The Zero Principle

Author's Note: As 2023 draws to an end, I wanted to take time to reflect on a year that has seen job loss, job hunting, contract work, re-employment, and other challenges in my professional life. Here are some of the lessons I have learned from my navigation. I hope they provide some insight to my LinkedIn community.

At one time I had a friend who had been unemployed for an extended period of time. She had been very choosy about what her next job would be and insisted it be 'worthy' of her skills and experience. She finally found one that fit that criterion, much to the relief of her friends and their bank accounts. She let us know when she began that job. She also let us know when she was let go from that same job, four weeks later.

For those of us who had been following the story week by week, we knew this was coming. In the first week of the job, she was telling the employer which of her job responsibilities she would be doing and which ones they would have to assign to someone else. In the second week of the job, she was telling her manager that she would do the job the way she wanted to and not by the established procedure in the office. By the third week she was asserting that they needed to stop telling her what to do. By the fourth week, she was let go. In her explanation to her friends, it was because they could not handle such a 'strong professional'.

Contrast this with what a new manager of mine said to his team on his first day as our leader. He made a zero with his index finger and thumb and said that was how much respect his title afforded him in this new role. He went on to say that he would work hard to earn our respect by his actions.

I had three 'formal' jobs and several informal jobs in the past year. For each of those jobs, I recalled both stories I just related. I tried to ensure I emulated the manager and not the former friend. I talked about my experience in the interview but strove to demonstrate the knowledge that experience gave me in my work product. It's advice I'd like to pass along.

There's an old adage that you were given two ears and one mouth and to use them in proportion. Listen carefully not only to the formal education provided by the company, but to the interactions of your co-workers, what they emphasize in their conversations and the issues they mention the most. This will teach you more about the department and the company than any formal training you could receive.

Use the word 'yes'. If the task is within your ability to do well, it is a chance to show you are a team player and a chance to meet people in the company along the way. While nobody is indispensable, you can begin to earn the reputation as someone who will pitch in to help the team, not the person who thinks they are too good for smaller work. At this point, it is not about the work, but about building your brand within the new company. You want that brand to be a sterling one.

Use your former position for examples, not nostalgia. Your experience can be a double-edged sword. Use it to help your new company, not relive past glories that nobody in your new company knows about, or probably cares about. This is the company you work at now. Use your storehouse of knowledge to help them. This will show your value quicker than any war story.

Go in with humility. Make your attitude one of, 'I'm here to help', not, 'I'm here to save.' Then, roll up your sleeves and do just that -- help.

Will any of this help guarantee that you will be the person spared the pink slip at the next round of layoffs? Absolutely not. There really aren't any guaranteed private sector jobs anymore. All you can do, to paraphrase Stephen Covey, is to fill that bank of goodwill as much as you can. I found that bank to be helpful with my former clients and colleagues who hired or recommended me for various one-off consulting jobs while I searched for my next career adventure. Those jobs helped keep the bank account afloat during my hunt.

The former friend never went back to corporate America, cobbling together under-the-table jobs and government benefits to meet her monthly needs. She never lost the attitude, though, creating a cadre of former friends because she could never 'go in' with humility. The former manager, after being laid off, went back to the company because the reputation he built was stellar and his fans legion.

Will doing what I suggest guarantee your next job will be the one you retire from? Like chicken soup when you have a cold, it couldn't hurt. These days, that is probably the best guarantee you can get.