Posts Tagged Careers
Accept yourself unconditionally
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
There are few events as devastating as the loss of employment. The damage done to a persons self-esteem, especially if the length of time without a job is extended, can be crippling. Try to remember that your future isn’t in a job; your future is within you.
I think that self-honesty is of critical importance. Once we’re able to divorce ourselves from the various illusions and obsessions that affect our decision making, we’re free to make choices that are based in reality. Until then we’re held hostage.
I’ll give you an example, when I was a young actor in New York I had to make a living between jobs. Actors in New York become waiters, right? That’s the archetype. Waiting on tables gives an actor an income, and scheduling flexibility. I decided I would get a job waiting on tables. Within a few days I found a job at a prestigious restaurant in Gramercy Park. By my third evening shift I was fired. I couldn’t believe it.
So I went out and found another job as a waiter. The same result. I was fired. I was a terrible waiter primarily because I didn’t really enjoy it. However I couldn’t accept that. I became obsessed with proving to myself that I could excel in the restaurant industry. I found another job, and again, the same result; I was fired.
I was fired from twenty restaurant jobs in ninety days before I was finally bludgeoned into accepting that I just wasn’t a good fit for the restaurant industry and that the restaurant industry would never be a good fit for a klutz like me.
Sometimes rejection is God’s protection. I found a career in acting which was not only a way of life but a way to life. In additon, the skills I learned as an actor prepared me for a career in sales. Do a self-inventory including asking yourself what you really want from life. I’ve found most people can tell me what they don’t want but fare able to define what they want.
We’re all inundated by messages from our family, friends, peers, and the media. It can get to be a little confusing.
Here are a few thoughts offered by Brian Tracy that may help to guide you towards clarity of mind and purpose. The journey begins with acceptance, and in particular, self-acceptance.
Remember, dire circumstances have the potential to reveal who you really are. The bad times in my life forced me to discover capacities, talents, and resources I didn’t know I had.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Personal Growth on March 19th, 2009
Ten companies that probably won’t cut jobs
By Douglas A. McIntyre
Layoffs at big companies are so common now that it is novel when a day goes by without Microsoft, Caterpillar, or Macy’s letting thousands of people go. There are a relatively small number of America’s largest companies which will almost certainly not have significant layoffs. One of them might close an office in Turkey, another could replace telephone operators with an automated system, but each is in a unique position that makes it highly unlikely for them to want or need to fire employees.
Some of the companies on the list are simply doing so well that they cannot afford to do without all the people that they have. Not only will these companies be unlikely to fire people but some may actually be hiring. The other firms included have large amounts of cash on their balance sheets and have elected to use the slow economy to develop new products and services to take share away from financially weaker competitors. A few of the companies on this list had modest job cuts last year. None of them were significant and are highly unlikely to happen again.
Cisco cut 3,000 of its 66,000 people last year. CEO John Chambers has said that the company plans to avoid job cuts. Cisco probably has as much or more cash on hand as any tech company in the US, holding $27 billion in available funds. The company is in the midst of a very rapid expansion into the server and data center business. That will require extra personnel and may involve acquisitions. Cisco is in several businesses which are nearly recession-proof and should continue to do well. Its core router operation is critical to building out broadband and systems for popular products like VoIP. The new stimulus package should give that business a bump up. Cisco is also in several sectors like video conferencing which may actually grow as business people cut back on travel.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Careers on February 24th, 2009