Our expansion adds to our job search and outplacement focus three related initiatives combined into one global solution that we call Integrated Solutions™. Integrated Solutions™ addresses three major components of company success. The first is Leadership. The second is Organizational Transformation and Company Alignment. The third is Individual Personal Transformation (Career Success) and Team Alignment.

In other words: Company Teams Aligned with Leadership Direction and Empowered by Motivated Individuals are the Key to Organizational and Individual Success. Our model shows you how to strategically and tactically win at all levels. We will explain more details in future blogs.

So, why are we expanding our scope and offering?

1. Job seekers still need individual and outplacement assistance to compete in a global economy to find work. This emphasis will continue.
2. When job seekers land as employees, managers, or executives they need assistance to survive and thrive. Survive when the average job may last two years. Thrive in developing career success. So, we have expanded Jobpreneurship™ to include seeking one’s dream job in both the job search and company environments.
3. Employees succeed most when they are on the right bus (company), in the right seat (role), and going in the right direction (alignment with company and team goals). We will be soon announcing a new Career Success and Mentoring Program beginning with our new guide entitled Jobpreneurship™ 201. The guide is designed to help both the employee and the company to improve everyone’s success.
4. Poor teams, misaligned teams, dysfunctional teams, or any other description that results in low performance and low productivity impacts individual employee success, the team leader’s success, and ultimately company success. We have created a new organizational improvement model called Teampreneurship™ which helps company executives and leaders to either strategically pursue transformative changes resulting in high performance success or tactically pursue performance improvements depending upon the cultural and leadership environment. This model is designed, from a company perspective, to find the right people to put on the bus, to be in the right seat, to go in the right direction, to personally develop more value for the company, to have more career opportunity, and to be sure the right people are let off the bus. Teampreneurship™ is designed to help individuals, teams, and the company win together against a global, rapid changing and highly competitive marketplace.
5. With partners, we offer company executives assistance to improve their direction and communication to their organizations. Clear company strategic and tactical direction is the foundation for companywide synergy that helps organizational teams align with top management and gives individual employees a roadmap for career planning, development, and success. Top performing companies focus on leadership direction, team alignment, and employee development, value, and results.

By combining all three initiatives we believe we can help companies, teams, and individuals succeed together in a challenging world. That is why we call our new model Integrated Success™.

This is the traditional way that colleges, coaches, recruiters, companies, and many others teach. Why? Because these are the processes that gatekeepers use in HR and Procurement. These are what the internal people in the company see. But this is NOT what companies focus on when they are selling their products and services to other companies. Does that mean that HR and Procurement are wrong? NO! They are critically important in the process. I created and ran a worldwide procurement organization serving 80 countries with $2.5 billion spend per year. I highly respect HR and Procurement. They have their jobs to do. It is just that there is much more to the story. Or as a TV personality used to say, “Here is the rest of the story.” Or, “Here is what successful insiders know and do that is not being taught to the masses.”

First, notice that HR is still involved and is critical in the process. However, 90% of the process occurs before HR even knows your name. You may have heard that 80-90% of all jobs are through networking. That is true but now you know that there is far more to “networking” than merely handing out business cards to someone.

Second, notice that HR is your friend if you understand their role and how you can help them in the process. Most HR recruiters are overwhelmed, underpaid, and complained about internally and externally. They have a very hard job. Just imagine getting hundreds or thousands of resumes for a job posting – while being responsible for filling hundreds of jobs. You do the math. Most recruiters sincerely want to help people. That is why they went into HR. So, a wise person learns the real process of how to get the job while also helping HR be successful. Help them and they can help you.

Third, notice that the terms I am using may not be familiar to most of you. Even if you have been in corporate America, if your background is in operations, HR, Finance, IT, Engineering, or many other functions outside of product development, marketing, or sales; you have probably never been taught these skills. In fact, even if you have experience in one of these areas, you may not understand the entire process. To be fair, even if you are highly experienced in one area, how we apply these business best practices to getting a job may be new to you. For example, I often cite over 21 different types of sales roles. The role in getting a job that is taught in Jobpreneurship™ is Relationship Development utilizing a Complex Solution Sale methodology. That means that most sales techniques that finance people dislike are excluded.

