Employment therapy Rᵪ

When one of my clients strays from the plan we have set forth, the fallout might be a frantic email asking what they should do because a situation has started to go south. It’s my job to help them dig their way out of whatever they got themselves into. It won’t work to tell them to “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”

I need to be there with a safety net, a remedy, and sometimes a crystal ball. In addition to assisting with a recovery strategy, I may be required to talk them off the ledge once their predicament becomes clear and they realize the damage done may be irreversible. You could call me the Reluctant Therapist.

Too many times unchecked assumptions lead the way to disaster. A candidate assumes they can easily pick up a required skill that seems to have been overlooked during the screening process. Once hired, they may find themselves completely underwater and on their way to the unemployment line again. The frantic email I receive from them is because they have been called on the carpet and issued an ultimatum. They may have taken their eyes off the ball and allowed their performance to slip while on the job. Or, if they have not yet gotten an offer, they may have had the rug pulled out from under them by the employer saying, “We think you are overqualified,” when they deviated from the script and ended up overspeaking the needs of the position.

There is a reason to begin with a strategy for getting, keeping, and/or leaving a job altogether.

The common thread in these circumstances is that a strategy could have been developed for getting where they wanted to go, but somehow they lost sight of the longer-term plan. There is a reason to begin with a strategy for getting, keeping, and/or leaving a job altogether. One step in the right direction doesn’t negate the need to carry on with the rest of the plan.

The stress encountered throughout an extended pursuit of employment is expected to disappear when the offer letter arrives, so people often let out a huge sigh of relief and let their guard down. They start behaving “as they always have,” without adapting to the market changes that have occurred or the new technologies that have been introduced. The stress they felt before the job can resurface 60 days later, when it is clear they are unable to meet the job requirements or they are bored out of their scull and haven’t attended to the side projects that would have kept them on track. Situations like these require my assistance to help pull things back on track. Hand-holding and coddling won’t help when action is required. A trip to the therapist will help them over time, but when urgent action is required, I am the first responder and end up writing the employment Rᵪ.

Naturally, it is harder to turn around a sinking ship than it is to make sure it is seaworthy to begin with. It’s important to get help with the development strategy and support in carrying it out if you are unsure how to go about it. There are some basic–dare I say?–common sense approaches to getting and keeping a new job that can help prevent some of the angst of not “fitting.”

Know more about the company, the department, your supervisor, and the job before you apply. If you are unclear about how to go about that, please read more about researching, networking, and conducting a targeted search in my other blog posts.

Be clear about what you are most competitive for. When you see a posted job and think, “That’s easy to learn. I could do that!”, what really needs to be considered is: Does this company need you, do they need to spend time training you, or are they likely to find someone who already knows how to do what they need? If there are others who are more competitive, then you need to ask yourself, “Am I interested enough in this kind of work to learn it on my own? How long will it take to learn? Is it worth the investment?” If you don’t think it is worth the investment on your own, why do you think an employer would be willing to support your training?

Know what you need to get out of the job you accept. This may not be a long-term fix. In fact, it may be something you fell into because your car payments were behind. Whatever the reason is for your accepting a position, you need to be clear about what you can learn and what you will take away, before you start.

Have an exit strategy. Know where you are headed and set a time line for accomplishing it. If this is a temporary scenario, then be clear about what is next and how that will happen. Don’t drop the ball and slide into complacency.

I’m here to help assess options, help design a strategy, and help develop a plan. It’s up to you to carry it through. Of course, when you run into trouble, contact me and I’ll deliver an Rᵪ. It just won’t be a magic pill.