Don't Quit Yet! - Play It Smart To Uplift Your Employability First

The unemployment rate of managers above 45 years old is a big worry to the entire economy. With volatile markets and shrinking growth in China, we can expect more companies to announce retrenchments. 

I would never suggest that you stay in a toxic environment for long. If it injures your mental and physical health, you might have to quit to protect your well-being. But unless you have a good alternative waiting for you or you are embarking on your dream, if you want to find another job, don't make a silly move you might regret. You also don't want to jump into the first new available job only to find yourself in another toxic environment. You might need more time to find a company with positive culture where you can flourish and perform.  To find a better place you might need more time.

In this post, you will find six (+1/2) strategies that will help you avoid falling victim to the"Law of Repulsion", and allow you to maintain – and perhaps even increase –  your "Employability Value".

Captain Yossarian: “In order to be grounded, I've got to be crazy, and I must be crazy to keep flying. But if I ask to be grounded, that means I'm not crazy anymore, and I have to keep flying.”~  Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Attractiveness for  a new job is similar to dating. When your prospective date "smells" desperation, he/she will most likely take you for granted."~ Avi Liran

Whether you are single or were in the past, chances are that you are/were attracted to a prospective date who seemed confident, and perhaps “a little unavailable”. Did you play “a little” hard to get, or were you attracted to people you could not easily date? Did you not return their calls quickly? Did you space out your text answers and delay instant gratification for the benefit of building up your attractiveness (see "Laughter Gap")? You did the right thing. The only reason that diamonds are so expensive is because they are rare. Every marketer will tell you that you need to build scarcity around your brand. "Easy come, easy go." The same goes for your employability rank. It is much higher when you are still employed. People tend to go to busy restaurants and skip those that are empty for the same reason. 

I was sitting in HK with the CEO of one of the world’s top executive search companies. Her phone rang. She seemed upset and said:

I told you not to quit yet!. Now I have nothing to offer you. Don't expect a call from me. I will not be able to place you."

She hung up, turned to me and explained:

I wish I could help him. Now a days prospective employers tell me explicitly that they are not interested in someone who is unemployed. 

This confirms a 2012 study called "The Jobless Trap" by economist Rand Ghayad. He found that:

The findings reveal a sharp drop-off in the number of interview requests for those whose nonemployment spell topped six months, implying that those experiencing long jobless spells might become trapped in nonemployment, regardless of their prior experience. ~ Rand Ghayad

There is a worse pain than having a bad job. It is long term unemployment.

A 2013 Gallup survey of more than 350,000 Americans – including more than 18,000 unemployed adults – found that depression among the unemployed (12.4%) was more than double of those who were employed (5.6%).  The ratio of depression jumped to 19% for those who had been unemployed for more than one year. 

Unemployed Seniors Face a Jobless Vicious Circle 

Even in places with low unemployment, for those who are over age 50 and unemployed, the statistics are grim. Older workers have a much harder time finding work. The average duration of unemployment for older people is more than twice that of younger folks. 

 Five steps to increase your Employability: 

1. Survive: Hang in there, with a sense of mission: Buy time, so you can find a new job. You are now on a mission to survive and not be fired. You need time to meet headhunters, to re-activate your network. Having a strong sense of meaning will provide you with a sort of shield. Not retaliating or tormenting yourself with office toxicity will seem now purposeful, and you will not be as affected by the negativity. Now you’re using the workplace for your own agenda. 

If your company is downsizing and you are offered a "golden parachute" package, perhaps you can renegotiate with your company the terms to allow you a few more months. Most companies have heart and they will accommodate your request but what if you need more time? Can you negotiate that you stay officially for an extended term and the pay for that period will be deducted from your package? 

2. Catch up and adjust to the new generation: If you are over 35 and under-performing, chances are that you need to upgrade your skills. If you are an IT expert in C programming, learn a new language. Try JavaScript, PHP or Python. Your parents blamed the younger generation, and so did theirs. The only way to stay relevant is to catch up with technology. Stay current with new business concepts. Catch up with what the competition is doing. Is there a gap between your capabilities and what the market needs? All the dinosaurs died. You can't afford to become one.  

3. Thrive: Now is the time to do away with the victim mentality and become a warrior. Instead of surviving and falling into disengagement, do the opposite. Find ways to increase your value, despite the hostile environment. Go the extra mile, learn new things, take on more responsibility. You want both external and internal stakeholders to talk about the improvement in your performance. The competition is looking for achievers, not for disengaged executives.   

I am a gladiator, Winter is my season, This is my time I will not be denied. Give me your fears. Give me your limitations and I will give you results. I own myself and I add more value than anyone else does. " ~ Tony Robbins

4. Speak at conferences, Add value to your network: Represent your company at conferences. With the abundance of courses and speaking clubs like Toastmasters, it is easy to learn how to overcome fears of public-speaking. Enhance your presentation and presence skills. Invest in both deepening your knowledge and the way to articulate it and become an authority. A sought-after expert in your field. Grab every opportunity to speak at conferences. Make an exciting presentation that shares cutting-edge wisdom, knowledge and experience. This is one of the best ways to make prospective employers interested in talking to you. 

