Career Crisis

Safety Kit

Kris Duda (kduda@10g.pl)

Don’t panic!

 You need to stop for a

moment!
 Calm your emotions and
start thinking rationally.
 Don’t let your emotions or
the situation gain control.

 You’ve got this.

Get in control!

I will help you:

 Assess the situation.
 Get to know your
strengths.
 Prepare for what’s coming
and plan ahead.

 You’ve got this.

Status report.

 Let’s start by taking a closer look at the situation you’re in...

(it will be worth taking a pen and paper to note this down)

What’s the termination date of your

contract? (immediate?
a week? a month or more?)
How much
time have When will you get your last paycheck?
you got? Is it a full pay or less?

If it’s not immediate do you need to go

to work until the end?
Status report.

 Let’s start by taking a closer look at the situation you’re in...

(it will be worth taking a pen and paper to note this down)

What’s the termination date of your

contract? (immediate?
a week? a month or more?)
These answers along with those of the next
How much questions are important for setting the
time have When will you get your last paycheck?
timeframes for your next steps.
you got? Is it a full pay or less?

If it’s not immediate do you need to go

to work until the end?
 Status report.
How much do you have? Do you lose
anything if you start using them?

Do you have
any savings?

Do you have any loans you need to pay?

Does your household have another source of income?

How high are
your monthly
How many people depend on your salary? costs?

For how long can you last with the money you have?
Look at what
you’ve got.
Let’s start by listing:
 What skills do you have?
(any certificates to prove
it?)
 What professional
experience do you have
(list where you worked and
what you did)?
 Is there someone who can
recommend you?
 Is there any
nonprofessional activity
that gave you experience
you can refer to?
 No one is going to spend

Look at what time trying to understand

your resume.

you’ve got. This is why you need to make it

as simple as possible to notice
Let’s start by listing: your experience and skills are
 What skills do you have? matching the position you’re applying
(any certificates to prove for.
it?)
You need to prove that you’re the
 What professional employee they are looking for.
experience do you have
(list where you worked and
what you did)?
 Is there someone who can
recommend you?
 Is there any
nonprofessional activity
that gave you experience
you can refer to?
 Do any of the skills, or jobs, or

Look at what positions repeat themselves?

Which skills or competencies are

you’ve got. repeating themselves the most?

Let’s start by listing: What’s your area of expertise?

 What skills do you have?
(any certificates to prove
it?)
 What professional
experience do you have
(list where you worked and
what you did)?
 Is there someone who can
recommend you?
 Is there any
nonprofessional activity
that gave you experience
you can refer to?
 If you’re not a straight match,

Look at what try to find the skills required

for a position in the jobs you
had performed in the past.
you’ve got.
It may not be obvious, so you’ll
Let’s start by listing: need to look closely at your
 What skills do you have? responsibilities and then –
(any certificates to prove explain them accordingly to
your potential employer.
it?)
 What professional You may need to modify some
experience do you have information you copied from your Master
(list where you worked and Resume.
what you did)?
 Is there someone who can
recommend you?
 Is there any
nonprofessional activity
that gave you experience
you can refer to?
1 pager resume

 1 pager CV shows all the

required iformation on a
single page.
 It’s good for high profiled
candidates, because you an
skip the details.
 Only for perfect match
positions when you are the
expert.
 Not a good choice if you
need to convice you’re a
match.
 Cover letter

Long resume saying why

you’re a
good
with cover match for the
job and Relevant
letter providing
context to your
experience and
education listed
 Good if you need to exprience with
convice someone when achievements
you’re not the perfect and
responsibility
candidate. Skills, languages description
+ other
 The cover letter allows to
experience (not
build the context of your relevant for the Education and
experience (helps job) trainings not
understand it). related to the
job
 You need to guide the
recruiter through you
resume with the headers.
 It’s like the product offer
with all features.
 Cover letter

No universal saying why

you’re a
good
template match for the
job and Relevant
providing experience and
context to your education listed
 You need to experiment exprience with
with what works in your achievements
country and for the jobs and
responsibility
you’re applying for. Skills, languages description
+ other
 If there are no responses –
experience (not
change the CV! relevant for the Education and
job) trainings not
related to the
job
 This is a a sample matrix,

Look at what of course it depends on your

locat reality. If the demand for
your skills is very low, then of
you’ve got. course the impact will be very
big.
Now let’s look around:
 How big is the demand for
people like you on the
Not needed Needed
local market?
Big Big impact Medium
competition impact
 How much of a
Small Medium Small impact
competition have you got? competition impact
 What skills are in highest
demand?
 How well do they pay for You need to know the impact.
jobs with your skills?
 Which are paid best?
Do you need to find any kind
of new job, or can you be
picky? The questions set the perspective
for the impact of the crisis and the
urgency to find a new source of
income.

