How to handle and cope with career uncertainty

 

 

Part 1: Constantly work on your motivation so you have enough energy to take action. 

If you’ve suffered a life shock of losing your job or feel at the mercy of current economic events, remember you are a person and a job isn’t the whole story of you. I know this may be easier said than done if you’ve invested an incredible amount of meaning in your job or vocation. 

Your value as a person is irrelevant to how much cash you’ve got in the bank, whether you’re a Head of this or CEO of that, or Project Manager, Digital Marketing Manager or any other title that rolls off your tongue when people ask that question “What do you do?”

I mentioned that back in 2009 I went through a 6 month period of unemployment that saw my mental health plummet. Unemployment came partly due to the impact of the 2008 financial crash, but also because I didn’t want to stop working for myself at that time, despite some very clear and cold facts from the market. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to quit something – but only if you’ve thrown 100% at it.

I felt confused. I felt fragile. I was angry with myself, with the world, with bankers and with politicians too.

Confused and fragile is ok.

We hurt. We ache. We experience pain after a big life shock like losing a job overnight. 

Take time to accept it. Cry and scream.

But do accept it so you can start focusing on solutions quickly. 

Being angry for too long– that’s not ok. Life goes on and it’s a waste of the little precious energy you might have right now. 

It’s way, way, better to spend that precious energy on rebuilding yourself and your future.

You can be angry for ages. But the market doesn’t care. New opportunities may come and go if you don’t stay focused and go after them.

When I decided to direct the precious little energy I had at staying in the game of life, there were a few basic things I did to get myself motivated:

1. Stopped self-criticism

Self-critical talk isn’t good even when things are going well in your life. There’s a big difference between self-critical and what I call self-reflective talk. The first is when you might say “Who’s going to want to give this job. They are bound to give it to someone better than me” versus “It might be hard to get this position, and there is a lot of competition, but I’ve got some good experience and a few skills that could be transferable. I’ll try my best in the application and interview.” 

It’s possible if your economic status has been hit hard by Covid-19 then you might be feeling pretty low, fed-up or even lost.

That’s ok.

However, the longer you talk to yourself with language that’s dispiriting, not uplifting, the easier it is for you to become more fatigued, which in turn will drain your mental energy. Why? Because you won’t be able to see what’s possible about you or your potential. All you’ll see is the impossible and believe that’s the truth. Though, as Nelson Mandela said:

“It always seems impossible, until it’s done.”

So instead of saying “I can’t do it!” try “it’s possible.”

Replace “I’m going to fail” with “I’m going to learn.”

Swap “There’s no point” with “I can take a risk.” 

2. Talked less about problem and who I spoke about it with.

I have some fantastic friends and an amazing family for which I´m very thankful. When I was at rock bottom and opened up to my family, they all swung into action to support me in whatever way they could. 

Now, as much as I loved all the friends in my life, I was also careful about who I told the full extent of how I was feeling, and only spoke to a very small handful. 

I’m a big believer in accepting that you shouldn’t expect all your friends to be able to give you advice. They won´t all know what to say or do. Also, it might not be suitable to tell some friends because of what they will say and how they say it. It might not actually be very helpful to you.

That may sound weird, but some friends can give terrible advice. It doesn’t mean they aren’t great and beautiful people though. The two are entirely separate.

So, for example, I knew I could talk to a mix of friends who between them were:

• blunt but compassionate with me (to help me snap out of my mental fog)
• uplifted me (with kind words and deeds)
• helped me consider things from a different angle (through the quality of their advice)
• helped me feel less alone (by checking in on me) and
• made me laugh (by talking about other stuff and just being jokers). 

Conserving your energy, confidence and mental health is a total priority if you need to pick yourself up right now and see what’s possible in terms of new work.

Don’t feel you need to talk about the details and everything that’s going on in your head to all your friends and family. Pick a small selection of those friends you know are going to help you, lift you, carry you forward, because they’ve the emotional skills and common sense that will help.  

If some friends insist on focusing on the problem of your lack of work or career uncertainty when you really don’t want to focus on solutions instead – change the subject. Let them know you’ll talk to them about the problem if you really need to, but in the meantime your focus and conversation must be on what´s possible. 

3. Practiced gratitude

I swear focusing on the good stuff in your life for long enough will begin to lift your mood. Why? I think it really just comes down to reigniting a sense of perspective and relighting the flame of positivity that is still there in you – even if you feel like total crap.

With a little shift in perspective and taking your energy off the impossible and heavy, you create some space to consider things from another point of view.  

