with ethnic and mom and pop restaurants we want to check out.  So, each of us is going to take one of the lines and research a fun thing to do at the end of the line and a restaurant to have dinner on a Friday night.  Exploring our metro area.  Spending time with friends.  Love it!

2.  I am going to borrow friends’ dogs who would like them to have some “Uncle Brian” time in the VocationVacations and Brian Kurth + Company office.  Since I’m the boss, the office is totally dog-friendly.   I LOVE dogs but can’t have one in our condo building and I simply travel too much.  So my friends’ dogs will have some “people time” and I’ll get my dog fix.  Perfect!

3.  I am a total foodie…but I can’t cook.  And I also don’t like lamb.  But a variety of friends and acquaintances keep telling me, “Oh, but you haven’t had MY lamb”…or their Mom’s lamb, etc.  So, here’s the deal.  Invite me to dinner.  I challenge you and your lamb.  Whether it’s here in Portland or when I’m in NYC, Chicago, Boston, LA or wherever.  I will eat lamb in 2010 to determine if there really IS a lamb that I like.  I will bring a nice bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir to pair with the lamb.  How fun is that?

You get the point.  Small things like what I’ve listed above will bring smiles, laughter and deeper relationships. It’s all  part of the need for work/life balance!

What are YOU going to do to have more FUN and LAUGHTER at home and/or in the workplace in 2010?

Happy New Year!
Brian

Career Coaching & Mentor Recruitment – www.briankurth.com

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