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Have you recently lost a job that you held for some time? Perhaps you were forced to accept a new, lower paying job to pay the bills.
If so, you may be keeping your head above water financially, but you are just not happy. Furthermore, since many of us define ourselves by our careers, you feel like a failure in life. If we have just described your circumstances, then congratulations?you now have a survival job!
Why would we congratulate you for such a dubious achievement? We are not rubbing salt in your wounds. Rather, we would like you to see the opportunity that lies hidden in your seemingly bleak situation. Today, more then ever, it is important for all of us to find work that feeds our self-esteem - work we love do that makes us happy. Why? No longer can we rely on our employers to provide job stability, rewards, structure and purpose to our careers. Traditional careers and stable career paths are virtually non-existent. Today, the real issue we face is not job insecurity, but the loss of meaning or purpose to our work. We must re-skill, re-learn, and re-invent ourselves in the face of constant change.
An Opportunity Exposed
So what exactly is a survival job? It is a transitional job that pays your bills while you pursue the job that you really want. But why is that a good thing? First of all, you have now given a name to your situation. You are no longer a failure; you are working a survival job?a crossroads in life that allows you to choose your new direction. Keep that in mind, explain it to family and friends, and you will feel better about your circumstances.
"No matter how you go about it, you need to know yourself and stay in touch with who you are, what you want, and what you have to offer."
- Lee Koslow |
Nevertheless, the term survival job is not just a clever way of renaming a bad situation. There are significant benefits to your current employment. Most importantly, your job allows you to cover the basic necessities. You are not starving to death or out on the street, so you do not have to accept the first opportunity that comes along. You can now dedicate your non-working hours to finding a career path that will truly make you happy.
How to Escape From the Wilderness
How do you proceed? Read as much as you can about the job market and different career opportunities. Also, talk to people?many different people. Ask them where the opportunities are in their industry and how they arrived at their current job. Above all, make use of the career guidance available at your local one-stop career center. The staff at RochesterWorks! can help you to make a better career decision, and we will never charge you a fee for our expert career guidance! See hours and locations.
As you continue working at your survival job, remember that you will have your emotional ups and downs. It may take longer than you expected to select your new career goal and then to actually land that new job. In the meantime, the negative aspects of your survival job may cause you to become discouraged. Nevertheless, do not give up!
To maintain a positive outlook on your situation, you should remember three things. First, so long as you are keeping afloat financially, there is no time limit for reaching your new goal. Second, you will get there. The US Department of Labor?s O*NET database provides detailed information on nearly 1,000 different job titles. One of those jobs is the right one for you! Third, a little bit of misery in your survival job is a good thing. That is what will give you the motivation to keep advancing toward your goal. So keep that goal in mind, and you will succeed!
5 Things to Look for in a Survival Job
1. The job leaves you with enough extra time and energy to continue seeking out your ideal career path. You may want to consider a part time job or a job outside the standard Monday thru Friday, 9-5 schedule.
2. The job is not a complete mismatch for your skills and work interests. After all, you do not want to get fired or feel forced to quit before you have reached your goal.
3. The job allows you to develop and demonstrate transferable skills that will be valuable to you in whatever new career you choose. For example, many entry level jobs give you the opportunity to build excellent customer service skills.
4. Although it is not always possible, look for a lower level job in an industry or career field that interests you. You will then have the added benefit of developing specific, career-related job skills now.
5. Finally, it should be a job for which you can get hired. Low skill, high turnover jobs are a good choice because many of these employers will be more eager to hire you. Some examples of this type of job include: retail, food service, hotels, child care, care for the disabled, nursing or personal care aides, telemarketing, telephone customer service, and sales.
Lee Koslow
Lee Koslow is a Career Services Advisor Team Leader for the RochesterWorks! Career Center on 255 N. Goodman St. He has been counseling clients of employment and training programs in the non-profit sector for 10 years and has been with RochesterWorks! for the last 4 years. Lee has a Masters Degree in Education from DePaul University and is a certified Workforce Development Professional.
Some of the services that Lee currently provides at RochesterWorks! are:
? Helping jobseekers to make good career decisions, including selecting a new line of work.
? Assessing individuals for the RochesterWorks! training grant, which can cover some of the cost of tuition and fees at local schools and colleges.
Lee has been especially concerned with empowering jobseekers by giving them access to the wealth of information and career advice available to them.
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