The good news is that every one of these areas can be taught. Anyone can use these skills to compete in the marketplace regardless of the economy. Anyone can adapt these skills to their own comfort zone, industry, or profession. Here is a secret. If 90% of your job competition don’t know these skills and are not using them and you just pick up ONE idea, then you are already more competitive than 90% of everyone else.

We redefine the business terms into terms you may be more familiar with and give you hundreds of ideas in both a roadmap format in our book Jobpreneurship™ 101 and a multitude of additional solutions that build upon the roadmap foundation. These are found in our Resources or Solutions pages.

The take-away for today, is that Jobpreneurship™ is based upon world-class best practices that top executives and executive coaches endorse but simplified into bite size steps that you can take one at a time to not only get your next job but to develop as life skills that will help you to get your dream jobs, promotions, and lifestyles that you have been wanting.

Second, START looking at yourself as a business who needs to figure out:

·  What you are passionate about

·  What you really want to do from last week’s list

·  Where do you want to work

·  What that company is looking for in skills, cultural fit, character, etc.

·  What are the issues or gaps that you need to address before going to the company

·  What competitive value you can offer to a prospective hiring manager

·  How to brand yourself

·  How to communicate your message

·  How to network into influencers, trusted advisors, and decision makers who will see why they would “want” to hire you versus the masses waiting outside sending in their resumes.

If you cannot follow these simple points, why should they hire you?

Most of your competition is looking on job boards and sending out resumes. You can do better than that.

What sort of new skills and/or education should mid-life, middle management job-seekers consider to do to improve their prospects.

First, figure out what you want to do and where you want to do it.

Second, find out from that company or industry what skills and education you need to technically qualify for the job. You may not even need more training in your field.

Third, recognize that technical fit is the ticket to getting into first level cull list. 50% of the hiring decision assumes you are qualified, and shifts to your appearance, likeability, cultural fit, affinity interests, passion, trustworthiness, and a host of emotional feelings. A buyer (hiring manager) buys based upon gut feel (emotion), confirmed by facts (technical fit), and by politics (internal consensus). In most cases, a person who learns how to sell and market themselves can get a tentative job decision – and perhaps even get to write the job description before being sent down to HR to start the legal review and interview political process.

Think of this path as learning a new sport. You can watch football and think you know the rules. You can get up and learn the sport by playing it. You can get better through coaching and the bumps and bruises of experience. Who do you think will get to play on game day?

How long will the doldrums for this segment persist? Will more middle management positions for the 35’s and 45’s open up again in the near future?

No one knows how long this cycle will last. Some believe we are in an up cycle. Others believe we are about to experience a double dip. In my opinion, reactively doing what everyone else is doing may eventually result in a job. However, proactively learning the skills and process of how insiders and businesses get jobs can only help them get a job sooner. If they continue developing those skills, they will learn a new process that will last for a lifetime of job transitions and career growth regardless of the economy.

Increasing competition for jobs

·  Former executives and middle management who previously retired took a financial hit during the 2009 financial downturn. Now, they are either needing income to pay bills or they are concerned about not having enough money to live on when they can no longer work. Many are trying to re-enter the workforce.

·  Traditionally, there was an outflow of managers retiring whose departure opened the door for remaining managers to survive or for slots to become available. Cash needs, fear, and uncertainty have caused many managers to defer retirement.

·   The U.S. has encouraged immigration, especially of highly educated and trained foreign nationals. While a positive move in strong economic growth cycles, these high quality immigrants have increased the competition for U.S. jobs.

Perception of being more expensive

·  Older managers usually have higher salaries than younger managers

·  Older managers frequently have higher health risks and costs

·  Older managers may still expect to be on a pension or bonus plan that is no longer affordable

Perception of being out of date or too old

·  Many managers are professionally or technically out of date. One example is someone I know who still prefers pencils and paper for logistics rather than today’s integrated technology solutions.