How urgently do you need to

find it? All this should have impact
on your decisions and
actions.
Can you cut costs in any time
The higher the urgency, the
to win more time?
more quickly and determined
need to be your actions!
Knowing the impact and urgency

 This is just a sample matrix you may get. Perhaps there will be more cells, the
impact or urgency may have additional steps. It’s up to you, but you need to be
aware what’s your situation.
Low impact High impact
Low urgency You can be calm, the You’re out of the
situation for now is not comfort zone, but
so bad. you’ve still got time.
High urgency You’re out of the You need to act now,
comfort zone, you all hands on deck and
don’t have much time, no time to waste.
but you can handle it Probably you can’t be
even when it takes picky and search
longer. broadly.
Let’s start planning

 Take some time and search for job portals

and recruitment agencies in your area.
 List also the big companies in your areas,
very often corporations do not publish all
their positions on public websites, so you
need to access their portals directly.
 Some companies are open to ad-hoc
applications and do not post vacancies at
all. So also make a list of the recruitmen
emails.
Let’s start planning
 Take a moment to think what kind of job are
you looking for?
 What salary level?
 What hours?
 What location?
 What kind of company are you interested

 Depending on the urgency of your

situation run either wide or narrow job
searches (if you need to find a job
urgently, you will need to search outside
of your specialization).
This is a market.
 What you are offering to employers is a product. Make sure it’s
the product they want.
 Prepare your applications for the jobs you’re applying for.
 There is no universal application for all jobs.
 You will need to reformulate the description of yours skills
and experience to show you’ve got what they’re looking
for.
 You need to gain confidence in your competencies. This
talk from Amy Cuddy will tell you how you can do a small
hack to your body and brain:
https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_languag
e_may_shape_who_you_are
 If you have problems selling your product try to find out
what the businesses are willing to buy and give them what
they want.
Plan and measure.
 Because we don’t have time to waste, you need to plan
for specific units of time (I would suggest a week or
two at max).
 Plan specific activities for each period (for example
send out an x number of applications, create a profile
on x portal etc.).
 Create also a specific daily routine (for example
starting the day with a run through all the portals for
new job ads).
 Plan control points after each period to review your
status and plan changes if necessary.
 Always ask for feedback from recruiters.
 After each recruitment process try to evaluate and learn
what you can improve.
Be ready to pivot!
 It’s difficult to expect better results by doing the same
again and again. Therefore if at a control point you see
no results, be ready to Pivot.
 To Pivot means to change your plans and approach. In
this case it could mean:
 To start applying to a broader range of positions
(maybe outside of your specialization or at a lower
profile).
 Rearranging your CV.
 Trying different channels (maybe searching for
direct contact to recruiters, managers or people who
could recommend you?)
 Considering to move to another area.
Be ready to pivot!
 Remember that whatever change you plan, you set its
limits.
 If you decide to apply at lower positions – always set a
limit how much less you can earn, because you don’t
want to get a job, that won’t cover your costs.
 If you don’t know what to do – seek advice from
others. You can also reach out to me in the
comments.
 If you decide to start applying in another area, plan it
carefully!
Move or change
 You also need to pay attention if the changes you’re
implementing are bringing in results.
 It is possible that no matter what you will change, it won’t be
possible to succeed on the local market.
 In that case you may need to do a bigger pivot:
 change the market and consider moving elsewhere.
 change your skills profile and get train in another profession
(what will take time).
Moving to another area.
 Mobility is a priviledge, that can sometimes give you a big
advantage, but it’s also something your shouldn’t do ad-hoc.
 Before moving do some research:
 In which areas would you be more likely to find a job
with your skills?
 Is there an area, where you can find work with your
specialization?
 How complex and costly would it be to move?
 How much can you get paid? What are the living costs?
 Will you have a chance for long-term employment?
 If you cannot find a job in your specialization, can you
find other jobs paid well enough?
If something is not working,
take a look again at your
profile,
The process steps I described can
your skills, the jobs
and often should be repeated
you’re looking for. based on what you learn.

This is not the last crisis

Prepare different profiles for you’ll face. Take the
different positions. There is opportunity to grow with this
no one-size fits all experience and become
application. stronger.
This is a learning journey.
You don’t have all the
information at start. Your
success depends on how you
adapt.
You’ve got this.
Share, subscribe, come
again 
Kris Duda kduda@10g.pl