What do you do when, all of a sudden, you lose your job, find yourself unemployed and feeling complete upside down about your life?
Imagine losing your job and not having a clue what your next move is. Up until this point you were content with having that mediocre job. Even if it wasn’t the job of your dreams, it paid the bills and got you through, right? NOW, you’re collecting unemployment. The clock is ticking. You can hear it saying, “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW????”
I’ve heard people say things like, “Losing my job was a blessing in disguise. It gave me the opportunity to focus on what I really wanted to do!” But what if you don’t know what you really want to do? On top of that, most of us don’t have the luxury of taking your time and figuring it out. How do you figure it all out in a short period of time?
I’m here to tell you that you CAN’T rush it.
Oh…I’m sorry. Did you think I had some quick scheme for “how to figure out your life in less than 30 days”? I wish, but unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
I remember a post that I put up on Instagram that said: “Sometimes you have to take the shit job to get the dope job.” People loved it! But I can promise you that half of them would never intentionally take the shit job.
Everyone’s situation is different. Some of you might be little trust fund babies with all the time in the world to figure it out. But most of us are not, and we often feel the need to figure it out quickly or else find ourselves in a constant state of panic.
But who’s to say that we HAVE to figure it out overnight?
I’ve been laid off 3 times. All of these layoffs were out of my control…at least I think so. One thing that I never did was worry in between jobs, because getting a job was never difficult for me. Part of it was because I was young, with no responsibilities. The other part was that I was a recruiter…and everyone knows there’s always an opening for us recruiters!
The one thing that I allowed myself to do in between jobs was to TRY OTHER THINGS…sometimes completely different things.
In 2001, I moved back to New York and landed a recruiting job. Two months later, BAM! 9/11 hit. The wonderful world of recruiting took a turn for the worse. The money sucked, the people sucked, the jobs sucked. It all sucked. It sucked so much that I was laid off…not because I was a terrible recruiter, but because there were NO jobs to recruit for.
At that point, I decided that I needed to do something different. I needed to explore other opportunities. I needed to grow outside of what I was used to doing, which was recruiting.
So in between jobs, I took positions as a receptionist for Mercedes Benz, a personal assistant for a public relations guru, and an assistant to an assistant for an owner of a hedge fund. From each role, I acquired new skills…and I also became able to recognize the value in my existing skills. This eventually led me back to recruiting, but this time as a job developer for a non-profit organization.
Through these jobs, I was able to figure out what I really wanted to do. That was to help individuals on welfare to obtain employment so that they could become self-sufficient instead of relying on the system to support them. I did that for three years. It was the most rewarding type of recruiting that I have ever done in my life.
There are moments when we just need a mental break from our norm. Sometimes you have to take a job that’s totally different than what you’re used to in order to figure out what you’re meant to be doing. The quote that I mentioned earlier doesn’t necessarily mean that the shitty job is going to open the doors to the next great amazing job, but what it WILL do is give you the opportunity for new experiences, which will provoke new thoughts and feelings about your career path.
Once you allow yourself to get out of your comfort zone, all sorts of ideas and opportunities will land your way. Just remember, when your life is feeling upside down, sometimes it’s really the right way. Trust me.
