One Big Thing: Career Transitions

Joblessness, job hunting, career transitions, and so on - we have a lot of different ways to talk about being out of work. Sometimes you get re-orged, caught up in redundancies, or - and this happens a lot the higher on the corporate ladder you get - the internal politics of the place get the best of your position. 

I was lucky enough to hold very senior positions in two of New York's most-venerable institutions: The Met and City Hall. I was also lucky enough to lose both of these jobs. At the time, "lucky" wasn't exactly my word of choice to describe the situation. But, looking back on it, I think I was lucky. I was able to get back on my feet, set to on my own, and things have been coming together nicely. That's not without a lot of grinding, hustle, and...so so many conference calls. 

Earlier this summer, I started what has become an epically-long Twitter thread on career transitions. It's full of tips, links, and all sorts of other useful info if you're in the middle of a transition, thinking about changing career paths, and more. First, a few things that may be difficult to swallow, especially in the moment: 

• Job loss can happen anytime, to anyone at any level in any organization.
• Job loss can happen no matter how well you’re doing your job. 
• Job loss can happen to you even if you’re doing everything asked of you - even if you're hitting every goal.
• Job loss can happen even if you’ve had nothing but glowing performance reviews.

In that first moment, perhaps you're mad, resentful, or feeling cheated - and that's perfectly normal. It's what you do next that matters. Be proactive! Every opportunity won't bear fruit, most of them won't. But, if you aren't putting yourself out there, you can't expect to find something. 

It's important to understand right at the outset that you will inevitably be disappointed. You'll be disappointed by unresponsive hiring firms, by other people finding new work when you are struggling, and by people seemingly unable to fail any direction but up. This is a message to those who are hiring as well: Be respectful of your applicants. If someone takes the time to apply and interview for a position, give them more than a form-letter response, give them feedback, give them something positive. 

As for people failing upwards, that's a tougher one to swallow. A perfect example is Louis C.K. He was accused - credibly - of absolutely disgusting behavior towards women less than a year ago, but was back on stage this month, telling jokes and getting laughs. And a lot people defended him.

Beyond the vast societal implications of such things, seeing people who undeservedly get a second chance is disheartening for people who know that, in the same situation, they likely would not be given one. My advice is simple - get past it, take care of yourself, and keep working, keep applying, keep networking. It may not be fair - it often isn't - but reality can be like that.

If you're reader on the job hunt now, reach out to me! Join our Facebook group, invite me for a coffee, or a walk, and let's see what this network can do for you! 

My next big public workshop is Wed, Sept. 12 - online and in NYC. "Smarter Use of Your Smartphone" - more on that below.

Events like this are possible because of the generous sponsors of my global social media tour, including Global Teacher Prize, Bombay Shirt Company, and Hashtracking. 

We also have a Sunday Note Patreon! To learn about sponsoring my tour, 25+ cities in 10+ countries: http://bit.ly/sreesponsordoc.

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Something From Me 👉🏽

📲Workshop: This Wednesday - Sept 12 - Online and live in NYC (live or recording). It’s “Smarter Use of Your Smartphone” - a brand-new three-hour class, co-taught with Andrew Lih (@fuzheado), that will save you time, money, aggravation, and show you how to be more productive and creative with your phone. Use code NEWSLETTERSROCK to get 20% off. Produced by Linda Bernstein (@wordwhacker).

Data Points 📉

This year's lone legislative accomplishment from Republicans was a massive tax bill that will end up adding more than a trillion and a half dollars to the federal deficit - and most of it was used for stock buybacks - not wages, not R & D - just pocket-lining. This is merely a continuation of our new reality: Corporate profits are being placed ahead of worker pay. Read the full piece here.

<Thread> 🐦

MSNBC host Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) is an excellent, insightful cable news journalist, and he's even better on Twitter. In this short thread, he ends up exposing a huge issue - disinformation on social media. The scenario is simple enough: you're a high schooler tasked with writing a report on the U.S. Federal Reserve and you go to YouTube to find some good material. The first search results are...not good. Read it here.

Listen to Something 🎧

Recode is certainly a go-to outlet for me, and Peter Kafka's (@pkafka) Recode Media podcast has become one of my favorite podcasts. Last week, Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) filled in for Kafka and discussed the re-birth of email as a publishing platform with Substack CEO Chris Best (@cjgbest). It's a fantastic, detailed discussion about the past, present, and future of email as a platform and all that goes with it. Listen to the episode here.

Watch Something 📺

It was an uncharacteristically eventful week in the U.S. Senate this week. There were fireworks in the hearings for Brett Kavanaugh courtesy, and, across the hall, Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey (@jack) were discussing everything from freedom of speech to regulating tech. Below are some highlights of the Sandberg/Dorsey hearings - notably absent (though invited) here is anyone from Google. 

Our Best Today, Our Better Tomorrow