The problem is income, not employment
My friends say “coaches” that asking the right questions is essential to achieve the objectives. The problem management experts also say that the first thing to do to solve them is to identify them clearly. However, I am afraid that when we talk about employment, work and professionals, we do not ask the right questions, or we do not find the right answer.
If you ask anyone what is the main problem in our country, especially after this interminable election campaign, the vast majority would tell you that it is Employment. But that is not the correct answer, and therefore, any plan, strategy or approach will be wrong.
Do you really think that what really worries a person who has lost his job is that he does not have a job? If you think like that, it never happened to you.
The real problem is not not having a job but something so obvious that we usually forget it. The really serious thing is not having a place to go to each day, but the lack of income with which to pay the bills. It’s so insultingly obvious that we do not even think about it directly. However, this moves us away from the main objective and, therefore, from the solution of the problem.
I say this because in recent weeks I have taught in several places in Spain and in all of them the concern is to find a job at all costs. I find situations as absurd as those of lots of people who are willing to work almost for free (or totally free) just to have a job. But that we have so deep into our Personal Operating System that there are people who are offended when you discuss it.
Let’s see when we learn that the job will take a long time to return. And when I return, it will surely be very different from the one we have known. Maybe the unemployment benefits, the settlements and the feeling that there is always going to be someone there to help us prevent us from establishing priorities. Only when time passes and money runs out we start thinking about doing “anything” to earn an income.
But getting results requires a time that you do not have. That’s why it’s so important to constantly work on your positioning.
From long before the crisis, people like Borja Prieto are giving clues to find ways to make a living beyond employment as we know it. But the first thing to do is to stop behaving like zombies that only know how to look for “fresh jobs” that no longer exist.
I suppose that is one of the reasons why a concept such as Personal Branding is so difficult to inculcate. Actually, why would I want to position myself as a recognized professional if I only want to be given fourteen payments for working from nine to five? What a mess. Shut up, shut up, that’s better we leave it to the geeks of the self-employed, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs. The best thing is to continue sending CVs right and left that, as everyone knows, is a guarantee of success. Yes? Well, no.
If we change the focus and, instead of thinking only of finding a job, we expand the options of generating income, it will be easier to understand the need to develop a known and recognized Personal Brand.
Suddenly, the traditional way of finding a way to earn a living would no longer be limited to the classic Curriculum and interview-questioning, but, suddenly, the possibilities of generating income multiply. There are always needs to be met and people willing to pay for it. But for that you must be found and reach a good reputation.
At this moment I’m sure you’ll be thinking something that whenever I’m told, I get mosque. It’s the classic, “It’s that you see it very easy”. And a shit! This is not easy. It is very fucked up and involves a lot of time, effort, bad times and sometimes you feel like throwing in the towel. However, over time you realize that to stop being a gatherer to become a hunter is much more fun. And in any case, surely, in a few years when there are no “harvests”, surely you will not have more choice.
So, if you think your goal is to get a job, over there you. But sooner or later you will realize that a job is not an end, but only a means.
