Doors

I have been watching a house along my commuting route that has been under construction for over two years and still is not finished. Yesterday, I noticed the siding is mostly in places as are many windows. The entry doors and garage doors are still missing.

This got me thinking. I wonder what creatures have taken the opportunity to wander around this shell while the doors were wide open. What have they observed and learned in their explorations? Once the doors are installed, the opportunity to learn is gone.

This recession has actually opened many doors for job seekers though not necessarily the front entrance. While opportunities are tough to come by, they are out there. If you have been struggling going the conventional route, tried some side doors or garage entrances. For example, if you have a sales background, checkout the retail warehouse clubs. On a recent jaunt, I discovered one such place with several stations selling high end products and services. Unless you check unusual resources out, you may being closing doors before they are actually shut!

Travel Distance

Not too long ago, I spent almost 3 years commuting from the middle of NJ into Philadelphia each and every day. At first it was not that bad as it was summer time with flowering trees, sun shimmering on the Delaware (not far from where General Washington crossed it), and I was driving with the sun behind me for both ends of the round trip. Winter crept up and made life challenging but I endured 3 winters without missing a single day due to weather. Eventually it wore me down and I was exhausted and took a transfer closer to home.

Recently, candidates have expressed the willingness to travel up to two hours each way to get a decent job. Each time, I relate my past experiences to them and listen for signs that they trully understand the impact it will make on their lifestyles. While I admire and respect those who are literally willing to go the extra mile in their job search, I hesitate to send people unrealistic distances from home. Before saying yes, weigh out all the positives and negatives of your decision.

Personal Choices

Working in the staffing field, I talk with people with diverse work experiences and all sorts of philosophies on their careers. From very open-minded hiring managers to those who still think that recession means they will find perfect candidates for 30% below market value to candidates who will do anything to avoid unemployment to those who are collecting their government checks and refusing to job hunt, I hear a little bit of this and a little bit of that each week.

Yesterday, I had a great conversation with someone who has been in the engineering field for a very long time and never had been faced with unemployment until about 2 years ago. Insistent on remaining in his field to keep his career intact and properly provide for his family, this gentleman has juggled contract jobs that require him to at times live in a rented space about 2 hours from home and to live over 1000 miles from his family while commuting home once a month or so. He has never filed an unemployment claim and managed to keep0 plugging away no matter what.

No one has the right to tell you how to manage your career but consider how you stack up against others in your field when making very tough choices! As a recruiter, this is one type of candidate I will always enjoy dealing with as he subscribes to something I had pounded into my head when my career began back in prehistoric (or at least before texting developed) times, do Whatever It Takes to succeed!