| CAREERS NOW 01-30-08 |
| Tips To Hang Onto Your Job |
DEAR JOYCE: I read your column about recession and jobs. Since then the news
has only gotten worse. At 40, I'm an administrative manager and I want to do everything possible to stay right
where I am. I'm sure you have survival tips - yes? - Y.Y.O.
I've got a drawer full of suggestions on job preservation, including today's five quick tips from Dale Winston,
CEO of Battalia Winston, a leading executive search organization. Winston advises the following:
- Try to develop revenue-generation ideas, as well as cost-saving initiatives. This isn't the time to introduce
ideas that require major investments.
- Cheeriness helps. Management wants people who can boost morale during tough times, not whiners.
- Be visible. This isn't the time to take an extended vacation. Your position could be eliminated while you're
gone.
- Be open to new opportunities. Accept headhunter calls and investigate prospective employers in other, healthier
industries - such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare supplies and nonprofits - or smaller businesses that might require
your talents.
- Start a second career. Financially independent executives, looking for a new challenge, can often purchase exceptional
technologies at bargain basement prices during slow economies.
DEAR JOYCE: Now that we have the first woman and first black man as leading presidential candidates, how
well is diversity doing in corporate America? - J.R.
Not too well, according to university researchers. Despite a study reviewing 31 years of experience with diversity
training in mid-size to large U.S. workplaces - which are spending $200 million to $300 million a year to accomplish
it - required diversity training seems to be a failure. The results were a 7.5 percent drop in the number of women
in management; a 10 percent decline in the number of black, female managers, and 12 percent in the number of black
men in top positions. Similar effects were seen for Latinos and Asians.
Study author Alexandra Kalev, a sociologist at the University of Arizona, says that employees don't react well
when sensitivity training is forced on them.
So why do employers continue to pay for the training? Perhaps because it's easier to defend discrimination lawsuits
when the company has mandatory diversity training in place. And it's good PR, even if the training is more symbolic
than substantive.
Additionally, 76 percent of 357 global senior executives report their companies have one or no minorities among
its top executives, according to a new report from the Association of Executive Search Consultants (aesc.org).
DEAR JOYCE: I just lost my job along with 25 others in my company. I know about the Facebook and MySpace
social networking sites but I wonder if there are niche social networks as there are niche job boards? - N.B.
Yes there are but before counting on them to connect with people who swim in your job circles, check them out for
general appeal. A vast number of niche social networks (socionets) launched a couple of years ago but many are
duds and others are moderately successful. Critics say that there are just too many socionets and that the space
is becoming overcrowded. If you have time to look around for networks operating in a field where you want to go,
go for it!
DEAR JOYCE: Everyone in our company is hoping for the best but preparing for the worst in a year or two.
We've all talked about preparing for a Plan B, using the time to figure out a transition in which we could leverage
our skills acquired over years. Do you recommend attending career transition workshops or finding a career coach
who would deal with us as a group? - I.D.A.
Either resource would work to facilitate a Plan B. Additionally, once each of you figures out one or more potential
directions, try to contact an individual who knows a great deal about it and can open doors for informational interviews.
An instructive new book crossed my desk that may be of special interest in your situation: "The Connect Effect:
Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks" by Michael Dulworth (Berrett-Koehler, bkconnection.com). Dulworth is CEO of Executive Networks Inc. (Executivenetworks.com), a network for HR professionals in large organizations.
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