That things may be bad, but maybe not as bad as you thought. Or even if they are worse than you could have imagined, it’s not the end of your story and at some point, things can turn and change for the better. 

With that reminder of hope you can feel motivated again to take a little more action – and a little more action is better than none.

Take 10-15 mins at least, list all the things that come into your head that you can be grateful for. Even the things that seem like everyday stuff (e.g. access to clean water or to the internet) right up to bigger things (like having loving people in life around you). 

List all of them in your phone or make a note and stick it where you can see it as a gentle reminder to boost your mood.

4. Went to bed on time and tried to get out of bed on time (most days)

When you are feeling down in the dumps and not motivated, it’s easy to get constantly distracted by the need for entertainment. To give you some examples, that might mean: 

• Binge watching Netflix, Amazon Prime or any other streaming service.
• Hopping from Youtube video to YouTube video.
• Talking with friends and family into the late hours to numb the feeling of anxiety.
•      Too much Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok.
• Video Games.
• Reading anything from rubbish celebrity magazines to books.
• Getting drunk.

Now I’m not saying these aren’t things to do, but if jobhunting, conserving your energy and preserving your focus has to be the number one priority, getting sleep and getting started in the day is essential. If you sleep too late and you’ve lost the normal routine of a 9-5pm job, you’re more likely to (a) not get enough sleep – which will impact your energy the next day (b) wake up late and lose precious time to stay active and busy trying to turn the odds of finding work to your favour.

Go. To. Bed.

Crazy as it sounds, set an alarm to go to bed as a reminder to wind down and go to sleep.

5. Devour motivational content

If you wake up and just want to turn over for another 3 hours because you can’t face the world, stick on your earphones and listen to a few motivational videos. Do in it bed if you have to until your mood lifts and there´s a break in the emotional clouds.

I did this for a lot of mornings until I didn’t need to. What I listened to reminded me of the alternative – which was instead of throwing the towel in, was to get up and see what I could accomplish that day – to go for the small win. Motivational and super upbeat music can help as well, but I found motivational videos were better.* 

If you think there is “no way am I listening to some cheesy American talk about goals, motivation and being a tiger” – get over it. You have a brain and can choose what to accept, listen or turn off. But try. It’s a tiny price to pay for a big dose of motivation that may help you get started with your day, to take actions that may well change your life.

*Saying that I have a public playlist on Spotify called ‘Raise Your Vibe’ that might help (sorry, it’s mostly pop music!).

6. Eat

Stress and anxiety have different impacts on people. I know that for me back when I was unemployed, it made me eat even less than I do! Which wasn’t great for clear thinking and energy levels. Eat and keep your food clean (ditch the fast food) and as healthy as possible so you avoid energy highs and low and feeling sluggish and heavy. Conserve that energy.

7. Wash and dress

When you had to be in the office starting work at 9.0a.m you probably showered automatically without even thinking about it. If there’s no routine to get out of bed on time, to commute and work next to colleagues, that automatic habit isn’t activated. If your personal hygiene has taken second place and you are in your pyjamas all morning, get back to showering and getting dressed in clothes that are smarter than just pyjamas or tracksuit bottoms. Hell, if you wanna get into a suit because it activates your motivation to get working, thinking and job hunting – go for it. 

8. Exercise

I love exercise and training, partly because of the challenge, but also because of the feeling of wellbeing and calm it gives me. It takes the edge of some of my more irrational feelings or thoughts and keeps me very present. Anxiety is a real barrier to staying calm, staying present and staying motivated. Exercise helps to switch your focus, keep you energetic and helps you achieve small wins. I remember working out at home to get energised if I was feeling low, and to use that energy to get focused on taking action for the day. There are a million videos out there on YouTube and Instagram to give you basic exercise routines – so you don’t even have to think about what to do. Just pick one and do it. If you don´t want to do that even going for a good brisk walk will help.

9. Schedule a time every day to research – undisturbed: 

It may seem like stating the obvious but even if the economic situation seems super tough, even hopeless, it’s essential to keep looking, every single day.

If motivation is a problem to do this, aside from the tips above, actually scheduling a block of time in your diary will make it a tiny bit more likely you’ll actually it. Unless you’ve the immediate pressure of running out of income in a few weeks, it can be easy to put off job hunting till another day. 

Or not do as much as you can every day, e.g. 1 hour instead of 2 hours. 

Throwing yourself into job research, rewriting CVs, drafting cover letters, may seem a hard task if you don’t feel optimistic, but it’s a better feeling than the feeling, anxiety and regret that will come from not doing anything to take action.

