Job loss

In the midst of a transition workshop, change happens. While we're here talking about one thing, one of the participants has just received notice that she will be laid off at the end of May. Job loss is becoming one of the most consistent changes right now. Every day the headlines report more businesses downsizing or closing and more jobs being outsourced - right out of the country! Unemployment is at a record high. With those kinds of statistics staring you in the face, how can you ever hope to find another job? And therein might be the key .... are you looking for a job or for work? There's a difference.

You have skills and knowledge and talent that are useful to others. How can you put them to work to benefit both yourself and those who need your services? In our current Transitions group there is another woman who lost her job due to injury. She is physically unable to get a job, but has found work in her own neighborhood - taking care of a special needs child, assisting an aging neighbor and running errands. Running errands is a vital necessity for many people. I work full time. Saturday mornings are spent running all over town picking up what's needed for both my house and my mother's supplies. I also need to investigate alternative solutions for Mom's ongoing dementia care. This is work that needs to be done. My daughter, who lives 400 miles away, is able to help explore various health care options in my area. She's doing the work of initial contact and research.

We confuse getting a job with finding work. I have a friend who lost his job over a year and a half ago. He has the gift mix and skill set to help people through difficult and painful situations and had been using those talents in an organizational environment. After losing his job, he began writing and now has three books in development - one of which is in the final process before being published! He also opened his own coaching/counseling service. He no longer has a "job," but rather has discovered a new expression of his life's work.

We each have something unique to offer that someone else needs. Are you familiar enough with your own special qualities that could be put to work assisting others? My Transition to Transformation workshop is based on the work of William Bridges, who has written books covering both personal and corporate transitions for over thirty years. One of his books is titled, Creating You & Co and is aimed at helping people discover how to find work that brings both satisfaction and support without being limited to a traditional "job." Its first printing was in 1997 when jobs were more plentiful. This book could now become the handbook for those making the transition from job market to work environment.

I recommend the book to any who might be in the discovery process of what I want to do with the rest of my life. To my grandchildren on the brink of adulthood, begin now to discover what qualities, desires and assets you possess that can be developed to become your life's work. To those who've recently lost jobs, first, take a breath. Okay? Next begin to take inventory of the skill set you've developed during your years on the job. How can those abilities be merged, along with your temperament and natural giftings, into a new career?

Did I say career? Yes, I did. Congratulations! You have just been promoted to CEO of You & Co and I have every confidence you will discover a great future ahead of you. God has created and designed us with resilience in our core. As we learn to grieve the loss of what was, come to terms with the empty place we're in and move confidently - one small step at a time - in the direction of our future, we just might find the life we've been hoping for. And to think it came wearing the disguise of "job loss."

Gain out of loss - a faithful promise from the wilderness of transition.