Gen Xer's 9-Year Unsuccessful Job Search - 6 Big Mistakes
No surprise Chris Putro, 55, has not landed a job in 9 years, despite a sustained job search. His last full-time job had been as a financial analyst. He has a Master's degree. In a standup-comic weekly gig, he picks up a few bucks.
What's obvious in Yahoo Finance's recent coverage of what has hardened in chronic unemployment is that Putro is approaching a search for paid income from work all-wrong.
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That post has since been taken down. Here is how it appeared on Google:
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As a coach, I pick up these 6 whoppers of mistakes:
Taking too long a break. When terminated 9 years ago, Putro decided that he would take 2 years off. In this fast-changing labor market - that even existed a decade ago as digital upended myriad sectors - you can't do that. Skills atrophy. Knowledge bases become out-of-date. Drive withers. Confidence erodes. How to interview keeps getting rusty. Contacts dry up. And, there are those gaps in a resume.
Another reality: Since you don't "look like" you are looking for work, no one tells you about openings.
Deciding to financially exist on savings/stock-market investments. So far that has panned out for Putro. For many, though, it doesn't. There can be unexpected expenses such as large medical bills or, as we have encounterd, wild inflation. A stock market crash could take years to bounce back. Also, what does not leave for retirement? This man is now 55.
But, more importantly, depending on a "reserve" distracts from the urgency of having to land work, any work. There's no, what I call, the "hustle force field." In a job search, those assets should be treated as "untouchables"
Not networking. Networking is how to find and go after jobs as well as contract assignments. Most opportunities are not advertised. Putro focuses on postings on platforms such as Indeed and LinkedIn.
Network research such as by the iconic Mark Granovetter found that the best professional opportunities come through "weak ties," that is casual contacts who are aware of your need to find work. It's amazing what they might suggest to you and provide the inside scoop on how to go after it.
Being a closed system. This man has not embarked on the difficult journey of exploring a reset in career direction. Admittedly a signficant shift usually is soul-wrenching. Here is my article on that, published in O'Dwyer's Public Relations. But with reduced hiring of knowledge workers, it is becoming a downright necessity.
Along the way he could have picked up certifications and licensings. The trades are wide open. One former pharma middle manager I coached invested in being trained and licensed for long-distance driving.
Holding on to some kind of professional identity through a hobby. Weekly he does his comedy stand-up and receives a very low fee-for-service. I assume that gives him a type of reference point in the work world. If he let that go, he would feel the very real pain of being without a professional identity in capitalist America. That might motivate him to hunt for one of those "transitional" job in fast food, retail or customer service. He claims he doesn't know where to find them.
Working at something more "solid" for pay could bounce him back into being part of the labor market.
Not downsizing credentials. Sure, there can be an ethical question about concealing "overeducation." But from my coaching experience with lawyers during the recession of 2008 -2009 (Paul Weiss was among the few law firms not laying off) I know that has become a must-consider. To pay off their student loans the former law associates had to search for paid income in non-legal sectors. It was their decision to remove the JD from the resume.
Putro might have found a more welcoming hiring situation if he had deleted his Master's degree. This is the era of cost-efficiency. Employers won't pay the premium such credentials tend to demand. Even the MBA for some jobs and assignments has become a liability on a resume.
The takeaway is the old adage: Nothing gets you a job like having a job. Putro needs to get a job, any type of traditional work situation.
Life is hard. Business is even more
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