As I watch the daily news of more and more layoffs I realize that this recession is going to change the face of our workforce. Businesses that have been “living the highlife” and not strategically managing the long-term success of their organizations are starting to panic impacting millions of lives along the way. Those of us whom are among the 12.5 million unemployed in the US are now forced to consider making a career change.

As we see the faces and hear the stories of the lives impacted it is clear that many of these folks will be forced (willingly or not) to get some kind of skills training. Many of the unemployed are baby boomers and perhaps not so computer literate with 25+ years of employment with the same employer now competing with the Generation Y kids out of college and looking for work. 13.8 percent of our 8.1 percent of unemployed are under the age of 29. The rate for teenage workers, from 16-19, is far worse—approaching 20 percent.

Our advice to all job seekers is to diversify. Take those computer courses, work on your business writing skills, join a job search networking group. Be flexible-take a position that 10 years ago you wouldn’t have dreamed of doing, volunteer your time to the non-profit organization of your choice. You will be pleasantly surprised at what you will learn doing so. Be patient, stay healthy, support each other and together we will all grow a bit and we will get through this with new skills and new friends…which is a GOOD thing!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 10:42 am and is filed under Job Seekers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.