You don’t need fancy apps or complicated productivity tools to move forward. 

Just set notifications in your phone to remind you to get to it (for example, you could set one the night before to remind you what you’ve got to do tomorrow, and set one in the morning to reinforce this).

Get what you need ready the night before or whenever it is you’ve said you are going to start. On the rare occasions I find myself procrastinating to go to the gym, I’ll get my kit ready hours before I know I’ve said I’ll go, sometimes leave it on my sofa or pack my bag in advance. Then when it comes to the time to get my butt to the gym, I’ve one less reason to find an excuse, or waste time trying to find my kit and talk myself out of training.

Get your laptop open, maybe open up the pages of jobsites you need to check out the night before, or open your LinkedIn account you know you need to work on, charge up your laptop, get your notepad ready and leave it in easy view and reach.

If it also helps seek out someone who can encourage accountability and in turn help you to take your responsibility. A good life or career coach will help. 

If you’ve a constructive friend to also act as an accountability buddy recruit them to be your champion. Someone who can gently remind you each day to get on with it. Or, if you know you are someone who needs a firm push, if you have a constructive friend, get them to be on your case.

Try to do your job hunting undisturbed, away from unnecessary digital and physical distractions if possible. Treat it like a super serious project that requires your full attention and avoid temptations that will lead you to procrastinate and break your concentration.

Remember, try to control what you can. What you can control is actually looking for a job. 

Try to stick to a routine if you’ve lost your job or know you need to start stepping towards a different future. A routine will give you some kind of structure, which will help you to keep you a bit more present. 

When you are job-hunting or looking for a career change, don’t forget to start with your own personal and professional contacts. They could be your fastest route into new work, a side income, good advice or be your cheerleaders – telling others about what you are looking for on your behalf.

I’m not going to cover how to do that in this article, but there is a good article in the Harvard Business Review that has some good advice on how to do this strategically and not waste time. It’s worth a read here. 

If you feel like life has punched you in the face right now, you aren’t going to jump up instantly, you’ll struggle, maybe get on one knee and then the other, and eventually you’ll stand. You’ve got to keep trying.

Part 2: Spend enough time working out what you want your future to look like 

 

“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

Joseph Campbell

Career and work play such a dominant part in your life that I think if you want to get as close to a happy career as possible, it’s really important to take time to understand what you really need deep down inside.

When people ask the question “what do you want to do in your life” it’s really one of most unhelpful questions ever.

A better question for targeting your focus is “what do you need in your life.”

This will help you work some kind of purpose or point you in the right direction and give you something to lean back into so you can assess if you are trying to live with purpose and are not off track.

Needs are different from wants.  We all want a big juicy salary – maybe enough to get buy and have some treats, maybe be wealthy, travel a lot, or have enough to help friends, family, charities.

However, there’s a reason why money (want) doesn’t mean happiness (need), because money can’t capture the essential needs that reflect your essence. 

Suspend your reactive or natural inclination to assume the career you’ve always dreamed about isn’t possible. 

Instead, work from a different first principle, which is to assume there are no obstacles that you can’t overcome someday and assume the ideas, people and resources are out there already – you just have to go find them.

Maybe you haven’t really tried to get a different kind of job or career before because you didn’t have the self-belief, confidence or thought you weren’t capable.

These are things that can be changed: you can develop self-belief; practice confidence and learn the skills needed to ensure you are capable.

This is mostly in your control –  so there really isn’t an excuse.

You don’t need to have the answer tomorrow.

You can allow yourself to take some time to work it out.

When thinking about your ideal career future, try to connect with the ideal as much as close as possible. It’s ok if it isn’t an exact fit or there seems to be a gap between what’s in your head and heart and what seems possible.

Don’t get hung up on it being precise and set in stone or be a perfectionist about it.

If you’ve been working in the same job, company or sector for many years, it may seem hard to let go and you might want to cling onto things that have always seemed essential. Yes, it can be hard. It´s ok to let go of what you thought was once essential and realise you’ve got new essentials or new needs in your life. 

Growth depends on letting go of something old to make way for new life and new experiences. As Anaïs Nin wrote:

 “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”

In my own career, I would say that 20 years ago, I was torn between the performing arts and national politics – two very different career paths. Then 15 years ago I was intent on getting into national politics, but 10 years ago that idea was beginning to die since I realised it would mean the end of an essential need of mine (to be true to myself and honest). And 10 years ago I had my own business, but as described above that ended, leading me to a job in a great corporate and getting superb experience, which I’ve used in other settings. Finally, 2 years ago, my need to be of service to others dominated more, and coaching is one vehicle via which I can do this and get paid. 

