If you have a steady job, you might be shocked to know that you could be making the same mistakes that are destroying one of the major Internet companies. That’s right, of dialup Internet and free e-mail fame. According to experts in the field of job hunting, many people who are out looking for work right now are stuck in the unemployment lines because they followed the same destructive path as this company.
This international company just launched their new e-mail upgrades. The new features are nice, with smart ideas like supporting text messages, maps, and even photos inside e-mails. So what’s the problem? Well, for them, these nice developments come about five years too late. Everybody else already has that. After years of ignoring changes in the e-mail industry, the company is bleeding clients to companies like Google and Facebook. According to experts in the industry, this company has lost 23% of their subscribers this year alone. That’s several million people.
“The company didn’t move in any significant direction for years,” says Rob Gundersen, a motivational life coach and job search expert. “This company pioneered much of what we’ve come to expect from the Internet experience. But when other companies came along with a better idea, this company didn’t take the steps they needed to stay ahead of the game.” Mr. Gundersen notes that the time to prepare for significant change is before the change. “If you have a steady job right now, it’s the time to brush up on your education. To learn the latest in your field. Otherwise when the change happens, you’ll be working from a panic situation.”
“People need to forget the entire idea of job security,” argues Jennifer Landreu, who runs her own résumé polishing business from her home. “I can’t tell you how many clients I have coming to me who say, ‘I never saw this coming. I thought my job was safe.’ In this economy, it strikes me as foolish for anyone to assume that they will be able to keep their job indefinitely.” Jennifer says that the people who keep up with the changes in their industry are more likely to find new work – and faster – if they lose their old jobs. “For example, earlier this year I was working with a client who had been working in the banking industry for the last two decades. Unlike his peers, he had been reading up on all the new legislation that the U.S. and other countries were passing after the meltdown in 2009. Wouldn’t you know it, within less than a month, he found a new job with a U.S. firm – in his hometown. And he’s making better money than before.” She pauses before continuing. “None of his coworkers who got the axe are so lucky right now.”
Education is power. Both of these experts caution that people should never assume that they’ve learned enough when they get their diploma. “You can never know too much,” says Mr. Gundersen. “It’s never too late for a person to make a better life for themselves by gaining more education.”