·  Older people are perceived as not wanting to change or innovate – which runs counter to today’s business hyper-change environment.

·  Managers often feel their value is to manage people, but not necessarily produce results or add value. That was yesterday’s model.

Some might ask,  “Is it a case of being over-qualified for entry level-jobs but not sufficiently qualified/experienced for upper management, or is their situation more complex and nuanced than that?”

Being told that you are “over-qualified” is merely a polite phrase to avoid the deeper concern that, when the economy recovers, you will leave for another managerial position with another company. In most cases, you may actually be “under-qualified” to do today’s entry level jobs. Many managers are out of date technically or educationally to perform entry level work.  They may also have emotional challenges when demoted. Why hire a former manager when you can hire a lower cost, passionate, high energy, technically current, and recently educated young person?

For upper management positions the issue is often a lack of experience and proven results. The average tenure of today’s C-Level position executive is from 18 to 24 months. It would be hard to convince a similar size company that a former manager would be the best candidate for senior executive positions when many experienced senior executives are also looking for work.

What can these people do to improve their chances of finding a job? Is it a case of lowering their sights or aiming high for upper-management?

First, they need to face reality that the world has changed. It has become highly competitive with fewer available jobs. That means they need to learn how to compete in the same way that businesses compete for jobs. The unemployed is a product or service trying to market and sell oneself into a job. How are you competing with other products and services looking for placement?

Just implementing a few of these principles can help someone compete at much higher levels.

The first step is to review the many options that you actually have:

·  Try to get their old job back or a similar position in a similar company

·  Try to move into senior management in a smaller company. For example, a controller in a larger company may fit as a CFO in a smaller company.

·  Become a consultant

·  Become a fractional manager who works a day or more at each of several client companies who cannot afford a full-time employee

·  Become a contract worker. Companies will often look to contact solution companies, such as Tatum, to fill interim positions or to handle a specific project

·  Start your own business

·  Partner with others to start a business

·  Buy a franchise

·  Change careers

·  Work for non-profits…

In my opinion, any of these are better than targeting entry level or lower level positions.

With increased technology and industry consolidation, companies have centralized and consolidated operations. Two examples are the use of shared service centers and data center consolidations. Middle management becomes truly redundant and is usually eliminated.

Process Improvements have increased productivity resulting in fewer employees which means you need fewer managers.

Consultants have driven major cost cutting and competitive advantage initiatives, including de-layering, right sizing, outsourcing (discrete jobs), and offshoring (entire operations or manufacturing). Often de-layering and right sizing merely means having to do more with less, resulting in fewer people having to work longer and harder. With outsourcing and offshoring, many jobs are being filled from outside the United States.

There is more competition from true globalization and virtual employment, whether overseas, contract labor, or home based virtual employees who are willing to work for fewer benefits and a lower wage. This trend is likely to increase. Examples include fractional CFOs, part-time consultants, technology managers responsible for internet sites or the internet cloud, project management, and virtual call centers.

There is deferred demand for rehiring middle management. It was easy to let high salary managers who oversaw the producers go out the door. As the economy recovers, many of those positions may open up. However, companies are finding that they can get along with fewer people and they are reluctant to hire even when the need is critical. Why? Because they are afraid of not being able to forecast the risk of potential higher taxes, higher healthcare costs, increasing regulations, tighter credit markets, global instability, lower consumer demand, greater government debt, inflation, and the impact on their marketplace.

Unless there is substantial economic growth, the opportunities for middle age and middle management will remain tight for the next few years.

Older workers have a lot to offer but are not usually aware how much the world has changed.  The old paradigms of resumes and hard work have been replaced with having to develop oneself as the product, communicate their message and value, and be known as a trustworthy employee who is looking out for the interest of the company.

