We’ve all read the economic reports and have seen the unemployment/underemployment statistics. I often wonder aside from the actual numbers if companies might not be fueling this frenzy of fear. Using this tactic of placing fear in their employees by having the media bombard the 86% of the population that are fully employed with the idea that “I can’t leave my job because there are no other jobs out there for me right now.” Over the last 60 days I’ve worked with more clients who report being stuck, being afraid and feeling burned out than ever before.

Here’s the good news; you don’t have to be stuck and the way to move through fear is to take ACTION.

Many individuals across the U.S. have let this fear take over and now work longer hours, have taken pay cuts, have put up with unreasonable expectations and have lost their ability to be productive. I graduated from college (way back when in the 90’s) when this kind of market existed and I can tell you that it is entirely POSSIBLE to find your PERFECT WORK in this kind of economy. You dream job won’t simply land in your lap and will require you to go after what you want.

Here are 7 things you can do NOW to take action (there is more you can do but this is a great place to start) and go after your career dreams:

1. Take a breath and clear your mind of what you do now and what is happening in your job, your family and the economy.

2. Know Yourself - Using tools such as the MBTI and the values and environment assessments are a great place to get started. Knowing yourself here = knowing where your best energy comes from, understanding what values drive you and what type of environments are most appealing are the basis for where you want to go.

3. Get a Career Coach if you don’t have access or an easy way to do this for yourself.

4. Inventory Your Skills, Knowledge, abilities and strengths.

5. Review your work experience - graph your career history from the beginning and rate your job satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest for each job you’ve had. Figure out why you scored the jobs the way you did.

6. Create a simplified personal objective statement of what you want to be doing, i.e. What do I want to do? Here’s mine; I want to help individuals of all ages and career levels find the job/career of their dreams and help them increase their confidence to achieve those dreams.

7. Dust off your resume- or have a career coach create your resume for you and highlight your accomplishments, your capabilities and what value you add to a COMPANIES BOTTOM LINE.

After you’ve taken these steps you need to do the 3 R’s- rest, review and reflect. Additional steps will be coming in the next few weeks so stay tuned for more you can do to start moving toward your perfect career.

Get started on Managing Your Career today by contacting us at career@synergymanagementassociates.com or calling 603.661.8107.