Retooling Your Career
8/01/01

Fresh Start
Unemployment can be devastating, especially if it's sudden and unforeseen. Testifying to this are the thousands of recently pink-slipped dot-com workers. According to CNN.com (July 2001), the outplacement firm Cahlenger, Gray & Christmas estimates:

• Web-based companies cut 9,216 employees in June, bringing the total number of employees laid off by failing dot-coms in the first half of 2001 to 74,199.
• 65% of those professionals are still looking for work 6 months after being laid-off.

IT professionals are not the only victims. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (July 2001), the national unemployment rate has reached 6.4 million persons. With these statistics, the temporarily idle might be well advised to retool their career path. Here we offer tips, trends, and strategies for such a plan.

Retooling Your Career
The technique of retooling a career takes your existing skills learned in a previous job or career and recasts them to build a new career. Known as "webbing" in the 80's, retooling may be the answer to your unemployment woes.

• If you plan to switch to a completely different industry, demonstrate how your background fits the strategic and operational needs of your next employer.
• Clearly state your previous employer's operational and financial statistics and your role in the company's success. Articulate how you would transfer these skills to a new industry.

Soft Skills
Good communications skills will give you the competitive edge. CNN.com reporter Julekha Dash explains in "Job Hunters Need Social Finesse" (July 18, 2001) that amid layoffs and corporate hiring freezes, employers and successful job hunters say that IT workers looking for positions need to polish their interviewing and other "soft skills," as well as investing in training. Keith Vencel, product manager at Sutter Health, based in Sacramento, California agrees. When it comes to many applicants competing for a limited number of positions, "interpersonal skills win over technical skills". Even high-tech interviewees need customer service skills.

Strategy
Make a list of the top companies that you would like to work for. Look for industry leaders offering excellent compensation plans and well-positioned startups with seasoned management and solid financing. Over 375 of the Fortune 500 companies post available jobs on their web sites, so be sure to use the Internet as a job search tool.

Your game plan should include networking via social interaction, referrals, classified ads, job fairs, headhunters, and web-based searches. Increase your knowledge base and intensify your job search through the Career Assistance Network.

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