Most older workers are seen, correctly or not, as displaying little passion, believing that much is owed to them, and watching the clock.  Developing oneself as a product requires really knowing who you are, what your passion is, and what the picture looks like for what you want to do and can do in the industry, profession, and company that matches you. In other words, “Why should I hire you?”

Most older workers are seen as out of touch, waiting for retirement, and not strong team players.  Developing your message and value requires understanding what you can do for the company that is better and quantifiably more impactful than your competition.  Even if you are a superstar, if you cannot communicate your value in terms of helping companies increase revenue, profit, cash, or customer satisfaction, then who will ever know that you may be superstar for them?

Most older workers have value systems that do not mesh with today’s company cultures.  Often that includes the senior executives.  Whether the older workers are right or wrong does not matter to the senior managers whose careers depend upon subordinates following their lead.  The question is, “Can I trust you or do I have to watch my back?”

The world has changed.  Older workers can keep their value systems but have to learn to know what they bring to the table, be enthusiastic, communicate their value, and demonstrate that they understand the ground rules and are there to serve – or to find the company whose culture and values are a better match for their own.

If you do these things, imagine how much better your chances will be to land a job or to keep a job.

• People begin to talk about it at work, lowering productivity
• People begin to wonder what it might mean to them, e.g. the price of gas
• Wall Street immediately reacts to major rumors and market trend implications, e.g. the price of oil
• Executives begin to wonder how it might impact their business, their customers, or their future expansion plans

One common occurrence is that these huge stories take the wind out of smaller stories and may stall major financial or business decisions. In other words, business and hiring can come to a stand still until the air clears.

Prior examples included the Bush/Gore and Bush/Kerry election results or the September 11^th terrorist attack. Each of these demonstrated a noticeable business impact. I know, I saw the impact on my friend’s business and my business.

Other huge stories have a smaller US business footprint, such as the Haiti, New Zealand, and Japan earthquakes.  These impacts are seen as “over there.”  Even the Hurricane Katrina was noticeable in the South but “over there” to most other states.

But the Libyan situation may be a sleeper to businesses. The reason is that it is a domino that could have a huge impact in the Middle East and the direction other dominos (rebelling populations in oil rich countries) eventually fall. At a minimum, the price of oil has gone up which will drive up the cost of commodities and may act as a brake to the US economy. Even though most of the Libyan oil goes to Europe, the Europeans are now competing in the world oil markets to make up for the loss. That could give businesses a second thought before hiring new staff.

However, the larger issue is how Libya is being handled. When bullies are threatened by superior force, they usually keep a low profile. Today, the way the UN, NATO, and allied countries are handling the Libyan “humanitarian action” (war) is likely to result in a protracted conflict which could fuel the fire further. How? If the bullies perceive the superior forces are half-hearted and backing away. Long live the bullies.

For this to happen in the oil rich Middle East is bad enough. But there is also a risk of power shifting to the Muslim Brotherhood. If that happens, oil prices (inflationary pressures with a declining US dollar) could seriously threaten or even reverse the current economic recovery that businesses are hoping for and impact hiring trends.

So, what does that mean for the job seeker? It means you should continue what you are doing. You can’t change the world, so focus on what you can change. Even in the worst of times people can get jobs – and so can you. Just be aware that the most competitive and the most connected are usually the ones who win.

So, despite Libya, Japan, inflation, currency devaluation, Middle East Turmoil, or even if the sky does fall, what are you doing today to become more competitive and more connected to the right people?

Share some tips with us on what you are doing.

Everyone has challenges to face.

Do you have as much money as you want?

Do you have as much power as you want?

Do you have the perfect looks that never needs improvement or updating?

Do you have the biggest, most modern, best location, best designed, best built…house on earth?

Do you have children? Are they perfect angels all the time?

Is your marriage perfect with no need to grow or to continue learning?

Is your job your chief joy with the right amount of rewards, excitement, prestige, control, recognition, and freedom?

Is your spiritual life, mental life, hidden heart and emotional needs without flaw or need?

I could go on forever, but my guess is that no one on earth really “has it all.” They may say they have it all. They may think they have it all. But…really?

