The time of your life

“Eric, the company didn’t want me anymore and I didn’t want to work for them. So we were both happy”, he said to me.

I called him on the first day after he stopped working.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked.

“Good question. I am now 55 and I have been working non-stop since I was 19. This is the first day in over 35 years that I haven’t had anywhere to go in the morning. People ask me what I am going to do when I wake up.”

Ask yourself the same question. What would you tomorrow, if today you lost your job?

Now after you come up with a facetious remark (“Get drunk”, “Play golf”, “Go to the beach”), answer the question for real. There is only so much golf one can play (and only so much liquor one can drink).

The answer to the question depends mainly on two key factors: how old you are and how much money you have in the bank.

Let’s say you’re under 50. Then the answer usually is: find another job. But how? Recruiters (head hunters) work for their clients, not for you, and will rarely have something in their files that would fit you perfectly. Suddenly, calling all your mates asking for an interview smacks of desperation. 

If you wait until you have no job to look for a job, you are too late. The best time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one. 

Another young man I know (actually, he’s my son) recently called me and said he was thinking of changing jobs and asked for advice. I told him: talk to everyone you know, everyone you have ever worked with, everyone who has ever been a supplier or a customer. Don’t say you are looking for a job. Just say you are thinking of the next stage in your career, and ask if they have any advice.”

A week later he called back, saying he had a new job. What happened? The third person he called to ask for advice said “Here’s some advice. Come work for us.” Better job. Higher pay.

Network, always lunch with people inside and outside your industry, speak at industry events, join associations and meet people (and do it for real, not only on Linkedin), and  when you need a job you will quickly be able to tap into your network and find one. But, just to repeat, the networking needs to be done before you need the job, not after. People want to hire people who don’t need jobs. No one hires someone who is desperate.

The equation changes when you are over 50. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get a corporate job at that age. Companies like hiring younger people, who they feel can often do the same work at a lower price. Yes, I know, the older person has more wisdom and experience, but ask yourself, when was the last time you hired someone over 50?

With rare (although not impossible) opportunities in the corporate world, the experienced person is forced to look elsewhere, and will quickly discover that he can be much happier, fulfilled, and even bankable by working for himself. This is the time to consult, advise, mentor, and teach. This is also the time to try to start that new company idea that you have always had in the back of your mind.

I am in my 50s, and the years I have spent “doing my own thing” have been more rewarding as well as more lucrative than when I was successfully employed in the corporate world. My dozens of friends in similar situations all say the same. “Why didn’t I do this before?” is something I commonly hear. “All the years I wasted making money for someone else when I could have been making money for myself.”

If you’re over 50, it is best to prepare by having at least a year’s worth of expenses in the bank. Do the same networking as recommended above but when you find yourself jobless (as eventually happens to most people), instead of looking for that next corporate position, make up some new business cards with “Your Name”, Founder and CEO of “Your Name Consulting”, and go start having the most productive part of your career.

My friend from the first paragraph? He is having a blast, with consulting jobs and board directorships coming in so fast he doesn’t know which to choose. He is about to start having the time of his life.

 

Eric Rosenkranz (www.ethree-asia.com) runs a strategic advisory assisting both existing companies as well as start-ups to develop their long term strategy and achieve success in their business.

 

Follow his “Creating Success” series in this Hi! Managers column every fourth Friday of the month”.