Reverse the intentionality when networking. Have deep in your heart a desire to be there for the person that speaks to you and add value. In fact, you can start adding value right now and right here. If this blog post added value to you (and that is my intention), perhaps you can write a blog post that will help others too. Ask yourself now. After reading this post, is it worth to check Avi's other posts? Perhaps I should follow him on LinkedIn? Perhaps this post can help others? Why don't I share it and add value to my network too? 

5. Become the MVP - Contribute and Influence: When work is mundane and gives you no sense of fulfillment, you can find meaning in helping and mentoring others towards success at work. You build influence by adding value to your peers, to other employees, external stakeholders and, most importantly, to your boss. Action speaks louder than words. When I was in my late twenties, I had an abusive boss. I was on a mission. I worked in a toxic environment and decided that nothing would stop me from delivering excellence. I was promoted by the boss of my boss to become his right-hand man, which overnight made me the boss of my ex-boss. 

Invest in friendships. Cultivate relationships. Positive relationships are one of the scientifically proven elements of well-being. The genuine friendships you have at work will make it much easier for you to make it through the difficult times. If your position allows and your company is hiring, consider reaching out to friends who are unemployed. Helping them to find a job in your company will give you double the benefits. You will feel great about yourself and have more allies at the workplace.

 Are you an energy vampire or an angel?

In the past decade, my partner, Lenny Ravich and I had invested more than 10,000 hours each under a joint mission to bring joy and care to workplaces. Our work gave us access to many leaders and managers working in world class organizations especially in Asia and Europe. We interviewed hundreds of managers. We read through hundreds of books and studies in Positive Psychology, behavioral economy and neuroscience. We found an interesting commonalties among those who lead happier and more productive teams. 

These managers operated differently than other leaders. It is seem as if they were running on a superior operating system. We called it Delight OS 3600. A pattern had emerged from the qualitative data: Delighting people have 10 common characteristics:

• They see delighting others as purposeful. They find sense of meaning in making others more successful.
• They are humble, respectful and confident at the same time. They use the "Sea Strategy" to attract people to them, they attract fans. 
• They are congruent. They make people feel important regardless to their status. They will be authentically kind to the cleaners and juniors. 
• They treat people as human, not like objects.
• They invest in relationship, They refrain from being transactional.
• They aim to exceed the expectations. 
• They are generous, not calculative, yet they know when to draw the line when their generosity is taken for a ride. 
• They are more energetic than others without a need to show it like extroverts do. 
• They are a source of positive energy in the organization, they make people feel good and welcomed, they make you smile.
• They enjoy grater loyalty and performance from their teams. They build influence by being constantly focused on adding value. 
• They are usually happier.

Learning from Positive Leadership guru Dr. Kim Cameron, during the Joy-Care Leadership program, we ask participants to fill out an anonymous survey in which they tick off the names of three people who give them good energy and delight them according to the points above. We then draw a simple chart (see below for a real example from one of our clients, a top public listed organisation in Asia.) 

Do you know if you are a valued and trusted professional? What will your team members say about you today? 

The closer you are to the inner circle on the chart, the more people value you as a helpful and trusted professional who energize them. Where do you think you are in your organisation now? Are you one of the black dots who is invisible because of a lack of contribution, or are you are closer to the center? 

To increase your internal influence, you need to focus your intention to contribute and move up to the inner circle by being known as the one that adds value. The closer you are to the center of the chart, the higher the chance is that your net worth within your organisation will be elevated, making it easier for you to move internally or even get promoted.  

6. Help others when you can: Are you too busy to help others? How do you treat your vendors and suppliers? For the past few years I was pitching my work to a big group in Singapore. One of the decision makers was nice to me, but he was always too busy to meet to follow up. Six months ago, his company went to organisational change and he was made redundant. When we met again he apologized for not helping and concluding with me. Now when he is a consultant he understands how tough it is to get the time of decision makers. 

  "The ones who made good preparation before Shabbat, will enjoy their Shabbat" ~ Jewish proverb

When are successful and everything works for us, we often forget the needs of others. People who are unemployed need our help. Are we too busy for them? If you have a good job and your friend is unemployed, how much effort did you give on your side to connect them with prospective employers? We tend to forget that the attention given to us when we have a big role working for a big company and a fancy title that people will remember us 

6.5. Celebrate without burning bridges: You never know what the next job will look like. Perhaps you will miss the old one, perhaps you will miss your friends. 

  My other blog posts:

• Are you a leader who deserves Naches (Not Nachos)?
• No Thanks, We Are Too Busy
• Celebrate SMALL Wins 

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Avi Liran (Economist, MBA) is a humorous speaker, thought leader and expert on Work/Fun Balance, Purposeful Positive Leadership and Positive Organisational Transformation, especially during times of change.

As "Chief Joy-Care Officer" of www.ha-p.com, Avi consults and coaches CxOs from top companies how to drive results by adopting a leadership style that ignites intrinsic motivation and drives up engagement, retention, creativity and productivity while having more fun and camaraderie.