The pursuit of riches can be a curse. Having too much power can destroy you and those around you. The best looking person at twenty looks much different at eighty. Houses and possessions get old, destroyed, stolen, or can control you. Children and spouses will always have their bad days; just as you do. Jobs come and go. You will have good bosses and bad bosses. You will never have enough time to spend at work, with your family, and your hobbies. You will lose your job, be fired, be outsourced, be downsized, or be replaced by the new boss’ friend. Your spiritual life could easily become an outward appearance of wrong inward thoughts, feelings, and actions. Even if you think you “have it all today”, just wait a few days.

You can decide what is most important to you. However, your dream may be an illusion not backed up by facts, hard work, and life’s circumstances that are outside of your control.

So, what do you do?

I recommend you start by taking stock of what is really most important to you.

You can’t have it all. But you can strive for what is most important and try to balance the rest. For me, my priorities are God, family, helping others, and paying the bills. I am blessed with other rewards but if I die with my priorities in order, then I am truly blessed and thankful for what I have and what I have done.

How about you? What are your dreams and priorities? How is that impacting your job search or career?

We should!

But that does not mean we should ignore reality and not take proactive measures to deal with reality.

For example, if you are on a railroad track and you see an oncoming train, hear it’s whistle blowing, and decide to either ignore it or to use the power of positive thinking to imagine it disappearing, then you are right. Someone is going to disappear.

A prudent person would decide to be thankful for the warning, get out of the way of the oncoming train, and then think positively about what they should do for the rest of the day.

In other words, having a positive attitude does not mean that there are not challenges, threats, or actions to be taken. It means a choice of taking positive actions with a positive attitude to deal with life’s circumstances, persevere, learn from the situation, and become stronger – and more competitive.

Getting run over, sticking our heads in the sand, or waiting for others to take care of us usually means we are not taking control of our future, not planning ahead, and assuming that the train will jump off the tracks and go around us.

We have to deal with reality to become a victor, not a victim.

So, how do we become victors?

Here are a few tips:

1. Do your SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat assessment). A strength in one job could be a weakness in another job. A threat is often an opportunity to overcome, become noticed, and succeed.
2. Learn as much as possible. Realize that most people have only “part of the story.” There are many sides to most issues. Many vested interests spin truth to gain advantage or accomplish their agenda. The more facts, truthful understanding, and insider wisdom, the greater your chances will be to win.
3. Pick your advisors and friends carefully. Try to join groups who really understand what is going on behind the scenes rather than merely repeat the propaganda frequently spread to the masses. I know I just offended some of you, but think about it. Most people’s agendas are to get what they want – that means from somebody else. Those are not who I want for advisors or friends.
4. Find older insiders who have seen cycles, learned lessons, and know other insiders. They may still miss interpret sea change events but are less likely to be fooled. In other words, they have been burnt at least once and really don’t want to get burnt again.
5. Assume that “Life Happens”. We cannot control the riots in the Middle East, the weather, or most of what can happen in the world. We can control our reactions, seek to understand how that may impact us, and take any steps that might be appropriate.
6. Realize that wise people are also taking steps, from their perspective, that might impact our steps. For example, a company may stop hiring until they feel they can forecast business and political winds. If the winds are gusty and uncertain, they may batten down the hatches to weather the storm. It doesn’t mean that they would not be willing to hire the right person. It does mean that the public might assumethat they are not hiring. There are ways of getting in the door even when the hatches are closed.
7. Assume that your plans will take longer to accomplish than you would like. Most get-rich-quick schemes fail for 99.9999999% of the population. That 0.0000001% who win usually lose their fortune within 10 years. Lifetime success is from learning, planning, doing, failing, learning more, planning more, doing more, and learning how to win. Anyone can win if they are willing to pay the price.

HAVE A POSITIVE MINDSET. HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE. THEN TAKE POSITIVE STEPS TO TURN YOUR DREAMS INTO YOUR REALITY.

MP3 NOT For
Redistribution