If I go back to when I was 16 or 18 or 21 years old – I can swear this is not how I thought my career would turn out. Never even imagined it. But it’s good. I’m alive. I’m happy.

I don’t know if there’s a path or destiny preordained for you – but I do know you have the ability to carve out your own path. Either way, you have to take action. Destiny is way too busy with 7.5billion other people on the planet just to focus on you. Meet her halfway.

First, spend time working out what matters to you – needs and wants.

Identify 10-15 needs and wants that are very important to you. 

This could be wants like salary, appreciation, status, bonuses, benefits, make the world better, workplace culture, able to get out of work on time, permanent or contract work. It includes needs like growth, autonomy, service, community, creativity.

Second, score these out of 1-10 with 0-3: really not important; 4-6: important 7-8: extremely important; 9-10: absolutely essential/fundamental.

Third, work out why these are important to you and not anyone else – not mama, papa, the kids, friends, colleagues, deity of your choice, tradition etc.

So, for me two fundamental values in work (and life) for are Growth and Autonomy.  If I can get it where I am – then great. 

As my career has been evolving and is still a work in progress, I don’t let myself be limited in terms of ideas about where and how I can experience this or preconceived limits. 

Fourth, work out if there’s a gap between your current situation and where you want to get to – and if there is a gap how big a gap it is.

Fifth, work out your fundamentals – which needs and wants are even more important than you realise – so you can prioritise the kinds of vocation or jobs you’ll look for in the future.

There’s a project management technique called the MoSCow technique which I’ve adapted for you to apply to career thinking. Categorise your fundamentals along these headings:

• Can’t live without
• Really important
• Would be nice to have
• Can live without

 Sixth, now you’ve begun to get a broad idea of what’s truly a priority take some time to think about this question:

 How would you feel if you were able to live these needs and wants every single day? Or what would you do if there were no barriers to your success?

But really think hard about it. If thinking about it is hard then I suggest writing it out in detail, or even finding visual images from the internet to bring it to life. You can even speak and record it on your phone.

Put these somewhere you can see, read or listen to regularly.

You can also apply this to identifying a new side hustle or gig you can explore at this time too to help with income or to start getting more professional expertise for a future full-time role. 

Part 3: Get very clear on understanding your value and skills

 

Now you have some more clarity about what is actually important to you, hopefully there’s less reason to feel like you are drifting. 

The market right now and in the future is competitive – so value really matters. Value is what will help you get hired, but also what you can reference to yourself to remind you that you’ve got great skills and have something to offer.

If you are a graduate and reading this, you might be thinking how can I identify my value if I haven’t been working or no one gives me a job.

I get that, but you can still look back over your time in school, university or summer jobs, to try and work out how you’ll offer value in the future. Or even look at job descriptions out there and start working out what you need to think about now to offer value in the near future that matches the kinds of things employers will be looking for.

Regardless of your work situation, now is the time to work out what’s the actual value you are going to bring to a future employer in the future, which partly means being very clear about your skills. 

Taking the time to do this will help you be targeted, stay focused and also when the chance of a new job opening comes your way, you’ll be confident about convincing an employer why they would be crazy not to take a chance on you.

You need to responsible for this though – not your boss or relying on this to be captured in banal performance reviews every year.

If you still think “Do I really need to make time to work this out, think of your next job opportunity not just as a job – but as a real opportunity to win £30,000 or £60,000 or £80,000 (i.e whatever your salary is) and you may realise it’s worth the effort and work.

Now value can be a tricky thing to capture and identify, but here are some suggestions:

Think about your USP (unique selling point or what I call your unique skills and potential) at work or what others think you are really good at. 

If colleagues – current or previous – were to say “Get [your name] on it! [your name] is the best person” what’s the ‘’it” for you, or what you think you’d be known for like to be known for?

Value might be defined as things such as being strategic, supportive, going above and beyond, effective, transparent, clear thinking, flexible, quality driven, innovative, creative, a leader, tactical, analytical.

Try and link your value to a real-life outcome or result you’ve been responsible for, or at least played a big part in contributing to your team’s success.

Try to identify at least 3-5 things maximum so you aren’t struggling to remember your value when it comes to job interview preparation time.

Start recording your value if you haven’t done this before. It’s easier to do it regularly instead of a week before a job interview – trust me I’ve been there.

