Taking the curve successfully; a new career awaits

You have just been told there will be layoffs, big ones. Probably you. That understandably strikes terror in most people’s hearts, and you start thinking about where you can get another job like the one you have now. After all, you have a set of skills that perfectly fits what you have been doing, so looking for something just like it seems logical.

Is that approach truly logical, or even realistic? If people with a strictly defined set of skills and abilities just like yours are being laid off, how likely is it that other jobs just like yours are out there waiting? Maybe it’s a great time to really examine your work, job satisfaction, and options for the future.

Many, many people get a job early on in their careers that isn’t exactly what they wanted, but it’s close enough and it works out fine. Another opportunity comes up, and it is even a bit farther from what you really wanted in the beginning, but it’s a next step up from the job you took, so it works out, too. A couple more promotions or job changes like that, and you can look back and see how far off course you have gotten from where you originally intended. Maybe that’s ok, too, for a while. Then, through no fault of your own, the layoff happens. Where do you go from here?

It isn’t unrealistic to go back to your original goal, get back on the road you started out to travel. I live near an old stretch of Route 66, the original “Mother Road” running from Chicago to Los Angeles. The old road has been replaced in places by a new road that runs pretty much parallel to the old original road. There is one spot, though, where the new road veers away from the old, in a place marked with a sign, “Dead Man’s Curve.” When the new road was built, it was moved so that the old and obviously dangerous curve was bypassed, and the road straightened out. That curve is not unlike the curves we all take in our career path. Losing a job may mean you have the opportunity to straighten out the curves and get back on the road you began.

Straightening out that road may take some research, extra work, education, and determination. If the original career goal you had is still something you want and are willing to work for, now can be an ideal time. To make those first steps easier, an experienced career coach can help you decide what you really want and the best way to get there. Especially if you have been in the same job for a while, you will need help to find out what the next steps should be, how to prepare, and how to land in the place you want to be.

Don’t go alone around that curve, get the help you need from a coach to navigate it successfully into a new, better career.