Today's Professional & Business Services Job Market
In August 2022, 68,000 jobs were added to the professional and business services sector according to the report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.
So don't lose hope. If you're in this job market, it can be discouraging to continue on in the search. But there are opportunities out there.
And as JP Morgan Wealth Management shares in its interpretation of this data, "With the jobs added in August, employment is now 240,000 higher than in February 2020, just prior to the start of the pandemic. This indicates that the labor market remains healthy despite the headwinds of inflation and recession concerns."
But regardless of your thoughts on the state of the job market, I encourage us all to focus on what we can control. And here are some specific steps each individual can take:
Revamp that resume. You have value to offer. The more you see it, the easier they'll see it. Working on a resume isn't a monotonous task. It's self coaching designed to help you see your own value. Use it that way.
Prep for interviews. Practice your responses out loud because hearing yourself say it will help you feel your tone - and your tone conveys your energetic state. It will cue you to your current confidence level and help you own your value by helping yourself convey it in your voice. Sound moves energy. Your voice can do this for you.
Position your LinkedIn to demonstrate your unique expertise. We aren't all here with the same experience competing for the same job. We have unique attributes - both professionally from our experience and personally from our character. Help yourself showcase yours.
For 1:1 coaching on any of these, schedule your free consult here and we can discuss working together in a coaching capacity. I'm a Career Coach and this is what I do. Let's help you show up and do your work, your way. With authenticity, integrity, and soul.
Quitting: What it Is & Isn't
The word "Quitting" just doesn't capture the full essence of what's happening. It's looking at one angle only, one lens of the story...Without respecting the greater function of what it represents.
Quitting isn't about giving up. It's about letting go to move on to something that is better for you (and to free up a position for somebody else who is ready and wanting it!)
Quitting isn't about not caring or screwing a company over. It's about marking the completion of one job relationship so you can both embark on a new journey.
Quitting isn't about not being committed. It's about seeing that commitment no longer serves, and committing to your next career move (as well as giving someone else the opportunity to join that company!)
Quitting isn't about doing harm. It's about freedom - for you, your company, your boss, and your team - giving all involved an opening for something different and potentially expansive to come through (perhaps it frees your team up for a helpful redistribution of tasks and/or to define a new role that better fits the current org context)
Quitting isn't about you stopping. It's about you starting your next chapter and sometimes that means acknowledging the current one has ended (both for you and your company).
Quitting isn't something you do to another. It's about both parties - you and the company - making a change. Yes, if you quit you may have initiated it outwardly, but both sides played a role in what happened and it doesn't need to be something you fill yourself with guilt for "doing" or resentment for "being done to".
Quitting isn't the passive road. It's an active action of firing your job so you can hire the next one. And firing doesn't have to be negative - it can simply mean choosing to mark the end of one road so all can go to the next.
So let's stop demonizing quitting. And let's remember the fullness of what it represents.
It's the Climb
Okay, so I am tearing up over here as I re-listen to "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus 😭😂
....People, let's not forget -
🎶 It's the cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimb! 🎶
Here's what I got from re-listening to this song -
You may see where you're wanting to go. Yet you don't know if you're going to get there.
But guess what. You keep going. You keep moving.
Even though you're in the dark.
Even though you don't even know if it will work.
You may not even have the faith or full belief.
But guess what. You keep going anyways. Because you know - the journey doesn't end with that accomplishment, that failure.
Wins or losses, that's not the point. The point - it's the climb.
It's you taking a chance.
It's you picking yourself up.
It's you holding yourself high.
You may not know why you're having that experience. And you don't need to. Because they are shaping you, impacting you, teaching you, guiding you.
You learn through every trial.
It will feel hard.
But rushing to the end won't make it any better.
Slow down loves.
Hit pause. Enjoy the sensation of the climb you're on.
Bask in the beauty of the journey itself.
The beauty of the wins, and the loses.
The beauty in the joys and the sorrows.
The beauty in you living. Truly embracing. Fully loving. Yourself as you embark on the journey.
Because there is always another mountain. Another goal to pursue.
But it's never been about the goal in the first place .
It's about...as Miley shares...The Climb.
Thank You, Miley. Love you all!
P.S - Want More free Resources? Go to https://www.beliefseed.com/free
Resume Tip: Don't Just Focus on Data. Focus On Its Impact.
When including data in your resume - make sure you're not just putting in a number to put in a number.
I keep seeing this come up with my job seeking clients. They've heard it's good to include data in their resume, so they put in data.
But if the data doesn't connect to the larger impact of what you're wanting to convey, then it just distracts.
You want to position the data to showcase your skills and to highlight the experiences you want to have more of in your next role.
For example, if you want a people-centric company in an HR role focused on supporting employees, make the data support that theme.
Like this:
Option 1 - Instead of "Cut report creation time by 50% through modernizing HRIS"
Option 2 - Make it "Saved team members 5 hrs a week by modernizing reporting with a new HRIS"
See how the second one emphasizes the PEOPLE?
While both examples use data to demonstrate value, Option 1 is narrow and less impactful to a people-centric company because it just considers the process for creating reports. Option 2 takes into account the impact by bringing in the people who benefitted from the change.
To sum it up - Don't just focus on data. Focus on impact.
And for help optimizing your resume and landing a job you love, reach out!
You can learn all about my career support services by going to beliefseed.com/coaching
Delegation: From Fisher to Teacher
Delegation.
It's vital to continued progression as a leader. It's crucial to avoid burning out. It's required to ensure your team's growth.
So why is it so hard?
Because before becoming leaders, we were first individual contributors.
So we got good - real good - at DOING the task.
We were likely excellent at proactively figuring things out. At learning to Google and teach ourselves how to get things done.
Delegating was likely not a thing we did much of. We were the one being delegated to - correction - we were probably actively seeking out chances to take things off our boss/team members' plates before they even delegated it out.
So it can be a difficult adjustment to go from being the one that got delegated to, to being the delegator.
The biggest blocker to delegating is often our own mindset.
We have convinced ourselves that it's easier to just do the task than to teach it to another.
So we need to remind ourselves of the short-term nature of that perspective.
It's the old "Teach a person to fish" dilemma -
DO that task for them, the task gets done (but you get stuck continually fishing).
TEACH them to do the task, the task takes longer to get done at first (but you empower someone to fish and remove fishing from your own to-do list).
So when you notice yourself hesitate to hand something off, ask yourself -
Is this an opportunity to TEACH?
What's the short-term impact of my decision? The long-term impact?
And for help on knowing when it's time to delegate - and exactly HOW to set yourself up successfully for this - join me in 1:1 leadership development coaching.