How to do this? Use a cloud system like Outlook One Notes, record voice notes on your phone, use Notes on your iPhone or app like Notion.  You can even send an email to yourself. Try and it do it every 2 weeks. 

For example, in my previous life in the corporate world colleagues would say about me “organised, strategic, thorough, creative” So, I if I were to turn this into a sentence about myself it would be:

 “I’m great at coming up with a strategy, working out the details and really delivering in a creative way.”

The final reason I think it helps to work out your value is that it reinforces your confidence when you receive a ‘no’ from a job application/interview.

Rejection can feel really personal and discouraging when you are sending off lots of applications and getting “thanks, but no thanks.” Of course, the current economic situation doesn’t help. But if you are confident about your value, after a setback from a “no” you can refer back to your value and remember you still have a lot to offer.

When I was a hiring manager in different companies, it was a real struggle to choose people for interview, and in most cases, a struggle to decide who to give the job to. It always came down to small differences, where a candidate had a small edge. Maybe it was how they’d fit in, whether I could really be confident they could brief a senior executive, or was there something in their experience that would help my team deliver goals a little bit better, or they were a little more hungry for the opportunity.

Aside from where there has been discrimination and favouritism (including hiring from inside), in most cases I think a “no” can come down to really tiny differences in a lot of cases.

Also, job descriptions are a nightmare to put together if a company actually cares about who they are trying to recruit. If it’s a non-technical job hiring managers tend to try and make it specific but broad enough to tempt the right kind of candidate (go figure).

If you think you got some good skills that match some but not all of the job description, take a chance. You never know. You’ll want make sure you are prioritising your applications – e.g. jobs that seem more likely that you have a chance, should be the ones you apply for first. Others roles where there might be a smaller chance shouldn’t be ignored though.

The foundation for my career in policy and lobbying happened because I had done a Masters in Public Law, saw a job in a political research institute that needed 50 percent of the skills I had to offer. Actually, I didn’t get the original job I applied for, but the person who did interview me told her colleagues about me. They had another vacancy coming up, got me in and I ended up getting the job (which was better!).

My point is you never know. Try. Even if you think there’s no point. You could benefit from a bit of luck, the potential someone else sees in you or the simple kindness of a stranger.   

Remember your value and use it to keep going.

Part 4: Take action to give yourself a competitive edge

 

“Character – the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life – is the source from which self-respect springs.”

Joan Didion

Ask you and may receive! 

Now you’ve worked out what’s important to you and what your value is – it may actually be worth seeing if you can get this in your current role – if you are still working.

Please don’t wait for your next performance or bonus review and development chat. Be proactive. 

When I managed teams in corporate life, I asked teams to also think about their own development for their future career. However, I left the door wide open for future conversations whenever they had given some thought to it. 

Think about trying some of the following:

• If you are working at home now – use the non-commuting time to move some actions forward. Instead of sleeping in late, use the two-hour total daily commute you would be doing to work on your career progression and competitive edge. That’s 10 hours a week.
• Ask three colleagues for constructive feedback and, if appropriate, three customers/clients or other stakeholders.
• Get a career mentor or a life coach to help you focus and take consistent action. It’s a small investment for the long term. For example, as a coach my focus is on getting you to where you want to be in as short a time as possible.
• Research your market thoroughly. There is so much digital information out there that there’s no excuse. If you can find the information you need, or need more insight, then think about contacting professionals in the kind of organisations you want to work in (senior is better, but if not then junior too). In my experience people like to help. But, take care over how you frame your request as it’s their precious time you are asking for.
• Make sure the world knows about you – which means working on your LinkedIn profile or other platform profile as best suits your kind of work. It takes longer than you think to get your profile right, so don’t leave it to the last minute or overlook it.
• You can also think about better understanding your personality through taking a credible personality or profile test. 
• If you need to develop some skills but to improve your chance of getting a specific kind of job, thinking about voluntary work (if you can afford it/have time) doing online training and courses, or taking advantage of any training budget that might exist in your current organisation.

What will you do next?

The future might look impossibly difficult right now and, at the time of writing, for many people that will be true. 

But it’s not hopeless. 

Hopefully, the steps I’ve outlined on this theme will give you some tools to apply so you can see there is more hope and control possible.

If you need more help get in touch for a complimentary session.

Still not sure. Take a few seconds to read what some clients have also said about me here.

Check out some other articles I’ve written that might help and don´t forget to subscribe to get new content and my newsletter with insights and tips direct to your inbox!

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